TALL blog

Ok let’s set the scene, I was asked at work to compile some simple instructions on how individuals could get their websites within the Department to the top of the Google rankings – as if there was a magic code I could enter. During the process of writing these instructions I decided it would be easier if I used one of the websites as a use case and actually tried to get it to the top of the rankings – something that I haven’t had to do before.

When I first searched for the summer school for adults website using Google (entering summer schools) it appeared somewhere on page 4, which while it wasn’t great was a start for a brand new website – why? I hear you ask – because the site had been put together and launched with no thought of who was going to be viewing it.

I started to research SEO and soon came to the conclusion that there was quite a bit wrong with the site, first and foremost the anticipated audience were people looking to do a summer school course, however, the words ‘summer school’ weren’t used once on the entire site, instead it was always shortened to OUSSA – Oxford University Summer School for Adults – and to complement this there was no online marketing of the sites URL!

I gave some intial advice and some of this was implemented, but other changes were delayed due to other work pressures, i.e. actually running and organising the courses. In the meantime I did somemore digging and compiled my wish list of things for the site and out of curiosity I took another look at the Google search – I gave up on page 50 – yes some people do go that high, but not many.

Ok, let’s fast forward, a little, we have now implemented a number of amendments, generally following my tips below, and when I looked on Monday morning the site was three from the the top of page two! However, as I pointed out we can’t stop working on it, we have to carry on with our marketing of the site – to prove this point I just searched again while I’ve been writing this post and we are now sixth from the top, thankfully still on page two.

I know there are a lot of SEO tips and tricks out there, but when asked about SEO I think my top tip would have to be, at least initially, forget about SEO and concentrate on:

1. making sure your site is accessible; use the browser title tag, alt attribute (make sure they describe the image and not just the name of the image), title atribute,
2. making your site relevant to your target audience with good copy – by all means think about words that someone might search for, but only use them if they fit in with the site and not just because you think you should,
3. making sure you market your site correctly, using both free resources (e.g. dmoz.org) and paid advertising, just make sure the sites you use are relevant to your target audience,
4. making sure that links to other sites are informaitve and not just the website address.

Once these are in place, if necessary, we can discuss SEO tips and tricks – although I haven’t had many people come back to me!

Well after months of development and lots of talking to people in the design for learning community we finally started the process of evaluating the Phoebe pedagogic planner with practitioners, and at a first pass, gratifyingly seem to have created a tool that people want to use. Not that there weren’t lots of suggestions about how to make it better…..

As well as all the specific technical issues, a clear theme was the importance of the user community and how to support them. We had already given this some thought (and it is not as if there are not enough models out there to consider) but it is clear if Phoebe moves forward this is going to be one of the factors that most impacts on making Phoebe a tool that people want to use.

We are still in the early stages of our evaluation process at the moment, the session on Monday was mostly with practitioners from FE and ACL. We will be doing another two workshops in the next few weeks, the first with HE lecturers in Brighton and the second with student teachers in Swansea. We are also going to do a remote evaluation, so if you would be interested in taking part, letting us know what you think and shaping how we take the project forward, keep an eye on this blog for more information, or let me know by emailing me at marion.manton@conted.ox.ac.uk.