In May 2007, Google unveiled universal search, which takes vertical search category results from areas such as videos, images, news, and maps and merges them into a single set of results. So optimizing images is an easy way to improve your ranking. If a search is for "Boston universities fencing teams," an optimized image could help the visitor land exactly where he or she wants to be.
9. Not taking advantage of video search
The use of videos is exploding on websites, and adding videos is a great way for prospective students to take a virtual tour of campus. From a search prospective, compelling video content can open the door to site traffic, targeted visitors, and increased brand awareness. Plus, you can then upload the video to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Blinkx.
On which pages do the most visitors land? Where do visitors abandon the site? Tools such as WebTrends, Omniture, Google Analytics, or ClickTracks can perform path and keyword analysis to identify the content that's bringing applicants to your site. This is the most effective way to evaluate the ROI of your site.
Abu Noaman is CEO of Elliance (www.elliance.com), a strategic e-marketing firm. He has presented at eduWeb, the American Marketing Association's Symposium of Higher Education, CASE, and other national conferences.
