Data from Ruffalo Noel Levitz and Eduventures shows us that degree listings and pages representing individual degrees, majors, minors, and certificates are critically important marketing content on college and university websites. But how do you get more people TO these pages? This webinar shows different techniques and examples.

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GET TO THE PRODUCT!
How colleges and universities can increase
traffic to degree, major, and certificate pages
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@DougGapinski
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3. Colleges and universities sell education.

4. The proxy for that education is the major,
minor, degree, or certificate each student
is granted.

5. In other words, your academic programs
– your majors, minors, degrees, and
certificates – are your products.

6. Program pages are
web pages to represent
majors, minors,
degrees, and
certificates.

7. 1. Why program pages matter
2. Evaluating your program pages
3. Generating more traffic to program pages
4. Questions

8. Why program pages matter

9. Source: Ruffalo Noel Levitz Number of respondents = more than 1,000 college-bound seniors

10. Source: Eduventures Number of respondents = more than 31,000 admitted first-year students

11. Source: @davidpoteet
• Intercept survey performed on
University of Portsmouth (UK) website
• Number of respondents = 400 visitors
• In the UK “course” means “major”
“What did you come to the website looking for today?”

12. Evaluating Your
Program Pages

13. First, make sure your
individual degree pages
are more than a registrar’s
catalog listing.
In this example for the
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, there
is no marketing content for
a prospective student – so
there is very little point in
driving traffic to the page.

14. Choose your top 5 most enrolled
degrees as a baseline.

15. If you want to get to this information quickly, your public U.S. News & World
Report listing usually has your most enrolled programs.
colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com

17. Set up internal vs. external filters to understand how
much traffic comes to an individual degree page from on-
campus computers vs. prospective students.
Measure page views vs. unique page views as a way of
understanding new vs. returning visitors to individual
degree pages.
Measure bounce rate to help you understand how much
traffic comes to a page intentionally.

18. Navigation summary shows referring pages and
where they went after a specific degree page.

19. In this case, we can see that the degree listing page
is the most common point of entry.

20. In this case, we can see that degree options and exploring
other degrees are the most common points of exit.

21. In-page analytics are another way of visualizing where
visitors go after arriving at a specific degree page.

22. Generating More Traffic
to Your Program Pages

23. Make sure your degree pages
are easy to reach from
anywhere within your site.

24. Make “degrees” or “programs”
a persistent link.

25. capital.edu “Programs” is a persistent link on the site.

26. capital.edu It’s also a button in close proximity to “Apply.”

27. capital.edu Clicking it opens a modal window to the list view.

28. capital.edu The mobile view still makes it easy to reach the program listing.

29. capital.edu The mobile view still makes it easy to reach the program listing.

30. capital.edu The mobile view still makes it easy to reach the program listing.

31. arbor.edu First, this degree language is more obvious than “Academics.”

32. arbor.edu Second, the navigation expands to show degree categories.

33. arbor.edu Strategic redundancy in the footer drives traffic to degree listings.

34. Implement search autocompletion that
focuses on majors or degrees.

35. bucknell.edu

36. As you start entering a search term – in this case “comp” …bucknell.edu

37. … the search window highlights major and minors.bucknell.edu

38. Create a highly usable listing page –
the page that collects all of your degrees.

39. simmons.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs “Cards” pattern with filters

40. simmons.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs “Cards” pattern with filters

41. bu.edu/academics/degree-programs/ Alphabetical list with filters

42. bu.edu/academics/degree-programs/ Alphabetical list with filters

43. uchicago.edu/academics/programs_of_study
Tabbed list with legend for minors,
interdisciplinary studies, and joint degrees

44. uchicago.edu/academics/programs_of_study
Tabbed list with legend for minors,
interdisciplinary studies, and joint degrees

45. uchicago.edu/academics/programs_of_study
Tabbed list with legend for minors,
interdisciplinary studies, and joint degrees

46. Provide links to related degrees.

47. northpark.edu Up to 70% of students change majors at least once.

48. Use consistent
nomenclature
within your own site.
Undergraduate degrees = “majors” or “programs”
Undergraduate degrees in Europe = “courses”
Graduate degrees = “degrees” or “programs”
Continuing education = “certificates” or “non-credit courses”

49. Make sure your degree pages
are easy to get to from
outside of your site.

50. Make sure degree pages are buttoned up
for SEO.

51. SEO influencers for degree pages:
• well-written copy that is relevant to the degree
• title tag
• meta description
• relevant headlines and subheads (h1, h2, h3)
• alt tags
• links to a page or degree from social media

52. Use semantic urls to promote individual
degrees– in print, in advertising, and
email.

53. This is great as a promotion for a degree – URL is too long for drivers.

55. Semantic URLs can be used to point
visitors to:
•degree listing pages – example: fabercollege.edu/degrees
•undergraduate-only listing pages – example: fabercollege.edu/majors
•individual degrees – example: fabercollege.edu/economics
•custom print or email-specific URLs – fabercollege.edu/geteducated

56. Use PPC (pay per click) campaigns to
promote individual degrees.

59. Getting started with a PPC campaign:
•Use Google AdWords to assess the volume of local / national
searches for specific degrees.
•Test a degree-based PPC campaign in specific geographic markets
first – keep it affordable vs. buying in every national market.
•Consider PPC campaigns for high-enrollment degrees first (academic
programs you have an easier time selling)

60. PPC copywriting:
•Always run multiple ad variants to see what visitors respond to.
•Test a couple of broad terms (such as “MBA”) vs. more specific terms
“part-time MBA” or “executive MBA in Seattle”
•Because PPC ads resemble Google returns, it’s good to focus on
decision factors.

61. GOOD EXAMPLES

62. BAD EXAMPLES

63. Questions?

64. Thanks!
@DougGapinski #mStonerNow