When pointing webpage visitors to content further down a webpage or to a specific portion of content within a webpage, traditional anchor links remain the preferred solution. While modern browsers sometimes generate special “text highlight” links that automatically scroll to and highlight specific wording on a page, these links should generally not be used within Michigan Tech websites.
When considering using stock photography in your marketing projects, lean into the authenticity that helps shape Michigan Tech’s brand. The UMC Studio Team has put together a guide for when to use (and not use) stock photography.
When choosing to use stock photography for marketing projects (e.g., blogs, emails, print, PDFs, social media, websites), it is the department’s responsibility to take a few additional steps to ensure images are used appropriately and documented properly. These best practices help protect the university, support long-term content management, and make it easier to address questions about image usage in the future.
UTM tracking parameters (also known as UTM codes) are small snippets of text added to the end of a webpage URL. When applied properly, they give marketers clear insights into where visitors originate and how different audience segments engage with a site. By leveraging this data, marketing teams can pinpoint the platforms and content that drive the strongest results, helping refine strategy and achieve marketing objectives.
Once you understand what UTM codes are and what to put into them, the next step is making implementation both easy and consistent. Below are some ways you and your team can streamline building, applying, and managing UTM tags in day-to-day marketing work.
Alt tags (also known as Image Descriptions or alt text) are very important for the accessibility of your webpage. Moz does a good job of explaining what alt tags are. Please take a moment to read up on what alt tags are and why they are important. Moz also provides some tips for how to write good ones.
There are many uses for alt tags. The most well-known ones are:
- Screen readers will speak the alt tag of an image for users who cannot see.
- If an image cannot be loaded due to some sort of network or IT error, the alt tag will display instead.
- Alt tags boost search engine rankings and can help your website’s images display in Google search results.
The Image Editor Gadget in the CMS will crop, compress, and optimize the images you create for your webpages. There is also code on our pages that serves up the most appropriate size of the image crops for the device being used. All images used in the CMS should be created with the Image Editor Gadget to ensure this code and the snippet code work, provide standard image sizes across our sites, and improve page speed and performance.
Content managers may occasionally want to search for specific phrases within the content of their CMS website. To search your site for a specific phrase, follow these steps.
Redirects are important when webpage URLs change on your website. There are many reasons why this could happen:
- your site’s root folder name may need to change because your department is going through a name change
- you may change the name of a folder or subfolder
- you may move a page, folder, or file
- you may delete a page, folder, or file
When any of these actions occur, it is important that a proper redirect is put into place. This ensures that the old URL continues to work for any users who find it or have it saved.
A free service called Google My Business lets small businesses update their search engine listing. This is particularly useful for Michigan Tech departments who focus on sales, who run promotions, who have distinct hours of operations, and/or which attract and serve tourists.
Customizable Content
Google My Business lets you customize various aspects of your business information in Google search results, including:
- Address
- Hours of Operation, including special hours for holidays
- Phone number(s)
- Photos of your business (inside and outside)
- Promotions/Sales
- Website
Michigan Tech faculty, staff, and students win numerous awards each year. UMC has been asked to recommend a template for promoting award winners on departmental and academic websites.