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4 Surprising Ways Google Analytics Can Improve Your School Marketing

Feb 04 2019

It was exciting to attend last weeks’ joint IAPS/AMCIS Prep School Marketing Day conference and in particular to hear two of the school speakers sharing the success they’ve had with their own digital marketing.

Kirsty Hassan of Colston’s School in Bristol demonstrated the amazing results they had in filling their new Nursery with a very small budget and primarily a digital strategy (including social media and PPC advertising). Katherine Pomfret from St. Peter’s School in York showed us how she uses Google Analytics to continually guide – and refine – their marketing initiatives, resulting in some astounding and surprising results! It was really music to my ears.  As a digital marketer and lover of data, it was fantastic to hear schools taking their marketing to the next level with digital and data and openly sharing their success with others.

Those that know me, know one of the first things I ask a school marketer when we chat is ‘Do you have Google Analytics on your school website?‘. So I thought I might just share a few surprising ways that Google Analytics can influence – and improve – your school marketing…

1. Find (and Convert) More Parents

Google analytics is perfect to learn what your ideal visitor looks like. Knowing how a parent found you and how they engaged with your website before converting can help you find, and convert, even more parents!

How to Use This Data?

  • Put more time and resources into the traffic channels that drive the most conversions. For instance, if your Organic traffic gets the most Open Day registrants, look to improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) even more. If a particular social media channel provides the most conversions, focus there.
  • Learn the keywords your converters are finding you on (yes, Google Analytics can tell you that) and incorporate more of those into your website content to expand your reach.
  • If there was a particular page that most converters visit, or perhaps a document they download such as your prospectus, add a prominent link on every page to ensure you have the best possible chance of converting new visitors.

2. Personalise Your Marketing

Understanding your audience is the first step to effective marketing. Imagine if you discovered that 80% of visitors that converted were women between the ages of 35-55, on a mobile device, with the majority located in three of your neighbouring counties…

How to Use This Data?

  • Ensure your website content is optimised for mobile. This is obvious for any user experience and your SEO rankings, but now that you know that’s the device your converters are on, it’s even more critical
  • Personalise your content to your audience. Why not reference ‘Mums or Ladies’ in your content? Or add images that resonate with women?
  • Use this demographic and geographic data to improve your digital advertising ROI by targeting your converters with the content that resonates with them as well as those geographic locations with the highest number of converters. (You’ll want to also analyse your existing parent postcodes to assist with your geo-targeting). I’m not saying you shouldn’t experiment with other locations, but perhaps look to put the majority of your ad budget where your converters live.

3. Change Your Visitors’ First Impression

When creating a school website lot of emphasis is placed your homepage to ensure your branding and key messages are strong. All your important areas and pages are prominently highlighted with links to their respective pages on your homepage. But what if your homepage wasn’t the only page parents were entering your school website on? Google Analytics can reveal those alternative Landing pages…

How to Use This Data?

  • Ensure that your Landing pages are consistent with your brand and as engaging as possible. Remember it’s your visitors’ first impression.
  • Check that your site navigation is just as easy as from the homepage and that those links/pages you’re looking to promote are just as prominent and accessible

4. Change Your Visitors’ Last Impression

Imagine if you knew where parents were more likely to leave your school website and could do something to change that? Well with Google Analytics you can! Uncover your most ‘popular’ Exit pages and develop your content to change your visitors’ last impression.

How to Use This Data?

  • Add links to supporting pages. For example, if the last page visitors are on is your Fees page, you might want to add a link to your scholarships page. Make sure the last impression of your schools isn’t your fees.
  • Include a link to your parent and student testimonials. We all know the power of word-of-mouth with schools. Think of testimonials as your digital WOM. You might even want to embed those testimonial videos right on your page.

Deciphering Google Analytics is a skill that every marketer should have. And it’s not as difficult as you’d think. You simply need to have a goal and then work backward to identify the data that will help you get there.

If you need a little assistance in getting started with Google Analytics or brushing up on any of your digital marketing skills, let’s chat.

Let’s Chat

 

Alta has an amazing ability to simplify and demystify the somewhat daunting world of SEO and Google PPC Advertising into a set of easy-to-follow steps and guides. Her patience, generosity of time and good humour were hugely appreciated. Our prep school is already reaping the benefits following several successful PPC campaigns without the need for costly agencies. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her!

Bridget Torlesse Rydes Hill Prep School & Nursery

Alta is a true marketing professional and her support when launching our new website was first class. She approached our project with real clarity, assessing our requirements and providing invaluable expert advice. She was also extremely hard working, really going the extra mile to provide in-depth support quickly and positively. Finally, Alta has a very open, approachable working style and I always felt that I could contact her with questions at any time. I would not hesitate to recommend Alta.

Phillipa Scudds Canford School

From the first moment I met Alta, I knew she was special! Her approach to marketing was inspiring, both in terms of her methodology and the manner in which she executed it. Always willing to share her knowledge and lend a hand, Alta's positivity is infectious and her work ethic unfaltering. This is someone you want on your project; she's got your back and won't rest until you've reached your destination.

Jenny Simmons Harrow School

Alta is a great speaker, her talks are always packed full of information and very useful and relevant. I look forward to her future masterclasses/ conferences. - Thank you so much Alta!

Charlotte Quinn Cranleigh School

The Virtual Marketer brings the guru to Google. Her training covers all you need to improve your digital presence and to make your website work harder. Her training is clear and to the point, helping to demystify the mechanics behind analytics. Ask her about Facebook too...a few of her tricks and you will feel like a pro. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Emily Compston New Model School

Alta Justus is awesome! I met her a few years ago at a school marketing conference and was very impressed. She really knows her stuff, is always bang up to date with trends and happy to share her knowledge in a way that is easy to understand. I would recommend Alta to anyone needing marketing advice.

Hayley O'Shea Talbot Heath School

Alta at The Virtual Marketer provides a high level of SEO and digital 'know-how' which has been an invaluable support to our school. Professional, friendly and responsive, I would highly recommend her.

Nikki Reed Radley College

Alta helped us run a digital ad campaign for our Sixth Form and I could not recommend her highly enough. She has excellent digital knowledge, was very supportive and provided regular feedback. She is also a genuinely nice person to work with!

Lindsey Kavanagh St James Senior Girls' School

Alta is both knowledgeable and highly-skilled as a Digital Marketer with particular talents in websites, SEO, Social Media, copywriting and editing, technology and THE most important skill of any marketer, which is the ability to stay current with the ever-changing landscape of marketing. It's no longer good enough to get a degree and plod along in your job, you must keep current and ahead of the digital time. No one appreciates this more than Alta.

Taralyn Cox Affixxius Films

I can’t speak highly enough of Alta - I have had the pleasure of working with her for many years, and can honestly say how hardworking and dedicated she is. She really cares and has a passion for what she does, which absolutely shows in the quality of her work. As a tech startup, she has helped me tremendously with getting to grips with all things social, and really cuts through the jargon so that you aren’t wasting valuable time on things that don’t matter - I love working with her and hope to continue to do so long into the future! Thank you Alta for being such a superstar!

Joanna Short Shorke

@digitalalta - 40 education marketers you should be following in 2017...

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Alta Justus, The Virtual Marketer

Alta Justus, The Virtual Marketer

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An equally creative and analytical Digital Marketing Consultant with over 18 years education and commercial marketing experience, I'm passionate about helping schools succeed in the digital arena. Read More…

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#tuesdaytip: Have a Google account? Use it or lose #tuesdaytip: Have a Google account? Use it or lose it! Google's recently announced accounts that haven't been used in a couple of years, or exceeded their storage, will be at risk of deletion. If you're like most school marketers you'll probably have a few Gmail accounts and a Google Drive or two that you haven't looked at for a while. Of course, I'd always recommend using a verified school email over a Gmail account but if are using a random Gmail and Drive to store photos or to access your Google Analytics, etc, make a point to check those accounts. It will be a while before your data is deleted, and you'll receive a couple of warnings, but as we all know tasks like this can be set aside until it's too late. Don't risk losing valuable data or photos - review your Google accounts today. And while you're at it why not switched to a Google verified work email so you don't miss any important messages like this one 😁

How to verify your school email with Google: 
Visit my blog via my bio or go to
👉 https://thevirtualmarketer.co.uk/how-to-use-my-school-email-for-my-google-accounts/

#vmdigitaltips #digitalmarketing #googlenews #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing
I love this quote about being productive vs busy. I love this quote about being productive vs busy. And this article — 11 Differences Between Busy People And Productive People — gives some great examples of the differences as well as tips to become a more productive person. I know I'm bad at saying 'Yes' a little too quickly for my own good so a great reminder for me. Who couldn't use a few tips for improving productivity... 😁

👉https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/11-differences-between-busy-people-and-productive-people.html

#mondaymotivation #timemanagementtips #digitalmarketing #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing  #strategicmarketing
I'm so pleased to see an increase in schools reach I'm so pleased to see an increase in schools reaching out for SEO training and support. Yes, digital advertising is the fastest way to get in front of your parents, but you should still be thinking long-term. That may very well include digital campaigns, but ideally, you'll want to grow your organic traffic to the point that you can reduce your advertising spend. At the very least you'll want to maintain your school website's SEO rankings.

When it comes to optimising a website for search engines there are a few things that have remained consistent throughout the years - like these 5 SEO tips. Still relevant after all these years and yet many schools have failed to do them. Why not grab a cuppa, have a read then make a plan to optimise your school website in 2021. Every little helps...

👉 Visit my blog via my bio or copy the link below

https://thevirtualmarketer.co.uk/5-seo-tips-every-school-marketer-can-implement/

#thursdaythoughts #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing #seotips #seostrategy #studentrecruitment #2021goals
Do the computers in your ICT classroom default to Do the computers in your ICT classroom default to your school website? If they do you'll want to filter out your internal traffic from Google Analytics to get a true sense of your data. It's not difficult to do but you'll first want to have a chat with IT to get a list of your IP addresses.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀:

👉 Start by creating a new view. Once you filter traffic out of GA you can't get it back so create an additional view such as 'Filtered Traffic'
👉 Next, create a filter on your new view. Go to Admin > Filters and click +Add Filter
👉 Name = Exclude Internal IPs (or whatever you choose to call it)
👉 Filter Type = Predefined
👉 Select filter type = Exclude
👉 Source = Traffic from the IP addresses
👉 That are equal to = your IP address or range

For more details on how to create your new view or filter visit https://support.google.com/ or ping me a message 😊

That's it! Now you'll be able to see both your filtered and all data dependent on the view you select! 👍📊

#tuesdaytip #vmdigitaltips #googleanalytics #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing #strategicmarketing
I'm not sure about you but I certainly don't belie I'm not sure about you but I certainly don't believe marketing can be learned in a day! And as marketing is continuously evolving, are any of us ever 'Masters'? But I agree with the intent behind the message—marketing is a profession where your training never ends. Or shouldn't! When was the last time you did any training—digital or otherwise? Why not make CPD a priority in 2021! 👍

#digitalmarketingtraining
#socialmediamarketing
#digitaladvertising
#seo
#googleanalytics
#schoolmarketing
#educationmarketing 
#studentrecruitment 
#mondaymotivation
Does your school brand reflect what parents are lo Does your school brand reflect what parents are looking for and engaging with online? The internet has evolved over the years and so have our audiences. They're savvy to sales pitches and blatant self-promotion. What they want is to connect with businesses and people they can trust—especially with their child. For brand authenticity, you need to be perceived as reliable, respectful, and 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡. Does that sound like your school...?

#morningcoffeethoughts 
#brandidentity 
#schoolmarketing 
#educationmarketing 
#contentmarketing 
#socialmediamarketing 
#schoolwebsite
You've probably heard me mention many times the im You've probably heard me mention many times the importance of gaining control and optimising your Google My Business account to improve your search engine rankings.
 
One of the fields that has a direct impact on your SEO is your Business Category. You may currently have one or two added, but did you know you can have up to 10 categories? Google is updating their categories all the time so it's worth looking at this field when you're adding new photos or sharing your latest blog within the platform. 
 
I came across this fab website the other day that can quickly show the different categories available outside of GMB. Select your country and add your term (i.e. 'school') and see all the options available. Of course, you can also do the same in GMB but this may be the prompt you need to add those additional categories and improve your school's SEO!
 
👉https://pleper.com/index.php?do=tools&sdo=gmb_categories
 
Just a note, I'm having difficulties accessing this site this morning (not sure if it's me or them??) but hopefully, you'll have no problem getting in 🤞
 
Not sure what Google My Business is? Have a peek here: https://www.google.com/intl/en_gb/business/
 
#tuesdaytip #vmdigitaltips #digitalmarketing #seotools #seotips #seostrategy #seoservices #schoolmarketing
Since how you think dictates how your week goes, w Since how you think dictates how your week goes, why not start on a positive note?! It's not always easy but there are ways to help you develop a more positive mindset. 

If you have 5 minutes, grab a cuppa and have a read of this article by @womenontopp, 𝟱 𝗪𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝗮 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹:

👉https://www.womenontopp.com/5-ways-to-develop-a-positive-mindset-to-help-you-become-more-successful/

(you can also search 'improve your mindset' in Google to find it) 

There's some great advice in there to help shift your mindset, so definitely worth the read. 

Here's to a fantastic week, everyone! 😊

#digitalmarketing #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing #digitalmarketingtraining #wellbeing #mondaymotivation
I know Monday is the last thing on your mind on a I know Monday is the last thing on your mind on a Friday afternoon but if you can do these few tasks today I guarantee you'll feel so much more positive and in control of your week:

👉 Plan for the week ahead. Tuesdays are apparently the most productive day of the week so schedule any of your big projects for that day and see if that's the case for you.

👉 Keep Monday as your flexible day. Monday is the day that sets the tone for the week and if you pack too much into the day you'll start the week off feeling behind. Schedule smaller tasks and keep as much time open as you can.

👉 Do a little digital housekeeping today. With energy usually low on a Friday afternoon it's a great time to tidy up your computer files. It's easy work, but also immensely rewarding. While you're at it, maybe give your desk a little dusting off as well. A clutter-free desk and mind are the best way to start your week!

I'm off to clear my own desktop files. I'm terrible at 'I'll file that away later'... 😁

Have a fabulous weekend everyone. See you Monday!

#fridayfeeling #organisedchaos #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing #digitalmarketing #digitalmarketingtraining
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