
Driving long-term, sustainable growth for a large university
DePaul University
Here’s how we helped DePaul University improve their online presence across departments, channels, teams, and more than 100 websites to meet key business and marketing goals.
Mightybytes is a valuable partner to DePaul. They’re smart, they ask good questions and they really listen, which makes the solutions they offer very much on point. They’re responsive and nimble, with a solid team of individuals who each contribute to our success.
— Sharon Miller | Director, Digital Experience and Analysis | DePaul University

Key
Points
> 100
University Websites
DePaul University has over 100 individual websites.
80%
Keyword Ranking
We improved search rankings on 80% of target keywords.
62%
Top Ranking
62% of these terms reached the first page on Google.
Identifying
Core Metrics
DePaul University’s digital footprint spans ten colleges and dozens of departments that manage more than 100 individual websites, a multitude of social media accounts, and significant online advertising.
Our work with their Digital Experience and Analysis team was driven by several important goals.
1. Drive Leads
Identify ways to drive more qualified leads through digital channels.
2. Increase Conversions
Increase site conversion rates by improving content and user experience.
3. Improve Governance
Help DePaul’s team improve digital governance to build capacity.
Mightybytes prioritized continuous improvement focused on key metrics to support the goals above. Multiple small projects with clear parameters moved us closer to desired outcomes that supported larger business and marketing goals over time.
Whenever possible, we tested deliverables with real users to ensure DePaul’s goals were also aligned with those of its users.

Digital Strategy
Training
To help DePaul’s team align on goals, build capacity, and improve governance, we facilitated numerous strategy and training workshops.
Over several years, we trained multiple teams on various strategies and techniques aligned with the university’s digital marketing goals.
Research & Testing
Understand how research and testing improve user experience.
Measuring UX
Share methods to identify key metrics for tracking user satisfaction.
Cross-Channel
Learn how marketing channels support and influence one another.
These workshops helped internal DePaul teams across departments coordinate and improve communications toward an end goal of improving KPI performance while decreasing monthly ad spend.
Content & SEO
Strategy
Auditing the core university site for content and SEO performance helped us identify ways to improve content, search rankings, and conversion rates for those pages.
Over months that followed, we developed a consistent reporting methodology to track ongoing recommendations, improvements, and results, then applied this process to websites across DePaul’s online properties.

Research &
User Testing
As part of ongoing audits, we also identified key ways to refine and improve the visitor experience across sites.
User Testing
Qualitative interviews helped us understand what users want from DePaul’s websites.
Analytics Data
Identifying data trends helped us measurably reduce page abandonment rates.
Customer Journeys
Tracking journeys helped us create a better experience for users.
These efforts improved user experience and page content quality while also helping the DePaul team better understand what target visitors want from the site. Providing ongoing data insights via monthly reports helped them track progress over time.
Auditing
Sustainability
Finally, to prepare for a potential website redesign, we ran a sustainability audit on the university’s core website. DePaul’s team wanted to set a baseline for impact metrics to consider improving alongside more traditional marketing metrics.
The university website was self-hosted and built on an outdated platform that impeded their ability to meet important performance and marketing objectives. Mightybytes audited the website for key sustainability and performance metrics, providing a detailed report with recommendations to consider prioritizing during the website redesign process.

The website sustainability audit included:
- Emissions estimates: Broad stroke estimates of website emissions over the course of a calendar year
- Competitor Benchmarks: Metrics comparisons against five other regional university websites
- Page Priorities: A list of priority pages with the biggest problems
- Site Priorities: Key insights and prioritized recommendations to improve website performance and efficiency for hosting, page performance, and user experience across pages.
- Capacity-Building: Training recommendations to get their team up to speed on web sustainability practices.
With this report, the university not only has a clear roadmap for prioritizing sustainability as part of its overall digital strategy, but also put in place significant performance improvements on its current platform.
Continuous
Improvement
Our work with DePaul resulted in continuous small wins, each of which moved the university closer to its ultimate goal of providing a better user experience for current, past, and potential students while also improving page conversions.
Throughout the relationship, we continually explored new strategies for refining DePaul University’s digital marketing efforts in a productive and mutually beneficial partnership.
Still have questions about our work?
Schedule a free strategy call with Tim.