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My mobile marketing workshops at the ACT Enrollment Planners Conference last week and eduWeb2010 on Monday attracted some great people, ready to share questions and experiences with everyone attending. Before leaving for Carol Aslanian's graduate marketing seminar in NYC tomorrow, time for some quick notes on mobile marketing and higher education.

First, a special thinks to Suzanne Petrusch and her team at St. Mary's University and Dave Marshall at Mongoose Research for assembling recruitment cycle conversion data that was of special interest to people at the workshops. Here's my summary of the St. Mary's experience using text messaging as part of the communications mix with potential new students since last November:

• Relatively few inquiries (about 4 percent) opted in for text messaging at or near the start of the recruitment cycle. That confirms findings in the 2010 E-Expectations research that college-bound high school students are wary of receiving text messages for student recruitment.
• But, and this is a very major "but": almost everyone (about 80 percent) who did opt-in early for text contacts continued along and applied for admission.
• Almost 50 percent of the people sending enrollment deposits by the end of June were people who had signed to receive text contacts.

Texting Offer Identifies Best Prospects Early

The learning here: offering the texting option was a great way to identify early in the recruitment cycle the people who were already very interested in St. Mary's and were willing to commit to a "text relationship" from the start. While this was destined to be a higher-than-normal yield group, identifying the most likely future students as easly as possible so they are not lost among (in this case) 35,000 total inquiries is an important role for mobile marketing to play.

Experience Your Site from a Smartphone

One item from the E-Expectations survey seemed a major surprise to many people: more than 20 percent of college-bound high school seniors have used a smartphone to access a higher education website. Why such a surprise? After all, somebody has been buying all those iPhones and Androids over the last 12 months.

• The real question should be this: how many people will not return after the experience they had on that first visit? Be sure to check your web analytics to see (1) how many new visitors are arriving at your site from a mobile device and (2) how the bounce rate for those people compares to the bounce rate for people arriving from a regular computer.

More next week on mobile apps vs. mobile websites, but there is a bottom line here: you will need a mobile-friendly website in the not distant future.

Mobile Marketing Presentation on SlideShare

The eduWeb version of the workshop, "Mobile in the Marketing Mix: Crafting a New Communications Strategy," is online now at SlideShare.

Look for more "notes on mobile" next week. More then about the frequency of the texting and other items that people brought up at the workshops.

That's all for now 

iPhone Dominates Mobile Access: for a small group of website visitors

Two mobile marketing workshops are set for this summer, both in July in Chicago. I'm busy with that research now, including new online inquiries at schools venturing into mobile marketing.

The first workshop, at the ACT Enrollment Planners Conference, is especially for people who need to weave mobile marketing into their mix of student recruitment marketing activities. The second, at eduWeb 2010, is for anyone interested in higher education online communications.

A key question, of course, is whether or not people are using mobile devices in sufficient quantity to make the expenditure of scarce time, energy, and dollars in this area at all.

Mobile Access on Google Analytics

If you have Google Analytics on your website, that's easy to find out. When you get to your dashboard, open "Visitors" in the left hand column, scroll down to "Mobile" and open that to "Mobile Devices." You'll immediately see how many visitors you are getting at all from mobile devices, as well as which ones people are using. Here's a screen shot from my website today. Mobile devices on GA.ppt

The first thing to note (I'll bet real money this is true at your site as well) is that most of your web visitors do not yet arrive from a mobile device. The second thing is that for those who do, the iPhone has a huge lead over anything else.

iPad: Track the Growth

Will the iPad be important? Easy enough to track that week by week if you want, or at least month by month. Today, for instance, I noted the first 3 people using iPads to visit my website.

Mobile Apps or Mobile Websites?

What's going to be most important to your marketing success, mobile apps or mobile websites?

Count on both, of course. Who said life would be so simple that you'd only have to work on one or the other? But don't get carried away with app development without also preparing your site for direct access from mobile devices. Check this article at ReadWriteWeb for a presentation of the need to ensure that your official website works well for visitors using a variety of mobile devices. 

While the iPhone dominates now, expect to see Android-based smartphones increase their market share between now and the end of the year. If that happens, you'll see it in your analytics tracking. At some point, you may need to move past iPhone/iPad apps.

Check iPhone Apps on the iPad 

Don't assume that all iPhone apps will work well on an iPad. Early reports note that some do not play well on the larger iPad screen. If you already have iPhone apps, check them now on the iPad. Some are being described as "ugly" and even Steve Jobs banned some popular Apple apps from the iPad.

The good news is that web analytics can help you make informed decisions about all of this based on the trends you see emerging for new and returning visitors as you track this in the months ahead.

Web Analytics for Recruitment: Conference Presentation in June 

I'll be covering more about web analytics tracking in my session at Carol Aslanian's conference on recruiting adult students in June in Chicago

Mobile Marketing and Web Access: Tracking the Trend in 2010

Do you know how many new visitors to your admissions pages arrived from a mobile device last year? And how that number might be changing this year?

If you're using Google Analytics on your website, that's easy to watch. And the results from a recent client review suggest that you should be watching this year. Various gurus and evangelists have been declaring "The Year of Mobile Marketing" since at least 2004. They just might be right about 2010.

Here's the change noted from the last quarter 2009 to February of 2010:

• For the last three months of 2009, 996 new visitors came from a mobile device. The iPhone was well out in front as the most popular device, followed at considerable distance by iPods. The new Android phones were about half as popular as iPods and Blackberry came along next.
• In the month of February alone, 459 new visitors were using mobile devices, or 1.9 percent of all new visitors to the admissions pages. The iPhone was still well in front of everything else as the vehicle of choice: 284 new visitors were using it. Nothing had changed in the order of the next three.

The February count still represents less than 2 percent of all new visitors that month. So it is safe to say that mobile access is not yet a major factor for this client. On the other hand, the increase sends a signal that this is something to watch over the next six months. That's an easy, no-cost way to get objective data on how the "Year of Mobile 2010" is going for you.

Compare Bounce Rates for Mobile and Regular Access

For those new to the world of analytics, "bounce rate" is the percent of visitors who start at a page on your website and leave that page without going anywhere else on your site. In nearly all cases, admissions people don't want new visitors to do that. Bounce rates above 35 percent are cause for concern.

• On Google Analytics, first check the overall bounce rate for new visitors. In the "Visitors" section, open the tap for "Mobile" and have a look at "Mobile Devices."
• In the data that results, you'll find the bounce rate for people using mobile devices together with the average bounce rate for the entire website.
• If the bounce rate for mobile is significantly higher than the other, your site is not working well for visitors using iPhones and other mobile devices.

Mobile Tracking in 2010

Start tracking today. Set the base mark for 2009 from the data you have for that year. Take a peek at what's been happening so far this year. Get ready to make a quarterly report in April on any changes you find as 2010 unfolds. Keep those quarterly reports coming to help you decide: "Do I need to create 'mobile ready' website pages to make a better first impression on new visitors?"

Web Analytics Webinar in April

Want to learn more about how web analytics can help improve your recruitment success? Join me for an April 7 webinar with Magna Publications. Check program details and register soon.

That's all for now 

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/newsletter-subscribe.html

Web Analytics: Bounce Rate and Mobile Access

Yesterday and today I've been updating a fall 2008 presentation on web analytics for higher education for a new webinar with Magna Communications in April.

The presentation is based on Google Analytics and uses examples from that system. Much of what's available from GA is of course available from other analytics programs as well.

Two different elements that stand out from the updating process:

• The "bounce" rate. In checking to possible update the source for an analytics glossary recommendation, I noticed that some glossary pages don't even include a definition of the bounce rate. For the record, the bounce rate is the percent of visitors to a website page who leave that page without continuing on to another.
• It is especially important for higher education marketers to track the bounce rate for new visitors from whatever entry page they start at.
• The entry page will most often be the home page, but it might also be the admissions page or the page for a favorite academic program. If more than 35 percent of new visitors are leaving their first page without continuing, you likely have a problem.
• You can also use the bounce rate to compare what happens at the entry pages for various academic programs. Note the highest and lowest and compare the strong points of the best performing pages with those that don't do as well. (We are assuming, as you probably are, that potential students who start at the MBA or Nursing or Political Science entry page should continue to other pages in the same area rather than flee the site.)
• Mobile access. Pay attention to the percent of new visitors who access the website from a mobile device. If that figure gets near 10 percent, check and see how your website works for people who enter that way. Since 2008, Google has made that report stand out under on the dashboard with a new "mobile devices" heading under "Visitors."
• Expect access from mobile devices to increase. The real question is how quickly that will happen (some say rapidly, others say slowly) and how much time web developers on your campus should spend in creating a mobile-friendly version of your website.
• Use the "mobile" report in GA and you'll be able to see just how quickly a change is taking place and you'll know whether access is from an iPhone, an Android or a Blackberry.

Register for "Web Analytics for Recruitment Success"

Check the webinar outline and register at Magna Communications.

That's all for now 

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

Just back late last night from Gerry McGovern's 3rd annual meeting for Customer Carewords partners, this year in Belfast.

The partners are an international group. People attended from 8 countries: Canada, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States.

While my notes are still fresh to mind, here are some highlights we shared from our experiences this year working with universities, corporations, and government agencies to improve their websites.

Website Tasks:

• People who are responsible for websites are often ashamed or bored by the "top tasks" that people who use websites want to do. A "top task" on Intranets, for instance, is often "finding people" within the organization. At many sites, that isn't easy. But making it easy isn't new or exciting. Too often it doesn't get fixed.
• People who are aware of "pain points" on a website often don't know which ones to fix first. One benefit of Carewords research is the identification of top tasks so that web leaders can first fix the ones that are most important to people who use the site. Priority is set based on fact, not opinion.
• Primary pain points most often result from navigation, search, and out-of-date content.

Task Performance Index

• Our Task Performance research measures the time it takes people to complete key tasks and gives each one a TPI or Task Performance Index ranking.
• Most tasks we measured over the past year were in fact done well (61 percent), many were not done quite so well (32 percent) and some were disasters (7 percent.)
• Fixing the disasters first becomes the key goal.
• We give a person 6 minutes to complete a task. If it can't be done by then, it likely can't be done at all.

The Value of Search

• Checking for the Top 100 search terms used on a website can also help pinpoint what's most important to people who use the site. Be sure to look back for 12 months so that seasonal variations don't skew the results.
• Check for variations in the words people use to search for the same thing and total the similar items. One of my favorite combinations is "premed" and "pre-med" and "premedicine" for future students trying to learn more about medical school.

Usability

• Website usability is improved by a simple A to Z site map that new visitors and members of your organization can easily find and check. Don't hide the site map.
• Almost all our usability testing is now being done remotely. We watch people from afar while they work on a computer. The people we are watching are more relaxed. The client cost is lower.

That's a snapshot of what we've learned since our 2008 meeting. Carewords research has been ongoing for about 15 years now. Sharing the results from new clients improves the process and expands everyone's knowledge. Well worth the trip over the Atlantic.

Task Completion is #1 

What's been constant over the years is the emphasis that people place on task completion. That's the most important lesson from our work. We don't expect it to change.

Contact Us

If you're at a college or university and don't think your website is performing as well as it might, I'll be happy to explore Carewords options with you. Starting with an email to bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com is usually easiest.

If you're at a corporation or government agency, check the contact information for other partners. 

That's all for now.

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

Late summer greetings to everyone. From the chatter on Twitter, it seems that the arrival of new freshmen on campuses across the country has been a marvelous event. Special congratulations to everyone who helped carry freight from cars to dorm rooms.

Check at the end of the newsletter for new fall presentations, including a conference in Denmark, a December webinar for "Writing Right for the Web," and the continuation of the "Bob$100" discount for the October Aslanian adult student recruitment conference.

Plan to attend the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education and register for an updated and expanded "Marketing Communications in a World without Paper" Sunday tutorial. A highly rated summer version from eduWeb09 is the first one on SlideShare at www.slideshare.net/bestbob

Check my blog for notes on Heather Mansfield's "10 Twitter Tips for Higher Education" at bit.ly/12VoTl

Join me on Twitter at twitter.com/HighEdMarketing

For everyone here in the States, best wishes for a fine Labor Day weekend.

And now here are marketing news and notes for September.
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Forbes Magazine 2009 College Rankings

Forbes released 2009 rankings in early August, based on "the quality of the education, the experience of the students, and how much they achieve."

While most of the usual suspects fill out the top spots, Forbes calls attention to unexpected additions at the highest levels, including Centre College and Union College. At the top of the list: West Point.

My favorite criterion: 25 percent of the ranking is based on student evaluations at RateMyProfessors.com. That beats the "reputation" factor in another popular report.

Start the full report at www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/colleges-university-ratings-opinions-colleges-09-intro.html
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Evaluating Social Media Results

You should not worry if the people who sign on to your social media sites or read your blogs do not actively participate with comments and other contributions of new content. Most people just read,without joining or actively participating. And that, of course, has marketing value by itself.

By far the largest category for social media participation is from Spectators (79 percent), while Creators (24 percent) and Critics (37 percent) lag far behind. Indeed, only 51 percent will actually join a social media site where they are spectators.

What is the marketing lesson? Do not over promise active results when you start new social media ventures. For the details, check the latest research at the Groundswell blog site at
blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2009/08/social-technology-growth-marches-on-in-2009-led-by-social-network-sites.html
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Drexel Gets First Place: Top University Websites for Search Engine Optimization

Find methodology you can use to test your own school as you review "Top SEO College Websites 2009" at www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2009/09/01/top-seo-college-websites-2009

The writer gives most colleges and universities an "F" grade for SEO and includes four reasons why he thinks more schools do not do better. The first: over reliance on "brand recognition" to bring traffic to the website.

The increase in the importance of online education does seem to motivate some schools to do much better than others. The "Top Three" here: Drexel University, University of Phoenix, and Capella University.
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Google Analytics Basics

Just getting started in web analytics? Thinking of using Google Analytics?

"Google Analytics 101" by Ron Jones at Search Engine Watch is a good place to start. The link at searchenginewatch.com/3634842 will take you to Part 2 and you can track back from there to Part 1.

Better use of analytics is an essential step to getting higher impact from your website. Pay special attention to the "bounce rate" (percent of people who leave a page without going further) at your admissions entry page and at each important page after that. Be sure that you filter out results for first-time visitors from those who are returning visitors.

Google advises that a bounce rate between 20 and 35 percent is acceptable.
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Best Ad Sizes for Online Advertising

AdAge reviews what works best and why at adage.com/digital/article?article_id=138554

Special note: flash-based ads were the least effective of every type tested.
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Time Magazine Picks Top 50 Websites

No college or university websites made the Time list, but the academic world is represented by selection #9, Academic Earth. That is a website for free college courses and lectures from 7 "leading universities."

Browse the full 50 to learn more about the expectations that some of these sites will create for users of higher education websites. The Times list is at
www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1809858_1809957,00.html

And visit the clean and simple Academic Earth home page at www.academicearth.org/
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Mobile Web Help from MIT

Expect more and more people to access your website from iPhones and similar smartphone devices. And more and more schools are developing special mobile-friendly web content rather than forcing people to navigate and use their regular websites.

Review in detail the strong effort from MIT at mobi.mit.edu/about/ or access it from a mobile browser at m.mit.edu

Not only MIT can do this. For a smaller school alternative, visit the Azusa Pacific University example at www.apu.edu/m/

MIT will help you get started. Contact Information Services & Technology at mobiweb@mit.edu
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Old School Marketing: 5 Tips for Better Envelope Copy

Still using mail to prospect for potential new students? Then "mystique" and "relevance" are especially important first impression goals.

Learn more at www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/5-ways-upgrade-envelope-copy-410894_1.html
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7 High End Twitter Analysis Tools

If you are very interested in Twitter, take time to explore the tools profiled at mashable.com/2009/08/30/analyze-twitter-content/ and you will likely find something of interest.

Scroll down to the end of the report for more links to other Twitter tools.

If you are not that interested in Twitter, keep reading.
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National Merit Scholarships End at UT Austin

What is the future of merit scholarships in the present economy?

The move by University of Texas at Austin to stop funding over 200 National Merit full-tuition scholarships reflects new pressures to focus scare funds on need-based awards. That is the rationale given to explain why UT Austin is dropping out of the National Merit competition and rolling those funds over to students with financial need.

What is the marketing impact of fewer National Merit scholars? UT Austin does not believe it will be great. Current brand strength is sufficiently strong that the SAT and GPA components of the academic profile are not expected to suffer.

Read more at www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/01/merit
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Teens and Twitter: Age is Not the Problem

New research on how people use Twitter makes an important point. Yes, the "great majority" of teens do not use Twitter. But then, neither do the "great majority" of adults use Twitter.

A key finding: Teens use Twitter at a higher rate than people from 25 to 44 years of age.

Another key finding: the reason most adults and teens do not use Twitter is simple: they can do the same things elsewhere on other sites that they prefer. Not using Twitter, it seems, is not related to age.

See the in-depth details at www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/30/why-dont-teens-tweet-we-asked-over-10000-of-them/
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Distance Learning Gains Faculty Support

A detailed report from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities brings good news to marketers who recognize that student interest at every age level is shifting in favor of online learning.

Professors, both senior and junior, are more willing to entertain teaching online courses than ever before. That is an important message for the not-for-profit sector as for-profit competitors continue to expand their online offerings.

Of course there is a caveat. Faculty do not think they are receiving enough support for the effort it takes to develop and introduce new online courses. Read an outline of the report at www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1347 and see where senior enrollment and marketing professionals might give support and encouragement to people willing to expand product in this key area.
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Web Writer Position at Alma College

Alma College is taking applications for a web content writer position within the marketing and public relations office. Details for the position are at www.alma.edu/about/offices/personnel/jobs/archives/2009/08/28/web_writer
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My Upcoming Presentations in 2009

Share questions and answers with people like yourself who are building a competitive edge in higher education marketing. Join me for one or more of these events.

October 21-22, Chicago, IL: Aslanian Group Seminars: Competing for Adults Students, "Branding and the Web: The Value of Your Official Website in the Social Media Era." Download conference brochure at www.coburncreative.com/educationdynamics/f2009_seminar.pdf Save $100 when you enter "Bob$100" in the discount code box as you register.

October 26-27, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin System, Adult Student Recruitment & Retention Conference, "Key Website Features for Adult Student Recruitment." Conference information is at www.uwosh.edu/rrconference

November 3-5, Aarhus, Denmark: J. Boye Conference: Aarhus09, "Improving Higher Education Websites: Lessons from the Student Experience." Conference program and registration at www.jboye.com/conferences/aarhus09/higher-education

November 15-17, Boston, MA: AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education, "Marketing in a World without Paper: Creating a Recruitment Communications Plan in an Online Future" (3.5 hour Sunday afternoon tutorial). Details at www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/marketingevent_highereducation_2009.aspx

December 8, Webinar: "Writing Right for the Web." Program details soon from Academic Impressions at www.academicimpressions.com/web_conferences.htm

Increase ROI from your online marketing. Expand the writing, editing, and search marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus workshop on online marketing.

Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com
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That's All for Now

Be a marketing champion on your campus.

Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com)
President and Senior Consultant
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
__________________________________________
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Increase your online marketing success with these 6 services.
• Customer Carewords Research with Gerry McGovern
• Writing Right for the Web On-Campus Workshops
• Marketing Communications Website Review
• Competitive Website Reviews
• Content Copywriting Services
• Usability Analysis

Start now at www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/whatwedo.html

Web Analytics: What's the "bounce rate" from your admissions entry page?

Mark Greenfield from University of Buffalo (a SUNY university for those who otherwise might not know) is down at the Noel-Levitz recruitment and retention conference in Texas. He sent two tweets of interest to everyone in student recruitment:

• A person from Google reported that a good range for a bounce rate was 20 to 35 percent. What's a "bounce rate"? That's how many people visit a web page and leave without going anywhere else on the website from that page. Bad thing when that happens overly much from your admissions page. The Google person said anything less than 20 percent was an unrealistic expectation.
• Mark checked on the bounce rate from the UB "admissions site" and reported a stellar 25 percent. I'll have to ask Mark which page he was referring to. Why? If you do a Google search for "University of Buffalo," a link is returned to this page for undergraduate admissions. If you go direct to the university home page and follow the first link to "admissions undergraduate" you start at this page.
• I'm betting the low bounce rate was from the page entered from the home page.

Results from a Google search might be defeating your expectations for where a potential future student will start on your website. Google is the first place that most students who begin the college exploration process start their journey. 

Find your admissions entry page on Google

Enter the name of your college or university in the Google search box and watch the entry points that come back in addition to your home page URL. Imagine you were a person starting a visit from one of these home page alternatives.

Check to see where "new' or "first time" visitors to the site are starting. Is each page getting the low bounce rate that tells you that each is making a favorable first impression and engaging people?

If you're on Twitter and are not following Mark's updates, start doing that soon.

That's all for now.

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

My first task this morning left me smiling.

I was reviewing several web pages sent from a potential Customer Carewords research client, a regional public university "down South" here in the States. The pages were not online yet... this was a series in redesign to replace the current site not long from now.

Something was missing... and it took me a few minutes to figure it out.

"Quick Links" were not on the home page. Amazing. Wonderful.

Quick Links are Seldom "Quick"

Over the past three years, in almost every website review I've done, the Quick Links feature popular on many sites was anything but "quick." In the original incarnation, Quick Links was a bandaid for poor home page navigation design. Home page political wars meant that important pages were hidden among a legion of topics in the left hand column. So why not list the important pages in Quick Links to make them easy to find?

Nice idea that didn't long survive. Web design politics quickly captured Quick Links and the list morphed into 12 to 20 items. Sometimes more. Truly important destinations (to audiences like potential students) were hidden in that long list. 

In a later phone talk with the marketing director at the university, it turned out that the absence of Quick Links was intentional. The director is hoping that by simply removing the feature, the political contest will disappear. I'm hoping that the plan succeeds.

Measure Quick Links with Analytics

If people are moved at all by objective evidence, everyone should make sure that their analytics program reports how often people follow each item on the Quick Links. That will at least provide a rationale for eliminating those that are seldom used so that the more important ones are easier to see.

If you must use Quick Links, take things a step further. Review how people are using "Search" and consider adding topics that are often sought in search. Even better, of course, make sure that frequently searched topics are very visible on the home page itself. 

"Majors and Programs" in Top Design

Something else about the page struck me a moment after noting the absence of the Quick Links feature. Up in the top navigation bar, between "Admisssion" and "Academics" was a link to "Majors and Programs."

This university was placing a highly visible link to content that for many future students is the first thing they want to find on a college or university website right where people can get to it in a single click.

That's rare. Not long ago I featured DeVry University as a Link of the Week on my website for including the major academic areas right on the home page. This wasn't quite as strong, but it was much better than most higher ed website manage.

"Majors and Programs" are Carewords

In our Customer Carewords research in higher education, "academic majors" and similar terms are rated highly by potential students of every age and every degree level. Sometime those are easy to find in a single click from the home page. Often they are not. That's not good marketing. 

For many if not most potential students, the most important initial question is pretty simple: "What programs do you offer?"

If you have the program that people wnat, they'll stay around and explore more. Of course, what they often want to explore next is more about their favored academic program. Many college and universities are still hoping that potential students get captivated by the brand message first. For institutions without a very powerful brand appeal, that's backwards marketing. Convince people first that you have a strong program in an academic area that interests them and then they will spend time to explore total brand attributes.

Marketing and Website Design

How did "majors and programs" come to be prominent on the home page? The influence of the admissions director who knew how important that element was. Close collaboration between the admissions and marketing offices. Primary responsibility for website design resting with the marketing director. A reason to smile. The rest of the day also went well.

Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter"

Visit the front page of my website and subscribe to my monthly newsletter and weekly Link of the Week selections. 

Way back in the 1990s, we advertised regularly on radio for "adult" students for evening and weekend programs. The result was constant phone calls from media reps promoting "reach"... the ability to have a seemingly infinite number of people in an urban area hear our ads at an insignificant per-person cost.

The trouble with "reach," of course, is that reaching people who have no special interest in what's being advertising doesn't make much sense. Much better to pay more money for the initial contacts if the result is more inquiries that convert to more enrollments. "Reach preachers" never wanted to talk much about conversions. Not their responsibilty.

That's why Steve Rubel's article today in AdAge  ("How Digital Media Will Deliver Tangible Results) struck a special note. Steve is writing about "reach devaluation" in the digital age. Here's what he says:

"Although advertisers increasingly are exploring other metrics, i.e. engagement and reputation, reach still rules -- at least for now. Unfortunately, reach is slowly losing its value as media consumption increasingly moves deeper into the digital realm.

"Where in the analog age we might be loyal to a given media brand, today's consumers are far more agnostic. We're more likely to dip into an array of online sources including traditional news sites, blogs and social networks -- and often via search or social networks.

"All of this diminishes the entire concept of reach. After all, if a site claims that it reaches millions but they're all just drive-bys, do such figures truly matter? In the years ahead, advertisers will rethink reach and not pay nearly as much for it as they did when they bought media based on a rate base and/or circulation. This will create tremendous disruption for media companies as they have to shift to new ways to prove their value."

Traditional agency media people no doubt agree with Rubel that the devaluation of reach is "unfortunate." But it isn't. In the digital era, online advertising and our analytics software gives us the ability to track and measure results in a way that only direct marketers welcomed in the 1990s and earlier. And that, especially in a time of diminishing advertising resources, is only a good thing.

Early this afternoon I had the pleasure of participating in an Eduventures panel discussion on "Recruiting in a Digital Age: The Evolving Nature of Search."

My 15-minute section was on the role of Web Analytics. It was an interesting exercise to select from a 75-minute presentation the key slides to work with today.

At the end came a question from the Eduventures audience that I'd not thought of before... "How often should web analytics reports be reviewed?"

Review Web Analytics Weekly

The answer: Weekly, or about as often as most deans and directors of admissions review inquiry stats. Why once a week?

In today's digital age, potential students search for the right college online in the now proverbial "stealth" fashion that hides identity for a long time, often until the point of application. In that context, tracking the number of new visitors to selected web pages is an important supplement to the weekly counting of new inquiries.

Key Steps to Key Data

• Make sure the analytics program is set to filter out internal use of the site, so that your tracking reports are only based on new visitors.
• Get stats to identify the admissions section pages most frequently visited by new visitors in the past 6 months and select the highest for weekly tracking. (Do a google search for your own school and note the 6 alternate entry points that you'll see there. Future students and parents will have a choice of bypassing your main "home" page and going directly to "admissions" or "prospective students" or "academic programs.")
• Be sure to check the pages for your most popular academic programs. Many students with strong interest in a particular program will head direct for your section on architeture or engineering before (maybe) doubling back to admissions.
• Ideally, you can access the analytics reports from within the admissions office. If you're not sure, check to see if that's possible. If it isn't, then ask IT for reports on just the 2 to 5 most important pages on the site. That's enough to serve the purpose: is interest in my college or university increasing or decreasing over what it was a year ago?
• Start saving the results. After the first year, you'll be able to review new web visits in the recruitment cycle so that you know if interest is increasing or decreasing.
• In addition to the number of new visitors, ask for the "bounce rate" as well. That's the term Google Analytics uses to tell you what percent of visitors leave a given page without moving on to another. If your bounce rate for new visitors on key admissions pages is over 50 percent, you have a problem. You probably need to rework that page after at least informal usability testing to help identify the problems.

That's it for now. More later on the value of web analytics and how they can help measure success in student recruitment.