Winning on SinglesFinding an Effective Use for Your Web Site

Paradox Keeps You From Hitting Home Runs

Paradox #1: Do you have 1 site or many sites?

• The University of Kentucky• The Markey Cancer Center• The Department of Geology• The University Strategic Plan• The College of Fine Arts• The School of Architecture• UK HealthCare• Agriculture Extension• Visitors Center• Residence Life

Paradox #1: Do you have 1 site or many sites?• Proctor & Gamble

– “PG.com”– Gillette– Folgers– IAMS

• Virgin– “Welcome to the online home of all the

Virgin companies”– Virgin Atlantic– Virgin Music– Virgin Mega

Paradox #1: Do you have 1 site or many sites?

Paradox #1: Do you have 1 site or many sites?

“One of the biggest mistakes that colleges make is to organize their site like they organize their institution.”

- Dr. Robert A. Sevier, Senior Vice President STAMATS

Paradox #1: Do you have 1 site or many sites?

There are a number of studies that suggest students are actually turned off by large complicated Web pages. From their perspective, rather than wading through layer after layer looking for the one thing they are seeking, it is just easier to move on to the next college’s Web site.

Paradox #1: Do you have 1 site or many sites?

Web Trivia #1

What is the #1 reason people visit a Web site?

To get a telephone number

Paradox #2: Young are early adopters of new technology, but it means nothing• Blogging

• RSS / Syndication

• Podcasting

• Facebook.com

• Text Messaging

• Flash and Video

• Etc.

Paradox #2: Young are early adopters of new technology, but it means nothing

[A recent] study found that, contrary to stereotype, teens as a group are not as adept as adults in navigating the Web…The teens completed such tasks 55% of the time, compared with 66% of adults in a previous study.

The results echo other studies. "There is this notion out there that these amazing multitasking, multigadget kids are running circles around their parents," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "And some of them are. But the out-of-it addled parent is now a pretty Internet-savvy person, by and large."

“Study shows some teens not as Web-savvy as parents” By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY

Paradox #2: Young are early adopters of new technology, but it means nothingThe worst words I hear these days are “I

think we need a blog.”

“I like it when you do something cool, but if you try to do something cool and it isn’t there, I just think you suck. Better not to have tried.”

Feedback forum respondent, 2004

Form follows function. True today as it ever was.

Paradox #2: Young are early adopters of new technology, but it means nothing

A Closer Look…at blogs:

http://www.truthlaidbear.com/ecosystem.php

Web Trivia #2

Repeated studies show that teens don’t like small font sizes anymore than adults do.

Paradox #3: The Web site is centrally situated but only in support of everything else.• Has anyone ever been impressed

with a TV commercial?

• How about a Web site?

• Studies show that the Web does not have the stickiness on image that TV does.

• Ironically, it has a stickiness on trust.

Paradox #3: The Web site is centrally situated but only in support of everything else.

Web site has a mean of 5.5

Paradox #3: The Web site is centrally situated but only in support of everything else.

Web Trivia #3

Whose site do you get when you type in “University” on Google?

Harvard University, are you really surprised?

Paradox #4: Information is everything, but you must share it by not tellingWeb sites are the first point of

contact but succeed on the boring stuff

• Surveys show for both Parents and Students the Web is easily the first point of contact.

• Surveys show that most are looking first for information (# Choice is “Majors”)

Paradox #4: Information is everything, but you must share it by not telling

Paradox #4: Information is everything, but you must share it by not telling“The question isn’t how to

accommodate faculty who want a Web site. Rather, the question is how to best position faculty on the Web to improve recruiting.”

- Dr. Robert A. Sevier

Senior Vice President STAMATS

Paradox #4: Information is everything, but you must share it by not telling

What distinguishes young people is there responsiveness to interactivity.

Paradox #4: Information is everything, but you must share it by not telling“The purpose of your Web site is not

about this technology or that feature. It is not about promoting this program or that event. It is not about telling and selling and yelling. Rather, it is all about building community; it is about creating a relationship between your institution and your most important audiences—prospective students, alumni, donors, and others.”

- Dr. Robert A. SevierSenior Vice President STAMATS

Web Trivia #4

Who is better at adapting to new technology, women or men?

A number of studies show women in aggregate tend to adopt technologies faster than men even though men are more likely to be the earliest adopters.

Selective college entrants are 63% female.

Paradox #5: There’s no technology in the Web“Symphonies only have one conductor, and in many

respects your Web strategy, with its many orchestrated components, is appropriately viewed as a symphony. On most campuses, your Web strategy should be conducted by the same person who leads your overall marketing strategy. Generally, this is not someone from IT. In the old days, when the Web was new and speed was measured in baud rates, the IT people were the only ones who could decipher the technology. Now, if your Web site contains technology that only your IT people understand, you are probably heading for trouble. Do prospective students and other key audiences a big favor and put a professional communicator in charge of your site. Have IT play a support role, but make it clear who is in charge.”

- Dr. Robert A. SevierSenior Vice President STAMATS

Paradox #5: There’s no technology in the WebWhat the Web Team Must Have:

• A clear goal• Concrete and simple guidelines for creating and

approving content• Sufficient time and money• Authority to do the job

Bringing It All Together

1. Most likely you have one Web site with many views

2. Technology is a tool not a destination

3. A Web site without a marketing strategy is better known as a virtual junk drawer

4. Like any product a Web site must sell itself, fill a need

5. Staffing for the Web must be deliberate

Resources

• http://www.stamats.com/whitepapers/pdf/WhitePaper12.pdf

• http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-30-teens-usat_x.htm

• http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20050131.html

• http://www.womensbusinessresearch.org/mediacenter/9-30-1997/9-30-1997.htm