DW Tips

4 Essential Qualities of School Websites

Dec 1, 2017 by kidd

School websites require a special design. To show users that your school is academic, trustworthy, and credible, you need to focus on a few aspects that we'll describe in detail in this blog. 

Smart content hierarchy

You don't start talking about standardised testing and specific Math courses right on your homepage. Those topics are perfectly suitable for a school website, but you need to build up to them. 

This all comes down to your content hierarchy. The general rule of thumb is to start general and make it more specific as users navigate deeper into your site. 

So while your homepage might market an upcoming open house, your following pages might address admissions and curriculum. Then, you can get into tuition, scholarships, and payment plans. 

A good SEO strategy

A good school website is one that users can find in Google's search engine results pages. For that, you need an SEO strategy. 

You don't need to go crazy, you just need to cover the basics. Your site should load quickly, be mobile-friendly, have intuitive navigation, and target a couple keywords that parents and students will search. 

A content management system

Having a content management system is important both for your user experience and search engine optimisation. Basically, you need to keep updating your blog with new content to keep your site active and share important information with users. 

Specific functionality 

And finally, there are certain pages and functions that every school website should have. One example is a page for your school's academic calendar. This is what users will refer to for important dates and holiday information. 

Another good one is an absence form. You can let parents fill out a form online to let teachers know that their child is staying home. Even better, your teachers can refer to this page throughout the day for an updated list of absent students. 

For more information about school websites, or anything else, contact us today. 

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