Lakeland College News & Announcements
Lakeland's new website puts visitors in control
Lakeland College has launched a new institutional website, a dramatic overhaul that puts visitors in the driver's seat of their web experience.
The content of lakeland.edu is designed with audience preferences in mind, and pages are organized based on the needs of visitors instead of the structure of the college. It recognizes the ever-increasing importance the web site plays in the college selection process.
"In planning for this site, we gathered data from our visitors about what they need when they visit lakeland.edu, and we built a site that matches their expectations," said Jason Irish, Lakeland director of interactive communications and the architect of the project.
"The site's design makes it easier to find the information you need. Information is presented the way you would expect to find it, whether you are a prospective student, Lakeland graduate, donor, etc."
The new site's design features more, larger and engaging photos of students and the campus to add visual appeal. The new site also introduces a campus video tour, hosted by Lakeland's student ambassadors, and ready access to everything from Lakeland's NCAA athletic team scores to a financial aid estimator for new students.
The site will interface with popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, accommodating the ability to gather and share information between prospective students and their parents.
"With the increasing number of prospective students that rely solely on our website, it's critical that our site be ever more engaging and user-friendly," said Nick Spaeth, Lakeland's director of admissions.
Lakeland's website has won multiple awards from the National Research Center for College & University Admissions (NRCCUA) for being one of the top admissions websites in the country.
"This new site represents the next step in Lakeland's award-winning website tradition," Irish said.
The new navigation might reduce the amount of time visitors spend on the site, mainly because visitors find what they need sooner.
"One of our goals is making the site more efficient for all visitors," Irish said. "If people are spending a lot of time on the site because they can't find what they need quickly, that's not a valuable experience."
