Ask the Experts

Website Wishing Well

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I want to start an online business here in college. How can I succeed, when everybody is creating one?

There are no statistics gathered on how many students are operating a money-making website. It is a common goal we all seek. Let us focus on the psychology angle. Users should enjoy visiting your website, before they even consider spending money or reading your content. Sometimes, a small, creative change can completely enhance the user experience.

Every site has a blog. You are expected to ramble on about the product benefits or suggest ways to improve it. We reversed that and let customers write about themselves, spills company blog editor. It is better to allow bloggers self-promotion, so they will return to your site.

Another way to identify new customers is to take a survey. Visitors respond when you show their opinion is valued. Surveys are a quick method for start-ups to identify their audience, reports DevOps software programmer. Before a sale is even made, potential customers reveal what they want.

Most often, you are entering a market that seems saturated. There are no funds to invest in new technology. You can apply an existing technology to a new purpose. Photos were supplanted by
360 Video. Every local business now wants to upgrade their images. Even Google has added this to its search results. Webmasters are still scrambling to find more uses.

I answered this exact question many years ago for some student named Zuckerberg.

Sam Shepard is a marketing specialist with digital marketing agency Digital Next.

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To the Manor Born

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Here at the University, we have adequate housing. What is the deal with some dorms providing pools, gyms and saunas?

You and I have the same question. Who is living this lifestyle, at which colleges and how much is it? Student housing from earlier decades had only one goal; provide students with a place to live. With burgeoning college enrollment, the environment began to change and now that dynamic has changed. It naturally increased demand for off-campus housing, and real estate developers quickly recognized an opportunity. Just as expected, outside developers are more cost-efficient housing developers than the host university. One key source of demand, incoming foreign students, prefer to reside off-campus. You and I both missed out. Read about the privileged few.
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And Baby Makes Two

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I feel a bit isolated and ignored, because I have child at college. Do I qualify for any help from the school?

We want to discuss your question, because over 26% of U.S. undergrads are raising a child. You are hardly alone in your struggle. Learning from other campus moms, we found the main issue is lack of recognition from colleges to provide: student health services, childcare and financial aid. Finding out what resources and benefits are available will reconnect you to campus life.
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Foreign Filings

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Like a lot of college students, I’m going abroad. The difference is, though, that I’m not going during the school year or through a school program. It was important to me to maximize my time on campus, so I worked with my parents to come up with a plan for going abroad on my own. During the summer, I’m going to visit a few countries over the course of a few weeks, visiting historic sites and doing a little bit of an ‘independent study abroad’ program, so to speak.

But one tricky thing about doing this all on my own is that I don’t have the school to guide me about all of the paperwork I need. I’m getting ready to research all the stuff I need to do, but I don’t even really know where to start. For instance, I need a visa, right? How is that different from a passport? Help!

Never fear! It’s important to have your paperwork in order before you head abroad, but the good news is that the information you’ll need for foreign travel is relatively straightforward.