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Extreme Makeover: Website Edition ThE UNIVERSITy WEBSITE GETS MORE ThAN JUST A NEW LOOK. By Lauren Liebowitz
After three years of dedicated work, the new St. Edward’s University website has been unveiled. The new site brings www.stedwards.edu and the university’s three recruitment sites under a single umbrella.
TEAMING UP To develop a distinctive and effective website, the university partnered with Elliance, a Pittsburgh-based interactive marketing company with more than a decade of experience designing websites for colleges and universities. St. Edward’s and Elliance worked together to tell the story of the university’s Holy Cross, Catholic heritage and the role that global learning plays in the educational experience. “Our team members discussed and debated extensively to find the best direction to take,” says Abu Noaman, CEO of Elliance. “We made sure that no one person’s perspective took ascendency so that we never lost sight of what we were trying to accomplish.”
NOT JUST A FACELIFT The new design has been planned from the ground up to be just as friendly for visitors as it is for search engines — which is key in directing more people to the website. Additionally, by integrating social media, the redesign makes it simple to share pages via Facebook and Twitter or connect to the university’s YouTube and Flickr sites. Prospective students can quickly find answers to questions about academics, admission, financial aid, life at St. Edward’s and the university’s history. Individual pages for each school and degree explain what students can expect from studying at St. Edward’s. Other audiences, such as alumni, parents and Hilltopper fans, can find the information
they need just as easily. Alumni can connect with their local alumni chapters, find volunteer opportunities or make a gift to the university. “We wanted to have a logical site organization that was intuitive and easy to use for visitors,” says Carmella Manges, director of E-Marketing. “Now, no matter what page you are on, you can effortlessly access the rest of the site using the in-page search bar or navigation menus. And the entire site is searchable from Google and other search engines, making it as easy as possible for visitors to find what they need.”
12 St. EdwaRd’S UnIVERSItY
74186 St Eds.indd 12
5/26/11 2:35 PM