You can expect your Internet leads to be better informed than most prospects not only about your school, but also your competitors.

Did you know?

Leads  put a tremendous amount of deliberate effort into finding YOU!
How?

  • Clicking a link on a career or education web site
  • Performing keyword searches on major search engines, like Google and Yahoo!
  • Following interactive advertising, such as opt-in e-mail, banner ads and paid listings
  • Typing in your URL after seeing an offline advertisement for your school

Who's Surfing?: How They Find You

Now you know that people use the Internet for countless reasons. They use it for research, education, entertainment, shopping and staying in touch with friends and family. They also use the Internet for easy access to facts and information, like news stories, stock quotes, sports scores, movie listings and more. So let's move on to the third step – figuring out how they find you.

Your Internet leads, like most other Internet users, probably use the Web for a combination of any or all of these reasons. Internet prospects who send e-mail inquiries directly to your school have most likely been surfing the Web for similar reasons. However, the pathways that led them to you can be very different.

Why Internet Leads Are Online
When following up with an Internet lead, it is often helpful to assess what they were doing online when they found your school. Their reasons for being online may affect your goals for following up with the lead. Even though Internet leads may surf the Web for many reasons, 2 stand out as the most common:

1.

Researching Careers/Looking for Jobs

The Internet is full of great resources for job seekers and career changers. And both groups are prime candidates for career education recruitment. Further training may provide these groups an opportunity to either update or increase their knowledge, or to learn a new skill set.

2.

Researching Schools or Education

At some point, job seekers may shift gears. Maybe they lack experience for placement. Or perhaps they have discovered a new career field that piques their interest. But eventually, they decide to shift the focus of their Internet research to finding schools, colleges and other career training opportunities. Of course, many Internet leads start out researching education on the Web in the first place.

How Leads Find YOU Online

Leads can come across your school while using the Internet for all kinds of purposes. Or, they may not have even found you on the Internet at all. In any event, here are some of the ways an Internet user may find your web site or contact form – and wind up in your e-mail box as a lead.

  1. Clicking Links
    If you market your web site effectively, you will likely have links from many web sites to your own. Your Internet lead may have clicked on a link to your school while searching or browsing an education/training directory site or one of the many job and career sites.

  2. Search Engines
    Most web sites that provide school or career listings are searchable. An Internet lead may have found you by searching one of these sites. Your Internet lead may have also found your school's web site by performing a keyword search on one of several major search engines.

    Keep in mind that Internet leads who find you through a search engine may have conducted their searches in different ways, including:

    1. Searching for schools that offer a particular curriculum
    2. Searching for schools in a particular geographic area

    It is important to realize that the Internet allows prospective students to comparison-shop like never before. You can expect your Internet leads to be better informed than most prospects about your school as well as your competitors.

  3. Interactive Advertising

    Interactive advertising features your school in opt-in e-mail, banner ads and other paid listings. Some prospects will reach you via an interactive ad for your school. They may have been researching education or careers and come across your targeted ad. But they could also have been online for other reasons altogether.

  4. Typing in Your URL

    Finally, some Internet leads may go online specifically to find information about your school after viewing a television, newspaper or billboard advertisement. If the ad listed your web site, they may have typed it directly into their Internet browser. If the ad did not include your URL, they may have used a search engine to find your web page.

    Although prospective students may find out about your school through traditional advertising, they are not traditional leads. They are Internet leads, and you must follow up with them accordingly. The key difference is that they did not choose to call you as the ad probably encouraged them to do. Instead, they decided to find more information about your school on the Web before contacting you by e-mail.

The Common Denominator: Effort

Internet prospects all share a common denominator that sets them apart from more traditional leads: They put a tremendous amount of deliberate effort into finding YOU!

A prospect responding to a television or radio ad typically acts on impulse. Internet leads, however, put forth the effort it takes to find you on the Internet. They will have a greater investment in the information you provide from the beginning. They are better informed about what you offer and have been proactive in seeking information. In addition, they are far more likely to have already made the decision to follow through and get an education.


In short, the Internet delivers some of the most highly qualified leads you may ever get!

Now we need to discuss strategy. The next 3 parts of this site offer different strategies – all of which can be very successful. It's just a matter of discovering what's right for your school and for you, as an admissions representative.