A college or university's website is of principal strategic importance for engaging with a multitude of demanding audiences in an ever more competitive environment.
Consistent website experiences with intuitive navigation
1. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 1
Consistent Website Experiences
with Intuitive Navigation
2. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 2
1) Following the Prospect’s Path
2) Homepages Are Your Ultimate Brand Statement
3) Landing Pages, Not Crash Landings
4) Intuitive Navigation
5) Content Management Strategy
6) Testing and Optimization
Overview
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Consistent Website Experiences with Intuitive Navigation
3. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 3
A useful exercise for any web designer is to trace the path
backwards from desired action to undecided target market.
For higher education recruiters, the key demographic tends to be
tech-savvy teens, but this can be segmented further according to
various factors, such as your audience's age, level of education,
consumer and social media habits, and perceived preferences.
The importance of a visually appealing website can't be
underestimated.
Particularly for international students with potential language
barriers.
Emerging best practice demands a mobile-first mindset for
student recruitment, recognizing that design must be
optimized for smart phones and tablets.
1. Following the Prospect’s Path
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Consistent Website Experiences with Intuitive Navigation
4. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 4
A university's homepage is the hub of its web presence and
in attempting to appeal to a diverse range of visitors.
The challenge is staying intuitive and uncluttered.
A popular format is to feature a revolving slideshow, each
slide representing a story that appeals to various target
markets with engaging visuals and always prominent calls to
action, i.e. "Apply Now.”
Well-placed navigation bars offer a minimal number of options to
high-value landing pages, such as About, Admissions, Academics,
and Student Life, and should be easily accessible anywhere on your
site.
2. Homepages Are Your Ultimate Brand
Statement
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Consistent Website Experiences with Intuitive Navigation
5. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 5
Bring down your bounce rates with landing pages that
clearly present a manageable amount of focused content
(150-300 words is usually sufficient) in visually engaging
ways.
Capture attention and engage motivation with a large, concise
headline, then get right to the point with a unified goal, message and
desired action.
Your most important messaging and call to action must be
"above the fold" so users can quickly find what they're
seeking with a minimum of reading or scrolling.
Creating a landing page for each segmented user-type eases
performance measurement with analytics while providing paths to
action undiluted by unnecessary distractions.
3. Landing Pages Not Crash Landings
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Consistent Website Experiences with Intuitive Navigation
6. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 6
Developing efficient internal navigation is not always easy to
do well, but it is particularly important for higher education
websites with extensive information to convey.
If visitors have to go back to your homepage every time to find the
content they're seeking, they aren't likely to stay on your site very
long.
Many university websites feature a main navigation bar near
the top and even a second or third row of navigation options
to ensure visitors can quickly move through the site and
search for desired pages.
Each top navigation bar features four to ten options, which may have
dropdown menus, and are constantly visible throughout the site.
4. Intuitive Navigation
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Consistent Website Experiences with Intuitive Navigation
7. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 7
Centralizing and coordinating the web content authoring
process promotes a consistent and compelling experience
across the website.
Without coherent content strategy and development, visitors are
often left with the impression that the university site is only a
disjointed collection of departments, lacking a shared identity,
common vision and commitment to students.
Establishing publishing guidelines, policies and website
governance procedures with standardized branding, process
automation and a preformatted design framework ensures
greater efficiency and consistency on every page of the site.
5. Content Management Strategy
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Consistent Website Experiences with Intuitive Navigation
8. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 8
Analyze from a prospect's perspective to eliminate
distracting elements, extraneous data and complex forms.
Before making changes live, a good rule of thumb is to show an
objective volunteer the screen for five seconds, then ask what the
purpose of the page was.
Validate decisions with A/B testing to compare alternate designs and
messaging, or with and without videos, testimonials and images.
Google Analytics is an excellent tool for tracking website
performance, showing where traffic originated, most popular
landing pages and navigation patterns.
Better design and navigation not only attracts more visitors
to your website and increases conversions, but also
improves organizational effectiveness and promotes the
image of a coordinated and effective institution.
6. Testing and Optimization
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Consistent Website Experiences with Intuitive Navigation
9. Consistent Website Experiences with
Intuitive Navigation
Slide 9
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