National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Sep 8, 2010 9:14:04 AM

Division II Network pages on NCAA.org experienced a large jump in traffic in August, likely resulting from the addition of the new Division II student-athlete resource page.

Consultant Jill Willson said that the number of page views, probably the best indicator of effectiveness, jumped from 37,590 in July to a record of 82,425 in August. The previous high was 51,546 in March. The number of unique visitors (15,443) and hits (830,469) also reached record levels.

The "I Chose Division II: A Student-Athlete Resource" page debuted August 2. It features news stories about Division II student-athletes and athletics programs, blogs, videos, photo galleries and polls.

The debut of the site was heavily promoted in advance. Athletics directors were encouraged to raise awareness at fall preseason meetings of all student-athletes, and sports information directors were encouraged to promote the page on their own websites.

Clarion Sports Information Rich Herman said his institution has made student-athletes aware through the school's student-athlete newsletter. He also said he saw potential in using the page as a resource to help prospective student-athletes better understand what it means to be a Division II student-athlete.

Elsewhere, conferences have promoted the student-athlete page to the public.

The Lone Star Conference site features a Division II page that highlights both the Division II Network and the Division II student-athlete page (among other Division II resources). At Northwest Missouri State, Assistant Athletics Director Morris White has created an "I Chose DII" tab – complete with Northwest Missouri State imagery – to promote the student-athlete resource.

Willson said that all of that is contributing to a successful launch. "A lot of people are coming because we call attention to it every couple of weeks," she said.

As with the community-engagement and game-environment sections, special care will be taken to make certain that the student-athlete page is continually updated. Members of the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee have specific assignments in that regard for the upcoming year.

The key to ultimate success, however, will rest with student-athletes who contribute to the site, either by participating in discussions or by contributing content.

"We haven't tried anything quite like this before, and I don't want to overpromise," Willson said. "But once the student-athletes figure out that they are interested in seeing their own videos and photo galleries, I believe we're going to get a lot more traffic."

Members with questions may reach Willson at jwillson@ncaa.org.

Growth of the Division II Network

                              Page views         Visits           Hits

Feb. 2007                          281              44         5,352

Aug. 2007                      6,377         2,629       51,675

Feb. 2008                     15,234         6,795     125,977

Aug. 2008                    22,585       11,849     221,921

Feb. 2009                     27,341       14,517     232,545

Aug. 2009                    24,619       14,837     185,608

Feb. 2010                     44,494       22,123     263,559

Aug. 2010                    82,425       15,443     830,469