Words on Websites #1
This issue of Words on Websites was originally sent to the Rutgers Communicators Network on October 2, 2024
Dear Communicators,
With many thousands of properties under the Rutgers.edu domain, websites are among the most powerful and visible communications and branding tools available to us. It is often the folks in the Communicators Network who are (or who work with those who are) responsible for making and/or prioritizing content updates and decisions on websites.
The University Communications and Marketing web team, who maintain the “front door” website at Rutgers.edu, the RCCL website building tool, and manage and/or build websites for university central administrative units, would like to offer the Communicators Network occasional emails with information on best practices for content management/production, and useful resources made available to you by UCM, around the Rutgers community, and elsewhere online. This is the first of these communications – we hope you find it useful.
🌐Harnessing the Power of RCCL More than 50 Rutgers websites use the RCCL platform, with dozens more on the way.
- Explore the Updated Demo Site: The Rutgers Core Component Library (RCCL) Demo Site has been redesigned to provide clear guidance for new users. Discover how to start an RCCL project, explore component and content type documentation, and find process and user guides.
- Gain Inspiration from Existing RCCL Sites: Browse through a collection of RCCL sites in production to get ideas for your next webpage.
- Leverage the RCCL User Group: This group on Microsoft Teams is the place to connect with the RCCL user base to ask questions, offer suggestions and support, and get ideas.
✅Grammarly and Other Extensions
- Enterprise Grammarly Subscription: Reiterating OIT’s recent messages, Grammarly is an app and web browser extension that will help you write better and avoid typos. If you’re typo-prone or in a position where you’re publishing web content without someone to edit or proofread for you, Grammarly will help you.
More Browser Extensions: Here are two more useful ones for Google Chrome:
- GoFullPage - great for taking a full length screenshot of a webpage.
- Hyde - use to hide the playback function on YouTube videos; useful for unobstructed screengrabs and viewing
📂Auditing the Rutgers R | Ensure Consistent Branding
The Rutgers logotype and Rutgers shield are no longer valid brand identity marks. As the switch to the Rutgers R for institutional branding enters its second year, the most obvious digital spaces should have already been updated with the current branding. Now is the time to start turning over digital stones to look for necessary updates hidden within your website:
- Audit your hosted files. Audit the Word docs, PDFs, and other files you have linked on your site and ensure they feature the correct branding. (And while you’re there, ensure the content is accurate and up-to-date.) Don’t forget these files may be hiding on your site as one-of hyperlinks on interior pages.
- Conduct a visual audit. Also audit for images, videos, or photos that feature signage, apparel, or graphics with the old branding. These should be flagged and replaced when able.
🔎Making Data-Informed Content Decisions through Search
Organic search is a major driver of website traffic. Do you know the search queries that drive users to your website?
- Google Search Console is a free tool to help you both gain insight into your organic traffic from the dominant search engine (Google), and it can uncover opportunities for content that serves your users needs.
- Example: Google Search Console revealed that Rutgers.edu was getting a lot of traffic for terms like “top Rutgers graduate programs.” At the time, there was not a page on the main Rutgers.edu site that directly answered this query, so Google was directing users to a variety of pages, none of which did a great job at meeting the searcher’s intent.
- The web content team at UCM created a page that directly answered this query, linking to it in our menu and where relevant within the main Rutgers.edu site.
- Within a matter of weeks this page started ranking for relevant queries, and the traffic that was getting split across several pages depending on the specific query was now all being directed to a page that better addressed the searcher’s intent.
- Today that page is a top-viewed page on Rutgers.edu – and this is with minimal effort and zero dollars spent promoting it.
- Example: Google Search Console revealed that Rutgers.edu was getting a lot of traffic for terms like “top Rutgers graduate programs.” At the time, there was not a page on the main Rutgers.edu site that directly answered this query, so Google was directing users to a variety of pages, none of which did a great job at meeting the searcher’s intent.
If you’re looking for content wins – start looking at Google Search Console.
- Do an analysis of what people are typing into Google when your website gets served up as an answer.
- Look at the pages being returned in the SERPs - determine whether they are doing a good job answering the search query.
- Examine your top performing pages on search. See if there are optimizations you can make to pages that are already getting good organic traffic work better for you. See if your Calls to Action are optimally placed, determine if the page has relevant and useful internal links.
When you understand why a user comes to your page, you can meet their intent more effectively, creating a better experience.
📣ICYMI Don’t forget about these resources as well:
- Website Guidelines for Rutgers University - an aid for creating and maintaining effective websites
- “I Want Help With…” Guides - Rutgers resources, tools, and services to you reach your audience.
Until next time.