Higher education websites often serve as the first impression for prospective students, parents, faculty, and donors.  

If the site is outdated, disorganized, or inaccessible, you lose trust fast.  

That’s why web governance isn’t just a nice to have.  

It’s how colleges protect their brands, stay compliant, and remain aligned with campus goals. 

What is Web Governance in Higher Education?  

Web governance means having clear rules, roles, and tools to manage a website. It’s the system behind who can do what on a site, how content gets published, and how quality is maintained. 

When done well, web governance ensures your site is consistent, accurate, accessible, and on-brand. 

Some institutions draw a line between web governance, which covers big-picture oversight like CMS ownership and navigation structure, and content governance, which focuses on day-to-day publishing and content quality.  

While the boundary can blur, this article uses web governance as an umbrella term to include both. 

Web Governance Models: Centralized, Decentralized, and Hybrid  

Every school runs its site differently. Pick the model that fits your team and your needs: 

• Centralized: One central team controls all content. Great for brand control. Tough for speed. 

• Decentralized: Many teams own their sections. Often chosen for its speed and autonomy, especially in institutions where departments or colleges operate independently. While this model offers flexibility, it also creates risks for consistency and accessibility. In many cases, schools arrive at this structure organically, without a deliberate plan, as a result of distributed ownership and limited central oversight.. 

• Hybrid: A mix. Departments manage some pages while the central team reviews key content. This gives balance if you set guardrails. 

5 Pillars of Strategic Web Governance 

1. Content Ownership & Workflow Management  

Make roles clear. Define who creates, who edits, and who publishes. Use a workflow to catch mistakes before they go live. Require approvals for homepage and admissions content. Assign owners to key pages. 

2. Accessibility & Compliance  

Accessibility isn’t optional.  

It’s the law.  

It’s also the right thing to do.  

Most schools know this and work hard to ensure all visitors can view and comprehend the site’s content.  

So, where’s the problem?  

Even after a school invests in an accessibility audit and addresses issues, websites can still slip.  

We’ve seen it time and again.  

A school works for months to become compliant, then, without anyone noticing, content contributors break compliance because of a lack of proper guardrails. 

• They skip heading levels.  

• They upload images without alt text.  

• They paste links that aren’t accessible. 

Just to name a few examples.  

Web governance helps prevent these pitfalls. 

1. Put rules in place.  

2. Use CMS tools to scan for issues.  

3. Train every contributor.  

4. Check pages regularly.  

Make accessibility a shared, on-going responsibility and not a one-time fix. 

3. Brand & Editorial Governance  

Your site should speak with one voice or at least in harmony. Voice can shift by audience or purpose, but it should always sound like the school. That means having brand guidelines and editorial rules.  

Set standards for tone, grammar, image use, and link style. Create templates that guide, not limit.  

Make brand governance part of onboarding. 

4. Training & Contributor Enablement  

Most contributors aren’t web experts, but they still shape your site.  

Train them.  

Often.  

Create short, repeatable lessons on writing for the web, accessibility basics, and CMS use.  

Share examples of good content and recognize teams that get it right. 

5. Measurement & Optimization (Governance KPIs)  

What gets measured improves.  

Track: 

• Number of outdated pages removed 

• Fixes made after accessibility scans 

• How long it takes to publish content 

• Number of trained contributors 

Use dashboards. Share wins.  

Make the value of governance visible. 

Web governance maturity model: From ad hoc to strategic  

Where are you now?  

Use this model: 

• Ad Hoc: No rules. Anyone can post. 

• Defined: Roles exist. Few follow them. 

• Aligned: Governance is active. Leaders support it. 

• Optimized: Governance is part of the strategy. You track and improve it. 

Use our self-assessment checklist to see your level. 

Governance in Action: Real-World Scenarios 

The University of Rochester established a Web Governance Council (WGC) to address widespread inconsistencies in web usability, quality, and risk management caused by a decentralized content model.  

Using digital accessibility as a starting point, the council engaged stakeholders across campus, conducted risk assessments, and drafted a university-wide accessibility policy.  

The WGC also made the case for a centralized accessibility team and developed shared tools and training to support compliance. 

The initiative led to: 

• Measurable improvements in accessibility 

• Reduced issues before launch  

• Laid the groundwork for broader governance practices, including a central web inventory and performance-tracking system.  

The effort fostered a sense of shared ownership and positioned governance as a strategic, collaborative function across the institution. 

Tools to support web governance on your higher-ed website 

You don’t need a fancy system to get started.  

Use what you have: 

• Shared folders with templates and guides 

• CMS workflows for approvals 

• Analytics for page health 

• Accessibility checkers 

How to Build a Web Governance Framework 

Web governance is a living, evolving system. Instead of a rigid sequence of steps, think of it as a cycle that your institution continuously moves through:  

• Assessing what exists,  

• Assigning responsibility,  

• Building structure,  

• Enabling contributors  

• Improving over time. 

Below is a practical framework you can adopt, revisit, and refine. Start where it makes sense for your team—and scale as you go. 

Phase 1: Assess and Assign 

Audit What’s Happening Now  

Start with a full inventory. Map out who has access to your CMS, what content exists and where, and which departments are responsible for updates.  

Identify outdated pages, broken links, inconsistent branding, and any third-party sites using your institution’s name.  

Survey current editors to understand pain points and workflow gaps. 

Document Who Owns What 

Every page should have an assigned owner, not just a department name.  

If a page has no owner, it shouldn’t exist.  

List page owners and define their responsibilities, including how often they’re expected to review and update content (e.g., every 6 or 12 months).  

Use a central content registry or CMS metadata to track this. 

Governance in Different Models 

• Centralized: Ownership typically lives with a central marketing or web team. Fewer editors, tighter control. 

• Decentralized: Each department manages its own pages. Governance depends on trust, training, and clear boundaries. 

• Hybrid: A central team manages high-priority content (e.g., homepage, admissions), while departments own program or service pages. Success requires shared standards, clear documentation, and flexible workflows. 

Phase 2: Operationalize the Process 

Create Simple Workflows 

Set a clear process for how content moves from draft to live.  

A common model is “two sets of eyes.” One person edits, and another approves.  

But many institutions benefit from a three-role model: 

1. Content owner – defines what’s needed and gives final approval 

2. Editor – drafts or revises the content 

3. QA reviewer – checks for accessibility, brand, and editorial compliance 

This layered approach helps reduce risk and improves content quality, especially in high-traffic areas. 

Write Policies and Share Them 

Formalize rules for publishing, branding, accessibility, security, and maintenance.  

Include domain/subdomain use, what content belongs on the .edu vs. intranet, and who approves new tools.  

Post your policy publicly or on your intranet so contributors and leadership can easily reference it. 

Phase 3: Train and Empower Contributors 

Train Contributors 

Most contributors aren’t web experts, but they shape your site every day.  

Make training mandatory before granting editing access.  

Cover CMS usage, accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA), editorial style, and branding.  

Provide job aids like checklists and quick guides. Offer regular refreshers and open support channels for questions. 

Phase 4: Monitor and Improve 

Monitor, Measure, and Iterate 

Use tools like Siteimprove or Monsido to scan for accessibility errors, broken links, and outdated content.  

Review top-level content quarterly and department pages annually.  

Require content owners to certify updates.  

Adjust policies and workflows based on audit results and editor feedback.  

Don’t try to fix everything at once.  

Start with a high-impact area like admissions or academic program pages, and build from there. 

Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them) 

Too much, too fast 

Trying to overhaul everything at once can overwhelm your team and backfire.  

Many institutions launch governance without narrowing the scope or setting clear priorities. This results in burnout, confusion, or diluted results. 

The fix: Start small. Begin with high-impact, low-conflict areas like admissions or accessibility. These early wins build momentum. 

That said, program pages are often the most strategic—and most contested. Many schools end up with duplicate versions managed separately by admissions and academic departments. 

Bringing these pages under shared governance can be a major win for recruitment and consistency. 

UND, for example, trimmed its 30,000+ pages in phases and retrained CMS users before expanding governance campus-wide. 

No enforcement 

Without authority or buy-in from leadership, even the best governance plans stall. Policies become suggestions, and compliance is inconsistent at best. 

The fix: Secure executive support upfront. Make governance an official policy, not just a web team wish. Document expectations, assign content ownership, and require approval processes. UND saw success only after its executive team made governance a priority and backed it with action, including mandatory training and access resets. 

No training 

When content contributors don’t know the rules, they can’t follow them. That’s how inaccessible PDFs, broken links, and off-brand content sneak in. 

The fix: Offer ongoing training on accessibility, CMS usage, and brand standards. Require training before granting editing permissions and provide easy-to-access guides and templates. Build a community of practice among editors, so they have support as well as rules. 

No tools 

Manual systems and scattered requests slow teams down and open the door to errors. 

The fix: Use your CMS to automate workflows, set permissions, and track approvals. Tools like Siteimprove or Monsido can flag broken links, accessibility issues, and outdated content.  

Final Thoughts  

Move from compliance to campus-wide impact today. Web governance isn’t just about managing a site. It’s about protecting your brand, building trust, and making your website work for everyone.  

Start with clear roles, build your framework, and stay consistent.  

Ready to take the next step?  

Download our free Web Governance Toolkit or contact us to build a sustainable, strategic governance plan for your institution. 

In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized a landmark update to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The new rule requires all federally funded healthcare providers to make their digital content accessible. This means websites, mobile apps,

and even kiosks must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA by May 2026. 

For healthcare marketers, this is more than a compliance checkbox. It’s a chance to build trust, improve patient experience, and lead in digital inclusion. 

Stamats, a digital partner to hospitals and healthcare systems across the U.S., is helping organizations move confidently toward WCAG 2.1 AA — and beyond. 

Accessibility isn’t just about avoiding lawsuits. It’s about making sure every patient can access care with dignity and independence.

What the HHS Rule Requires

You might already be familiar with Section 508, which outlines content accessibility standards for all federal agencies. The Section 504 rule extends those mandates to any healthcare provider receiving federal funds. This includes hospitals, clinics, and provider groups.

Here’s what’s covered in the rule update:   

• Websites, mobile apps, and kiosks must meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. 
• Third-party tools, such as appointment schedulers, bill pay portals, and telehealth platforms, must also comply. 
• Organizations with 15 or more employees must comply by May 11, 2026. 
• Entities with fewer than 15 employees have until May 10, 2027, to comply. 

The Section 504 changes do more than upgrade accessibility for new platforms and devices; it gives teeth to digital accessibility. HHS’s Office for Civil Rights can now investigate complaints and enforce compliance. The agency can conduct a compliance review without a complaint, and it can refer violations to the Department of Justice if needed. 

In addition to legal consequences, violations may lead to HHS suspending or terminating federal funding to your institution. This includes Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, as well as research and community outreach grants. 

View full rule details on the HHS website.

This rule is a game-changer for healthcare. It’s the first time digital accessibility is enforceable under Section 504.

What WCAG 2.1 AA Compliance Means

WCAG 2.1 AA is the gold standard for digital accessibility. These simple features ensure that patients using screen readers, voice control, or keyboard-only navigation can access your content: 

• Alt text for images 
• Sufficient color contrast 
• Clear headings and structure 
• Keyboard navigation 
• Captions for videos 

These accessibility rules are based on decades of user research. The user experience professionals who develop the WCAG standards apply four key concepts to their recommendations: 

• Perceivable: Information must be presented in ways users can perceive (e.g., with text alternatives for images or captions for video).  
• Operable: Navigation and user interface components must be usable by individuals with different input methods (e.g., keyboard or voice control).  
• Understandable: Content and interactions must be clear and predictable to avoid confusion and cognitive overload.  
• Robust: Digital content must be compatible with current and evolving technologies, including screen readers and other assistive tools.

Healthcare websites often have many hidden barriers that limit accessibility. Some of the most common (and easily fixable) stumbling blocks we see in our site audits include: 

• Inaccessible forms 
• Unlabeled buttons 
• Using bold or italic formatting instead of heading tags 
• PDFs that can’t be read by assistive tech 

It’s also vital to remember that third-party tools are covered by the new rule as well. If your patient portal or telehealth provider is inaccessible, your organization is still liable. 

Outsourcing doesn’t outsource responsibility. If it’s part of your patient experience, it must be accessible.

Going Further: Why WCAG 2.2 AA Is the Smarter Move

While WCAG 2.1 AA is the legal requirement, WCAG 2.2 AA, released in October 2023, adds important enhancements: 

• Better support for touch targets and focus indicators 
• Improved usability for mobile devices 
• New criteria for users with cognitive and learning disabilities 

HHS allows “equivalent or better” standards, so adopting WCAG 2.2 AA is not only allowed, but encouraged. 

Related reading: 4 PDF Accessibility Tips 

Rather than fix for WCAG 2.1 now and retrofit later, it makes sense to align with 2.2 from the start. You’ll minimize rework, future-proof your content, and improve UX for everyone.

How Healthcare Marketers Can Prepare

If you manage a healthcare website, interpreting and implementing the new requirements might feel daunting. The experts at Stamats can help your organization break down the process into manageable steps. 

Here’s a 4-step roadmap to help you get started: 

1. Start with an accessibility audit: Identify WCAG violations across your website, mobile apps, and patient portals. 
2. Review high-priority pages: Focus on your homepage, appointment flows, and any patient-facing tools. 
3. Talk to your vendors: Ask about their accessibility plans and request updated VPATs (Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates). 
4. Create internal accessibility workflows: Build accessibility into your content management system and QA processes, as well as train your content and design teams on why it’s so important. 

You might be wondering if AI tools can make the road to compliance easier. While AI might help you streamline your processes, it can’t evaluate tone, context, or navigational logic. For example, an alt-text generator may correctly label an image as “doctor” but miss that the image is promoting a women’s health event. Stamats strongly recommends combining automation with expert review and user testing.  

Remember: Accessibility can be more than just a compliance task. It’s an opportunity to improve your digital experiences to meet strategic goals. 

Related reading: HMPS 2025 Recap: Storytelling & Connections Lift the Patient Experience 

Accessibility isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a mindset. It needs to be part of your content strategy, your design system, and your brand.

Turn Deadlines into Strategy

As you craft your compliance plans and present your roadmap to stakeholders, keep in mind that WCAG 2.1 AA is the floor, and WCAG 2.2 AA is the future. The changes you make now will support not just mobile devices, but aging populations and patients with temporary impairments as well. A comprehensive accessibility upgrade is a long-term investment that positions your brand as modern, patient-centric, and committed to eliminating barriers to healthcare. 

Just ask any content expert at Stamats about the importance of this competitive edge. Our work in higher ed and healthcare has shown us that the best digital experiences are born when inclusion is part of the foundation, not an afterthought. Want to secure your compliance and serve all your patients effectively? Download the Section 504 Compliance Guide today.

“We need a new website. How quickly can you get one launched?”

If that question made you flinch or experience an anxiety-laden flashback, you’re not alone. Urgent requests like this often come without planned budget allocation, inducing stress and chaos. It’s something nearly every web team has faced or will tackle in the future.

As someone with 15 years of experience in higher education and marketing strategy, I can offer you some good news: Refreshing your site design and visitor experience doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. With a data-driven content strategy, you can create a new look and a low-stress, long-term design strategy without spreading your team and budget too thin.

A Proven Process for a Customized Plan

The heart of our approach is helping you build a strategic plan to determine whether you need a new website or if a refresh can address your needs and goals. While these key steps can work for every organization, we’ve refined them specifically for higher education and healthcare clients:

• Website audit: Are your pages answering the questions users ask? How many clicks does it take from the homepage or search to find the answers? What devices are they using? What are they seeing on competitor websites?
• Technical evaluation: How healthy is your site behind the scenes? Can its infrastructure handle a front-end design refresh? Are your page templates flexible enough to adapt to strategic requirements?
• Stakeholder input: Beyond the leadership team, who are your key stakeholders? What do your content superusers think of their website tools? Does the IT team have concerns or ideas?
• Governance: Who really owns your website? Which content has the highest priority? Is there a structure in place for making strategic decisions? How do you communicate site needs and opportunities with stakeholders?

All this data-gathering and analysis goes into a final report that details your customized path forward to an affordable website refresh. Another valuable outcome is a phased approach for “quick hits” that show immediate results followed by iterative enhancements over the longer term.

A Closer Look: Before and After Examples

Let’s look at two of our recent website redesign projects to illustrate the effectiveness of our approach. You’ll see ideas that your organization can implement on your own or with a little help from Stamats.

University of Southern Maine

The USM website needed a new look quickly—and it needed to be budget-friendly.

Phase 1: Homepage

• Make top navigation and mega-menu more actionable
• More focus on the needs of prospective students, including program options, campus locations, and fun engagement opportunities
• Scale back use of secondary brand colors to bring back USM’s primary color palette

Phase 2: Program Pages

• Re-energize priority program pages with scannable, relevant, and engaging content
• Use new templates to boost key program features and outcomes for better search rankings
• Infuse a new color palette

The Results: An immediate boost in visitor engagement. Overall, the new homepage and program pages had a 6% increase in average session duration compared to the prior year. Some program pages showed this engagement increased by more than a minute!

Coming Soon: For phase 3, the USM team will update the next batch of program pages, migrate key content pages like admissions and financial aid to the new templates, and continue to rollout the brand color refresh to the remaining web components.

Related Reading: De-clutter Your Digital Junk Drawer: How to Prep Your Content for Redesign

Dominican University

The web team overseeing the Dominican University website knew they needed a new look, but they weren’t sure if they needed a new website.

Phase 1: Put the Data to Work

Use site analytics to guide decisions, especially for streamlining the heavy main navigation and dropdown menus
Align content strategy and template design to answer questions for prospective students at each point on their user journey
Provide clear next steps for prospective students

Phase 2: Flexible Templates

• Create scannable, immersive, and flexible content templates for programs and key content pages
• Deconstruct large text blocks into action-centric content blocks
• Provide clear next steps for prospective students

The Results: A significant uptick for visitor engagement across numerous key metrics:

• 20 second increase in average session duration
• 35% increase in key event rate
• 9% increase in organic click-through rate
• 6% jump in average search position

Coming Soon: Phase 3 for Dominican will include a campus-wide events calendar, a faculty and staff directory, site search enhancements, and content optimizations for SEO.

Related reading: How to Maximize Website Traffic with a Content Audit—and What to Do Next

Redesigning a website without rebuilding it is not only possible but can be highly effective with the right strategy. By following a proven process, gathering stakeholder input, and prioritizing improvements in phases, you can have an immediate impact on your website’s user experience and achieve organizational goals without extensive costs or resources.

People reach websites by asking questions in search or platforms like ChatGPT, and often, answers are served up without the need to click.

So, if they choose to click through to your site to get more information, your landing page had better make that work worth their time!

A landing page is the first page a visitor sees when they arrive on your site. It has two main jobs:

• Answer the visitor’s questions
• Provide action steps to fulfill the next task in their journey

The kicker? It has to do both within 10 seconds—that’s about how long a person takes to decide whether the page suits their needs.

When landing page content is poorly prioritized, not scannable, or badly structured, it creates a negative user experience. That means a high bounce rate, less lead generation, and fewer conversions.

If your landing pages aren’t doing their job, try these three strategies (and a bonus tip!) to create landing pages that convert interest into action.

1. Prioritize Key Messages

The average website visitor spends less than 10 seconds on a landing page before deciding whether to stay or leave. This means you need to make a strong first impression and quickly convey the value of your institution or healthcare facility.

• Validate their click: Affirm that they’ve found the right place to answer their questions (that’s the heart of SEO!) and address their needs.
• Don’t bury the lead! Clearly state your unique selling proposition upfront. What problem do you solve? What sets you apart? What’s in it for the visitor?
• Speak “to” the visitor: Not at them. Use “you” language and focus on the benefits of choosing your institution or facility.

2. Provide Context & Perspective

Landing pages need to provide relevant information based on the visitor’s stage in their decision-making journey. Think of it as a three-step process:

• Discovery: Visitors are exploring their options and seeking general information.
• Research: They are comparing options and looking for specific details.
• Commitment: Visitors are ready to act (e.g., apply, schedule an appointment).

Create dedicated landing pages that address the specific questions and concerns of visitors at each stage. Consider developing a content plan that maps your existing pages to these stages and identifies gaps to fill.

3. Give Them a Next Step

Don’t assume visitors know what to do next. Every landing page should have at least one clear call-to-action (CTA) that guides them towards the desired action.

• Use buttons, not just hyperlinks: Buttons are more visually prominent and easier to click on, especially on mobile devices.
• Be direct: If the CTA is “Apply Now,” take the visitor directly to the application form. Avoid unnecessary intermediate pages.

4. Say Thank You (and Mean It)

Thank you page content is often overlooked, and it’s a valuable opportunity to reinforce engagement and build trust.

• Offer helpful resources: Provide links to relevant information, such as FAQs, blog posts, or social media channels.
• Prepare them for next steps: If you’ll be contacting them, let them know what to expect and what information they might need to have handy.
• Promote upcoming events or opportunities: Keep them engaged with your institution or facility by highlighting upcoming events, webinars, or newsletters.

By using these strategies, you can create click-worthy landing pages that provide value and guide visitors towards conversion. Remember, your landing pages are often the first impression a prospective student or patient has of your institution or facility. Make it count!

About one-third of the RFPs I read do not include a budget. Those that do not list a budget often say, “We would like the responding vendor to present their best solution.”

Your real objective is to find a partner who can accomplish your goals with the budget you have while keeping you well-informed and engaged. While I can respect not wanting to give a specific budget, allow me to present a few considerations.

Is the project fairly similar to other projects, such as a website rebuild or writing X amount of pages?

In this situation, not giving a budget has a higher percentage of receiving similar bids for comparison. As long as your scope is clear for what you want, most agencies have standard pricing for websites and content writing type projects.

Industry research: Over the last two years, of all the RFPs Stamats has responded to, not responded to, won, or lost, the average website budget in a signed or sunshined agreement was $312,744. The highest at $953,763 and lowest at $172,000.

When budgeting, some additional costs include:

• Content writing
• Migration
• Software licensing
• Integrations into third parties

Is the project a digital marketing enrollment strategy?

This is where I believe a budget would best serve you so that you can get a comparable answer. Digital marketing offers a wide range of advertising tactics, but each has very different costs.

“Understanding the budget range helps RFP responders put together the best package of ad tactics they believe will achieve your stated goals.”

Here are examples of seemingly similar ad tactics with very different costs:

• Display ad campaigns often have a cost of $3-$5 per thousand ads served (CPM).
• Programmatic campaigns are also display campaigns, but they use one or more purchased lists to target ads. Because of the list cost, programmatic cost is often two to three times higher than regular display campaigns.

Imagine you were buying a house and you asked your realtor to find you the best deal for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 2-car garage with at least 2,000 square feet in a specific zip code. Even though this sounds like a lot of details, there are significant differences. For example:

• Peoria, Illinois: $159,900 to $349,000
• San Antonio, Texas: $165,000 to $650,000
• Omaha, Nebraska: $355,000 to $920,000

You can see that the same specs can vary in price by over 400%. Providing a budget would have allowed the realtor to give you better options. It’s similar with digital marketing. You can provide scope, such as the amount of programs and enrollment goals, but if the budget is very limited you might not be able to afford the options.

Where a realtor has an opportunity to talk to you and understand your needs, an RFP response limits the personal side of crafting the best solution. Therefore, more context will create better plans for you to review.

What should you include in a digital campaign RFP?

Your main objective is to find an ideal partner. Since your budget most likely can’t change (although wouldn’t it be neat if the budget was adjusted each quarter based on results?), you need to focus the discussion on tactics and outcomes.

Without a budget in your RFP, a partner will suggest a wide variety of tactics that might not be relevant to your budget. That requires additional rounds of review. If you get dozens (even hundreds) of responses, you might not be negotiating with the top five best partners, but you won’t know that because they each provided different budget strategies.

What if I don’t have an approved budget and I need options for approval?

This is a very common situation. Schools approach us in early stages to ask for typical scopes and ranges. If that isn’t an option, consider asking on a listserv or network of friends for their range. You can also turn to public data. Using ChatGPT, type in “How do I find what a public school paid for their website?” Then refine from there.

What if I still don’t want to give a budget?

Consider asking for a plan with three different budget scenarios. Scenarios in any case can be a good idea to see what strategies would change with more or less budget. It often isn’t just “spend more or less”—the actual tactics should change.

I was once asked in an RFP, “If we provide an extra 1 million dollars to the campaign, what would you do?” I won’t detail my answer because I think it was pretty awesome (you can call me and we can chat about it!), but it definitely was not, “Send more money in the current strategies.”

If you want a true apples-to-apples comparison in digital marketing, I believe it is in your best interest to provide a budget range.

One last suggestion specific to digital RFPs: Consider the overall price of ad spend and management. In the last 20 audits conducted, every single one was improperly allocating ad spend due to poor ad management. When you focus on how little you are spending on management, you most likely will end up overspending or poorly spending in ad spend. A well-run campaign with higher management fees should be able to produce the same amount of conversions with less ad spend and often with an overall lower cost. It takes management fees to make sure the entire process is optimized.

When Stamats recently took over digital campaigns for a private university in New England, we quickly realized that the current campaign set up was bleeding money spending most of their budget on branded search. Most of the budget was going towards people who already knew the university name and were including it in their search query.

By blocking branded search from Performance-Max campaigns and shifting to asset groups focused on specific programs while dedicating search campaigns to exact match branded searches, we were able to increase conversions by 244% while cost per conversion dropped by 58% with no increase to their budget within one month of launching the campaign updates.

We saw similar results when a community college in the Midwest hired us to manage their digital campaigns. We determined the best way to maximize their current limited budget was to align their ad spend and creative strategy with important dates in their admissions cycle, including program-specific application deadlines, open house events, and semester starts. This strategy led to a 135% increase in conversions and a 53% decrease in cost per lead with no increase in their budget within two months of us taking over the campaigns.

Curious about results like these? Contact me to discuss a digital campaign audit.

Exclusive Recap! Unlocking Web Content Success by Exploring the Power of Cascade Bricks with Belhaven University

Doreen Fagerheim, AVP of Digital Media and Web Marketing at Belhaven University, and I recently gave this presentation at the Cascade CMS Users Conference.

Our session introduced an exciting feature that makes inserting repeatable phrases into a site very easy to maintain. Our presentation on Cascade Bricks guided the attendees through the essential steps and best practices for implementing, constructing, refining, scheduling, and publishing content bricks within a Cascade site. We showcased tangible instances of how Belhaven University used bricks to craft a more efficient and strategic content writing and governance approach.

What Is a Cascade Brick?

A Cascade Brick is a block of content that will inherit the design of the component the brick lives in. Think of it like a modern-day mail merge—you build the field for the text, and then you can easily update it sitewide with new content and most importantly, the appropriate style.

Cascade Bricks are perfect for content that lives on multiple pages or block types and may change in the future, such as:

• leader names
• tuition pricing
• phone numbers
• accreditation wording
• quick facts
• number of programs
• links to catalogs and handbooks

How Do I Use Cascade Bricks in My Content Plan?

First, think about content that you reuse over and over. Or more importantly, content you want to but often hold back because you don’t want to deal with editing multiple pages in the future. You no longer have to hold back adding the detail to multiple pages. This is one of the biggest a-ha moments when talking with clients.

​Second, determine if the content should be a brick. Not all content aligns with bricks. Follow our flowchart to determine if your content is a brick.

Ask yourself:

• Is this evergreen content?
• Will the brick still work if it’s at the beginning or middle of a sentence?
• Will the sentence structure need to be adjusted on all pages?
• Will the brick adapt well to all types of blocks?

​Ensure that all writers reference the bricks spreadsheet and use the bricks in writing new content.

How Do I Write with Bricks in Mind?

Once you have determined your plan, create a spreadsheet to track your brick text and the name. In your Word document, make sure your content is written with the bricks. Otherwise, it will be hard for migration to identify what to configure as a brick during the site build.

It’s easier to over-plan on bricks during writing than under-plan.

What If My Site Is Already Live?

If your site has already gone live, start with bricks as you edit content. For example, if you are changing dates for the fall semester, move the fall dates into a brick. Every time you touch shared content, evaluate if it can be moved into a brick and do that as you edit it.

How Do I Set Up Bricks in Cascade?

Stamats worked with Hannon Hill to create a sample site attendees can use to set up their site with bricks in Cascade CMS. After installation, create bricks in the Global Setup section of your CMS and add them to pages by replacing words with the brick name enclosed in brackets.

Who Can Install Cascade Bricks?

Bricks are accessible to all users with a Cascade site, with updates automatically applied nightly. They offer the optimal solution for content management efficiency. We love that Cascade constantly enhances its platform with enhanced features for integration and adaptability with bricks.

If you need assistance getting started with bricks or would like a copy of our content matrix template, please reach out to me. ​

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Cascade Bricks Toolkit Created by Stamats

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