Why You Don't (Just) Need a Prettier Grad School Website

In an age of constant consumption, a user’s first impression of your website matters — but exactly how important is it? At this point, attractive design and a well thought out user experience are givens. But, aesthetics only go so far. They might get viewers to your page, but they won’t keep them there.

Content is king. Prospective students are increasingly paying less attention to advertisements and more attention to the sources that they trust and that answer the questions they have. If you want to be one of those sources, those thought leaders of industry, read on to learn how to leverage your content to attract the most qualified leads.

Compelling Content > A Sleek Site

As you design or update your grad school website, remember that while an attractive website is important, it’s no substitute for having meaningful and substantial content inside. Transforming your school’s website into a true resource is more important than improving its design.

You need to prove that there is value in what you are saying. An institution’s website is sort of like an employee who works 24/7. It’s always working in the background and needs to be equipped to answer questions that prospective students have in a matter of seconds.

By developing relevant content and strategically placing this content in appropriate places on your site, institutions can more easily convert casual website visitors into real leads. Offer pieces of free downloadable content that student personas at every stage of the applicant journey will find valuable — perhaps a “Guide to Affording Grad School” or “ How to Rock the GRE in Six Steps.”

You want to transform your institution into a thought leader. You want prospects to identify you as the institution that “really knows social work” or “understands what it takes to balance family life with grad school.” Compelling, creative, and relevant content send that message.

Don’t be a Pack-rat.

Strong content is only beneficial if potential students can find it. Many grad school websites are in a state of chaos. These gigantic sites have a disorganized structure and page hierarchy and are crowded with a mix of both helpful and unhelpful information.

So many of these websites attempt to be a “digital brochure” and cram as much information as possible onto each page. Trust us — this only frustrates visitors to your site. Make sure your menu options are clear and concise. Specific subcategories should be logically grouped under one of your general categories. At each level of your website, group together related topics of equal importance.

Purge your pages of extraneous facts. Simplify. De-clutter. Make sure every word you include is pertinent.

Context Is Everything.

Contextual content (having the right content, in the right places) is of the utmost importance. Placing your content where it belongs will encourage your visitors to “go deeper” and explore what else you have to offer, essentially “raising their hand” saying they’re interested in learning more (that’s a good lead!).

Place relevant calls-to-action on your various website pages and make sure what you offer makes sense in the context of each page’s purpose. A video about “Living in Birmingham as a Grad Student” is completely irrelevant on the page for your online MBA.

A better piece of content to promote on this page would be a video showcasing how a 30-something-year-old woman was able to balance her family and her job while also pursuing a graduate degree — thanks to your institution’s online business school.

Because Google Said So.

A fresh design doesn’t increase your SEO, but fresh content does. Google rewards sites (by increasing their SEO rankings) that are focused on improving the user experience with high-readability, and that regularly publish high-quality content that is educational, original, and audience-specific.

So don’t litter your website with filler information that anyone could supply. Present your material through an innovative lens. Augmenting your site with rich content will help drive more organic traffic to your website.

For example, if you have a piece of content about “Tips on Studying for the GRE” and someone searches the term “GRE tips” on Google, they are more likely to stumble onto your website (rather than your competitors) to read the content.

They may have not previously been considering (or even known about) your institution but now that they’ve read helpful content associated with your brand, you’re on their radar! Optimize this fresh content with keyword-specific meta descriptions and alt image text to broaden your website’s audience.

The Bottom Line

By all means, make your website look good. That Interior Design program page had better be attractive, or you might dissuade the artistic prospects you want from considering your program. But by also offering a guide on “10 Things to Look for in an Interior Design Program,” you prove to your prospects that you not only look the part, but you can offer them what they need — making it that much more likely that you’ll be shaking their hand at the start of next semester.