Study Abroad Newsletters

studyabroad.com Newsletter - Volume 3

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TRAFFIC MILESTONES

Traffic to the studyabroad.com world-wide web site had grown consistently since going on-line (September 4, 1995). In the past week, as the spring semester begins, we have seen tremendous volume and we have reached some milestones.

First 2000 page day-January 22, 1996
First 10,000 page week- Week ending 1/19/96

NAFSA 1996 - LOOKING AHEAD TO PHOENIX

We are proud to announce that we have secured floor space as an exhibitor at the NAFSA (Association of International Educators) annual conference in June. We will be operating an off-line demonstration system in the Exhibit Hall. We have also reserved a suite in the Hyatt-Regency Phoenix which we will have open throughout the conference. We will have at least one machine on-line in the suite where we will run constant demonstrations.

We will be offering continental breakfasts in the suite each day of the conference and will have a staff member available throughout the day to introduce you to the Internet and studyabroad.com. Keep your eye on this newsletter where we will announce further details as we get closer to June!

While suffering through one of the most severe winters in history here in suburban Philadelphia, we are looking forward to the desert heat in Phoenix.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

studyabroad.com would like to thank all of our advertisers. These organizations which have supported us in the early going have made it possible for us to deliver the most complete source of study abroad information available on-line. Here is a list of our current advertisers:

AESU Travel
American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS)
AmerSpan Unlimited
Amideast Study Abroad
Australearn
Australian International Hotel School (Cornell University)
Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA)
Center for Study Abroad
Central College Abroad
Centro di Cultura Italiana in Casentino
Champion Insurance Advantage, Inc.
College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS)
Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE)
Education Australia
Educational Programs Abroad
Franklin College
Institute for Shipboard Education (Semester at Sea)
Internships International
ISE Cards
La Suerte Biological Field Station
Millersville University
National Theater Institute
Nicholls State University
Oxbridge Study Abroad Center
Oxford Academic Studies, Ltd.
Partnership for Service-Learning
Rice University
School of Visual Arts
Southwest Texas State University
Student Flights International
Student Services, Inc.
Sun International Programs
Syracuse University (DIPA)
The American College in London
The London International Film School
The University of New South Wales
University Educational Promotions
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Hull
Washington International Studies Council
Worldwide Internships and Service Education

KEEPING UP AND KEEPING PERSPECTIVE

Publishing for the web becomes more challenging and more exciting with changing technology. One of the greatest challenges is presenting materials which look right on the various browsers now on the market.

While competition between the software developers has no doubt brought innovation and advancement, it has also brought complexity and a lack of standardization. The studyabroad.com Home Page (and all web pages for that matter) may look completely different depending on if you are using a Netscape browser, a Mosaic Browser, a Microsoft Browser, an America On-line Browser, etc. Not only do these different software products treat the standard "html" tags differently, but some are now supporting tags and features which are not standard.

For example, Netscape's newest line of browsers, Netscape Navigator, version 2, is still in the Beta phase of development. This means that the official release of the software is imminent and final debugging of the software is underway. Netscape has released to the public free samples of this version during development. More than 8% of our total traffic in December came through using various Beta versions. Version 2 offers many new functions which are not supported by any other browser. Perhaps most notable is the "frames" feature which allows the web publisher to place more than one window on a web page. These frames can also be opened for continuous audio and video transmissions

Many web developers are beginning to write their pages utilizing the features of Netscape Navigator version 2. The problem is that while these pages are exciting to look at with the proper software, the results are unpredictable, unattractive or downright unreadable with other software. And while Netscape is developing new features for its products, Microsoft and others are putting out other non-compatible features on their products. Additionally, the Industry is filled with stories of the "next level" of the Internet, Java.

We at studyabroad.com are keeping a close eye on all of these developments. We are poised to jump in with more dynamic, more interactive offerings, however we will not do so if it means jeopardizing usage from those people using "the other" browsers. We are in the process of evaluating and testing commercially available software which will allow us to serve different versions of the same page, depending upon which browser a user visits us with. This flexibility will allow us to provide the most advanced features available to each individual who comes to see our site.

We fully intend to move studyabroad.com along with the prevailing technology. We will wait until new technologies are commercially available and widespread in usage before applying them to our system. We are convinced that students visit our site to learn about study abroad programs, not to find "cool effects." Our first priority will always be to deliver the most comprehensive study abroad information available on-line, but we are aware of the need to keep our customers "on the cutting edge".

BREAKDOWN OF BROWSERS VISITING STUDYABROAD.COM

Here is a breakdown of the browsers visiting our site during the month of December.

Netscape Navigator (all versions) 77.4%
(includes Beta 2.x versions) America On-line Browsers 5.9%
Lynx Browsers (text only) 4.4%
Mosaic Browsers 3.9%
Microsoft Explorer .9%
All Others 7.5%

SOME OTHER NUMBERS

While we're looking at numbers, here are some highlights for the month of December:

Total Pages served: 29,747
Number of Domains visiting our site 1,798
Search Engine Referrals:
Webcrawler 1,170
InfoSeek 929
Yahoo 498
Most Pages in a day 1,505
Number of "electronic postcards" sent 420

Here's the progression of traffic by month since we first went on-line in terms of number of pages served:

September: 2,115
October: 13,000
November: 20,870
December 29,747

CONTEST WINNERS

We have announced the winners of the studyabroad.com Grand Opening Sweepstakes. The contest was a two month promotion to generate publicity and interest in our site. Over 450 contest entries which offered us a tremendous amount of feedback on our system. Students gave us comments on our presentation and how they found us.

Our grand prize winner is Jennifer Greene of Dartmouth College. Jen receives a round-trip airfare to Europe, courtesy of AESU Flights. Jennifer told us that the airfare may now make her dream of studying in Europe a reality. Congratulations Jen!

First prize, a 2 week EuroBus pass provided by AIFS, went to Elizabeth Anders of Sol Ross State University in Texas. Twenty four additional runners-up are listed on-line and have each received a studyabroad.com mouse pad.

Among the relevant data gathered from the contest entries was the fact that the majority of the referrals came from advertising posters placed on campus, Internet search engines came second, academic advisors came third. Overall, students liked our presentation and ease of use but requested we add the host city as well as host country. Several also asked that our Free Listings include details about academic focus and subjects available. This and other feedback is vital to our development. Most of our system features have been created to meet customer demand. We realize that nobody has all the answers and that we need to move with the times. At studyabroad.com, we are committed to providing a state of the art system designed to meet the needs of students, their advisors and program administrators.

studyabroad.com
265 E. Dutton Mill Road
Aston, PA 19014
USA

(610) 364-0400
http://www.studyabroad.com

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