Aha! :: Elliance Blog
High-performing higher ed websites are built with a perfect harmony of code, content and design. As the digital soul of an university, a website is a strategic asset that grows enrollment, endowment and reputation. Our agency has worked with colleges navigating these waters, and we’ve developed a framework for aligning design, code, content, and strategy […]
Search is no longer about just finding answers. It’s about understanding intent, anticipating context, and delivering relevant responses. Over the past three decades, algorithms have evolved from keyword counters to predictive engines and from token-based syntactic engines to meaning-based semantic engines. As search evolved from traditional search (SEO) to voice search (VO) to AI-optimized discovery […]
If you’ve ever switched from one higher ed CMS to another, you know that the hardest part isn’t just learning new buttons; it’s learning a new language. What one platform calls a “block,” another calls a “widget.” A “page” in one system might be a “node” or a “content type” in another. Whether you’re migrating […]
In the pre-digital world, marketing was the the art of conveying big ideas with small words, moving hearts and winning minds. In our digital world, marketing is both the art of persuading people and influencing bots so brands can show up on Google page one and become visible on AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini […]
Recently, we were tasked with creating a sitemap of a fairly large website with hundreds of sub-domains and several thousand pages for a public institution. The majority of the sub-domains on the site were related to individual departments, academic programs, research centers, faculty profiles, blogs, news and events. The Website Challenges I DiscoveredWhile trying to […]
Every trade college tells a story of transformation: a student walks in uncertain, and walks out with a skill, a trade, a future. A website should capture that story with clarity and simplicity. For us, it’s not about decoration; it’s about creating a place where the values of craft, grit, and opportunity are made visible […]
Higher-education associations and councils often turn to Elliance to create a new logo or refresh their brand identity. Motivations vary: some want to shed an outdated image and embrace a more modern presence, others aim to clarify their evolved mission, while some seek to expand their reach to new members or stakeholders. A strong brand […]
Discover how Google’s AI Overviews impact search traffic. Learn why niche, long-tail SEO strategies for higher education websites can still drive meaningful clicks and engagement.
The third in a three-part series on how to bring a higher ed institution’s story to life by capturing its people — undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty — in timeless photographs. Faculty and professors are at the heart of a college brand. Elliance conducts photoshoots to reflect the essence of the brand using a […]
WordPress and Cascade are both content management systems (CMS) that power higher education, government and institutional websites. As an agency we have been using both platforms for more than a decade and have built dozens of websites with each CMS. This is a quick primer on when to choose one over the other. But first […]