Home > News > The Monday Marketing Minute Archive > Put Your Web Site on a Diet

 

Eliminate the Junk. Like you would your own diet, look over your Web site. Remove all the junk (dead links, out-dated pages, old campus maps, past event registrations) and start monitoring what you put into it.

 

Reality: Not everything needs to be on your Web site at the same time. Be judicious. Think about your audience. What is going to make a student apply? What is going to make a student enroll? Make sure the information students and parents need is up-to-date and presented in an interesting way that’s easy to find.

 

Challenge: Take inventory of your Web site in a basic Excel document. You need to know what is on the Web site, who put it there and who is responsible for maintaining it. If it’s old, outdated or incorrect, eliminate it.

Take Care of What’s There. Like your body, your Web site needs exercise. It’s not good for your Web site to just hang out. Make sure there is plan in place and time on the calendar for updates and enhancements. Make a routine, just as you would for your own workout.

 

Reality: The more activity on your site, the better the results. To get more activity, your content needs to change and be interactive. Visitors will not come back if they cannot complete critical tasks and get answers to questions.

 

Challenge: This year I challenge you to look at the content on your Web site and think about delivering it in a more interactive way using Web. 2.0 tools. For example, do you have pages of information on the financial aid process or hundreds of FAQs? I am not recommending you get rid of these, rather get your site into better shape by presenting the financial aid information or FAQs using short videos.

 

Monitor your Progress.  We all hate stepping on the scale, but how else can you make sure your diet is working? The same goes for your Web site. Make sure you constantly monitor traffic and downloads to see what’s working.

 

Reality: Data abounds. One of the biggest advantages to marketers who use technology is the ability to track (based on data, not gut) whether or not your campaigns and activities are successful.

 

Challenge: Think of how much time and energy is spent by committees to determine color schemes, navigation and photography for your site. My challenge to you this year is to take all this effort and get a Web site maintenance plan in place. In addition, identify the key Web metrics that make a difference and report on those each month.

 

Keep these resolutions all year and your Web site will be fit and in tip-top shape.

 

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