For the 1st time in eduStyle history we had to hold back releasing the Noteworthy sites due to a tie. We extended the voting until noon eastern today and with a frenzy of last minute votes the Noteworthy sites were selected. But just barely, it really could have gone either way making me wish we could have 3 just for this month. So here are February 2009′s Noteworthy sites.

The University of Texas Medical School at Houston – Office of Communications

University of Texas at Austin – Be a Longhorn – Prospective Students

Not officially “Noteworthy” but clearly noteworthy, coming in a close 3rd and almost edging out University of Texas at Austin (or just being edged out by University of Texas at Austin … depending when you looked):

University of Virginia

Champlain College

Vermont Law School

Case Western Reserve University

The College of William & Mary

Congrats to the two sites selected by the users as Noteworthy for August.

University of California, Riverside

Cornell University – Lab of Ornithology – Round Robin Redesign Blog

Congrats to the two sites selected as Noteworthy for July 2008 and Happy Canada Day!

Vassar College – History Department

Skidmore College – Campus Map

Each month the users on this site select two sites as Noteworthy by voting them as “my style.” In the nearly year and a half since eduStyle launched they have put 36 sites into the exclusive Noteworthy club. In that time there have been many sites that were just edged out of winning the monthly award by a few votes. Here are 15 sites that were almost capital ‘N’ Noteworthy:

Skidmore College

Appalachian State University

Vassar College – The Learning and Teaching Center

University of Dayton – MyLife at UD

Our Lady of Holy Cross College

Dallas Theological Seminary – Watch & Learn

University of Notre Dame – Prospective Students

Calvin College – No Greater Task: Hearts and Minds Renewing God’s World

Ball State University

Loyola Marymount University – iLMU – Point.Click.Experience LMU

Virginia Tech – The Campaign For Virginia Tech – Invent the Future

Clarita Career College

Tabor College

Robert Morris University – Master of Business Administration

Virginia Tech – April 16 Remembrance

Believe it or not, we occasionally get emails from folks asking for us to make their sites Noteworthy. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Those of you who’ve been around here for awhile understand it’s based on the number of ‘My Style’ and ‘Not My Style’ votes a site gets in a month. That being said, here are some tips that may help get your site in the running (and possibly push it over the top).

1. Submit it. It definitely won’t become a Noteworthy if it’s not in the gallery
2. Have a Quality Site. This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyways. It’s the community that determines whether you get a Noteworthy or not so if nobody has a reason to vote, you won’t have a chance (sorry).
3. Keep the Discussion Going. Post comments on the site page. If someone responds, reply back (remember flames wars don’t accomplish anything). This will create a link to your Site Page off the eduStyle homepage (which can drive lots of traffic your way). We also recently added an rss feed for the comments for each site to make it a little easier to follow what’s going on.
4. Build Out the Site Page. Submit news items and articles about the site, team, or process. This encourages people to stay on the page. Also add keywords as this increases the number of ways people can get to your page.
5. Promote It Elsewhere. Link to the Site Page on your team and personal blogs if you have them. Encourage your visitors to register on eduStyle and vote it up. Lately it takes about 20 votes to make it as a Noteworthy, so we’re not too worried about people trying to game the system, although if things get out of hand we’re not afraid to act

On a related point, if you’d like to promote your site by doing a ‘Q & A’ type article, please send us a note. Feel free to post any more ideas you have in the comments.

Congratulations to the two sites that won the Noteworthy award for March and thanks to everyone who voted. The winners are:

• The University of Louisville
• Strayer University

Well Biola does it again. It was a very close battle this month, so congratulations to the two sites that won the Noteworthy award for January and thanks to everyone who participated in the voting in spite of the winter break. The winners are:

• Biola University – Student Life
• Rice University

There was a great response the the new voting method for Noteworthy sites this month. Congratulations to the two sites that won the Noteworthy award for December. The winners were:

• Saxion Universities of Applied Sciences
• Loyola Marymount University