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    Is there anything more frustrating than a disorganised website? Broken links, poor website architecture, information cut and paste from a print brochure: all of these create a poor user experience that certainly won't endear you to potential leads and customers.

    There are so many aspects to a great inbound marketing strategy, in any industry! However, as we accelerate towards an increasingly digital world, I cannot emphasise enough the importance of a good website.

    Having a web presence is no longer enough. If your website is not maintained and optimised, it is damaging to your brand. 

    In the tertiary education market this is especially important! Your buyer personas are largely students; most likely young and tech savvy. These kids want to know more about you and the first thing they do is look at your website. 

    So what are the essentials to a great website?

     

    1. Match your website to your brand personality

    Give your website a personality that matches your business! A youthful, energetic brand should embrace that vibe and represent it on their website. For financial services, a simple professional website is on the right track.

    Tertiary institutions need to be thinking along these lines. Are you an artsy school? Do you have a focus on engineering or business? Are you an old and reputable institution or a relative newcomer? Consider what your message and your greatest assets are, and integrate that into the overall look and feel of your website. Academics, student life, sporting reputation; these are all reasons someone might want to become a student!

    Don't overthink this, it's not hard! Follow your instinct. Super simple stuff - but essential!

    As an example, here's The University of Melbourne's website. This is one of the top universities in Australia and the world. Founded in the 1800s, is has a long reputation for academic excellence. Don't you agree that this website reflects this with its somber tones, elegant fonts and classical imagery? Doesn't hurt that they're talking Shakespeare!

    Unimelb good website essentials brand story

     

    In contrast, this is the website of a local vocational school in the same city, Holmesglen TAFE. This institution is focused much more on vocational education and making students job-ready. It is not a research or academic school. It is a practical institution that doesn't offer degrees, but rather certifications and short courses. It's much more cheerful and welcoming than Melbourne Uni's homepage, and that's exactly how it should be.

    Holmesglen good education website essentials


    Both of these schools have websites which complement the brand story. Matching your brand story and website is an easy way to convey an initial message about your organisation.

     

    2. Clear and simple navigation

    Another one to file under 'super simple stuff'. Navigation should be clear and simple. Visitors want to find the information they want quickly! So label menus appropriately - don't get cutesy or fun unless it will make sense to your customers. Also, keep your main menus where people expect them, along the top of the page or as a vertical on the left side of the page.

    It can also be really useful to get a 3rd party to test your navigation for you - is it simple to find the information they want? Set them a test to find a page in your website. How many clicks does it take? Do they get lost and have to backtrack? Back to the drawing board, kids.

    Check out The University of Sydney - this navigation is in a clear font, its visually simple and the key words are illustrative of where a click will take you!

    Sydney Uni good education website essentials

     

    3. Keep the colour palate simple

    We all love a splash of colour, the important thing is to not get carried away! Choose a colour that complements your logo. Restrict yourself to a few colours. Maybe a couple key colours and then a couple of extras. If you need any help choosing colours, there's heaps of help out there - HubSpot does a good introductory guide.

    Another interesting idea to think about is how certain colours match your brand. This infographic shows how certain colours interact with our emotions:

    Colour emotion guide good education website essentials


    What message do you want to send?

    You've seen above the Melbourne Uni website had a blue header and menu. That blue scheme is represented throughout the website. I think Melbourne Uni would definitely like to promote themselves as a trustworthy, dependable and strong institute of higher learning, wouldn't you agree?

     

    4. Make important information easy to find

    When you visit a website you often arrive with a sense of the information you're after. It's often the crucial stuff about the organisation - phone number, location, services offered, pricing. Nothing is more annoying that not being able to easily find this stuff!

    Higher education has it a bit harder in this area than some, since they can be quite large and offer a number of 'services' (research, courses, media contact, reports, college accomodations, opinion etc).

    So remember what your key goals are. Are you trying to increase enrollments? Make sure course information is easy to find and navigate! Have contact information visible! Clearly state deadlines and eligibility requirements. Understand the buyer's journey and you'll be well on your way.

    As an example, here's ACU's course page for an undergraduate degree. It's not especially pretty, but all the information is there! Basic information is up the top, and then you'll see in the below image there's an accordion with all the extra essentials.

    ACU good education website essentials

     

    ACU good education website essentials

     

    5. Tailor your content for the web

    Web writing is not the same as print writing! Please please please please don't copy and paste your brochure onto the website or vice versa. It ain't gonna work. You need to be snappier online, short, sharp and simple. We don't like reading a lot of text online, it's much easier to read on paper - so keep that in mind.

    You need to separate your information into chunks. Web writing does not flow like it does on paper because you're not looking at paper. A website is an interactive experience, ride or die.

    Content strategy is a really interesting area which is emerging as a professional field in its own write because it's so. damn. important. 

    I really like how University of Queensland has arranged their content on this page for prospective students. Clear, simple, friendly and instructional content.

    UQ good education website essentials

    UQ good education website essentials

    UQ good education website essentialsUQ good education website essentials

    UQ good education website essentials

     

    6. Use CTAs

    Inbound marketing basics - get those calls-to-action buzzing! You want visitors to engage - give them options. Do they need more information? Are they ready to convert? Try and cover all the bases you need to depending on where the page sits in a student buyer journey.

    King's College knows where it's at - look at this neat next steps section for their prospective students:

    King's College good education website essentials

     

    7. Optimise SEO

    Keep it simple stupid, we're still in inbound basics! Make sure you're optimising your website or you'll be left in the dust. HubSpot has some excellent advice on this so I'll leave it to them to educate you. The point is, optimise!

    If you're waiting for an image here, you won't get one. I think my words are perfectly illustrative and I'm providing you a good picture of SEO success.

     

    8. Integrate external tools seamlessly

    Integrate or burn! (I'm getting good at these vaguely threatening catch phrases) This of course refers to social media, but think about the other stuff - forms, booking software, payments. Whatever online services your website offers to visitors, make sure it does it well and that you have adequate online support and IT facilities.

    There's some really cool stuff going on with social media right now, like this neat trick from Victoria University. On their Facebook page, they have a VU Course Finder!

    VU good education website essentials

     

    9. Optimise for all screen sizes

    Your website should work on ALL DEVICES. No exceptions. It should look fabulous on a desktop and a phone. If I rotate my tablet, it should still look fabulous. That's what I expect from my future provider of future education. Don't make it hard for me or I will drop you like I dropped my jeans the other day when I saw a spider on them - with a sudden expulsion of disgust and dismay.

    Cambridge pulling it off nicely with the PC and the smartphone:

    Cambridge good education website essentials mobile optimise

     

    Cambridge good education website essentials mobile optimise

     

    10. Get a good webhost

    Choose your website host carefully! Not all providers are the same and they each have different strengths, weaknesses and pricing options. Don't just look for 'the best'. You wouldn't walk into a bike shop and just ask for the best bike. You'd ask for the best road bike with carbon fork under $2000. Or the best kid's bike with the coolest paint job. We all want different things.

    Do your research because a good host is more than just convenience for you, it has a real impact on your website performance. There are a number of excellent hosts out there - we use HubSpot and recommend it for most of our clients if we think it is a good fit.

    Conclusion

    So there you have it, some food for thought for all you champion education marketers out there! You are in a truely unique postion to make your website work for you. Many of your buyer personas are ripe for a good website, so get cracking!

    Here at Connect Labs we are strong believers in the value of a good education, that's why we love working with education clients! If you're interested in knowing more about how inbound strategy can boost your organisation, why not get started here?

     

    The_Ultimate_Guide_to_Education_Marketing

     

    Alex McLean
    Post by Alex McLean
    April 14, 2016
    Content Manager at Connect Labs. From a communications background but I'm a information sponge - inform me please! Lover of cats and the Saints. I'll quote the Simpsons at you all day. Let there be good content for all.