A Bellevue College partner produced a Digital Content Strategy of the website. The review highlighted ways to improve student recruitment and retention through various improvements. Key recommendations included maintaining consistent communication, clear terminology, and a structured workflow.
In late 2020, the vendor currently contracted for the upcoming website redesign was brought in to provide Bellevue College with some much-needed guidance around strategy. This month-long engagement with OHO Interactive resulted in a ‘Digital Content Strategy Review’—a lengthy document prescribing how the college could best leverage its website to recruit and retain students. OHO provided recommendations to key aspects of the recently revised sitemap, prompting the need for further evaluation by both teams. It is likely that most of the items identified are products of the organization’s structure and taxonomy—things unique to the culture of any given operation.
Consistent and engaging communication were key takeaways of the review, supplemented by a wealth of information on areas of deficiency, their related potentials for resolve, and the metrics of success, post-implementation. Relevant content –that is, content that is current, personal, valid, actionable and newsworthy— all were framed within the context of search engine optimization and accessibility. Opportunities for success lie in the areas of clearly defined standards and workflows, consistent terminology throughout the site, and a thoughtful governance process. The measurement of KPI’s rounded out the overview, with emphasis placed on resulting data informing ongoing publishing decisions.
Along with developing the strategies behind implementation, our core team continues to review the college’s list of sites and ownership on a weekly basis. This includes determining whether sub-sites can be built and maintained in-house or not. Strategies involving implementation suggest that OHO Interactive are a prime candidate for development, given their recent research and work in the higher education arena.
A current area of concern is a concurrent project, the implementation of ctcLink, potentially requiring similar resources and efforts.