EDU Checkup

Site Scores:

Today’s Tip:

Homepage design should be treated as a web document and not a print document. The goal is to get eye balls interacting with the content and not just be visually appealing. Space has a different meaning on the web, you can expand the page past the fold and separate information into usable chunks.

Episode Links:

• University Web Developers – Ning.com

Site Scores:

Today’s Tip:

Don’t make your users guess. Make sure things are labeled the way a user would looking for them. For example the term “Search” is easier to understand than “Submit Query.” In addition if you are on a department page that only has just a few programs, instead of hiding them behind a link labeled “Programs” just list them out and avoid that extra click and potential confusion.

Episode Links:

• eduStyle.net Twitter

Site Scores:

Today’s Tip:

On pages that target perspective students you should at the very least have links to “Request more information”, “Apply Now” and “Contact Us”. This give the user options for their next action step. It does not only make the user feel like you care but it can also lead to contact information for prospects. Additionally if you wanted to mine your site a little deeper you can see what pages the users clicks on those links to give you an idea what your “decision maker” pages are or ones that are causing confusion.

Episode Links:

• Higher Ed Experts

Site Scores:

Today’s Tip:

When ever possible run your HTML through a code cleaner to eliminate extra white space and newlines. This could reduce the size of your pages by up to 30%. Since your users are not too concerned with how well your code is formatted to them the only difference they will see is a quicker loading web page.