If you had to describe your school website in three words, what would they be?
As the digital face of your school, you want to ensure your website makes a positive first impression and provides valuable content for families and students. Ideally, you want your website to reflect your school’s values, mission, and culture in a way that is accessible and easily digestible.
Keep reading to see how schools like yours are utilizing personalized websites that build credibility, show off school culture, and raise awareness year-round. Plus, find tips for creating a personalized school website of your own.
Enhance Credibility
When prospective families visit your website, you have a short window to create a lasting first impression; according to a research study done by the University of Missouri, it takes two-tenths of a second to form a first impression and about 2.6 seconds to land on the website elements that have the most influence on a first impression.
Meaningful messaging, consistent branding, and responsive design work together to create a cohesive first impression that positively represents your school. Consider highlighting school accreditations or awards, or student and faculty accomplishments to quickly convey value and credibility.
Harlem Academy showcases impressive academic outcomes for students now and as they enter secondary school and university. They feature student successes, published articles, and messaging that supports their focus on curriculum and preparing students for a successful future.
Raise Awareness About Admissions
Rather than only focusing on admissions season, use your website to garner interest from prospective families year-round. Build the foundation by including information about the admission process, an application link, and a way to get in touch with staff. Then, consider creative elements that would support admissions; you may feature blog posts or a short video series about why families’ chose your school, feature testimonials, or encourage visitors to join an email list so that your school remains top of mind.
Professional Children’s School does a great job encouraging families to apply with a bright blue banner promoting rolling admissions on their homepage. The “Apply” button is clear and remains fixed at the top of the site for easy access. There is also a drop-down menu with all the admissions information prospective families might be looking for in the main navigation menu.
Show Off Your School Personality
Every school has a unique story to share. Use your website to make this story come to life! Give visitors a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be on campus, in class, or part of a club. Visual content featuring real-life students and staff can be especially powerful and build trust with prospective families.
Think back to the question at the beginning of this article—what three words would you use to describe your school website? Now, think about what three words you want to describe your website—ideally, these words should align with your overall school personality. Use this as a starting point for visuals and messaging.
Falk Laboratory School greets visitors with eye-catching images of students and playful branding that alludes to its exploratory curriculum. They also feature a “Meaningful Moments” section that syncs with their blog feed to provide more context about what it means to be a part of their school community. Plus, they include a school hashtag on their header image—prospective families could simply search for this hashtag on social media to get a feel for the school culture.
Feeling Inspired to Create a Personalized Website for Your School?
Creating a personalized website doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming for your staff. At Parentapps, we collaborate with schools to make the process enjoyable and rewarding. We build custom websites that make your schools stand out with engaging layouts, images, and videos. View our complete portfolio to see how our websites reflect each school’s distinctive personality.
Ready to build your ideal school website? Let us do the heavy lifting. Learn more about our school website design process.
