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A Prospective Student website developed for Houghton College uses personalized URLs, variable data printing and customized web pages to boost direct marketing response rates and drive website traffic (http://explore.houghton.edu/).

Personalized Marketing

A key component of this project is the use of personalized URLs and variable data printing to gain the attention of targeted prospects, create a more effective direct marketing campaign, and increase direct response rates. The college launched the website by sending a series of printed mailers, plus an email blast, to a mailing list of 25,555 high school students, and received 1,575 responses. The message to prospective students included a personalized URL (http://explore.houghton.edu/firstnamelastname) and a unique password. This information was generated by preloading the mailing list into the database, and the system creating a set of unique user names and passwords that could be used with the mailing.

The 6.2% response rate to the initial communication was almost equally split between those who responded via paper (743 or 47%) and those who responded electronically (832 or 53%).

Customized Web Pages

To create a more personalized experience for prospective students, Houghton’s website now invites users to build customized pages that display information about the college tailored to their specific interests. As part of the registration process, users complete both a personal and interest profile which gathers information on their interests from academics (majors, study abroad programs) to extracurricular programs such as athletics, drama or music. After completing the profile, the site generates a set of personalized pages with an overview of each interest area and links to more content on the college website.

Maintaining Visitor Interest

A key goal of the website project was to gain mindshare and invite visitors to browse the site to learn more about the college and its programs. The site uses innovative technology (Flash video, animated slide shows, a Flash document viewer and visitor polls) to create a more interactive user experience.

Results tracked using Google Analytics have been outstanding with good response in terms of pages per visit (4.5), average time on site (2:33) and a very low bounce rate (less than 5% of visitors are viewing only one page, versus 35% for the Admission section of the main website).

Linked to Ongoing Promotional Activities and Google AdWords

The ongoing plan is to use the website as a key marketing vehicle and landing page as key marketing tools to continue building relationships with prospective students entering their college search. Because the website is targeted specifically for prospective students, the website can speak directly to prospective students and highlight news and create an electronic view book of college life. The new content and expanded capabilities also encourages student prospects to engage in a dialogue that helps bond them with the college and voluntarily enroll in a relationship building process that earns loyalty. Use of Google AdWords each month provides an ongoing stream of new prospects, and additional direct mail campaigns and email blasts are being designed to drive traffic to the website.

Highlights of Website Development

The Houghton Prospective Students Website was developed using standards-based HTML and CSS for the interface, with PHP providing the connection to a MySQL database. The slideshows and video players are driven by SlideShowPro for Flash using a server-based software product called SlideShowPro Director. The Flash document viewer is powered by Issuu. Polls are driven by PollDaddy.

Effective internet marketing starts with a vision of how the web fits into your overall strategic plan.

The most important step of a website and website design is to develop an internet marketing strategy. This seems simple enough, but you would be surprised at the number of executives and marketing people that move forward with their website design and internet marketing without having a strategic plan with goals and objectives.

Most importantly, if it hasn’t been planned right, it won’t generate revenue and a return on investment. Worse, it’ll drain valuable resources, turn customers away, and your online marketing efforts will be mediocre at best. After all, a successful Internet marketing strategy goes far beyond the look and feel of your website. 

Crafting a sound Internet strategy requires planning and effort, not to mention high-level business acumen and an expert understanding of the technical and communicative structures and trends of the online environment. It is an action plan for achieving your online marketing goals. It should be an integral component of your overall business strategy for creating and keeping customers and based on your business goals. And it’s one of the most important items a company can invest in.

Whether you’re developing your first web site or upgrading an existing one the basic steps for building a online marketing strategy are the same. It should begin with a broad vision, one that includes but is not restricted to visitor traffic and is centered on the entire sales life cycle. Internet marketing is all about hard results, so stay focused on increasing sales, increasing market share, and increasing and developing your brand.

Before you build or upgrade your website, before you even write a single word of content step back and understand the role of your web site. Then define your potential market before you enter it.

It’s the basic building block that the internet is built around. Put in time and research. Assess the possibilities and the reality of your business situation. Define and set measurable goals and objectives – those that will bring you a temporary boost in traffic as well as a steady stream over time. Learn and apply the 3Cs and the 10Ps of Internet marketing to build a solid and practical foundation. And develop action items that will help you achieve your goals. If you currently have a site, do a comprehensive web site audit evaluating structure, content, navigation, past performance, and usability. As a process, it all boils down to research, strategic planning, implementation and measurement. It’s important to understand your traditional marketing goals, and how your Internet marketing strategy meets and exceeds those marketing goals? The Internet is a different beast but should have synergy with your current traditional marketing efforts to drive your business forward and increase your revenue. Companies with the highest success rates are those that use the Internet in combination with their off-line approach. If you view your web marketing strategy as a separate entity from your traditional marketing efforts, you’re setting your organization up for failure.

Keep in mind that Internet marketing is an ongoing process in which you plan and implement a marketing strategy, analyze the results, adjust the technique to improve traffic and identify new opportunities. It’s not a one shot deal. In short it’s a process not a project. Look at your Internet marketing strategy as a plan that is constantly evolving. Like the every changing environment of the Internet keep on top of new trends and innovation, continue measuring, benchmarking, and adjusting your plan.

Today, more companies are looking to outsourcing a portion of their Internet marketing to experts who can deliver successful results. There are a multitude of web design companies and also a number of internet marketing consultants. The two are different disciplines and to find a company that offers both skill sets under one roof is rare. If you are looking to outsource all or a portion of your Internet marketing look for an integrated Internet marketing agency not just a digital agency and one that has a dedicated Internet strategist on their team.

A skilled internet marketing strategist is an expert in online marketing. They possess a broad but advanced skills set of tools, resources, and knowledge along with highly specialized expertise in creative, technical and the marketing field. Moreover, they understand how people use websites, not just why. This psychological perspective and human understanding is important when it comes to web design, optimization, and marketing.

Lastly, don’t make the mistake of thinking there is one basic Internet marketing strategy that can be adapted to your business – in fact there are thousands. No two companies have the same working background, the same specificity of business or the same features. A sound Internet marketing strategy is complex, vital, and unique to your business. Avoid prescriptive strategies because every brand is different and ‘one size fits all’ just does not work.

Today, the Internet is the most measurable, results-driven mass-marketing vehicle available but strategy and planning is essential to reaching success on the Internet. It’s the foundation for delivering powerful results. Like traditional marketing, it’s a business investment, and it is an investment that has the potential to bring forth many returns.

Sun Tzu said it simply but perfectly, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Plan for victory!

Sandy Behan
Director of Marketing and Client Services
Stratejus

Integrated Flash component allows user to easily explore Cheesy Eddie's product line-up.

When we set out to redesign the Cheesy Eddie’s website (www.cheesyeddies.com), we knew the cheesecake itself needed to be the star. With more than 20 swirled and infused flavored cheesecakes, plus a line-up of “Over the Top” cheesecakes with names like “Oreo Explosion”, the strategy was to capture interest and attention by making it easy for surfers to interactively explore Cheesy Eddie’s product line-up. So we focused the design on putting the product front and center, using strong visuals and interactive Flash technology to capture the interest of visitors.

Animated Flash Slide Shows

The key to the website’s design concept is a series of animated slide shows. Playing in fixed windows and embedded into the site’s page design, the slide shows quickly deliver the basics of Cheesy Eddie’s message. The bakery “started with a great family recipe” for cheesecake, and has become a Rochester tradition offering a wide array of products. A series of interactive buttons make it simple for visitors to explore these options including traditional cheesecakes, “Over the Top” cheesecakes, carrot cakes, “Chocolate Lover’s” and “On the Lighter Side” offerings.

Slide show application software on the Stratejus Web server is used to manage a total of nine slide shows on the site. This software integrates with Flash movies on the Cheesy Eddie’s site, and is used to create the albums of images and captions that deliver specifics on individual products. It is simple to add or delete images, and manage other multimedia assets such as Flash movie files and video.

We are seeing increased interest in using animated slide shows and Flash technology to deliver targeted messages because of their visual appeal and ability to grab the attention of visitors. These presentations use elegant animations, thumbnail images, customizable captions and user controls to provide a multimedia experience that separates a website from its competition. Here are a couple other sites we helped design, Myrtle Beach Villa and Hollerbrook Builders, which also make effective use of this approach and technology.

Importance of Photography

Quality photography is vital to the overall presentation.

During the project, we took more than a thousand photos of cheesecake and the other desserts at Cheesy Eddie’s bakery. Utilizing a portable lighting system, we were able to set up studio lighting on-site at the bakery to capture the complete array in less than two days of shooting. With taking that many photos, we could see the visual impact, especially of product close-ups, and reinforced for us the importance of presenting the products effectively. It also demonstrated how website excellence is often linked to a strong visual presentation, and many organizations need to invest to make sure they have strong imagery to support their website presentations – even if they’re not selling cheesecakes.

E-Commerce Integration

A key goal for this project was tight integration of the shopping cart with the overall product presentation.

A second key area in the Cheesy Eddie’s redesign was integrating their online store into the overall website presentation. The strategy was to present the product in a “mouth watering” way and then make it easy for customers to order online.

Stratejus created a solution for e-commerce that works for Cheesy Eddie’s utilizing free, user-friendly, open source shopping cart software. This standard shopping cart software supports categories, featured products, bestsellers and more. Web-based administrative tools make it easy to add/delete products, change pricing and create special offers for customers.

A key feature was integration with the USPS Web Tools program to provide online access to shipping costs, a shipping calculator integrated into the website and administrative tools to simplify the logistics of processing orders. Integration with PayPal and their free basic business account option eliminated the cost and need for a secure certificate and online credit card processing.

If you haven’t been to the Cheesy Eddie’s website, take a look and tell us what you think.

Screen resolution market share in January 2009.

According to the Net Applications Market Share website, the total market share for 800×600 monitors stood at a paltry 4.25% in January 2009. But for the vast majority of websites, these monitors remain the design standard. Major media outlets and innovative companies such as Apple Computer have already made the switch to 1024×768 designs, but we think now is the time for nearly everyone to consider the switch as well.

Here are the reasons we advise clients to contemplate the switch:

A bigger window on the world.

Your website is by far the most important element in your marketing and communications efforts.  There as a time when people relied on printed literature to learn about your organization, but no longer.   Your website is your portal to the world.  Add to that the fact that more than 50% of your website visitors will, on average, stay for less than 30 seconds and you can see the value of the larger portal and 63% more screen real estate to present your message.

Designing for 1024x768 provides a much larger display area.

Larger visuals, more compelling design and presentation.

The larger window will have all kinds of positive effects on your site design and visual presentation.  Images can be larger and the design of the page is more open.  There are more options, especially in terms of the user interface and sidebar elements, to help users navigate your site more easily.  Multi-column layouts become more important with the wider screen area, and will create visual interest.

More opportunity for Web 2.0 elements in your design.

The larger portal area provides more opportunities to effectively utilize interactive components, animated slide shows, videos and other new media elements on your site.  The current trends in web design are toward sites that feature a rich, user friendly interface, multimedia components, blogs and basically more controls and options for the user.  The larger presentation area provides opportunities that can enhance creativity, communications, information sharing, collaboration and functionality of your website.

The perception is that you’re on the cutting edge.

Because most sites are not designed for the larger screen sizes yet, your site will be viewed as ahead of the times.   Your website will be perceived to be bigger and more visual, because it will be bigger and there is a great opportunity to use the larger display to separate your presentation from the competition.  View your current website on a very high resolution monitor, and see how small it seems.

You’re not leaving the 5% behind.

Even though the new design will target the 1024×768 monitor, users with the smaller screens will still have equal access to your site. Just make sure care is taken to guarantee that the presentation will be effective on 800×600 monitors, even though users will need to scroll to see some page content.

All in all, our advice is to look seriously at the larger design option when you’re ready to redesign your site.  In many ways, as the web continues to grow and evolve, website design and programming are becoming more demanding and complex.  There are more browsers to support, and a need to incorporate the newest design ideas and technologies to keep your organization and its message at the forefront.  We feel that designing for the larger monitors is an important next step.

Here is the framework of our plan for this blog:

Marketing and Communication Strategies

• Looking at what we’re doing in the big picture
• How effective strategy plays a role in content, design, development and integrated marketing

Website Development

• How the web is evolving and the implications for the future
• Ideas and perspectives on how marketers can be more effective on the web
• Thoughts on new media, design trends and software

Print Communications

• Design trends, challenges and opportunities
• New technology, software and its impact on print media

Featured Work

• Presentation of interesting projects

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