Major Takeaway from eduWeb Digital Summit: Build Websites in Phases
Ryan Pudloski, VP of Web/Interactive, presented the session, “Superior Sites Come from Superior Plans: Why Research-Driven Design Wins” at the 2019 eduWeb Digital Summit in Philadelphia. More than 300 communications professionals from colleges and universities across the country and world attended the annual eduWeb digital summit, which represents the only conference focusing on integrated digital marketing in higher education.
According to Pudloski, whose interactive team of 13 oversees about 25 web projects a year, building websites in distinct phases leads to the highest level of project understanding and successful project completion.
His session covers the full cycle of website project planning from its inception as an RFP, and how the level of detail of that writing matters significantly, to the key phases of a recommended approach: discovery; audits; strategy and planning deliverables; and a completed plan.
“The whole idea of a phased-approach is to get the website your college or university needs, and to get that comprehensive project delivered on budget and on time,” says Pudloski. “We always aim for the highest level of project understanding before we start building.”
A graduate of James Madison University, Pudloski has more than 16 years of experience in online technologies and design and he oversees the development, functionality, and quality assurance of each project.
PS&L has recently been hired to deliver website solutions for Dominican College, the College of St. Scholastica, and Rosemont College. His eduWeb session includes outcomes from two additional higher education clients: the United States Coast Guard Academy and Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences. The session also explores how Oakton Community College has hired PS&L to lead a comprehensive research phase of its enterprise website development.
A year after launching, uscga.edu, the site was not only recognized with a 2018 Educational Advertising Award, but its performance is equally impressive: doubling returning visitors, dramatically reducing bounces, and increasing visits to key admissions pages.
Led by PS&L’s partner company JPL, the redesigned pacollege.edu, resulted in increased traffic and online application conversion rates that outpaced prior years. The campaign also received high industry praise, winning gold in the 2019 CUPPIE Awards for Creative Excellence in Marketing and Communications in Education in the Electronic Media category and silver in the Education Digital Marketing Awards Social Media Campaign category.
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