DIY website audit: How to excel in selling your school

It is important for prospective students to experience and embrace your university’s story. A clear focus on improving your web presence is critical to sharing that story with stakeholders and the public to increase student enrollment, build trust as an authoritative and progressive institution, as well as promote brand awareness.

Crucial objectives toward positively impacting student enrollment are as follows:

• Create a heightened user experience that is both enjoyable and easily accessible,
• Develop a better navigation funnel to reduce confusion,
• Implement a clear content strategy with a more unified voice and messaging,
• Update and improve visual presence, using the latest trends and technologies, and
• Apply an overall, clear strategic construct.

The first step in making your site more marketable is doing a web audit of high-profile marketing/recruitment pages that are targeted toward prospective students, using the following techniques:

• Research
  • Google Analytics
  • User behavior analysis
  • Duplicate content analysis
  • Competitor analysis
• Interpretation
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Opportunities
  • Threats
• Recommendations
  • Leadership
  • Brand continuity
  • Communications
  • Key design and development initiatives
  • Campus education and training