Your school may be growing and evolving but is the school website keeping up? Your online presence plays a key role in marketing to, and connecting with, your school community. If your website feels outdated and you think it may need a refresh, here are a few reasons to consider it!
Reasons to Update Your School Website
1) Higher Expectations From Users
Websites these days are useful for more than just finding information. More than ever, we are using digital services to complete tasks, forms, and other errands online. School websites must keep up with the changing trends and the expectations of web users.
If your school site hasn’t had an update in a while, your community may be missing out. A website update allows you to integrate features so your audience can complete tasks and forms online. Not only does this create a better user experience for your community, but it also helps streamline your school processes for a more efficient operation!
2) Boring Website = Boring School
How will prospective families get excited about your school if the website is boring? If your website isn’t engaging or easy to use, your viewers won’t think your school is worth learning more about.
There are plenty of interesting events and offerings at school, so luckily, this is an easy fix! Adding high-quality images, videos, and clear written content can transform people’s thoughts about your school. Don’t forget to include a personal touch and promote the school’s unique identity – your logo, motto, school community, and what you’ve got to offer!
3) Chuck the Outdated Info
School websites are information dense and include lots of pages and topics! As a result, as time passes, out-of-date information can be hard to spot!
A website update is a good chance to go through your web pages and see what’s still relevant and what needs to go.
4) Incorporate New Technology
There are lots of digital features to incorporate into your school site! Technology can help give viewers a more interactive online experience and connect more effectively with your school. Here are some features you may wish to embed:
- Video content and virtual school campus tours
- Access to the latest school newsletter and an archive of past editions
- Ways to fill out forms online or book school interviews
- A Parents Portal to access student reports, results and attendance
5) Improve Device & Browser Compatibility
Did you know that over 50% of website visitors are doing so via a mobile phone or tablet? It’s no longer good enough for your school website to only work on a computer.
Updating your website is a chance to ensure it looks and works as it should across different devices, screen sizes and web browsers.
6) Fix Your SEO
Create a school website that more people will visit! A website with good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) means that you’ll appear higher in search engine results. Good SEO depends on a range of factors:
- Quality, varied content and the use of keywords
- Relevant images and alt tags
- Strong site navigation
- Website speed
- Device compatibility
7) Speed It Up!
The slower your website loads, the higher your bounce rate will be. This leads to irritated web users and people missing updates and messages.
A new website design is a chance to look at your server capacity, outdated animation, and large images that are slowing you down!
8) Increase Web Security
How secure is your school website? Take a look at your measures and keep up with the latest security patches so your users have a safe website experience.
9) Improve Usability & Navigation
Create a clear sitemap for your school website to improve site navigation. This is good for decreasing your bounce rate, improving SEO and helping users find relevant information. Use labelled headings and menus, and add a search bar.
10) Create an Easy to Update Website
If your website is hard to update and modify, chances are your content will become out of date until a big redesign is on the cards. Spacific Creative creates websites that are easy for teachers and school staff to update. This way, your content is always up-to-date and reliable! Reach out for more information!
