Are you sure your website works properly on the Russian market?
Every school has a website nowadays – some place
a copy of their current brochure on-line for agents’ (or maybe even
students’) reference, some pay for sophisticated websites with flying
3-dimensional objects, flashing pictures, videos, calculators etc. This
is a kind of additional proof that a school is well-established and keeping
pace with the time. You have to have a website – because everyone
does.
However there is one question you need to ask yourself:
does it work as a marketing tool, i.e. does it bring you more paying students?
Please note that we talk about the Russian market
only (or, to be precise, about Russia and Russian-speaking students from
former USSR countries), because the situation in Scandinavian countries
or in South America may be quite different. The second assumption is that
your website must bring you some paying students – as direct bookings
or bookings via your local agents.
If you suspect that you don’t have enough additional
bookings from your website, check whether you have done everything to
make it work properly.
o Do you have a Russian language page on your
website?
If not, you lose most of your potential Russian students:
even if they understand some English, they will never contact you, because
their English is not good enough. (That’s why they need your courses!)
Elder generation (parents wishing to send their children abroad, sometimes
even adult children) does not usually speak any English.
o Does your Russian web page have enough visitors
from Russia?
You can easily check it - most internet providers
will supply you with detailed statistics. If the number of visitors
from Russia is dramatically low compared to the number of visitors from
Germany or Columbia, something’s wrong. Maybe Russian students
just cannot find your web site.
o Do you promote your web site in Runet?
Your Russian students usually use Russian search
engines - Rambler, Yandex and the like- and even if they type their
request in English (which is not typical) your web site requires special
registration in Russian search engines in order to be found successfully.
If your prospective students type their requests in Russian (using Cyrillic
letters) they will never find your web site, unless it has metatags
and keywords in Russian.
We strongly recommend to create a localized version
of your website like www.yourschool.ru
translated into Russian and properly registered. In this case most of
your site’s promotion will be done automatically by search engines’
robots.
o Do you have enough requests for additional information?
If you don’t have enough requests, you will
never get any paying students. This is simple: 1000 visitors –
20 requests – 1 paying student (of course figures may vary).
Be sure – they will contact several schools and their decision
will depend on your answer. Please be prepared to answer requests written
in Russian - you must even encourage your prospective students to write
in Russian if you really need their money. Of course, you must have
a Russian speaking staff member – or you could ask us to do this
job for you.
o Do you have enough successful internet bookings?
A booking is successful when your Russian student
enrolls (directly or via an agent), transfers his/her payment and gets
his/her visa successfully. Usually your students need professional advice
regarding all the aspects - from completing your enrollment form to
preparing visa documents for the Embassy and travel tips. Refer your
students to professional well-established agents only to avoid visa
refusals and other problems. We will be glad to help anybody speaking
Russian in case they don’t have a reliable agency within their
reach.
In case you have enough genuine
bookings generated by your web site (direct or via agents), you may
be sure that your web site works properly. If you believe, however that
the number of paying Russian-speaking students may be considerably higher,
please contact us as soon
as possible – we will be happy to help you.
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