Online Degrees - Cutting Through the Hype

Online degrees – Some questions you need to ask yourself…

· Are they really easier?

If they are, then employers will soon learn this and will not consider applicants with a degree from an online university. If that happens then your time studying will have been totally wasted.

· Why is there all this hype about online degrees, then?

They are very profitable for the institutions offering them. That’s why so many online universities have sprung up.

· Why do you see ads all over every website about the benefits of an online degree? WIFT? (What’s In it For Them?)

Every time you click on one of those ads, the advertiser pays between $2 and $10 to Google or Yahoo, or a similar advertising program. Google or Yahoo take an unknown percentage, generally thought to be a third, and pass the rest on to the website owner.

Some ads pay website owners more than others, and Online Degree ads pay particularly well, partly because there are so many providers and the field is very competitive.

· Why haven’t you read this anywhere before?

The World Wide Web may be free, but website owners are on it to make a few bucks. Most sites have Google Adsense ads on them as part of the monetization process. One of the terms and conditions of having these ads on your site is that the site must not encourage visitors to click on the ads. You will never read this article on any site showing Google adsense ads, because its contents could be construed as ‘encouragement to click’

· Why am I telling you this? WIFM (What’s In it For Me?)

The links from this article and others like it lead to my websites and help them appear higher in search engines. One of the links also leads to a new education discussion forum that I am trying to grow by encouraging new members to join and contribute.

Pete Gallagher, taught Chemistry for 28 years. He has now left teaching to concentrate on writing. He has an education website with a forum that you are welcome to join. For general information on education degrees www.only-education-degree.info/online-education-degree.html ">this specialist resource site.