School Website Management
When you are looking for qualified teachers, for example, you want to find teachers who appreciate and seek to work in a school with your values and services. Evidence shows that one of the first steps job seekers will do when they learn of your job openings is visit your school website site to get a feel for what your school offers. Does your school site provide that?
The critical goals of any school website are to:
#1. Engage and inform your existing students, their parents, and your staff
#2. Market your strengths and successes to potential students and staff
To achieve these goals, your school's website must be designed with intuitive navigation and easy-to-find content—and be kept current and informative. How is your school doing?
You know what makes your school great. You know your school's struggles. You know what you want your parents and prospective parents to know. But are you sure you know what they want and they need from your school website?
It is important to remember that photo captions are the most read text in a publication (only headlines have a higher readership than captions). So, when we want our readers to be engaged and informed, our use of captions matters.
Your school website’s purpose is to inform existing parents and to attract prospective parents. You can’t do that without attracting readers, which means writing a compelling headline that will grab the attention of those desired readers.
Before considering an app, take a look at your website. Since your website is your face to the public (an app is only available to existing parents), your efforts here should be your highest priority. Beware the slick sales pitch and take a look at your website before jumping into the app jungle.
Your school’s website is that critical intersection between public relations, customer service, marketing, media relations, communications, and branding. Website management is the process that makes this a reality.
Many school leaders struggle with how best to manage their school’s website(s). If you want to set up strategies to provide a website that continually serves your parents and community, let’s look at what constitutes best practices in school website management.
Are parents in your community really using your website? If they are, you’ll want to make sure you know what they use it for most often so you can stay on top of those services. If they aren’t, then you’ll want to know why so you can make changes to better serve them.
So, how do you effectively and affordably manage the critical tasks of website management? Consider getting some help from experts trained to manage school websites.
Websites also have become essential for all organizations—from Fortune 500 companies to non-profit organizations, and, yes, even for your school. You certainly don’t need to overhaul your school’s website every year, but you do need to make sure you're presenting your school in the best light by keeping up with current website trends.
There are always leaders and lemmings in the world. Of course, you want your school website to be viewed as an asset and representative of your outstanding educational services. But often, unbeknownst to many respected educators, their school websites are lemmings, or worse, they are losers, and the school administrators are not even aware of it. How can you fix this problem?
Your school website is your face to the public. It’s your chance to create a favorable first impression. Here are some tips about how to do it right!
Does your school website need a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page? The short answer is yes. But let’s consider the reasons to include it and talk about how to create an effective FAQ page.
Let’s look at a few areas that contribute to a positive first impression, each of which we have considerable control over.
If we can be a part of helping others to feel less stress, why wouldn’t we? Your school website content can help!
If your school doesn’t have a responsive website design yet, I’ve got bad news for you—your website is old and outdated! Let's fix that.
The most common complaint we hear from schools is that they struggle to get content from staff to keep their sites current, informative, and engaging. Learn how to solve those issues.
Your school website can benefit from the principles learned at show and tell. Learn how.
Need some tips to help your parent-teacher organizations help your school and connect with your community? Use your school website to get things rolling!
Just like the office of your school or school district, school websites are a hub of activity. The experience your website provides matters—to your visitors and to you.
Your school website is your primary communications and marketing resource. Success isn't about software but about your strategic process.
Unlike a butterfly preparing to transform, schools aren’t always sure what steps to take in order to maximize their school website’s potential. Learn how to do it right.
Your school's website is a powerful communications tool. Are you using yours to its best advantage?
School website management boils down to creating a memorable, inviting, and emotionally engaging experiences. The benefits are worth the effort!
How can teachers help bridge the gap between home and school? Consider an effective teacher website!
What if you could get your parents more engaged in their child's education? You can. Here's how.
Can the information and design of your school website influence parent's choices for their child's education? The answer is a resounding yes!
Where is your school spending the funds allotted to hosting and managing its website? Is it the best option and are you getting what you pay for?
In an effort to save money, has your school considered using a do-it-yourself software like WordPress? If so, weigh the pros and cons first.
As school marketers, we sometimes become distracted by all the wonderful tools we have at our disposal—the website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and whatever the next new social media trend will be—that we sometimes don’t give one of the most efficient tools in our arsenal the attention it deserves. I’m talking about your district and school calendars.
This is a question every school leader should ask. A school’s website is one of the most effective tools a school has to improve communication, engage parents, market its strengths, and build a solid, trusting reputation within its community. These are all benefits that improve education for our nation’s students, which makes achieving them worth the effort.
If you are considering undertaking a school website development process, I imagine you are feeling a bit stressed. Or if you've tried it and are ready to hire professionals, you've come to the right place.
While backpacking recently with my family, I was reminded of the value and refreshing nature of trusted sources. We hiked deep into the Grand Canyon along a popular trail. While water was everywhere, and we certainly enjoyed every minute playing in the turquoise blue pools and staring at the spectacular red rock backdrop, there were really only a few places to access clean drinking water.
One of the most powerful tools a school has when it comes to implementing effective school communications is the school website. It’s like that indispensable Swiss Army knife that has nearly every possible tool in one convenient location.
If we provided the following list to most other industries, it would be old news. I’m pretty sure the whole article would get a response like, “duh!” from their readers.
No other industry would even consider asking their technology department to manage their communications, public relations, or marketing strategies. These two areas of expertise require radically different skillsets. It would be like asking a prima ballerina to conduct brain surgery. Both are experts in their fields, but their fields are vastly different. But public schools do it all the time. So, how did this come about?
When looking for a new school website hosting provider, there are some areas to consider before making your selection.
In the field of education, we often don't think of ourselves as service providers. We just don't relate what we are doing in education as being about customer service.
Find out what our secret weapon is for managing a successful website development project--and it's not what you might expect!
When it comes to school websites, many schools don’t recognize their most valuable players and often don’t even put them in the game. Typically, all the focus is on the main office or district website. If you aren’t using your school-level websites as strategic communications tools, it is like only playing your second string all season.
It's summer and if you're like most educators, you're enjoying the quiet hallways, catching up on piles of paperwork, and working on your summer maintenance projects. While your school is getting whipped into shape with new coats of paint and clean carpets, don't forget that your website needs some summer TLC as well.
Learn how your school’s website can serve your audience needs while cultivating a positive school reputation using these principles.
Your support staff is busy, your teachers are overwhelmed, and administrators are wearing many hats. Now there is a solution to keeping your website current.