SmartCollegeVisit is an award-winning college-search and travel planning resource that works with college and university admissions offices to provide efficient on-line and mobile products for college-bound students and their families.

Smart College Visit, Inc. also:

1. won the VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurial Summit Award for Best Business Concept.
2. was featured in Valley Business FRONT.
3. is a woman-owned technology company.
4. publishes Where'd They Go To School - quirky lists of famous people and where they attended college.
5. is a mobile app publisher.
6. hosts a weekly chat on Twitter called #CampusChat.
7. was invited by President Obama's Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, to attend a Whitehouse Mashup: The Convening on Consumer Information in Higher Education in September, 2011.
8. is listed in the Top 100 Education Advice Blogs by College Scholarships.
9. is listed in The Top 50 College Info Web Sites by  Parents Countdown to College.
10. Is founded by someone whose last name means "cheese."

Smart College Visit's products include the Smart College Visit Blog, College Mom Minute, Campus Chat, Mobile Campus Guides, Smart Visit Widget, and other informational and productivity tools.

Photo: Zane J. Queijo

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Z. Kelly Queijo, founder of college-search and travel planning resource Smart College Visit, was featured in the December, 2011 issue of Valley Business FRONT.

Photo: Zane J. Queijo

Who's in FRONT? is a weekly series featuring photographs of the people in the news in Valley Business FRONT.

Valley Business FRONT is the monthly magazine for in-depth business news in the Roanoke Valley and the New River Valley of Virginia.

You're invited to view Who's in FRONT? on Handshake 2.0, to read Valley Business FRONT's blog, moreFRONT, and to keep up with Valley Business FRONT on Twitter and Facebook.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Talk about "It's still who you know"!

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.  Both Smart College Visit and Handshake Media are clients of creative professional Kelsey Sarles.  Kelsey Sarles designed the mobile app Thought Full(TM) - an app to remember and Handshake Media produced it.  Smart College Visit kindly featured a post by Kelsey Sarles about Thought Full on the Smart College Visit Blog. 

Whew!  And how exciting to learn that Kelsey's post made October, 2011's top ten list of most-read posts on SmartCollegeVisit!

An excerpt from An App for College-bound Students to Remember by Kelsey Sarles on SmartCollegeVisit:

You're 17 going on 18. You can't wait to get out of high school. You're over the drama, the cliques, having to ask permission to go to the bathroom, the cafeteria with its plastic cutlery. You're an adult now. You're ready for sweet, sweet freedom. You're ready for college!

Did you remember to...

• Meet with your guidance counselor?
• Study for the SATs?
• Sign-up for financial aid?
• Plan your college visits!
• Submit your college applications?

Whether you've realized it yet or not, all this new found freedom comes with a price. Yes, the plus side is that you no longer have to listen to your mom nagging you about homework. The downside is – you have to remember to finish it yourself!

For the rest of your life, it's up to you to remember all the things you need to do. Fortunately, there's an app for that, and it's called Thought Full™.

Thought Full is designed to solve the problem we all seem to have – keeping our acts together...

To read the rest of the post, "An App for College-bound Students to Remember," please visit SmartCollegeVisit.com.

You can learn more about Thought Full™ at www.thoughtfullapp.com.  Thought Full is available in the iTunes App Store and is coming soon to the Android Market.

SmartCollegeVisit has apps, too! Learn more about SmartCollegeVisit's Mobile Campus Guides on SmartCollegeVisit.com.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Please click the image or here for a larger view.

We were delighted that Smart College Visit's College Admissions Infographic by Kelsey Sarles of redk was inspired by Handshake 2.0's social media sales funnel infographic.

More from SmartCollegeVisit on Handshake 2.0 and more Infographics on Handshake 2.0.

SmartCollegeVisit is an award-winning college-search and travel planning resource that works with college and university admissions offices to provide efficient on-line and mobile products for college-bound students and their families. SCV products include the Smart College Visit Blog, College Mom Minute, Campus Chat, Mobile Campus Guides, Smart Visit Widget, and other informational and productivity tools.  Smart College Visit - The educated way to visit campus. 

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

When I founded Smart College Visit, Inc. the goal was simple: to make planning travel to college campuses easier for college-bound teens and their families. SmartCollegeVisit.com was designed to do just that by providing the travel booking tools necessary for college visit travel.

Once we had these tools in place and began to demo them to colleges and other businesses, people would ask, "Can I get that for my web site?" Immediately, we realized we had created a solution to a problem that was portable to other sites. We named this solution The Smart Visit Widget and we're happy to announce that the widget debuted on eduLaunchPad.com.

The widget is a location-based-service (LBS) that matches colleges with destination details all under one "roof" so to speak. To accommodate as many web design styles as possible, the widget is available in four sizes, three of which should fit most sidebar widths, and a larger one to fit other web page designs. 

The Smart Visit Widget is free and anyone interested in adding a location-based travel widget to their sites, even companies not associated with higher-ed, are invited to contact me for more information. 

We're excited to work with eduLaunchPad and are looking forward to seeing the widget at work during the fall college visit season. Please read the complete press release Smart Visit Widget Debut for more information.

From Anne Clelland:  When I learned The Smart Visit Widget offers 5 travel planning tools in one - book flight, rent hotel room, rent car, get directions, and calculate fuel - I said, "I want a widget!" We're delighted to feature the Smart Visit Widget linked to our client, VT KnowledgeWorks, on Handshake 2.0's sidebar!  Congratulations to Smart College Visit!

And we're delighted and honored to support Z. Kelly Queijo's participation in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.

Z. Kelly Queijo is a client columnist for Handshake 2.0. and founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated.

What do you get when you take 10 or more people passionate about their work with college-bound and college-going students and ask them all to show up for one hour on Twitter to tweet their best back-to-school advice? You get Back-to-School SUPER #CampusChat! 

I've been hosting a weekly chat on Twitter (#CampusChat) every Wednesday night at 9:00 PM for the past 15 months. Topics have included planning campus visits, college test prep, admissions, college life, academic planning, internships, careers...you name it and we've likely covered it.

Tonight, instead of one expert guest, I've invited ALL of my 2011 previous co-hosts and other long-time supporters of #CampusChat to come prepared to share their "back-to-school" tips, promos, and guides. The response from past guests has been fantastic and many of them have offered give-aways as prize drawings for participants. There are at least 10 prizes to give away - that's a lot for a chat that only lasts an hour! Talk about crowdsourcing an event - what was I thinking?! 

And, we're not talking about pencils and erasers as prizes. The list of give-aways includes resources and services to help throughout the life of a college student. Here are just a few of the prizes we'll give away:

• Get into college: 10 copies of Getting In: The Zinch Guide to College Admissions and Financial Aid in the Digital Age
• Stay fit while in college: a FitKitDORM and a free one year membership to the FitKitCLUB - $50 value from www.FitKit.com.
• Plan your career while in college: A one-hour mentor call for students interested in finding the right internship with Mark Babbitt, founder of YouTern, a college internship matching and counseling service. The call can be used to discuss career goals, mentorship, entrepreneurial aspirations – whatever the student would like to focus on. 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Prizes are cool, but it's really the opportunity to meet and chat with industry experts, experienced parents and college students that makes #CampusChat an awesome hour. Multiply that "awesomeness" by 10 or 15 and you can see why I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by how much information there will be to manage, push out and later curate. Is this mashup on Twitter a really great marketing innovation in the making or is it more like trying to squeeze 60 college kids into a VW-Bug?

To register for tonight's #Campuschat - Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 9:00 PM ET - and to be entered into the prize drawing, please RSVP by posting your Twitter ID in the Comment section of this post on SmartCollegeVisit: There Will Be Prizes: Back to School Super #CampusChat. 

It's been a little over a year since I started Smart College Visit, Inc. and while the business began as a blog in 2009, it was in April of 2010 when I sold myself on the idea that I could create a business based on my passions: higher-ed marketing, technology, and travel.

Winning an award for "best business concept" was the affirmation I needed to move forward faster. Now, it's been a year and SmartCollegeVisit.com has morphed into a college search and full-service college visit planning portal. Through collaboration with others, we've been able to take college visits mobile with the launch of the Visit Virginia Tech iPhone app.

The takeaway advice, set by the panel of judges at the 2010 VTKnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurship Summit was "Think Big and Focus." These two concepts can easily be perceived as at odds with one another, but not in my case. Marketing, technology and travel are the BIG ideas; higher education, the focus.

To enjoy this Prezi online presentation, please click the Play button to view and advance the Prezi. To view the Prezi in full-screen mode, click the Play button, then go to "More." Refresh the browser to restart the presentation from the beginning.

Z. Kelly Queijo is founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. You are invited to follow her on Twitter @collegevisit.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated.

When I lived in Tampa, a decade might pass before I went to the beach.  I returned to Blacksburg, Virginia and rarely visit the Virginia Tech campus.  In contrast to the lengthy, trafficky drive to the beach that made that trip a rarity, an easy two-mile walk could take me to the center of the Drill Field.  My undergraduate years at Virginia Tech were some of the best of my life.  But I don’t visit campus because that was another life, one I can’t relive or reclaim.  I was gone for twenty-three years.  Two decades of new structures and new buildings have changed the topography so much that, even at my own school, I am lost.

I had a sense of feeling found as I scrolled on my iPod touch through the list of 50+ academic and administrative buildings in Smart College Visit’s Visit Virginia Tech.  I didn’t stop for the new buildings whose names I didn’t recognize, but “toured” the buildings from my childhood years when my dad was a prof with offices on campus, the last in Cheatham Hall, and from my own undergraduate years, most spent in history classes in MyBryde Hall.  I was one of those 302 women for whom Shanks-the-Corps-of-Cadets-barracks was converted to Shanks-the-residence hall.  And I sat among the 3000 in Burruss Hall who heard Vincent Price himself cackle deliciously about playing the evil Dr. Phibes.

I visited my Virginia Tech using Visit Virginia Tech.  I can imagine other alums might find Visit Virginia Tech a way to visit their Virginia Techs, too.

***

Jeremy Hart seemed to have a similar experience when he wrote, "SmartCollegeVisit.com has made it a lot easier to visit campus even when you can’t actually be on campus."  WDBJ7.com covered the story in Want to visit Virginia Tech? There's an app for that! Here's Virginia Tech's announcement of Smart College Visit's mobile guide to the Virginia Tech campus and a description of the app on Smart College Visit.  Oh, yes, and a link to Visit Virginia Tech in the iTunes App Store.

Smart College Visit, Inc., publishers of Visit Virginia Tech, is a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focusing on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Today is Wednesday, the mid-point of the traditional work week, and for me, this particular Wednesday, April 20, 2011, is special. It marks the 50th time Smart College Visit has hosted CampusChat.

CampusChat is a Twitter chat covering topics related to all things college: campus visits, college admissions, college life and careers. Participants have included college-bound teens, parents, authors, consultants, college admissions professionals, and vendors who serve college-related markets. Adding the hashtag "#campuschat" is all that's required to participate in the chat.

In a word, CampusChat has been FUN! It's also been educational, informative, enlightening, friendly, engaging, and helpful.

What is it like to participate in a Twitter chat?
It's like instant messaging on steroids. A Twitter chat is the flashmob of text-based sharing. A regular group of followers shows up each week for CampusChat to share their insights, ideas, and especially their humor in ways that not only entertain but also provoke thought.

Expert guests are invited to share their knowledge and lead discussions. I've been very fortunate to be able to connect with authors and experts via Twitter and blogs to include some of the best and most popular celebs in higher-ed. I've got to admit it's pretty exciting to have guests on CampusChat such as Harlan Cohen, Eric Yaverbaum, and Amie Hoff who have also been seen on the Today Show, CBS Morning, Good Morning America or Fox.

And then there are those guests who may or may not have made it to network televsion but are well-respected in higher education, parenting, or college admissions as "go-to" experts in their specific areas such as Akil Bello, Suzanne Shaffer, Jeannie Borin, and Eric Stoller. It can be quite heady to know that something you've created turns out to be something people want and like.

My guest tonight is an expert-in training: Debbie Stier. Debbie is a mom who is taking the concept of helping her children prepare for college to a new level. Just like her kids, she is preparing to take the SAT. And, she's set an auspicious goal for herself: to score 2400, a perfect score on the SAT.  Learn more about the Perfect Score Project tonight on #CampusChat.

Would you take the SAT again?

From test prep tips to study habits to study guide materials, Debbie will share some of the insights she's gleaned while on this journey. Moms, Dads, teens, word and math geeks - all are invited to join us tonight for CampusChat No.50, at 9PM Eastern.

Z. Kelly Queijo is founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., a Blacksburg, Virginia-based higher-ed marketing company focused on mobile app and mobile web development with a special interest in creating travel and location-based tools and services. SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college search and college visit planning portal, has been listed in the Top 100 education advice blogs and as one of the top 5 college visit sites. You are invited to follow her on Twitter @collegevisit.

Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated.

If you live in the Roanoke or New River Valley region of Virginia, then it's likely you've heard of Donna Dilley or seen her on TV giving etiquette advice on everything from cell phones to global business. 

Donna wrote an excellent post for Smart College Visit on how to dress and engage during a college admissions interview. It's one of the most frequently read posts on SmartCollgeVisit and it sparked my interest in getting to know her better. Now, she's become my go-to person for any question I have about responding with grace or thoughtfulness in certain situations.

This works great when I can wait until we can talk or exchange email, but during a recent Twitter chat a manners question was directed to me about college admission visits. A participant asked whether or not a student should respond to a thank-you-for-visiting letter from the admissions office following a campus tour. 

As my mind raced to find an appropriate answer, the thought "What would Donna Dilley do?" popped into my head. Would she ignore the opportunity to respond with thanks? Is this an opportunity for the student to stand out with grace and intelligence to someone who has the power to make a decision that could impact the future path of a teen? Does someone's future hang on the value of a thank you note?

I responded as I think Donna would have advised: 

@collegevisit: "So few ppl will respond to the TY letter, that if you do, you will def stand out in a good way #collegechat"

When it comes to college admissions, standing out is a good thing and saying thank you is an easy, accessible way to make a difference that counts, and as Donna has proven many, many times: manners count. 

Donna Dilley will speak to Women in Leadership on "Etiquette in the Digital Age" on Wednesday, March 23, 2011.

Z. Kelly Queijo is the founder of Smart College Visit, Inc., developer of mobile campus guides for colleges and universities and owner of SmartCollegeVisit.com, a college visit portal.  Smart College Visit, Inc. is a client of Handshake Media, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

You're invited posts by Z. Kelly Queijo on Handshake 2.0 and by Donna Dilley on Handshake 2.0.