Website Design. Is your school website a marketing tool? If not, how it can become one. Liz Niederberger Zumu Software

Transcription

1 Website Design Is your school website a marketing tool? If not, how it can become one. Liz Niederberger Zumu Software

2 Who is Your Market? Prospective Families Current Families Community Members

3 Prospective Families New to the area New parents (first child) Parents unhappy with current school Alumni

4 Current Families Keep them up-to-date Encourage them to be involved Keep Preschool and Kindergarten students into Grade School

5 Community Members Parish Members This is especially important for regional schools Municipalities and Towns Other Local Schools Preschools, Public Schools, Private Schools, Religious Schools

6 Using Your Website to Reach Everyone Your website should answer everyone's questions easily and quickly If someone can t find what their looking for, they will go look somewhere else You have seconds to help them

7 Can You Find on the Front Page School Name School Address include state School Phone Number Principal s Name Type of School Parish School, Regional School, Grades, Co-Ed, Boys, Girls, Special-Ed, etc. Contact Form How to Apply or Register

8 First Impressions You only get one chance. Make it count. Is your site dated? Attractive Colors and Fonts? Blocked Info or One Long Page? Consistent Organization? Good Photos? Current Information? Would you send your child here?

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12 Important Information The most important information should be found on the front page. Meeting dates and times Event dates and times Registration deadlines Closing or Emergency Information Contact Information

13 General Rules Good Deeds Name and logo on every page Site Search Block Site Structure Easy to Scan Good Photos Consistent Design Do the same thing everyone else does Test your site and review it often Remove old information

14 Make Your Site Valuable You want prospective parents and students, current parents and students, and other community members to come back to your site. Your site should provide for the needs of your customers (current and prospective). Make sure you are providing the information they need in an attractive way.

15 Things Of Value Prospective Parents Benefits of Catholic Education Registration Information Tuition Information Financial Aid Information Parish Information What schools students attend after graduation from this school (High Schools or Colleges) Certification and Accreditation Information Teacher Qualifications Quotes and Comments from Parents and Students Current Parents Homework & Projects Dates and Times for events, sports, PTA happenings, etc. School Calendars Lunch Menus Directions to other schools, events, parishes Teacher s contact info Any paper that is sent home Announcements and News

16 Things of Value Past Students Inform Alumni of Events Contact Information from Past Students Provide Reunion Information This can be a major fundraising source Community Members Parents of past students Parish Members Past Catholic School Students

17 First Place Anyone Goes Your website should be the first place anyone goes to find out information about your school The information on the site must be up-todate Your site must be attractive and show your school in the best possible light The first impression is very important. Make yours matter.

18 Other Important Web Marketing Stuff Check your site on all current web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) Check your site on mobile phones, tablets and ipads Search for your site on all major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, AOL) Check reviews and listings (google,

19 More Important Web Marketing Stuff Check your link from the Diocese site Check your link from parish(s) sites Check your link from NJ Department of Education Site Check your link from the town or municipal site

20 Website Ownership Make sure you know who owns your school s domain name Do a whois search: Registrant: SCHOOL NAME School Principal School Address City, NJ US Domain Name: SCHOOLNAME.COM

21 Other Website Stuff Where is the site hosted? Who has access to the site? This information needs to be recorded and stored in a safe place and with more than one responsible party.

22 Don t Annoy People No Broken Links Unwelcome Music Anything that looks like an advertisement Hard to find contact info Scrolling information is hardto-read information Don t require registration to read pages Outdated content Blinking things Personal Annoyances: People don t come to your site to find out what the weather is today Scrolling Information Unprofessional Logos Flashing things Advertisements on a school site Popup Windows

23 Other Resources Top 10 mistakes our Catholic Schools are still making in marketing communications Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability Zumu Presentations