I've already written about this nursing school in the Philippines once, so I'm not going to repeat everything. What I want to point out to you doesn't really have to do with the price or quality of the school, but the way in which they're marketing it. [By the way, an online contact of mine did something similar to my first article when he wrote about Indiana nursing schools in his area of the US.]

The George Dewey Medical School Website

I didn't know about the website when I wrote my original article about the nursing college. I met with the librarian of the school a few months ago (I think it was at the end of October or beginning of November) and that's when I found out about it. After I set up an appointment for a meeting with the vice-president, the librarian showed me my other article on her PC (she was using IE7 and it was incredibly slow). She had found it while searching to see how well the school ranked in the search engines. She then informed me of the school's website address.

I'm no marketing expert, but anyone from outside of the Philippines who visits the George Dewey Medical College website will know that something's wrong. You need no college degree to see the glaring inadequacies of the information it provides. It's an international college, yet the website appears to target only the residents of the Philippines. On a side note, my son is on the second row from the top, on the left, wearing the shiny eyeglasses.

When I returned to the school for my meeting with the vice-president (I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember her name), I explained the shortcomings of the website to her. Prospective students from all over the world would be interested in the curriculum, the tuition prices and things of that nature more than the amenities the school has to offer.

The Facility Itself

I'm not here to pitch this nursing school. It's not my job to market their school. I'm hoping they take note of what I'm writing in order to make the necessary improvements to their website.

Unlike other colleges in the Philippines, the George Dewey Medical College is removed from the noise and interruptions of city life. It's nestled on a hill in the Cubi Point area, near the former US Navy hospital, aboard the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. There isn't anything nearby to distract the students while they're studying.

According to the website, this is what they offer:

1. New/Modern Facilities
2. Air-conditioned Classrooms and Dormitories
3. Highly Competent Faculty
4. Affordable Tuition, Innovative Program
5. Accessible and Convenient Transportation

The first item covers the first two, number three is expected of all colleges, and the fourth one is a matter of perspective. Number five doesn't say why they need to tell you about the transportation, and what I mentioned above about the location is the reason.

Website Marketing

There is something wrong when my previous article on the nursing school ranks higher in the search engines for most of the related terms than the school itself. In fact, the only thing I could see the school ranking higher for at all was the name of the school.

It wouldn't take a whole lot of effort to optimize the website for the search engines, after they restructure it and provide the information that students from every country would be looking for. The first time I looked at the website was more than three months ago and not one item has been changed from then until today.

I am not going to offer my services and I won't accept any offer from the school. My time is more valuable, per hour, than they'd ever be willing to pay me. Besides that, I can't accept employment in the Philippines due to my tax situation as a permanent resident alien. That's a can of worms I'd prefer to avoid.

Update 2009-07-13

The George Dewey Medical College website no longer exists. The domain no longer resolves. If I can get the information from cached pages, I'll post it on this blog.

Update 2010-01-08

The website is back and looks nothing like it did before.

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