How Good School Websites can be Your Greatest Marketing Tool
The way people receive information is changing. More and more individuals turn to the internet for news, reviews, and general information. Therefore, in order to reach out and promote your school to people in your community, it is important that your school’s website is working as a positive marketing tool for your school’s brand. These six features will ensure that your website is prepared to promote your brand.
News and Announcements
It can be tempting to fill your school’s website with information about all of your accomplishments and reasons why your school is the best. However, oftentimes, parents, students, and prospects are not visiting your site to hear about the achievements of the school, but rather they are seeking information. Whether it be school dismissal times, the events calendar, or school policies, the first way you will impress visitors of your site is to provide them with exactly what they are looking for in a clear, easily digestible way. Think about all of the calls your staff gets with questions, and consider adding that information to the website for easy accessibility. By doing this, your school will appear helpful and easy to work with.
Focus on brand distinctions
There are many schools that parents and teachers have to choose between when deciding where to send their kids or continue their career. During this process, some individuals may begin to feel overwhelmed or struggle to find the difference between their options. Your school website can serve as a powerful tool at this time to make you stand out from the others. All schools are focused on educating the youth, but what is important to include on your website is what your school works particularly harder at and excels at. For example, if your school is known for its advanced Science labs or its award-winning theater productions, highlight that on your front page so that visitors who value the same things will immediately be drawn to your school most.
Linked to Social Media
After learning everything they can from your website, visitors will want to see what they can learn from your school on other platforms. The easiest and most-attention grabbing way to do this is with aesthetically appealing social media profiles. By including a link to your school’s Instagram page on your website, visitors will be able to easily scroll through images giving them a better grasp on the attitude and values of your school. A link to your Facebook page will give visitors more information about how you communicate and connect with the surrounding community, and Twitter will help you inform visitors about important news occuring in the school or in the community. All in all, including social media links on your website will give viewers a more well-rounded idea of what your school has to offer.
Customer Feedback
Because Marketing tactics are so prevalent today, visitors to your website are prepared to be confronted with certain features of your page designed to entice them to like your school. However, one thing that viewers can always trust is quoted reviews from people just like them. Seeing positive affirmations from real people right when they enter your sight will cause your school to be perceived as genuine and trusted.
Blogs
People looking for the best school in a certain area may also turn to a search engine to see what results appear on the internet. Because of this, it is important that you appear near the top of the results page so you are considered in the prospect’s search. To do this you need to attract as much attention to your page as possible so that the search engine knows that your page is in demand and should be displayed first. A school blog feature on your website is a good way to attract this attention. By answering commonly searched questions about education or your school in general in your blog, visitors will be directed to your website in order to find the answer.
Standing out in today’s marketing environment can be difficult, but if your school includes the most important features listed here, there’s no doubt visitors will remember your brand and create positive feelings around your school.