Get Your Students Hired
We are planning to have a web site designed for the school. Has anyone else done this? Was it successful?
Hi Guy
At one time we did believe that it's important to provide as much info as possible on a web site. Now we agree in part with you that you want the phone to ring. You also want to provide sufficient info so the person is informed about what you offer. If a lead wants medical assistant and you offer computer training and they got on the wrong site, they are not a good lead for you. Also you want to provide the ability to easily contact you. Nothing more annoying than looking for a phone number or email hot link or way to contact the school. You also want a system or technology to get back to the lead right away before they go to the next school. There's a lot of technology. Here are some folks to contact who offer various products and services to increasee internet lead conversion.
sfsa@getstarts.com
sfsa@beckermedia.net
sfsa@contactdm.com
Best wishes, Susan
We have had a web site for many years but are currently creating a new one to replace it.
Regarding your comment "We suggest that information is included to answer most questions posed by students.", I struggle with the delema of how much information is too much.
I have always believed that the purpose of any advertising is to get the phone to ring. If you give them too much information like the price of each course, detailed date and time information on your schedule, or detailed discriptions of each course, wouldn't that tend to eliminate the need to call or ask for more information?
For example, let's say you have a certification course that cost $10,000. If the prospect is checking out several vendors for pricing and he already has your price, won't he call your competition to get their price to compare? Now the competitor has the oportunity to tell their story, establish report, and get them in for an appointment.
Another example would be a course you scheduled for Monday and Wednesday evenings. When the prospect see the schedule on your web site he may say to himself, "Wednesday is my bowling night, that won't work". So he moves on and never calls or requests more information. If he had called you could have offered to adjust your schedule or start a new course that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
I do think you need to give them a lot of information but not so much where there's no need to ask for more. So again, where do I draw the line?
Guy
Hi Marc
There is something to say about handling your webside in house. First, you can make frequent changes. You can analyze results and make effective decisions about how to work with internet leads. And you can get your admissions reps aware of the opportunities of following up leads from your website. We have also discovered many experts who work with several career schools and have additional insights about how to maximize internet marketing. Best wishes, Susan
We do all of our web design in house. It is very helpful to know it all works.
There is a lot of information on the web how to draw people to your website and
how to build as successful home page.
Hi Barbara
Sounds like you have effective plans in place. It's vital to get back to the online inquiry immediately. And plan all the various ways you get provide information to the prospect. Just explaining one time or answering questions isn't really enough. Prospects need to be able to read, experience, talk about the school experience. Getting them to participate in classes, talk to students and grads, and giving them info are a few ways to educate the lead. Since financial aid is such a pressing question you might want to look at the materials you have to explain it effectively.
Best wishes, Susan
Hi -
Our regular admissions people respond to the email requests and they try to reach the person by phone within 5 minutes. Mostly the prospective students want to know about our programs in detail, what they're going to learn about, and how much it costs. Probably the second most important thing they want to know about is financial aid!
I don't know the relative conversion rates, but a very large portion of all our students come to us through the internet.
HI Barbara
Sounds like your website has all the right elements to get people to look at it and to act on it. Do you have dedicated admissions people who just work with email requests? How quickly do they respond to the request? What are typical questions? What is the conversion rate compared to leads that come from other sources? Thanks for the info. Susan
It's VERY successful. Our school has a really indepth website. It's got a unified look, student/grad testimonials, course listings, newsletter, history and lots of other info on the school. A huge percentage of our enrollees go through it. It's probably our major marketing vehicle. You should definitely do it! Implementing the ideas in this class would be a great place to start.
Hi Galen
Yes, testimonials really say a lot. The key is to be sure to match the testimonial to the feature and benefit you are presenting. In addition to adding testimonials to your website, you can use for emailings, direct mail, and even post them in the reception area. Be sure also they are short and to the point. And that spelling has been corrected. Many schools are connecting happy students and grads with prospective students. And also using video testimonials and utube.
Best wishes
Susan
In addition to the standard stuff, I really like the idea of testimonials from students and employers, with photos of grads on the job.
Hi Ruth
A website needs a lot of management. It has to be up to date, be user friendly, provide the right amount of information, and all email inquiries have to be responded to almost immediately. Many schools report that most leads come from their website. That's really cost effective. Good luck, Susan
We have a website which is somewhat successful. The key is to have someone manage it constantly so that it comes up in the Google search.
Yes, Christine, websites are a great way to reach qualified leads. Some schools depend primarily on their website to fill classes. The goal is to be sure your admissions reps respond instantly to all inquiries. And to keep your web site up to date. Also remember to save all emails so you can do on-going email follow ups to prospects.
Best wishes
Susan
We have had our website for several years, and it has been an excellent way to promote our school. We have an overview/history of the school, descriptive program offerings, testimonials,attractions to our location and facility,catalog download, video and photos.
HI Mary
All great strategies for gaining leads from your website. Thanks. Auto responders are important. However, we believe a personal response has to be made within 30 minutes and ideally 5 minutes of receipt from the lead. That's because surfers are "now" people. They want to start a dialogue right away. That means they are likely to talk with and set an appointment with the school that is the first to respond. Getting email leads also allows you to email back information on a regular basis. Great follow up methods.
Thanks
Susan
As a school with a long tradition, we have had our website for a long time, but this year we decided to give it a new look. We asked our students what they liked and they gave us input. Then we had them design parts of it. At the end, we put it all together and it has worked wonderfully, now we get four times more leads than we did before and there is an ongoing interest in the school as to how to improve the web site.
In order to get immediate answer to internet leads, it is important to add an auto responder; it is computer generated, but at least the person knows that his(her) message has been received and that he should expect to be contacted soon. Also, depending on the amount of programs offered by your school, you can always add information in the autoresponder as to what classes are about to start, answer the question most often made or whatever message you want to pass along..one thing, remember to ask you programmer how to change the autoresponder by yourself.
Mary.
HI Jon
It's a challenge as a one person department. Sounds like you are getting some assistance on the routine tasks. If you create a database of each email inquiry you can easily send out follow ups. Yes, the ideal situation is when you respond immediately. That's the nature of internet marketing.
Good luck
Susan
The website generates most of our queries. Visitors primarily request a catalog and input their contact info. Unfortunately, I am only a one man department. I am unable to follow up with every lead. I have a student send all the catalogs. I do, however, respond to anyone who calls or emails. An ideal situation would be to respond to each lead IMMEDIATELY and increase our personnel.
Hi Jon
Great to hear. Can you share with us how you are using the website, how are you are training your admissions reps to respond to email inquiries, your follow up methods, etc.
Thanks
Susan