Web Development
Your website is the engine driving recruitment, advancement, and the key relationships your college depends on.
Convert prospective student interest into applications with an intuitive, mobile-first design and seamless inquiry paths.
Motivate giving and long-term alumni engagement with an inspiring, seamless donor experience.
Highlight programs, faculty research, and student success stories to attract top students and partners.
The primary hub for news, events, and resources that keep students, parents, faculty, and alumni informed and engaged.
Discover your potential in days, not months.
Need to move fast? Consider potent consulting. We can help research a critical issue, uncover quick wins, and provide a fresh perspective to help you get unstuck fast.
These short engagements range from a day to a couple of weeks and are led by our founder. You can expect a burst of ideas and insights, tailored to your needs.
Web Development for Higher Ed
Web development for colleges, universities, training companies, and education providers is a unique discipline distinctly different from commercial web development. Since 2001, we have built websites for Higher Ed that focus on enrollment.
Establish a strategic plan driven by project objectives and measurable post-launch KPIs.
Evaluate the websites of peers and competitors to differentiate, learn from their mistakes, and benefit from their examples.
Organize content using a site map and wireframes to reflect audience priorities, simplify discovery, and support strategic goals.
Define user personas to understand the needs and expectations of key audience segments.
Understand how to structure content and pathways for a broad range of users with diverse needs, from current and future students to alums and business partners.
Design concepts for mobile and desktop versions of key pages that reflect the institution’s brand and incorporate the content models developed during Information Architecture.
Develop a fast, mobile-first web experience that performs consistently across devices, browsers, and bandwidths.
Create high-performing pages and mini-sites to support recruitment campaigns, academic initiatives, or donor appeals.
Build a flexible, branded theme with the features, plugins, and templates needed to scale content, streamline workflows, and support integration.
Enable internal teams to manage content safely through a user-friendly, scalable Content Management System (CMS) tailored to institutional workflows and editorial processes.
Transition seamlessly from outdated platforms while preserving SEO equity, improving performance, and reducing technical debt.
Migrate, clean, and format content at scale—reducing staff workload while maintaining accuracy and consistency.
Connect web forms to your admissions CRM to streamline data capture, enable marketing automation, and improve enrollment conversion rates.
Ensure that the site’s search feature is fast, accurate, and comprehensive. Use search analytics to determine where content should be added or improved.
Develop searchable, filterable directories that make it easy for users to find faculty and staff.
Improve user experience and conversion rates through periodic user testing of key content and pathways.
Develop a site that meets WCAG standards and provides access to all users.
Track user behavior, form submissions, calls, clicks, and scroll depth using Google Analytics, real-time analytics, call tracking, and other tools.
Incorporate structured markup, optimized metadata, semantic headings, and fast-loading assets to improve search visibility.
Incorporate calendars, virtual tours, chatbots, catalogs, and other tools into a cohesive and brand-aligned experience.
Ensure fast load times, stable uptime, and performance across high-traffic periods with optimized back-end configurations.
Eliminate down-time, security breaches, and data loss with a hosting partner that knows the unique challenges of managing high-load websites.
Establish clear content ownership, editing rights, and publishing workflows to support distributed teams.
Increase inquiries, applications, enrollment, and fundraising through iterative improvements to web forms and key content.
Provide documentation, team training, and optional support agreements to ensure long-term site success.
Why Choose Potent?
-
Experience.
We’ve been helping higher ed clients since 2001. In that time, we’ve enabled colleges to leverage the Web, adopt Social Media, and navigate AI.
-
Reliability.
We keep our promises. When you ask us to do something, you know it’s getting done.
-
Results.
We know how to get the most from your budget, regardless of size. We
-
Team.
We have an exceptional team of professionals who wake up ready to solve your toughest problems.
-
Transparency.
We will always give it to you straight, from strategic recommendations to performance reporting.
-
Longevity.
We’re here to stay. We’ve been serving some clients for over two decades.
-
Exclusivity.
When you work with us, we’re not working with your competitors.
-
Curious.
We approach every new client with a fresh perspective, ready to dive into the details and imagine your greatest possibilities.
-
Attention.
We are not a volume agency. We invest our time in a small roster of clients whom we believe are ready to grow.
-
Partnership.
Like our parent company, Partners Marketing Group, we’re committed to building trusted relationships.
Case Study
Unlocking the Potential of a Historic Brand Marching to Their Own Drum
Learn how this historic institution reversed enrollment decline through digital strategy, upgraded web experiences, and automation—driving growth, reducing costs, and renewing the brand.
Case Study
Science + SEO: A Powerful Reaction
Emory’s Pharmacology graduate degree program had the research credentials, but not the national visibility. Learn how targeted digital marketing helped them reach elite applicants across the country.
Case Study
Growing a Corporate Training Brand
See how our enrollment marketing program helped a leading Project Management training organization turn flagging sales into an 800% increase in revenue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Budgets vary based on scope, but most full website redesigns fall between $40,000 and $150,000. Factors include page volume, CMS complexity, content migration, accessibility needs, and custom development requirements.
Most college website projects take 4 to 8 months. The timeline depends on stakeholder availability, content readiness, and the number of decision-makers involved. We work with your team to establish milestones and keep things moving.
Sometimes we work within an existing CMS, but more typically our clients choose to build a new site and replatform. This is based on cost and features: remaining on an old CMS often comes with technical debt and limitations, which can lead to greater cost and older/lesser features. It’s a lot like building a new house vs renovating an old one: there are fewer surprises when starting from a blank page.
Absolutely. We design governance structures, permission settings, and page templates that support distributed content authors while maintaining brand and quality control. We also design editorial processes to enable staff to write content while reserving publication for an editor or senior staff who oversees brand and content guidelines.
This is extremely common. In fact, waiting on content is the leading reason why web projects take longer than planned. We can start with architecture, design, and development while your team prepares content. We also offer content migration, formatting, and writing support if needed.
All our sites are designed to meet WCAG standards. We have been building sites to meet various accessibility standards and regulations (like Section 508) since 2001. We conduct accessibility audits, implement compliant markup, and offer training for internal teams to maintain accessibility post-launch.
Yes. We often recommend phased launches—starting with top-tier admissions and academic pages—so you can go live faster while continuing to build out deeper content.
Yes. We provide a Peace of Mind hosting plan for high-volume, mission-critical websites that focuses on uptime, security, and data protection. We also offer ongoing support packages for content updates and enhancements.
Your team’s involvement is key, but we streamline the process. We provide clear timelines, content checklists, and weekly updates to keep you informed without overwhelming your staff. It’s important for you to designate a project liaison or project lead to direct efforts on your end.
We don’t disappear. We train your team, document your site, and remain available for enhancements, performance monitoring, or longer-term partnerships.
Let’s Talk
Sed fringilla nisi rutrum id. Pellentesque ac nulla eget est
varius auctor. Phasellus ut tempus odio. Vivamus sapien
lectus, pulvinar non blandit ege.