All institutions of higher education need to be competitive with communications, just like any other organization that seeks to sell products and services. Despite unique features of each individual institution of higher education the following key communications concepts should make up the core of any higher education marketing plan. 1. A champion to lead the effort – Someone in upper management or from the board of governors should assume the leadership role for the higher education communications effort and build up support among…

           In the first part of this series, How Much Does a Web Site cost?(Spoke8, New Link?) You could seesurface that complexity drives up cost, and simplicity lowers it. But that’s not always the case. Simplicity in style, architecture and user interface is often incredibly complex under the hood, so to speak, and as mysterious as what goes on under the hood of your car, it can be expensive to build. In the case of the car example, for…

Two of the most popular Open Source Content Management Systems are Drupal andWordPress. Which should you choose for your site? There are lot of considerations that go into the right platform: What kind of organization are you running? A smaller organization would find WordPress an easy and affordable option to set up. It’s a DIY project for a reasonably tech-savvy business owner, but flexible enough to expand as the organization expands. Out of the box, and with extensions and modules,…

Making the decision to move to a new higher education web site is challenging enough, but then considering what content management solution is right for your web site is even harder. Joomla and Drupal are two of the most popular open source content management solutions that are used in college and university environments. Open Source means that no one single company or developer owns the code, and the license is open for other developers to extend and improve it without cost. This appeals to…

How much does a web site cost? This is probably the #1 question from prospective clients when they’re ready to talk about web site development (as evidenced by the number of google searches for “how much does a web site cost”.) Of course, the answer is “it depends”. Let’s break down the elements of developing a web site to explore how web site cost is entirely dependent on audience, functionality and feature depth factors: Discovery: This process uncovers everything you need…

If your organization is looking at Drupal as a web site platform to build upon, what do you need to look for in a Drupal development company? 1. Expertise 2. Number of projects developed using Drupal 3. Additional Drupal development that extends a web site beyond just core and additional modules 4. Drupal passion Expertise: A Drupal firm should be able to demonstrate complete end-to-end solutions for clients. This includes design, development, testing and implementation. If they can also offer marketing and branding, you’ve found yourself a full…

    VS.   Second in our series exploring the differences between content management systems, we’re exploring WordPress versus Drupal. Which should you choose? In part, it depends upon who you are and what type of organization you are managing a web site for. First, a bit of background.WordPress began as a blogging platform. It’s ease of use to create free blogs (via wordpress.com, not wordpress.org) was it’s chief appeal. But of course, a blog platform for a small company could…

Nearly 1 billion consumers willuse a mobile device to access the web, yet less than 50% of education institutions have a responsive web site that adapts to this digital revolution. Despite the obvious advantages of a digital addiction, far too many educational institutions lag behind the curve. Mobile Devices Dominate The growing popularity of smart phones and tablets, combined with the shift of consumer behavior strengthens the argument for consumer-friendly flexible layouts. If you don’t have a responsive web site…

So your web site administrator says you need a SSL. What is a SSL Certificate? Why do you need one? Chances are, if you’ve set up a registration system or an e-commerce store for your site, you’re going to collect credit card information. Securing that on your web site requires what’s known as a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. This certificate signs your web site as your company name, so someone buying something from you can safely know their data is going…