Internet Marketing Tips for ESL School and Program
Marketing Directors
Web Directories
Perhaps the most common
internet
marketing strategy is to list your school's ESL website and profile
on one of
the many free and paid listing directories
on the web. These sites typically provide searchable, alphabetized
listings
of ESL programs and/or language schools by country
and/or state (see below for list of popular sites).
Popular directory listings
on the web include some of the following sites:
♦
www.studyusa.com
♦
www.esldirectory.com
♦
www.esl.com (owned by same company
above)
♦
www.esl-guide.com
♦
www.englishinusa.com
♦
www.globalstudy.com
♦
www.eslusa.org
♦
www.language-learning.net
♦
www.applyesl.com (allows
online student applications) ♦
www.agentschat.com
♦
www.studyoverseas.com
♦
click here for a listing of more directories...
♦
www.usastudyguide.com
(offers student recruiting services - see
here)
Before you spend your hard-earned tuition revenues
on listing directories, however, you need to gauge
the return on investment (ROI) a particular directory
listing will give you. Here are 5
questions to consider:
1.
Are your
competitors profiled or listed? If not, you've either stumbled
onto the next best thing...or not. Keep in
mind, however, that new listing directories
pop up occasionally, so don't avoid only because you're there
first.
2.
Does it provide you with
monthly reports on your listing? For example,
www.studyusa.com sends out
monthly
email reports showing the number of clickthroughs
to your website and the number of email inquiries sent to your
listed email. This
marketing feedback allows you to determine how effectively your money is being spent.
3.
Is it just a listing or can you create a profile? The best
directories allow you to create a succinct (and multi-lingual)
profile of your school with
pictures and direct email and website links.
4.
What is the site's
Alexa ranking? Alexa provides rankings of all of the websites on
the internet. If the directory's
alexa ranking is over 1.5 million, use the
other questions listed here to determine using it. The site's alexa
ranking
is
an indicator of how popular it is and how well
the directory is actively marketing itself to your target population.
To find the directory's ranking (and yours!), go to
www.alexa.com and type in the directory's URL in the search
box at the top of the screen (don't
include http or www, just type in yoursite.edu). Alexa is also a
great tool to
track how you stack up against your competitors and yourself
over a period of time. Just write down the rankings
today and check them monthly to see whether they're moving higher (position 1
is the best) or lower.
5.
What does your
internal marketing feedback show about the effectiveness of a
given directory as an effective
recruiting tool for your school? Program
applications and inquiry tracking should provide you with a strong
picture
of which
directories are most effective at attracting students to your school - or you're just guessing.
Other Common Strategies
♦
paid listings in
online magazines
(use 5 questions above to measure return on investment)
♦
listing on sites
operated by
partner agencies abroad (this can be very effective but you have to pay
a commission)
♦
listing on
members-only sites such as
AAIEP (American Association of
Intensive English Programs)
Less
Common Yet Effective Strategies
The following strategies, though ignored by most program
administrators, can yield
fantastic results when
properly
carried out. As in any decision-making process, doing your homework (i.e., reference
checks) is a key
part of the process. Another key part is to educate yourself on SEO
(Search Engine Optimization). To master
internet marketing marketing, you must become familiar with SEO. Educate yourself on
the basics of SEO
terminology and strategy by reading through sites such as
www.seochat.com.
1.
Hire an SEO consultant.
A good consultant should to listen to your needs, provide a clear
proposal of
services to be
provided, expected results, and fees. If your SEO consultant
promises you top 10 google
results right away, check their references and hold on to your
wallet! Most are legitimate, but check
anyway. I worked with an excellent consultant and was very satisfied with
the results.
2.
Get listed in the
yahoo
business directory. It
has the number 1 Alexa ranking in the world. It costs just
under $300, but it will boost your
website's ranking within a month or two of your listing.
3.
Use
Google Adwords. It
costs money, but you can start small and steadily increase
enrollments. If you're
not web-savvy, it's best to
have your SEO consultant help you set up your Adword campaigns so
that you
don't over or under-spend. Using Adwords gives you access to amazing
statistics about your site's visitors
in simple charts and graphs.
4.
Get listed on www.dmoz.org.
Dmoz is the world's
largest human-edited directory, and it's a key component
to increasing your website's ranking and
visibility. Because it serves as a human reference check, it is used
by all of the major
search engines as a reliability check for websites. If your site is listed in dmoz
(it's free!),
your site will be more visible in search results returned to people using search
engines to find your
school.
5. Start blogging.
Student and/or instructor blogs on your website promote a higher
level of engagement with
your school site and brand, raise your
site's profile through word of mouth PR (friend to friend: "check
out
what I blogged on my
school's site!"), and increase the perceived (and
perhaps real) value and authenticity
of your site and school. Read more about blogging at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogging.
6. Start podcasting.
Create recorded or real-time downloads of your school's lessons for
free, pay per class, or
for a subscription. This will definitely
increase and hold traffic to your site and increase the "buzz" about
your
school. Read more
about podcasting at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting.
7. Join an online platform to meet new
agents.
These days, most agents have an
online presence, and
there are several online platforms out there which include
searchable profiles of hundreds of international
agents. This
is the next obvious evolution in creating new agent
relationships. Examples of such platforms
include ICEF (www.icefonline.com),
Agents Chat (www.agentschat.com),
and more.
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