Creating a school website is more than just piecing together pages online; it’s about telling your school’s story in a professional, user-friendly, and visually compelling way. At School Webmasters, we’ve been perfecting the art and science of school website development for over 23 years. Our streamlined, step-by-step approach ensures that every project is handled with care, expertise, and attention to detail. Whether you’re looking for a complete redesign or starting from scratch, our professional school web design process is designed to make your experience simple and stress-free.
Let’s dive into our process, from the initial concept to the final launch, and explore why schools across the nation trust us for their website needs.
Step 1: Getting to Know Your School
Every great website starts with a strong foundation, and that begins with understanding your school’s unique identity. Our process kicks off with a detailed questionnaire that gathers vital information about your school:
- Your goals: What do you hope to achieve with your new website?
- Your brand identity: Your motto, values, and any visual branding elements like logos.
- Key information: Your address, contact details, and any specific content you’d like to include.
To make this step as painless as possible, we provide a questionnaire and schedule a short call to guide you through the form if needed. Our team is always available to clarify any questions and ensure we gather all the essential details to kickstart the project smoothly. This vital first step guides your school web design strategy and helps us ensure that your school attains your website’s goals.
Step 2: Collaborative Planning
Once we have the initial details, we schedule a meeting between you and your project coordinator. This collaborative session covers all the key elements of your new website, including:
- Sitemap creation: Using the information you provided, we map out the structure of your website for easy navigation.
- Design preferences: We discuss design elements such as colors, layout, and interactive features.
- Content needs: From staff lists and handbooks to calendars and newsletters, we identify the essential information to include.
We also share examples of other professional school web designs we’ve created to inspire ideas and give you a clear vision of what’s possible. If you’re unsure about any aspect, we guide you through the decision-making process, offering recommendations based on our years of expertise.
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Step 3: The School Website Development Phase
Here’s where the magic happens. Once you provide the necessary information, you can sit back and let our expert team handle the heavy lifting.
Design Prototypes
Our graphic designers craft a custom website design using your preferred colors, logo, and visual preferences. Interactive features like hover effects and animations add a modern, engaging touch. While we love incorporating photos from your school, we also offer high-quality stock photos if needed.
For instance, if you’re a small school without a professional photographer, we’ll recommend a few stock photo options that match your school’s values, programs, and colors, ensuring consistency and professionalism across the site.
Copywriting Excellence
Our copywriters focus on creating clear, concise, and compelling content:
- Well-organized navigation: We plan the placement of every detail to ensure visitors can find what they need within one or two clicks.
- Friendly tone: Our content is written in an approachable, personal style, avoiding jargon and passive language.
- Accuracy: Every word is proofed and polished for grammatical and factual correctness.
For schools that struggle with gathering content, we provide templates and checklists to make it easier. For example, if you need help assembling staff bios or calendar events, we’ll guide you step by step or even offer to organize a quick interview to gather the details.
User Interface (UI) Enhancements
The UI team ensures your website functions beautifully on any device, from desktops to smartphones. Interactive elements like animations and transitions are coded for seamless performance.
Content Integration
The content team places all the copy, creates titles and subtitles, and inserts links. From testimonials to staff bios, every detail is meticulously organized to make sure your website is as informative and intuitive as possible.
Graphic Updates
Photos play a critical role in making your website visually appealing. Our team selects the best images—whether provided by you or sourced from stock—and ensures they meet accessibility standards.
If you’re unsure which photos to include, we’ll schedule a call to discuss options or even provide recommendations for taking simple yet effective photos highlighting your school’s best features.
Step 4: Ensuring Accessibility
ADA compliance is a top priority in our school website development process. We adhere to over 50 standards and guidelines from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), ensuring your site is accessible to all users. Features like keyboard navigation, color contrast, and text zoom are implemented seamlessly. While we handle most compliance requirements, we also provide resources for accessible PDFs and video captions if needed.
If accessibility feels overwhelming, don’t worry—we break down the process into manageable steps and even offer periodic audits to ensure your site remains compliant over time.
Step 5: Launch and Support
We’re with you every step of the way, from development to launch. Your project coordinator ensures the process stays on track, answers your questions, and keeps you updated. When it’s time to go live, our technical team provides simple instructions on redirecting your domain to the new website. And even after launch, we’re here to support you with any technical or content updates you may need.
For example, if you’re unfamiliar with redirecting a domain, our team will walk you through it step by step or even handle the task for you if needed. Post-launch, we also offer ongoing support to help you update staff lists, upload newsletters, or make any adjustments.
Step 6: Online Website Management
Many schools struggle to keep their shiny, new websites current and intuitive once it is live. Here’s where School Webmasters can continue to help. This is something none of the other major school website development or hosting companies offer. Here’s what we do, if you’d like to leverage these tasks to those who do it for a living (instead of asking overworked teachers or staff to do it without any training or expertise).
The Benefits of Letting Us Manage Your Website
When you partner with School Webmasters to handle your website updates, your staff can stay focused on their primary responsibilities while we take care of the details. Here’s what we provide to make the process stress-free:
- Accessibility assurance: Every update we make complies with website accessibility standards.
- Best practices: We follow proven strategies for effective content placement.
- Efficiency: Updates are completed quickly and accurately.
- Proofreading: We check for grammar and spelling errors—avoiding those embarrassing mistakes on a school website.
- Link management: Broken links are fixed, and outdated information is routinely removed.
- Monthly reminders: To keep your site fresh and engaging, we send prompts and suggestions for new content.
- Consistent tone and style: Your site’s tone remains conversational and inviting.
- Navigation and design: We maintain intuitive navigation and attractive layouts.
- Editorial standards: All updates adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style.
Does your busy staff have the time and expertise to do all that? We make sure your website stays professional and effective without adding more to your team’s plate.
Here’s How School Website Management Works
We’ve designed our update process to be straightforward and efficient:
- Submit your request: Authorized school staff members receive a secure login to submit updates. It’s quick and easy—no training required. Whether it’s news articles, videos, photos, staff updates, newsletters, or calendar events, just send us the details, and we’ll take it from there.
- We handle the rest: Our skilled website updaters process the request, complete the update, and notify the staff member once it’s done. If clarification is needed, we’ll reach out to ensure everything is accurate.
That’s it! No need to train your staff on complex CMS systems or navigate ADA compliance guidelines. We’ve got you covered.
Your School Benefits
With our reliable and consistent website management, your school enjoys:
- Time savings: Your staff can focus on their core responsibilities.
- Simplified processes: No more CMS software or ADA compliance training.
- Enhanced communication: Improve your school’s communication strategies with high-quality updates.
- Consistency: Ensure your website maintains a professional tone, style, and branding.
- Fresh content: Keep your site engaging with our regular reminders and tips.
- Expert insights: Receive recommendations to improve your site’s usability and effectiveness.
Let us take the hassle out of website management so your team can focus on what they do best: educating and inspiring students.
Why Choose School Webmasters?
At School Webmasters, we’re passionate about creating websites that reflect the unique spirit of each school we work with. Our professional school web design process is not only thorough but also tailored to meet the specific needs of schools. With our expertise and dedication, we’ll help you create a website that not only looks great but also serves as a powerful communication tool for your school community.
Ready to elevate your school’s online presence? Let’s build something exceptional together! Contact us at www.SchoolWebmasters.com and request a quote or give Jim a call at 888-750-4556 and let us help take your school site to the next level.
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