New site usage statistics

After a few days of visits to our new website, I was happy to see some good reports in our analytics program.

Some fun statistics: 2008 – 2009 Comparison

Prospective students on the prospective student page:
Up 327%

Bounce Rate (people leaving immediately after viewing 1st page)
Down 146%

% Exits from the home page:
Down 89%

Time spent on Home Page:
Down 51% (this is good, it’s a landing page that doesn’t have the info they came for – we want them to go to another page to get that)

We’ll continue to monitor the performance and usage, but these early reports are promising.

New Website Template and Navigation

Well, it’s time. After lots of research, user testing, feedback, some programming, and more testing, we are in the process of updating the website templates and navigation for the main CoT site. If you are experiencing an error with the site or have a question, please email me mbosma@purdue.edu.

The main CoT site will be completely updated before students return. Department and statewide templates will be ready for implementation in the next few weeks.

Thanks for your patience and for all your input so far.

-Matt

Security Reminder

To: All student services advisors and others handling student data.

Do not email spreadsheets containing student data!

We should never compromise student data, and email is particularly vulnerable. Never email student ID#, names, email addresses, mailing addresses, etc. A good place to post this data for sharing is the College of Technology Intranet site. If you need to set up a secure location for sharing data, please contact Matt Bosma (mbosma@purdue.edu)

To review university policies, please visit http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/policies.cfm

Intranet Log-In Instructions

Many people have had difficulties logging in to the CoT intranet. To log-in, you must type the OnePurdue namespace followed by your career account username.

In the username field the format is: ”onepurdue\username“

Try it here at the home page of the intranet: https://share.tech.purdue.edu/

Intranet Example – how it’s being used by student services.

The student services group is using a WIKI discussion on the intranet to plan and collaborate on Cognos report needs.

They’re working at deciding which reports they need, and what fields are required for each report.

Check it out here: https://share.tech.purdue.edu/Operations_Administration/Student_Services/Cognos%20Reports/Forms/AllPages.aspx

Intranet How-To Series

As the new CoT Intranet is starting to be accessed by faculty and staff, we’ve been working on some how-to videos to show some of the basic tasks that will be preformed online. There are four videos being launched now:

• Logging-in and basic navigation
• How to upload documents
• Request member access to a site
• Using calendars online and viewing them in Outlook

View the four videos here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=70DC5767EB196F9E

Let us know if you’d benefit from a specific how-to video by commenting on this post. We’re planning videos on creating surveys and customizing lists next.

New Communications Survey – How Connected Are You?

Take our communications survey on the CoT Intranet. it’s quick (only one question) and allows comments and discussion.

https://share.tech.purdue.edu/Lists/How%20Informed%20Are%20You/overview.aspx

Log-in with your career account: “onepurdue\username”

New CoT Intranet Coming Soon – What is SharePoint?

The marketing communications team will soon be implementing an intranet for the college of technology. The intranet will be a Microsoft SharePoint site.

What is a SharePoint site?

A SharePoint site is a Web site that provides a central storage and collaboration space for documents, information, and ideas. A SharePoint site is a tool for collaboration, just like a telephone is a tool for communication, or a meeting is a tool for decision making. A SharePoint site helps groups of people (whether work teams or social groups) share information and work together. For example, a SharePoint site can help you:

* Coordinate projects, calendars, and schedules.
* Discuss ideas and review documents or proposals.
* Share information and keep in touch with other people.

SharePoint sites are dynamic and interactive — members of the site can contribute their own ideas and content as well as comment on or contribute to other people’s.

We’re still in the planning stages, but you can visit the site now. Log in with your career account username and password. In the username dialog box, you must type in the onepurdue domain using the format “onepurdue\username”.
https://share.tech.purdue.edu/

New Facebook Group Gaining Momentum

The College of Technology recently created a new group on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15467539572

With the 2008/2009 school year just ahead of us, we’re hoping new students will ask questions and get a little insight from alumni and faculty/staff before showing up in August. Feel free to join the group and offer some suggestions to incoming freshmen & upperclass. We’ll also promote events and ocassionally send out important announcements to group members.

The group is also a great way to stay in touch with alumni. Most of the current members (100+) are alumni.

The Six Cs of Killer Web Content

By Gerry McGovern. Gerry offers some great tips on writing for the web, and offers some statistics on web readership and usability. Enjoy!

Visit ragan.com to read the article.