August search volume was strong, but it did not exceed expectations. August, which for the last 4 years was the strongest volume month YTD did not deliver on that expectation. While the volume was still strong as for year over year growth, it did not top the previous months of 2009. August usually tops Jan thru July as it has for the last 4 years.
BMO Back to School Conference..dont miss it!
September 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Senior Research Analyst Jeff Silber will lead this annual investor conference, showcasing leading companies in the for-profit education industry. It’s a whose who in ForProfit EDU, in NYC Sept. 17th
click here to register: http://www.bmocm.com/conferences/2009backtoschool/default.aspx
House Committee on Education and Labor passed The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act
July 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The House Committee on Education and Labor passed The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) of 2009, H.R. 3221, this included the increase of the 90/10 rule to three years.
Maybe all of the fear mongers hovering over the industry should start to realize there is lots of good and that while some minor changes may come down, there is not much likelihood that any major overhaul will occur.
June search volume strong, just not as strong as May
July 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Finally some sense of reality, nothing can go up & up & up without ever settling down. June search volume for edu terms remains very strong, but for the first time this year did not top the previous months activity. Still, very strong signs of continued growth for the sector as compared to year over year trends. It will be interesting to see August’s volume, as August is generally one of the strong turnaround months when dealing with the slower summer seasonality of edu lead volume in normal times that is…
Search volume continues to buck seasonality trend
June 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
April 2009 search volume suggested a unique break from the tradition of seasonality of consumer demand in the education sector. April traditionally starts the downtrend of demand that would generally continue downward and not pick up until August. But this year 2009 April bucked that trend! After discussion with numerous people who follow the EDUmarket the common thought was that the current economic cycle has resulted in a continued increase in consumer demand for a degree or continued degree enhancement. Was this a new trend for demand? Or, was April just an abberation?
Well if the May results have any indication, it looks like a new trend and continued demand increase. May proved to be yet another exceptional month for EDU search Volume. In fact, and in many of the key for profit EDU terms May has beat out all other months over the last year…
The only exception to this trend is the school name keywords, here April still led the way with the greatest volume for most and January for some of the big names.
Have you noticed some big EDU brands taking over search volume?
May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Have you noticed the change in search engine result over the last 2-4 months? When using google the results when searching with some of the major industry search terms now display brands. It seems brands have taken top position over many of the vendors. Check out online degree & online degrees, you will see UoP in the one to three spot where a year ago these positions were dominated by the lead providers. There are many speculators & conspiracy theorist out there giving their thoughts as to why. Some say google is rewarding those big firms who spend lots on PPC search, others claim it’s because the brands are the good results/best match. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Uop and some others are receiving tons of new found and free traffic which will result in low cost enrollments.
Did April buck the seasonality trend?
May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment
For the last 7 years the lead flow and search volume have followed a distinct trend of seasonality. This year however April has appeared to buck the trend on search volume. April EDU traffic has surged in many of the top edu related terms, when it normally would have begun to fall off. If you look at the year over year volume you usually see a strong Jan-mid-March then a continued decrease from the end of March though the end of July. This has not been the case this year. Will may fall off the cliff or continue to set a new trend. Is this driven by the economy..has the lack of jobs for new grads pushed them to reconsider continued education?
In Sourcing vs. Outsourcing
April 8, 2009 By 2 Comments
A lot of talk has surfaced in the last few months over the topic of In-sourcing vs. Outsourcing. I guess this could be an expected outcome of Apol buying Aptimus. Clearly there are advantages of both, here are some of them:
Outsourcing:
- Leveraging a firm who is experienced, and leveraging their power with the vendors for pricing & placement.
- Leveraging the firms experience and knowledge of the broader vendor universe with regards to conversion rates, volume, sourcing & price.
- Leveraging the firms knowledgebase of conversion rates from other schools with similar vendors to determine how competitive you are with your leads. Leveraging multiple schools analytics vs. your own.
- Limit internal headcount based on outsourced components.
- Better chance of identifying lead fraud.
- Utilizing the firm as a means of stability, reduces risk due to internal turnover issues.
In-sourcing:
- Capitalizing on owning the market intelligence of sourcing, conversions & pricing
- No paying a mark-up on lead spend/agency fees
- Stronger direct relationships with lead sources
- Complete control of marketing…good & bad
- Owning of own marketing analytics
There are more for both, and if you have some feel free to share and we will add them. I think it also comes down to size of school/system as well as growth objectives. Often smaller schools tend to be to small to outsource while many of the largest reach a point where it becomes too costly. The good news is that technology has been advancing and there are more options today than in years past.
Feel free to contact us for more detailed information or for us to help you determine which choice is better for you based on your near & long term goals.