The trend has been accelerating these past few months with several high profile redesigned websites such as Duke University and Bates College as well as other redesigns in process.

With more and more higher ed institutions opting for open source solutions, it makes no doubt that these non-commercial solutions should be considered by committees or teams in charge of evaluating possible web content management systems at your institution (that is if you don’t have any or aren’t happy with yours, obviously).

So, if you’re planning to implement a new CMS at your institution, you should definitely consider registering for the first higher ed open source CMS Fair.

What is an open-source CMS Fair?

Think about your traditional college fairs, but for CMS (and without the brochures .

During this 3-webinar series scheduled on April 13, 14 and 15, 2010, you’ll be able to pick the brain of three of your higher ed colleagues who have implemented and managed an open source CMS.

The ultimate goal of this webinar series is really to give you exclusive access to expertise and experience that you’d be able to use in your own evaluation process while comparing 3 of the most popular CMS in higher education: Drupal, WordPress and DotCMS:

DotCMS for Higher Ed Websites
Michael Fienen, Web Marketing Manager at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS, will tell you all you need to know about DotCMS and how this open source content management system can be used to power an institutional website. He will also demonstrate in a pre-recorded demo a few basic user scenarios.

Drupal for Higher Ed Websites
Blyth Morrell, Web Services Manager at Duke University, will tell you all you need to know about Drupal and how this open source content management system can be used to power an institutional website. She will also demonstrate in a pre-recorded demo a few basic user scenarios.

WordPress/WordPress MU for Higher Ed Websites
Shelley Keith, Web Site Coordinator at Southern Arkansas University, will tell you all you need to know about WordPress and WordPress MU and how this open source content management system can be used to power an institutional website. She will also demonstrate in a pre-recorded demo a few basic user scenarios.

And, if you need an extra incentive to register for this great series, how about 2 extra on-demand webinars about CMS implementation and redesigns for free?

If you register by March 30, 2010 for Open-Source CMS Fair, you’ll get free access to these 2 webinars until July 31st, 2010:

How to survive a Website Redesign & a CMS Implementation
(Recorded on February 17, 2010)
Ben Riseling, Manager of Web Operations for the Office of News & Communications at Duke University, will make sure your survive your next website redesign coupled with a CMS implementation. He will share the best tips and tricks he acquired during the 9-month process preceding the launch of the new duke.edu powered by the open source CMS, Drupal, in October 2009.

Website Redesign & CMS Implementation: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(Recorded on April 22, 2009)
Tonya Price, Director, Marketing and Web Operations at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, will share what went bad in WPI redesign coupled with a CMS implementation and how her team managed to overcome these challenges. She will also present her recipe to prepare, manage and survive any big website redesign project that will come your way.

If you want to learn why Drupal, WordPress or DotCMS could be your next web content management system, make sure you register for Open Source CMS Fair at www.higheredexperts.com/cmsfair.

Avinash’s second book about the topic, Web Analytics 2.0, was published 4 months ago. I’ve recently gotten my copy, and as I’m currently working my way through this great book, I think it makes the perfect combo with our upcoming webinar series, Analytics 360.

This series including a pre-recorded session and 2 live webinars will be presented early next month by Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis, our higher ed Avinashes if you can forgive me the neologism

If you register (or have already registered and paid) and pay by credit card for Analytics 360 before 7PM ET on Thursday February 25th Friday, March 5th, 2010, you’ll get a FREE! copy of Web Analytics 2.0 mailed to the address you’ll provide us once we contact you. No questions asked.

What’s the fine print?
If you cancel your registration and ask for a refund after we mailed the book to you, you will receive a refund of your registration fee minus the cost of the book as well as shipping and handling.

So, register now (or before Thursday 25 Friday, March 5, 2010 at 7PM) at www.higheredexperts.com/analytics360

Shrinking budgets call for a better (re)allocation of your resources (money, staff and time).

While anybody can set up Google Analytics on a website, making sense of all the collected data is actually a science and an art at the same time. But, it doesn’t take a 4-year degree to make sense of this data IF you get a chance to listen to two of the most passionate analytics practitioners in higher ed:
Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis, both working at Penn State University.

As they did last year, Shelby and Joshua will share their expertise and tips with the attendees of Analytics 360 Webinars on March 10 & 11, 2010 as well as in a pre-recorded session covering the basics and including a demo.

Prerecorded session you can watch on-demand
Web Analytics 101: How to plan, start and implement a comprehensive analytics program
Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis will tell you all you need to know to jump start and fine tune your analytics program. After introducing the basics of analytics (goals, KPI, etc.), they will walk you through a Google Analytics implementation and explain how to set up your account to get meaningful results in no time.

March 10, 2010 1PM-2PM ET – Rain date: March 17, 2010 1PM-2PM ET
Advanced Analytics Techniques: How to track data, measure ROI and improve your web initiatives
Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis will help you get the most of your web analytics program by sharing best practices and good tips. They will demonstrate through a few case studies advanced analytics techniques using filters, segmentations, dashboards and more.

March 11, 2010 1PM-2PM ET – Rain date: March 18, 2010 1PM-2PM ET
Advanced Analytics for Marketing: How to track data, measure ROI and improve your email, social media, brand, SEO initiatives
Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis will show you how to use analytics to inform your marketing strategy no matter which communication channels you use. They will demonstrate through a few case studies advanced analytics techniques to evaluate email, offline, social media and SEO campaigns. Last, they will introduce the Google Analytics API and show you how it can be used.

Here’s what a couple of last year’s attendees said about Shelby’s and Joshua’s presentations.

• We liked the combination of Shelby talking about the concepts/best practices of analytics before Josh showed our staff how to implement in GA. It forced them to think about what they were doing and why before the “how”.
• As a more technical and experienced user, the presentations overall moved at a fast enough pace to provide a refresher, while not overwhelming a less experienced, non-technical user. I was able to pick up quite a bit about Google Analytics on day 2.
  Steve Leclaire from Monmouth University in New Jersey

Register by March 1st, 2010 (sooner than later as there’s a big chance this series will sold out before the registration deadline) at www.higheredexperts.com/analytics360

Website redesigns can be daunting projects, that’s why our Website Redesign Boot Camp Webinar Series are always very popular. Hundreds of people working in higher ed institutions have attended our web redesign webinars presented by some of their expert peers since 2008.

This year again, our Web Redesign Boot Camp series scheduled on February 16, 17 and 18 will offer some great insights, tips and lessons learned to help you (and your stakeholders) get ready for your next redesign.

Featuring Stewart Foss from eduStyle (Top trends in higher ed redesigned websites), Chas Grundy from Notre Dame (Recipe for Successful Web Redesigns) and Ben Riseling from Duke University (How to survive a Website Redesign & a CMS Implementation), this series will provide you with what you need to know before jumping into a redesign project.

Find out more about these webinars at www.higheredexperts.com/redesignbootcamp.

Your success is important to us, so I’ve decided to offer a nice extra package if you register for Web Redesign Boot Camp by February 2nd, 2010 (the registration deadline is February 8, 2010): free access to Web Redesign Academy, a collection of 4 other recorded webinars about the topic, until May 31st, 2010.

The Web Redesign Academy suite includes the following webinars:

How to make the case and prepare your next redesign
(presented on February 20, 2008)
Seth Meranda, Assistant Director for Interactive Media at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will show you how to build your case with web stats, surveys and research for your next redesign. After this webinar, you will be better prepared to start to redesign, sell the project to your main stakeholders or even get the budget you need.

How to survive a website redesign
(presented on February 21, 2008)
Nancy Prater, Ball State University Web Coordinator will help you make sure your survive your next website redesign by sharing the best tips and tricks she acquired during the 18-month process preceding the launch of the new bsu.edu in late October 2007.

Website Redesign & CMS Implementation: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(presented on April 22, 2009)
Tonya Price, Director, Marketing and Web Operations at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, will share what went bad in WPI redesign coupled with a CMS implementation and how her team managed to overcome these challenges. She will also present her recipe to prepare, manage and survive any big website redesign project that will come your way.

Web Redesign on a dime in 10 steps
(presented on April 23, 2009)
Nick DeNardis, Associate Director of Web Communications at Wayne State University and Founder of the video blog EDU Checkup, will explain how his team managed to complete 25 successful website redesigns for different departments and offices. He will share best practices and lessons learned as well as his 10 steps plan to redesign a small website on a dime.

So, if you want to get 7 webinars for the price of 3, make sure you register for Web Redesign Boot Camp before February 2nd, 2010. As usual, available seats are limited.

Happy New Year! By popular demand, the deadline to get the free bonus has been postponed to January 11, 2010 and the registration deadline for THIS series is now January 19, 2010

Want to find out how to create the online version of your print magazine or newsletter using WordPress?

We have what you need:

Start the WordPresses, a 2-webinar series including a live presentation on January 21, 2010 as well as a pre-recorded demo walking you through all the steps to set up your WordPress magazine.

And, if you register at www.higheredexperts.com/startwordpresses by December 31st, 2009 by January 11, 2010, you’ll get free access to the following on-demand 3-webinar series (a $350 value) until March 31st, 2010:

“Why and how to go digital with your magazine or newsletter” recorded on July 7, 8 & 9, 2009

This is a 3-webinar series that will show you why more and more higher ed institutions have gone digital with their news-oriented publications. It will also help you get ready for an eventual switch from print to electronic or to better integrate both media at your institution by sharing winning strategies, lessons learned and practical advice from editors of higher ed digital magazines.

• Going Paperless: How to prepare and survive the transition from print to digital
  John Lofy, Editor of Michigan Today, will explain why and how his 40-year old alum magazine took the paperless route by switching to a web magazine combined with an email newsletter. He will share lessons learned, practical tips and advice to prepare and survive this major change.
• Paper and Pixels 101
  Bonny Griffith, Editor of Fuse at Ithaca College, will tell you why and how her 2-year old hybrid print and digital magazine helped her institution reach prospective students. She will also share some winning strategies to integrate and optimize efforts using both media.
• The Editor’s Guide to the Digital Galaxy: How to edit a paperless and multimedia magazine
  Karl L. Bates, Manager of Research Communications and Editor of Duke Research will explain what it means to go from print to digital for writers and editors. He will share practical tips, winning strategies and useful pointers to write and edit a multimedia, digital and paperless magazine.

As I explained on collegewebeditor.com at that time, the idea behind this unique survey was to poll the higher ed community once and to provide some cool prizes at the same time.

We would like to thank all the 559 people who took the time to answer our questions and without further ado announce the 14 lucky winners of the drawing:

• USSportsAcademy won the free pass for Start the (Word)Presses
• eduwebdev won the free pass for Website Redesign Boot Camp
• D. Collie from George Mason University and J. Gardiner from Northampton Community College won a free passes to Analytics 360
• CRT10 from Penn State University won a free pass for Open Source CMS Fair as well as the honorary prize for the most cryptic email address
• starmadilla and J. Fradett from Bishop’s University won a $50 gift certificate from Amazon
• kodiak324, digital_julie, tlshears, johncallery and J Zarate from TCU won an electronic copy of the eduStyle Guide of Usable Higher-Ed Homepage Design
• danilo04 won an eduStyle Standard Website Review 10-page Report + 1 Copy of the team edition of the electronic book
• bamit won an eduStyle Standard Single Web Page Review 5-page Report + 1 copy of the team edition of the electronic book

Congratulations to the winners!
You’ll hear from Stewart and me very soon.

The result: a new website that should be easier to use and to maintain.

The core idea behind this project?
Simplify.

We want to make it simple to register for webinars, to get to the resources and to find contacts at other institutions.

We don’t want to replicate what already exists elsewhere, so this won’t be the place to have extended discussions, talk about your passions, share your photos, ask for a quick tip (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin. Flickr, cuwebd do already that, don’t they?).

Our goal is to provide useful resources and curate the most important information about the latest trends and best practices in higher ed web, marketing and communication.

This first release of the new website was designed to be a work-in-progress as we want to build it with all our members.

So, why not let us know in the comments what you think about this new beginning?

And, don’t forget to visit the Member Center to find out more about the resources available to our members.