Best practices in continuing and executive education websites
Page Archetypes
My first few articles will address design and content on the most common types of continuing and executive education pages, exploring the four archetypes (homepage, course listing pages, course detail pages, and instructor pages) that you almost certainly have in your site (and a few others). To begin, we’ll tackle the most universal of all pages: the homepage.
Article 1: The Homepage
Of all the pages on your website, your homepage is the most critical because it almost always has the most visitors. For example, Emory University’s homepage receives more than 15% of the total page views for the website (which includes more than 5000 pages). Therefore, it is vital to carefully consider the design, layout, and content that appears on it. Although homepages vary from school to school, there are some best practices that can be applied across the board. Let’s explore some.
Below is a screenshot of Emory University’s continuing education department homepage in 2007. I’ve identified several key elements that you’ll find on homepages and I’ll discuss each below.
Purpose of a homepage
Visitors to your website will primarily be looking for one of two things:
- Courses
- Resources (e.g. maps, directions, policies)
As such, the primary purpose of a continuing or executive education homepage is to guide people toward more specific information. You can think of your homepage as a conduit to move people quickly and with minimal effort toward the information they are there to find.
What should appear on your homepage?
Topic areas
Since many visitors to your site will be looking for courses on a specific topic, most homepages use color, whitespace, and visual proximity to group similar types of offerings (e.g. personal enrichment versus professional education or softskills versus computer training). Courses are most commonly grouped by topic area, but some sites also break them down by audience (e.g. senior executives, executives, and mid-level managers). Neither approach is necessarily better or worse than the other. It all depends on the most effective presentation of/for your unique mix of offerings to your audience.
A search feature
Whether you’ve created your own search component or use a commercial search engine (such as the Google search appliance), your homepage (actually, all pages on the site) should provide a way for visitors to perform a keyword search for classes and/or other pages on the site. If using a search component developed in-house it should, at the very least, allow for searches by course title, course description, and instructor name. If possible, provide an option for advanced searching that allows people to search by price, day of the week, time of day, date range, and more. I’ll explore search engines more in an upcoming article on website navigation.
Course spotlights
Course spotlights are a simple way to increase awareness and enrollment in specific courses. Many organizations use spotlights to improve enrollments in courses that have reached their minimum, but are likely not to fill without additional marketing support. These spotlights should rotate often, with new courses being added as the previously spotlighted classes begin. At Emory, individual classes are spotlighted for only a few days and never for more than two weeks.
Mailing list signup
The homepage should provide a link through which visitors can easily add themselves to your email and/or direct mail list. Studies show that forms that ask for minimal information have a markedly higher completion rate, so think carefully before asking for more than the essentials . If you are trying to increase your email list, for example, require only an email address and possibly a name. (You can always follow up and ask for additional information once an individual has joined your list.) If you must include additional fields, make them optional. Some research on designing signup forms can be found here.
 Many continuing education departments are offering email notifications as an alternative to mailing course catalogs. A simple notice on your homepage can encourage visitors to simultaneously opt OUT of your paper mailing list and IN to an electronic list with a single form. Each electronic recipient helps reduce paper usage, the amount of mail they receive, and your marketing costs! This saves you the cost of printing and mailing that catalog several times per year.
Static menu bar
There are two perspectives on whether the homepage should contain the same standard menu bar that appears on other pages in the website. Homepage designs are often unique and the site’s standard menu bar doesn’t always fit into its design. However, maintaining a consistent menu bar on each page, including the homepage, provides a stable visual anchor for visitors. My perspective is that the homepage should contain the site’s standard menu bar, as long as it can be incorporated into the design effectively.
Catalog download
For visitors who prefer browsing a hardcopy version of your catalog, the homepage should include a link to a downloadable PDF version of your current course catalog or brochure (if available). When possible, include an image of your current catalog (to let frequent site visitors know that new courses are available). If you produce several printed brochures, consider creating an additional page in the site to serve as a download source for all your publications.
Special announcements
Reserve a space on your homepage for rotating announcements. These could include special offers (e.g. group rates or early bird discounts), announcements of new offerings, or links to press releases. Of course, you’ll want to make sure that you always have something appearing in this space or your site may begin to look stale!
What not to include
Try to avoid including any elements that distract from your homepage’s primary purpose or confuse your visitors. For example, our industry has a habit of placing “welcome from the director” messages and mission statements in prime locations on the homepage. Ask yourself how much your students care about such things compared to the courses you offer.
As another example, make sure your homepage doesn’t contain links to “resources” that are confusing to your target audience. This might sound obvious, but I can show you several executive education sites with links to undergraduate student services on their homepage. In some cases, your school may insist on the use of a template that includes these types of confusing links. Sometimes such concessions are necessary. However, you can use web analytics to help make your case to the webmaster, dean, or whoever has the authority to override the decision. If such links are truly confusing your audience, you can demonstrate the volume of visitors who leave your website after following such misleading homepage links.
Conclusion
Since the primary purpose of the homepage is to help visitors quickly navigate to more specific and relevant pages within the site, a beautiful design is actually less important than a clear layout and relevant content.
Spend a few minutes looking at your site’s homepage. Consider each item that appears there: buttons on the menu bar, pictures, text content. Now, consider what would happen to your department’s revenue if that item were removed. When you begin to think of your homepage as a tool, rather than as the cover to an “online brochure,” you’ll probably find elements that could be removed without adverse effects. Next, make a list of potential additions to your homepage and ask the same question. You may find that removing a few unimportant elements and replacing them with more valuable content can have a dramatic effect on your online registrations and subsequent revenue.
Coming soon!
My next two articles discuss two related and nearly ubiquitous types of pages in continuing and executive education websites: the course listing page and the course detail page. These pages are used by visitors to drill down into your offerings and learn more about your courses. Their design and content can have a tremendous effect on your online registration rates.
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