Everything about your school’s online presence starts with your domain name. It’s the address of your institution online, and it's the name that students, faculty, and alumni will need to recall in order to easily find your school on the internet.
To attract the best and brightest students to your institution in today’s connected world, it is crucial that your school stands out to them in this way. Many students’ first stop will be researching online when choosing their ideal educational fit. Schools that have an inviting and memorable online presence have an advantage when appealing to prospective students.
Besides winning the race to attract top students, institutions must also adapt to the rapid expansion of online services in the education industry. Many key initiatives for student retention have moved fully digital. This includes everything from online classes to student enrolment and even program organization and donation collections.
Unlock the full potential of your school’s online presence by building on a platform designed to bring freedom and flexibility to the education industry online - .College domain names.
How .College helps drive students to your school online
.College domains can make it easier to find you online
A .College domain helps you enhance your school’s brand online by making it easier to remember where to find your website. As the main information source for your school, your website should be at the center of all of your promotional activities – whether that’s sending direct mailers, running digital advertisements, updating social media pages, or attending college fairs and other events. Having a more memorable domain name to use in this promotion increases the stickiness of your marketing and keeps your school top of mind for potential students.
You can promote YourSchool.College in advertising campaigns as a branded link to collect applications. Giving out that same domain name on direct mailers and in-person visits can increase the likelihood that a student or parent will remember it later to research your school.
YourSchool.College is also a short and easily readable URL that will not take up too much space in social media posts. The flexibility and memorability of .College domains help you optimize all areas of your school’s branded promotion.
.College domains clearly communicate who you are
Your .College domain is made to help instantly connect your mission with prospective students and their families. A professionally branded .College domain signals to your website visitors that your institution is a part of the education community. This benefits many different kinds of learning institutions, from two and four-year universities and colleges, to private preparatory academies, to distance learning schools, as well as online educational resources.
One clear example of this branding power in action is Barker.College, which Pre-Kindergarten through Year 12 private education institution Barker College uses as their main online hub. Barker boosted their online image with a .College domain name exactly matching the name of their institution. Using the .College extension shows prospective student families that Barker provides education that puts their students on the path to higher learning.
Those in the distance learning and skill teaching sectors can look to LearnSkills.College. The domain is the online home of Learn Skills’ all-in-one education hub. As a distance learning platform geared toward high school graduates, the school offers courses on everything from business and finance to health and beauty, with specific interest courses on topics like computers and technology, writing, and even animal care. Learn Skills is able to attract students to the URL while also using it to offer a simple and memorable address for them to navigate to for their classes.
Institutions who offer various tools and guides for prospective students can do so via a .College name for each. A perfect example of this strategy in action is GuideTo.College. They promote their college application prep course through a .College domain that not only describes the product perfectly, but also doubles as a call to action. So students can simply type GuideTo.College in their URL bar and be taken right to the provider’s comprehensive guide to the college search.
.College helps to make your domain SEO-friendly
The majority of internet browsing sessions begin through a search engine. This is where most go to get answers to their questions, find resources, and research beneficial opportunities. Getting your website to rank in search results for terms related to your institution is essential in improving web traffic.
Securing a geographic-specific domain like YourState.College or YourCity.College can strengthen your overall SEO strategy to establish your institution as the go-to in your area in online search results. These keyword phrases can match popular search terms for students. Using a domain name that exactly matches these location-specific keywords can help your website rank at the top of search results for them. This is because the keywords in your domain name are relevant to Google and other search engines in their mission to show the best results.
Boosting your visibility in search engine results can help you save on advertising costs as well. Using these strong keyword .College domain names in conjunction with your overall website strategy can help your website rank above other institutions in your area for geographic searches. If you are naturally at the top of search results, you can get a lot of the traffic to your website naturally that you would otherwise get from buying ads.
