Week 10 - MKTG 348 - SEO Audit

For the audit, I chose to look at the National Tiger Sanctuary. This organization is a non-profit, rescue organization that provides permanent homes to both exotic and domestic animals. I ran some AdWord campaigns with this site so I thought it would be beneficial to conduct a site audit. The first thing I looked at was the indexing status. I searched site:nationaltigersanctuary.org in Google.

Here are those results:

I am not sure how many pages are on the website, but the result can be a good or bad thing. The page results found can be fine if 252 is about how many pages are on the site. However, if the site has a couple thousand pages but only 252 show up, then there is a duplicate content problem.

The next thing to do was to run a crawler on the website. I looked at the crawl depth which shows how many clicks it took for a crawler to reach a page from the home page. Any number over 4 is considered a problem. Of the 100 pages scanned by the crawler, the highest crawl depth was just 2. There are some issues concerning Robots.txt files. Issues with this can lead to pages on the website being blocked by search engine crawlers. Whoever is running the site should go into those files manually and make sure they are not restricting access to important sections of the website.

There are also some pages that contain duplicate content. Upon looking at them, I believe it is not a huge deal considering that the pages are just tagged with “National Tiger Sanctuary” at the end.

Here is the overview section of the audit for the National Tiger Sanctuary:

Week 7 - MKTG 348 - Exploring Search Console

Google's Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools), can help evaluate a website's performance, identify issues, and view search query results. For a specific topic, I am going to discuss the 'search analytics' section of the 'search traffic' tab. Here, a user can choose one of their properties and see how it is doing. Clicks, impressions, CTR, and position are the data this page provides. I was able to work with the website www.rgbexchange.org to see how that website is doing.

(RGB Website)

"The RGB Exchange is a stock exchange for non-profit organizations, where a user can invest in a non-profit organization, obtain virtual shares,and receive a social return on investment. The shares become an ongoing connection between the investor and their chosen organizations." For this website, I looked at the data collected based on clicks and position. Position is all about how the website ranks next to the competition. For example, the first search query is 'rgb idea group.' Here, the website came in at 40.3. This result may vary, but someone who searches that keyword can expect to find a link to the RGB website around the 40th position. Considering the RGB Exchange is a non-profit organization, that rating is not terrible, even though the ads are supported by a Google Grant. However, upon searching the keyword, I learned that many of the links that showed up before the RGB website were not even websites in English. Unfortunately, there is no real way to weed out these search results so the RGB website can rank higher.

Week 5 - MKTG 348 - Content to Add to the Benedictine Marketing Major Website

In my last blog, I selected some keywords that potential students of Benedictine University may use to either learn about Benedictine or more specifically, what marketing has to offer them. These keywords include:

Benedictine Marketing Major

Benedictine Majors

Colleges Near Naperville, IL

Requirements to Transfer to Benedictine

Colleges Near Chicago

The overview page on the website fulfills the need of having a general  overview of what marketing  is. This page can serve as a general information sheet to students that may be interested in marketing. This page also has charts for specific job growths in marketing, as well as job titles and the number of those jobs offered. 

Where I think the website can improve is within the program requirements and concentrations pages. There are many courses a student may take in order to graduate at Benedictine with a bachelors in marketing, but there are only four specific courses for marketing. If a potential student is interested in marketing, they would want to know as much information as possible on these courses to make sure it is for them. The four classes are consumer behavior, promotional strategy, marketing research, and marketing strategy. Even though these classes have to do with marketing, they differ in the content to be learned. Each course is specific to an aspect in marketing. A paragraph of what the class is all about and what students can gain from the course could be beneficial to potential students. Students would know that in promotional strategy they can create their own unique product and then go about making an IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) campaign for that product. Here, they will explore specific target markets, decide on distribution strategies, and allocate a budget for a media plan. This is a massive project that students can include in their portfolio when searching for jobs. That is just a small example of what can be added to the program requirements.

For the concentrations page, I would like to see the benefits of having these concentrations. Students can select a concentration, but which one should they choose? The title of the concentration and courses to take is not enough information. It would be beneficial if there was added content on this page. Each concentration should have a brief overview of what it is and what students can gain from them. There could also be a list of fields that coincide with this concentration. These suggested changes may be small, but they will affect student's decisions and their decision to attend Benedictine University.

Week 4 - MKTG 348 - Keywords Potential Students May Use to Learn About Benedictine University

Keywords to consider:

• Benedictine Marketing Major
• Benedictine Majors
• Colleges Near Naperville, IL
• Requirements to Transfer to Benedictine
• Colleges Near Chicago

If potential students are interested in marketing, how may they find out about Benedictine University? They may get online and search Google. What would they search? How can Benedictine show up in the top results? If a student knew about Benedictine, they could use a brand search with “Benedictine marketing major.” The undergraduate marketing website was the first result after a few ads. This link would take the searcher directly to the page where they can learn about the courses required for the major and concentrations they can pursue. For a student who knows about Benedictine but does not know the majors offered, they could search “Benedictine majors.” With that keyword, the degree programs page is the first link to show up.

Another keyword someone might use to find Benedictine University is by searching for colleges near them. I tried “colleges near Naperville, IL.” The first one to show up was North Central College. This did not surprise me because NCC is located in Naperville. However, Benedictine showed up in the 5th spot. This could change too based on the city chosen. The city would still have to be close to Benedictine for it to show up, so its rank may vary based on distance.

If a potential transfer student knew of Benedictine, they might search “requirements to transfer to Benedictine.” The second link to show up will give transfer students all the information they would need to know what they have to do to transfer. This would be good for students changing schools, or looking to continue working on their bachelors after completing community college. The last keyword may be used by someone looking for a top college. They may enter “to colleges near Chicago.” at the top of the page, there is a rolling list of the top colleges. If you click the arrow going to the right one time, Benedictine University shows up in the middle of the next page. Clicking on it will change the search box to ‘Benedictine University’ and the page will give links to the university homepage and athletic site.

Week 4 - MKTG 348 - Updating Benedictine University Marketing Major Website

In terms of the Benedictine Marketing Major website, there are some things that look good. However, there are areas where improvements can be made. I believe the overview of the site does a good job at explaining what marketing is and what it is used for. It is a good start to generate student interest in the major at Benedictine.

One way the website can be improved is in the ‘program requirements’ tab. Here, only the classes needed to graduate with a bachelors in marketing is listed. I would like to see some course descriptions. All courses do not necessarily need this, but explaining the major specialization requirements would benefit potential students and the university. A continuing or new college student would want to know what they are getting themselves into, especially if they think they may be interested in marketing. 

MKTG 310 (consumer behavior), MKTG 330 (promotional strategy), MKTG 360 (marketing research) and MKTG 380 (marketing strategy) are the four major specialization requirements. If more information was given on those classes, students would know what each course is all about. The university would also benefit because if they included more information, potential customers (students) would have an idea of what these classes offer and what they can get out of the course. The more information people have when choosing a university, the better the chance that they’ll apply to that college.

The second way the website can be updated is within ‘concentrations’ section. There are many different concentrations that Benedictine University offers within the marketing segment. Some may be similar, and others are vastly different. Concentrations give students the option to focus their study on a specific area other than marketing.

What I would like to see is more information about these concentrations. Students want to know more specifically what these concentrations are about and what type of jobs are available in those areas. These concentrations are not required by the university, but they can give students an edge when looking for jobs. If I knew more about the concentrations offered, I would have completed the digital marketing concentration. However, I am only able to take three of the required four courses before I graduate. Even though I will not get the concentration, I have still required certain skills I can use to network and earned certifications I can put on my resume and LinkedIn profile.

Week 8 - MKTG 347 - Boosting Your Page

There are many ways to boost your Facebook page, and you don't have to spend any money to do so! Firstly, you want to be personable with your fans. You want to build a relationship with them and create a fan community. One way to do this is with "fan love." You can share and comment on posts that fans leave on your page. This gives your fans an engaging experience instead of them just reading what posts are on your page. The use of images can be huge for your page. Using images that capture attention will most likely lead to someone reading your post, or clicking on your blog. However, sometimes keeping it simple with text-based posts can be better. By eliminating photos, videos, and links, you give the viewer raw content and all the information is right in front of them. They do not need to open any links or windows to see what you are putting out there. This makes it easier for them to comment or even share your post.

You can also spend money to boost your page. If you choose to promote your page, you can do that with text, images, or video. You will basically be creating and running a Facebook ad. Choosing the right demographics are important. You can choose to target males, females, or both, and their age. Location is huge for local businesses, but if you are posting content from a website or a blog, you can choose different areas and see what works best for you. Selecting interests will also target people with those interests. So if your page deals with digital marking, you could select interests such as business, entrepreneurship, or social media marketing. Lastly you'll want to figure out your budget and duration of the ad. Boosting your page may be easier with ads, but try some free ways to boost your page first.

Week 7 - MKTG 347 - Facebook Marketing Guide For Beginners

First things first, who is on Facebook? Well, the minimum age requirement for a user to create a Facebook profile is 13. The most popular age group on Facebook is around 18 to 29. Generally, popularity decreases with age. However, with the many people on Facebook, a general audience can definitely be targeted. An easy way to get your idea or product out there is with Facebook pages. These are simple to make and can be easily linked with your personal account. Users can "like" the page, comment on posts, and add insight to what you are marketing. People who like the page will get notifications when a new post is made on that page, so it invites them to check it out and possibly react on that post. Unlike a personal profile, pages can be liked by anyone. This eliminates the need for mutual connections for people to find and like the page. A huge advantage to Facebook pages is that they are free. However, the downside is that it can be difficult to build a following with natural likes. You can boost your page to gain likes, but we will get into that in the next blog.

For marketing purposes, you want to have a page with a clean cover and profile photo, as well as a detailed description of what you are trying to market. Simply, the profile photo should be your logo, and your cover image can be creative or tell some sort of story. Your description lets possible fans know what you do, or what you plan to accomplish. Here, you can explain why you are different and any other details potential followers might want to know.