You have realized the importance of having a web presence for your school and created a school website. All your stakeholders (prospective students, current students, parents, faculty and alumni) visit the website to consume information. Have you ever wondered why your alumni are not visiting your alumni page?

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75% of millennials are turned off by out-of-date websites
- Online Donation Statistics, QGiv

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Here’s what you can do to get all your alumni to visit your alumni website.

Provide value to them

When your alumni visit your website, they need to find something meaningful, relevant and valuable to them, not just information about your alumni association or annual fund. The most impactful way is to create an online community for your alumni to find and network with each other. Alumni can use this network to get career guidance, access mentors, update contact information and also consume information about your school and alumni association.

One-third of U.S. adults get news through Facebook & LinkedIn now
- Pew Research Center Report

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Make it discoverable

There are several studies on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make websites more easily discoverable on search engines and social media. Industry standard best practices have to be understood and baked into the website. While this may seem like a long stretch, you’ll be surprised by the increase in visits by just doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) well. If you have the time and resources, you can also target appropriate audience using paid channels.

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Optimize for mobile devices

At least 50% of your alumni will try to access your page on a mobile device, and that number is only going up. You cannot afford to make the page work only on desktops. Just merely having the page come up on a mobile is not good enough. The layout needs to be adjusted based on the device so that it’s easily consumable on any device. It also needs to load quickly on mobile internet connections (not just fast WiFi). 70% of visitors exit the page if it doesn’t load in less than 2 seconds.

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Make them come back

Once they visit, you need to make it easy for them to subscribe and provide reasons to come back. By making the commitment very low, even your most inactive alumni will get involved at their own convenience. By understanding their preferences, you can then prioritize them and better structure your asks.

There are several softwares like Almabase that make this process easier for you. By integrating with Facebook and LinkedIn and getting all your alumni to sign up you get the added benefit of an up-to-date alumni database. Several schools have also leveraged the increased online engagement into increased giving participation.

What has been your experience with improving your alumni webpage?