Your school website design is a vital part of your school’s online presence. And like the aim of any website design, the goal of an education website is multi-focused. You need to provide information to potential students and parents, offer assistance to current students, and convert bowsing visitors. But, without using tactical website design ideas, you might be losing out on vital leads and conversions.
If you are looking for school website design inspiration, there are some tips to follow. Your school website should have all of the most up-to-date information about your institution, it should use your brand colours effectively, and it should have clear calls-to-action. There are other aspects of your website that should be stopped, started, and continued. Keep reading to find out what these are.
Stop
Going It Alone: When you are working with a website design agency, you are not alone in the process. It is important to make use of the professionals who are working on your website because they are there to provide you with the support and assistance you need. For example, if your website has been launched and you notice an issue, you do not have to fix it yourself. The school website design team is there to help you and to enhance your website.
Creating Content Clutter: It is understandable that, with a busy schedule, you do not have the time to strategise where your content will go on your website. Simply placing content on the homepage or in your “blog” section might seem like a quick fix for adding content, but it can hurt the user experience. Your homepage is the number one tool for recruitment, so it should never be a dumping ground for content.
Underutilising Your Blog: Maintaining a blog on a school website might sound difficult, but it is important to stay with it and keep posting relevant and valuable content here. A blog can help with better search engine results and rankings, especially if you are interested in improving website traffic or leads. It will also show students and parents that you are more than just a learning institution and that you offer a well-rounded experience for students.
Overusing Common Phrases: Describing your university or school is often a tricky task, but it can be done without using too many clichéd phrases. Some of the wording and phrases that you should avoid overusing include “tight-knight community” (even larger schools have this, rather focus on unique elements of this community), “hands-on learning” (this is a common denominator at schools), “outstanding relationships between students and staff” (this should also be a given at any school), and “unique” (every school is). Rather use graphics or statistics to differentiate yourself from other schools in your area or niche market.
Start
Making Use Of Google Analytics: Using Google Analytics on a school website design is important, even if it does not seem that way. Google Analytics will give you a clear idea as to what people are looking at on your website. For example, you might find that a lot of traffic is going to your “Fees” page when you would rather direct it to your “Classes” page. You can then work on the content on the page you would like traffic to go to in order to drive it there.
Using Responsive Design: Your desktop website might look fantastic and provide a positive user experience, but if it does not operate on a mobile device, you are losing out on a large audience. You can speak to your website design agency about making your current website responsive, or about designing a new and fresh site that is mobile-friendly. Having a responsive design is important because students and even parents of today will often perform searches on their devices, and you need to tap into this traffic.
Making Use Of Animation: Animation on a school website design, we hear you ask? Yes, we answer! Animation can be used strategically to draw in more conversions and to appeal to prospective students and parents. But it will need to be used strategically. For example, you could have an animated explainer video fo your school’s history or animated icons for your values. Using animation will not detract from your school message but can be used to enhance it.
Continue
Social Media Integration: Social media is not only for celebrities and influencers. Schools can use it effectively to encourage more visitors to their website and to engage with their audience and community. If you are already using social media for this purpose, you should continue to do so and also integrate these platforms with your website. Many website platforms allow you to use buttons that share your content across these platforms, making for easy integration.
Using Smart Navigation: Changing the look and feel of your website every two or three years is advisable, but you should always continue to use smart navigation. Visitors need to be able to easily find what they need, without searching the site for hours using difficult tools. You should always have a home button so people can navigate back to your home page with ease. Having difficult navigation can also lower your rank on search engines due to traffic and user experience.
School Is In Session
Your school website is an important part of maintaining your online presence and reaching your audience. You need to make sure that it is cohesive with your brand, vision, and mission, as well as keeping it simple and easy-to-use.
Eliminating content clutter, making better use of your blog, and using social media integration are just some of the ways to improve your website. If you are interested in a new website for your school or a marketing strategy to reach potential students, contact Edumedia today for more details.
