More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
Digital marketing best practices 2013 in higher ed
1. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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Philippe Taza
DIGITAL ANALYST
Higher Education Marketing
ptaza@higher-education-marketing.com
Digital Marketing Best Practices
2013 in Higher Ed
FOR LEAD GENERATION & RECRUITMENT
2. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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BEST PRACTICE FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
3. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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Mobile Websites
Responsive Web Design
User/Goal-Driven Design
BRANDING & WEBSITE DESIGN
4. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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Web traffic via mobile phones doubled from
4.6% in 2011 to 9.3% in 2012
MOBILE WEBSITES
5. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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RESPONSIVE WEBSITES
6. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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USER/GOAL-DRIVEN WEBSITE DESIGN
7. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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The SEO Iceberg
On-Page SEO
Off-Page SEO - link building
SEO Tools
International SEO
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
8. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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THE SEO ICEBERG
9. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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ON-PAGE SEO
1. Search friendly url
2. H1 & H2 tags
3. Optimized Copy
4. Image Tags
5. Keyword strategies
6. User led copy
7. Videos
8. Go the extra mile
Source: www.searchenginepeople.com
10. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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OFF-PAGE SEO – link building
Examples
1. stanford.edu
2. chronicle.com
3. wordpress.org
4. livejournal.com/
schools/
5. facebook.com
11. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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POPULAR SEO TOOLS
Tools $ Functions
Paid
Competitive Keyword rankings,
technical diagnostic of domain, Link
Analysis
Paid Link Analysis
Paid
Competitive Keyword rankings, Social
Signals, YouTube Rankings by Keyword
Free
Technical diagnostic of domain,
Impression data by keyword and
pages, Setup settings of your domain
Free Similar to GWT but for Bing
12. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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INTERNATIONAL SEO
13. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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INTERNATIONAL SEO: RESULTS VARY
14. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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Content Strategy
The 3 Dimensions of Content Marketing
Align Content Marketing with Brand
Social Media Baseline
Leveraging Social Content
Social Content ROI
Google Authorship
SOCIAL CONTENT
15. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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CONTENT STRATEGY
16. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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THE 3 DIMENSIONS OF CONTENT MARKETING
17. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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ALIGN CONTENT MARKETING WITH BRAND
STRATEGY
1. Identify what your organization
wants to say and how it wants
to be perceived
2. Align all messaging with
organization wide messaging
3. Determine what content is
appropriate for users or what
is not
4. Align messaging across all channels
5. Know your important keywords
18. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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SOCIAL MEDIA BASELINE
PLATFORM CONTENT STRATEGY SHARING FREQUENCY
News, Success Stories,
Events, ETC.
2-3 a week
Best of all content
shared everywhere Once a day
News about the
college and the
community
4 times a day
Video capsules Once a month
Business-related news
and job postings
Twice a week
19. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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LEVERAGING SOCIAL CONTENT
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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SOCIAL CONTENT ROI
21. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP
https://plus.google.com/authorship
22. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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AdWords Account Architecture
Aligning the Scent Trail
Important AdWords Features
Mobile PPC Campaigns
PAY PER CLICK MARKETING
23. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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ADWORDS ACCOUNT ARCHITECTURE
24. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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ALIGNING THE SCENT TRAIL IN PPC
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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IMPORTANT ADWORDS FEATURES
Location Extensions: Google
Places
Site links Extensions: Link to
Program/Faculty Pages
Social Extensions: Link to G+
Page
Call Extensions: Essential for
Mobile PPC
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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MOBILE PPC CAMPAIGNS
Need high ad position
Use ad extensions
Use mobile landing pages
27. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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Website Goals
Web Analytics Highlights
Online Application Funnel
Track Online & Offline Channels
Assisted vs. Last Interaction
Conversions
Top Conversion Paths
ANALYTICS - DRIVEN MARKETING
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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WEBSITE GOALS: CALLS TO ACTION
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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WEB ANALYTICS HIGHLIGHTS
Year over Year
Traffic is flat
Info Sessions are
down 10% Year
over Year
Register Now are up
108% Month over
Month
30. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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ONLINE APPLICATION FUNNEL
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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TRACK ONLINE & OFFLINE CHANNELS
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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ASSISTED VS LAST INTERACTION CONVERSIONS
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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TOP CONVERSION PATHS
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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Use GA to Prioritize Optimization
Landing Page Optimization
A/B Testing
Conversion Rate Optimization
LEAD GENERATION OPTIMIZATION
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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USE GOOGLE ANALYTICS TO PRIORITIZE
OPTIMIZATION
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION
1. Unique selling proposition
2. Benefits
3. Hero shot
4. Context of use
5. Request for data
6. Backup or safety net call to
action (CTA)
7. The main CTA
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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A/B TESTING
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FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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CONVERSION RATE OPTIMIZATION
(% of Company Respondents, Nov 2012)
39. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
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The future is mobile
Business goals >website goals >analytics goals
You must do SEO
Content lays at the center of all your online
initiatives
Use analytics to drive continuous improvement
Optimize your lead gen across all channels
CONCLUSIONS
40. Digital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013
FOR LEAD GENERATION AND RECRUITMENT
Slide 40
Philippe Taza
Tel: 514-312-3968 ext:104
ptaza@higher-education-marketing.com
www.higher-education-marketing.com
http://www.linkedin.com/company/higher-education-marketing
https://twitter.com/EduWebMarketing
http://www.facebook.com/higher.ed.marketing
https://pinterest.com/EduWebMarketing/
CONNECT WITH HEM
Hinweis der Redaktion
Housekeeping – PSEWEB is for college and university marketers, programmers, designers, digital architects and community managers – the people behind the online faces of our institutions. – practitioners, implementers and their managersDigital Marketing Best Practices for Higher Ed 2013 ( WITH FOCUS ON LEAD GEN AND RECRUITMENT)Monday June 24th , 4:15 -4:55 – 40 minutes40 minutes – 35 present , 5 questionsWill have a few minutes at the end for questionsThis presentation will provide an review of current best practices in digital marketing and online lead generation for Colleges and Universities. The presentation will review recent developments and evolving best practices in digital marketing in higher education, including website design, analytics, search engine optimization, pay per click, content marketing, and social media and will discuss how they are applied in student lead generation and recruitment.At this presentation you will learn: - What (on-page and off-page) SEO tactics you need to use in Google's Penguin-based world - How to determine if your content strategy is working - If your investment in social media is paying dividends - If you're using Google analytics to its fullest advantageWill learn about best practices in higher ed digital marketingWill take away new tactics in lead generation marketingWill learn about new applications of web analytics to higher ed mktgThis talk will provide an update on best practices in digital marketing for higher ed lead generation and recruitment, including SEM, SEO, pay-per-click, content marketing, analytics, and social media
A few high level comments Rapidly changing world of digital marketingEmerging technology, increasing competition, increasing sophistication of marketplaceMust evolving your marketing practices to stay ahead of competitionWe are going to present and discuss emerging and priority best practices in each of these areas that has most significance to this group
Q: Poll the audience to see if they know their % mobile trafficQ: Poll the audience to see what percentage is RWD vs mobile sites,Q: How many institutions have mobile appsQ: How many are using mobile apps analyticsDRILL Down a bit into thisDiscuss college and university mobile traffic stats Three examples, ?????
Increasing # of mobile devices accessing your college sitesThe average reported share of traffic via mobile phones on institutional websites doubled in a year from 4.6% in 2011 to 9.3% in 2012.HigherEdExperts Survey March 2013 -171 higher ed institutions*****- 61% now have a mobile solution, another 20 % will implement in 1 yearSchools are now now assigning mobile budgetsStill a split between in support between dedicated mobile vs responsive15% have adopted a mobile first approach88% of institutions now target internal audiences with mobile, including students, staff and faculty 90% of new mobile solutions are targetting prospective studentsKarineJoly, University Business http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/2012-state-mobile-web-higher-ed*****User experience considerations on mobile devices- discuss the desktop is dead- Discuss mobile usage pattern is changing – more people do not have a desktop, so mobile search and usage is now evolving to include more research and browsing intent vs very targetted search intent.Average time on mobile sitesWebsite design considerations for mobile Lead generation on mobile - conversion rates vs desktop
Q: how many schools have a responsive site?
Q: Who is tracking what visitors do on their website?Q: Who has “Goals” set up in Google analytics?Mobile first effects thisProvide a definition of goal driven designTalk about conversion events, recruitment funnels, landing pages Goals in analytics are function of business goals of the schoolUsing personas and scenariosPage flow optimizationLanding page optimizationEmphasize the point that all of the best practices can be applied to any goal, not just lead gen
Seo is a constantly evolving field, if not adapting to the changes are falling behind Google search algorithm changes – panda, authorship, freshness Mobile is changing everything Very competitive now, no longer acceptable to rely on branded keyword rankings onlyEnterprise SEO is written by search marketers responsible for managing SEO for large scale websites or managing a number of enterprise-level or multiple brand sites under one corporate umbrella. Topics range from handling technical challenges to working with multiple key stakeholders and getting everyone to play nice together.
Discuss relative importance of on and off page seoQ: how many people have a budget line in their current budget into SEOQ: Does your investment in SEO to date reflect this 80:20 reality?This is why you must invest in off page today.http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/search-engine-optimization-myths/on-page-off-page-seo/In our experience (on one hand) we have been able to get websites ranked using 60% on page SEO and 40% off page, while (on the other hand) we have been able to use links alone to push a page to the top without ever touching any on page metrics.The factors which determine what percentage or just how much time and energy you can commit to either the on page or off page metrics is controlled by the age and authority of your website, the quality of links, the supporting content and how many links (and the type, volume, frequency and quality of links) you are able to concentrate on each keyword.The takeaway is, you need both – the breakout depends greatly on multiple granular variables, but as a rule of thumb, the stronger the on page SEO, the easier it is for a website to (1) gain authority and (2) serve as a beacon or hub page to rank other pages without the need for off page optimization.
http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/2012-on-page-seo.html6. User Led CopyMake sure that you know who your visitors are and what it is they need and want. Most websites attract more than one kind of user so make sure that you are speaking to all your potentials. Your website is some of the most valuable marketing collateral that you own so make sure that you give it the attention that deserves – it has the ability to speak to more than one type of visitor or consumer so invest the time and effort to do so.Ask yourself: Do I know who my target audience are and what they like? If not you may need to do some more research.Se8. Going The Extra MileThe search engines have to serve results that are relevant and useful to their users otherwise they could lose them. Are you going the extra mile to please, excite and delight your visitors? Does your web page deserve to rank for competitive keywords? Will it be useful to those that click on it or is it just to attract traffic? Going the extra mile sets you apart from the competition. Can you look at your pages and can honestly say that they are some of the best out their in your niche? If so you are your way to doing well in the search results…now you just have to tie that in with all you other marketing efforts.Ask yourself: Have I presented the page in a diverse way? Will these pages talk to a number of people? Would users benefit from graphs, more photos, data – what do they need?Read more: http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/2012-on-page-seo.html#ixzz2WrC3ja8fWordpress or OmniupdateOn-page SEO is critical to SERP rankings Must be done to rank wellAll basic elements are required What is often forgotten by people but picked up by Google:3 of the most important: Keywords: do you know what are the keywords for which your school is ranking?Meta descriptionsImage Title Tags OptimizationStructure and navigation: ex: Champlain storyDifferent domains for one same school: problem of cross domain tracking: impossible to know where the traffic was coming fromDifferent domains once they had changed their website address
Q: Where your search rankings effected by Penguin 2 last week?Q: How many of you do regular link building for your website?Q:Why are links still so important today in SEO? Ex: Why links are important to Program page rankingsHere are some examples :Social Media : Google+PinterestFacebookTwitterYelpDirectory :Yahoo DirectorycicicLivejournal Schools Directory High Pagerank Sites:wordpressehowOpera.comAOL.comRelevant and trusted siteswikipedia (trusted)Chronicle (Relevant) (not about forum)dmoz (trusted)High Authority:w3.orgcnetstanford.eduyahoo.com
Q: How any of you have a dedicated time and money to your interantionalseo rankings http://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-without-boarders-a-guide-to-international-seo-nick-paterman/60092/1. Domain Name2. Structure2.1 Domain Directories2.2 Separate ccTLDs2.3 Separate Subdomains3. Translation3.1 Professional Translation3.2 Google Translate4. Markup5. Keyword Research6. Onpage7. Link Building8. Common Mistakes
Centennial Collegehttp://www.lingo24us.com/blogs/international-seo-strategy-heart-of-international-growth.htmlHow to approach?There are multilingual search engines that are doing some very interesting stuff, as well as dominating the search engine market in their own countries, like Baidu, (china) Yandex (Russia), Naver (Korean)and Eniro (Nordic and Poland)It’s vital a company echoes their ‘original’ experience for their new international customers. Don’t target the entire world
Global content marketing strategy including social media - Homepage -program pages - form pages - blog - video - social mediaPush the content out to the “conversation places” and the “publishing platforms”.They create links back to your site.Produces engagement and SEO value.Share the sharing path of one of our clients
Syndication sites:StumbleuponDeliciousStorifyRedditQ: Why it content so important today? Do you develop your site content with SEO in mind?What you should strive to do with your content - content creation based on analytics - content optimization for SEO: the need to have new, fresh, regular contentWrite for people, not robots -content sharing on social media (for SEO) - content syndication: basics and impact on SEOImportance of new content – freshness updateContent syndication tacticsImpact of curated content on SEOSEO drives up ranking , increases traffic, increases visitors and increases leads
What is social media strategy Why you need oneExamplesSocial media campaignsSocial media metricsChannel optimizationBest practices in social media
Q What % of this audience meets this minimum baseline?
What is the real impact of social media on lead generationWhat is the real impact of social media on actual enrolements - facebook as a tool to keep prospects engaged from app to acceptMultiple touch lead attribution
PPC is a tactical strategy to generate leads from targeted segments todayCan also be used as a branding strategy in highly competitive nichesWhat is the impact of SEO(organic) optimization when used along side PPC campaigns Google Adwords funtionality
New elements of ppc advertising – location, mapsPPC for branding purposes – highlycompetetive markets like MBAPPC for lead generation- tactical, short term, new programs, launches Targetting of local market with ppcWhat is Content network ppc and why you should use it– lead quality-The engagement process is different from search vs content. Search is about an active consumer looking for information. Content is about advertising products or services next to content where the subject is related to your offer.How is mobile ppc different than traditional ppcUser experience on mobile vs desktopPPC ROICampaign analysisAny New tools for PPC?
Speaking to search intent consistently across each step Assume searcher intent is consistent and reinforce itAssume the “persona” is consistent and reinforce it Use words, images consistently
http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/08/29/mobile-ppc-best-practicesNew elements of PPC advertising – location, mapsTargetting of local market with mobile ppcMost mobile lead generation forms are simpler and less threateningMobile is a much more “directed” search Mobile search is used to find local informationMobile leads to action – search intent is more focussed – this will likely change as mobile device replaces desktop
Dawson College
What can GA do for you?Goals set up and monitoringreport changes assist you to adapt with the changing consumer behaviourRegistration funnels to measure impact of increased SEO, PPC, landing pages etc. New GA data and reports – real-time, events, unknown referrers
Provide a definition of goal driven designTalk about conversion events, recruitment funnels, landing pages Goals in analytics are function of business goals of the schoolUsing personas and scenariosPage flow optimizationLanding page optimization
Provide a definition of goal driven designTalk about conversion events, recruitment funnels, landing pages Goals in analytics are function of business goals of the schoolUsing personas and scenariosLanding page optimizationPage flow optimization- this concept is poorly understood and generally poorly implemented
What kind of results can your expect from social mediaWhat are the social media metrics you should be looking atMost effective referring social media sources Reputation management
New standards of competition , must rise to them to compete use optimization to get thereAudit your site for conversion effectivenessOptimize and test, continuous improvement Include Page Flow Optimization
Use CR and per visit goal value to prioritize optimization efforts
Landing Page Best PracticesMaintaining ScentFocused messaging- very targetted,mplicityvs content richsegmentation pagesoffers – submitvs Get info nowMultistep formsmicrositesaudio, visual elements in lead generatintrust elements - icons, logosanalyticsA/Btesting
Q? - How many people in the room are doing A/B or multivariable testing?Q? – How many people are doing 5 or more A/B tests per month - organizations doing 30 or more A/B test per month have the highest landing page conversion ratesQuantitative testing should be conducted to identify most favourable strategy and content for pages. Establish hypothesis, and test approach, content and design for optimal conversion rates.Multi variable testing to examine multiple options at the same time. ( need traffic volume)
Landing pages are created to produce conversions and must be optimized to do so Desktop vs mobile landing pages
Communication = contentRe emphasize that point that all of these best practices can be applied to any goal, not just lead gent