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Robin Goad at Hitwise Intelligence has posted details of the top 100 student websites in the UK.

Robin explains that the methodology used to pull his list together isn’t perfect, but for a general sense of student internet habits there are good indicators that this is a useful resource.

Below, from Hitwise’s data, I have extracted all the top over-indexing results to create a shortlist of those with the heaviest proportional student useage.

So here are 21 websites that are notably much more popular with UK university students than the rest of us.

1. WordReference.com
If you’re looking for free online translation then the chances are you’re a student. This long- established dictionary site registers students at a whopping 834 verses the rest of the online population.

2. Google Scholar UK
You use Google Search to find research papers, theses and articles from professional bodies; students use Google Scholar, “the simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature”. Indexing students at 828 verses the rest.

3. Sidereel
Online TV and film is a common theme in this list. Sidereel shows the heaviest student indexing, at 749 above.

4. Surf the Channel
It’s a little bit werrrr, a little bit weyyyyyy, it’s another place to source questionable links to Family Guy and countless movies. Indexing 677 above.

5. Perez Hilton
Students like their celebrity gossip a bit edgier and more sneering than Heat can afford to muster. Indexing 550 above regular folk.

6. Google Book Search
It’s like the visiting the library, except you won’t get told to ssshhhhhhhhhhh. Millions of free texts to trawl through for references. Indexing 501 above.

7. Super Nova Tube
Another video content site, sensibly operating from an island republic in the Indian Ocean. Advertisers include The Open University. Indexing 483 above.

8. Megavideo
From the same people that provide the popular file-sharing site Megaupload. Indexing 452 above.

9. Dictionary.com
It’s like a dictionary on steroids and it even sounds out words. Students love it, indexing 413 above.

10. TV Guide UK
Perhaps because they don’t buy newspapers much, students find out what’s on TV by going online. Radio Times also features below. 370 above.

11. LiveJournal
Old-skool blogging platform popular with geekier students, but its strong student indexing could be to do with the fact that cult celebrity gossip site Oh No They Didn’t publishes on LiveJournal. 361 above.

12. Guardian Unlimited
Other news sites feature in the top student websites list, but The Guardian is the only one showing heavy student weighting. 327 above.

13. Last FM
Custom internet radio with social networking features – a long time UK favourite with students. 324 above.

14. Channel 4
TV channel with obvious youth appeal, it’s no surprise to find them indexing students at 317 above the rest of the online population.

15. Radio Times
Type ‘tv guide’ in Google and Radio Times comes a poor third, but brand recognition makes it a popular choice with students.

16. BBC iPlayer
Who the heck ‘listens again’ to Chris Moyles, the second most popular radio show on the iPlayer? Could it be a nation of students who slept through the live broadcast?

17. Veoh
More video content, in partnership with several US media companies and studios. 311 above.

18. Wikipedia
Legendary first point of reference for today’s undergraduate. 273 above.

19. The Trainline
Although these days more students have cars than ever before, the majority remain big users of public transport. 264 above.

20. BBC blogs
BBC’s blogs are well represented by its flagship radio shows, as well as its tech output and political editorial. Students index 261 above the rest of the online population.

21. Gmail
There are undoubtedly a higher number of students using Hotmail and Yahoo, but against the rest of the online population Google Mail has the highest percentage proportion, indexing at 254 above.

In April, Haymarket staged their annual student marketing conference. Here I have given a condensed report of what each speaker said. This post is in two parts. Below concerns the speeches of David Crocker (First TransPeninne), Louise Maher (Rough Guides), Marie Ashton (NUS) and Joanna Bowery (Exeter Students’ Guild). In a separate post I have reported on other speakers.

David Crocker from First TransPennine rail company took a pragmatic view that, although his firm’s network runs through an impressive number of university cities, students were unlikely to get excited about train travel and therefore he focused on quality deals rather than trying to build a sexy brand. They created a half price student ticket and marketed it through a mix of students’ union and online activity. Their key learnings were: freshers fairs are good for short term profile but expensive and a “logistical nightmare to organise”; gimmicky freebies were warmly received and started a conversation, but had dubious long term value; posters in unions were hard to evaluate; a student newspaper ad campaign was too expensive for them; union websites gave them visibility but poor clickthrough; online competitions were well received and allowed them to build a database; Facebook and MSN Hotmail advertising brought good returns; students have short memories – the campaign had an affect, but it quickly wore off.

Louise Maher from Rough Guides simply explained how their student brand manager scheme (‘Student Brand Navigators’) is structured. This included how they recruit student staff, how they manage them and the results they achieve. The overarching message was that to succeed with brand managers you need to take a long term view. By continually testing and improving you can eventually find out how this form of student marketing can work most effectively for you. Key conclusions they have made so far are: set clear objectives for campaign work - keep it targeted and integrated; teach brand managers to respect the brand; think about marketing partners; create innovative and useful marketing materials for the brand managers to use; meet the brand managers as often as you can.

Marie Ashton of NUS and Joanna Bowery of Exeter Students’ Guild teamed up to give a useful reality-check on the subject of on-campus marketing and the business interests of NUS and its member unions. In short summary, the message was that while unions will assist with your marketing campaign and should be the first point of contact for any planned campus activity, their bigger concern is the welfare and representation of their students. Similarly NUS will engage with commercial partners when there is acute relevance to its mission – for example, it is now working with HSBC on a funded research project following the bank’s brush with a student boycott last year – however it exists to serve students’ unions, not provide a gateway for student marketers. Warning was also given of the fact that each union is unique and democratically run by its students, meaning there are many companies that cannot market on certain campuses due to local or national boycotts (Nestle, Coke and the National Blood Service were mentioned).

Finally Catherine Downes of London Metropolitan University and Tony Smith of Endsleigh took part in a panel discussion which gave their experiences and perspectives. Catherine talked about the difficult climate for university marketers and getting value out of relatively small budgets. London Met are investing a lot in digital activity, including You Tube videos and MySpace profiles, but there remains a question on how to measure results. Tony spoke about the challenge Endsleigh has faced maintaining itself as a popular student choice since closing all its campus branches and focusing on the internet. Their online work includes engaging people in forums to address queries about insurance; his advice was to be transparent at all times, embrace critics and encourage dialogue.

In April, Haymarket staged their annual student marketing conference. I have given a condensed report of what each speaker said. This post concerns the speeches of Marc Sands (The Guardian), Richard Piggin (Beatbullying) and James Layfield (The Lounge group). In a separate post I have reported on others speakers from the conference.

Marc Sands summarised The Guardian’s current approach to student marketing (it doesn’t do much of it nowadays) and looked back on the paper’s recent student marketing history (it used to do a lot more). For The Guardian, students are different to ten years ago. Being a student is no longer distinctive – students blend into the mainstream. Universities are not so polarised (eg red brick verses Oxbridge). Students are young and old, national and international, part-time and full-time – “students are not a minority sport anymore.” As a result, The Guardian is mainly interested in students and their careers; they want to keep them as readers of their jobs pages and recruit the best of them to their offices, which is why they continue The Guardian Student Media Awards. Along with Red Bull they were the first to run a student brand manager programme, but stopped when eventually “every brand had one”. They enjoyed producing their own student newspaper for two years, but stopped that because distribution costs outweighed benefits. Marc noted that from a marketing perspective newspapers share something in common with banks: customers choose them when they are young and tend to stick with them for their whole lives.

Richard Piggin from Beatbullying spoke about how volunteer student ‘cyber mentors’ help young people through online counseling and support. He explained how they created a brand to facilitate this and the marketing issues that affect them. His advice included: let the community control and moderate itself as much as you can; be relevant at all times and meet needs; don’t use youth-speak or colloquial language when communicating; be easy to use; find appropriate corporate partners; and don’t be afraid to change. Sidenote: there is a social network for young gypsies and travelers called ‘Savvy Chavvy’!

James Layfield of The Lounge Group presented ‘A Day in the Life of Students’, featuring video voxpops and plenty of stats. The presentation led in with a timely encouragement that students are recession-proof, because their loans and access to funds are relatively unaffected by goings-on in the economy and they have a ‘spend now, pay back later’ attitude - “I always find money for what I want” was the supporting quote from a Nottingham student. Other points made were: students are very expectant and accustomed to freebies and discounts, so focus on building stronger relationships to find loyalty – River Island is a popular brand with students, despite not offering them a discount; don’t expect students to do much – enhance their existing lives and habits, rather than inviting them to step outside their comfort zones; attract influencers and you’ll save time, because students live within each others’ pockets and have a herd mentality – they go out on the same nights each week, to the same places; give them a good experience and they will share it.