Graduate School
Website and Web Communications
John McQueen
October 20, 2014
Outline
- Short term priorities
- Review of site traffic
- Framework for communications
Short Term Priorities
Old Site
Site content is still available.
Working to move content.
98% complete
Subsections/Groups
Need an easier way to create subsections.
People should have access to modify their own group content but not other groups' content.
Groups want:
- Landing page
- Announcements
- Events
- Contact info
Group
Menu
Group Image
Contacts
Announcements and Events
Other projects
- New home page
- Optimizing content for smaller screens
- New version of the student success guide
- Creating a new theme for the website to help control the custom CSS and JavaScript
- Site speed
- Highlighting content in the sidebar
- Email campaigns and social media (see upcoming slides)
Site Traffic
And some ideas for content organization based on data and objectives
Sessions - 37,335
Users - 26,595
Pageviews - 120,529
Sept 9 - Oct 9
Pages / Session - 3.23
Avg. Session Duration - 00:03:35
Bounce Rate - 42.25%
% New Sessions - 61.84%
% of Sessions by Device
% Site Traffic by Section
Over 10,000 people visited the program page between Sept 9 - Oct 9, and
8,200 people visited a next page.
Almost 275 people each day are looking at the programs!
From all over the world
Popular Landing Pages
Home page
Programs
Admissions
Admissions/*
Forms
FAQ - What are the GRE requirements
Success/Thesis Guide
How People Get to the Site
14% is ‘direct’ traffic
85% is search traffic
of the search traffic...
- 57% of traffic comes from referrals, mostly from search.oregonstate.edu
- 28% comes from organic search, mostly Google
Main menu ideas based on the data and Graduate School needs
*These are draft ideas that I have come up with. I prefer to test these ideas with members of the community
Programs | Admissions | Finances | Graduation Requirements | Success | Post Docs | Faculty Support
About Us | Admissions | Academic Success | Financing your Education | Postdoctoral Programs | Faculty Support
{Programs}
Programs|Admissions | Finances | Grad Requirements | Success...
- All programs
- Interdisciplinary
- Graduate Certificate in College and University Teaching
- MAIS
- More...
Framework for Communications
An 'initiatives' approach
Proposed Initiative Outline
-
Mission/Summary/Purpose
-
Goals - attainable and measurable, can be flexible over time
-
Strategy
-
Channel name (repeat this section for additional channels)
-
Goals
-
Content - voice/tone, source, frequency, topics, original versus repurposed or curated
-
Governance
-
Metrics - collect page hits, number of posts, shares, follows, likes, conversation, etc., dependent on channel but some standard should be developed so there can be comparisons across initiatives.
-
-
-
Timeline
-
Evaluation plan - combination of channel metrics with surveys, user testing, interviews, etc., reflect on the goals
-
Budget - time, resources, personnel, money
Assumptions
- Mobile first
- Not all content works for the same for each channel
- Consistency is key
- Personalization and "just in time" information is a long term goal
Initiative #1:
GradSucces
GradSuccess
Mission/Summary/Purpose
The purpose of this communication initiative is to support the The Graduate Student Success Initiative (GSSI). The GSSI strives to improve all aspects of the graduate school experience for students and their mentors (graduate faculty) by:
-
Creating new resources
-
Connecting people to existing resources
-
Creating community building experiences
GradSuccess
Goals
- Improve the utilization of available resources by graduate students through email, web pages, facebook and twitter
- Create better awareness of GS services
- Cultivate community by offering ways for people to get involved
Gradsuccess
- Track the hits/follows/shares of relevant online resources. Set goals for increasing the numbers over time.
- Receive positive feedback on the communications through interviews with students.
- Perform user testing of the new website section and make improvements based on results AND verify that our mental model is correct (double loop learning).
Metrics
GradSuccess
Strategy
The 'core themes' of GSSI
- Academic
- Mentoring
- Funding
- Professional Development
- Environment and Community
GradSuccess Channel Website
Goals
- One stop shopping for all GSSI programs
- Provide links for event registration, classes
Content
- Class descriptions
- Events
- Success Stories
- Program description
Metrics
- Page visits, sessions
- Feedback from interviews or user testing
Governance
- Led by GSSI folks
GradSuccess Channel Website
Academic Success
Graduation Requirements
- Thesis Guide
- Deadlines
- Exams
- Your Committee
- Preparing to Complete your degree
Success
- Mentors
- Grad life
- Counseling
- Campus Resources
- Get Involved
- Courses for success
split between
GradSuccess Channel Website
GradSuccess Channel Email
Goals
- Timely notifications of events and news
- Drive traffic to website
- 1x week
Content
- See next slide for content
- Expands on Success website content
Metrics
- Opens and clicks (possible if using MailChimp
- New signups
- Feedback from subscribers
Governance
- Led by John McQueen
GradSuccess Channel Email
Success
Finance
On Campus
Around Town
In the News
Photo of the Week
Feature
Add or take away sections
as needed.
GradSuccess Channel Email
Mobile friendly layout
GradSuccess Channel Twitter
Goals
- Drive traffic to website
- Act as a channel for communication
- Provide prof. dev. resources
- 5-10x day
Content
- Items from Newsletter
- Items from OSU Today
- Popular press
- Heavy on soft skills, things that cut across disciplines
Metrics
- Followers
- Retweets and replies
- Clicks through to website
Governance
- Led by John McQueen
