Defining Target Audiences: Who Are We Talking To, Really?

When I ask higher ed web teams who their primary audience is, inevitably the answer is "prospective students." Makes sense, right? Since higher ed websites are such an important marketing tool, most people will agree prospective student is an appropriate primary audience. Yet, when you navigate college websites, how well does content speak to this audience? And what about other audiences? How do they fit in? The reality is we cater to … [Read more...]

Introducing Your Content: Page Titles and Headings

Last week, Georgy talked about the importance of headlines for introducing stories and enticing readers. But how do these lessons learned for headlines in news and featured content translate to other forms of content — such as admissions and academic webpages? Page titles and headings also play an important role for all content on our websites. Readers rely on page titles and headings to navigate websites and understand what is relevant and … [Read more...]

Planning for Content Beyond the Web

The following guest post was written by Dave Olsen, a programmer and project manager at West Virginia University. Dave will be speaking at Confab Higher Ed in Atlanta, GA this November. "Get your content ready to go anywhere," says web designer Brad Frost, "because it’s going to go everywhere." For many, responsive web design has become the solution for ensuring that their content is, as Brad noted, “ready to go anywhere.” It’s a simple … [Read more...]

Portal Websites: The Great Content Divide

In the Star Trek universe, a "portal" is a doorway to another dimension, connecting two points in space-time. In higher ed, a portal is just as fantastic — an internal website intended to better target users, remove content clutter and improve content governance. Voila! Well, maybe. Portal websites aim to meet these goals by dividing content directed at external audiences (such as prospective students, parents and media) and internal … [Read more...]

Higher Ed Takeaways From Confab Minneapolis 2013

Last week, I attended Confab Minneapolis 2013. And it rocked. I was joined by an international community of content professionals to challenge our thinking and help advance the evolving discipline of content strategy. We also enjoyed a lot of cake. As in past years, the higher ed community was well represented. If you missed the event, don’t fret. Confab Higher Ed has yet to come (more on that later). Like many Confab-ers, I left Minneapolis … [Read more...]