What are the Top 5 things you should under no circumstances have on your School website?
With my experience of looking at 1000s of school websites during my time here so far at Schudio, I have seen a lot of great websites where features are being used to their full potential. There are other websites too but I don't think I want to mention them. In this blog, I will outline 5 different things that I see on school websites that need to be removed. Preferably by the end of today. I will also detail how to resolve these 5 things for those last few people who have them. We have a School Website Manager Workshop approaching us soon, 23rd March, 1-3pm. Get your tickets for this unmissable workshop before they run out.
1. Documents not in document groups!
This one baffles me, Ofsted are looking for all your documents to be readily accessible on your website. Meaning viewers need to be able to view, download and print this document if they so wish. All from within your school website. Within the Schudio CMS, we have a feature that covers all this for you and is straightforward to use Document Groups. I always see people try adding links to documents or even try and add the document straight as text on the page making the page ridiculously long. At Schudio we recommend making all documents readily accessibly. With the document groups feature you get control over your documents and can set review dates, so why wouldn't you utilise it. It also gives users to your website a better impression which is an added bonus.
2. Pages with no content!
This is one of my biggest pet peeves, why have a page on your school website that is just blank with nothing on it, it's pointless. Within the Schudio CMS, you have the option to build your page up ready before going to create a menu and make it appear on your website. You even have the option to preview it and see what it will look like on your website. Blank pages on your website can make it appear unprofessional. It can also give the impression you are not on top of your website when you actually are. To get around this just disable the menu until the page is ready. This stops it from being visible on your website while you work on it. You could even add one of your lovely images onto this page just as a placeholder until your content is ready to be added.
3. Different text fonts!
On your school website, you should have 1 font style. You should use heading tags to separate and structure your text but this is the only time when your text should be different sizes. On the school website's I look at that have text which is all different font, sizes or colours it appears very unprofessional. Now, I know you want your school website to be child friendly but remember who your main target audiences are for. Prospective Parents? Ofsted? Keep your brand identity intact and prominent on your school website. An idea you could use is getting your own font. Google have lots of free fonts for you to choose from if you don't want to buy the rights for one. Just ensure you have the rights for this and then email support@schudio.com and we will get this implemented onto your website for you.
4. Links to external websites!
It is highly likely that throughout your school website you have countless links to external websites. These links need to be set up to open in a new window. The reasoning for this is that if you don't have this setup, that website will take over your school's website. This can then mean that the user browses this website and gets lost so they don't come back to your website, this will especially happen if it's Youtube. The best way to counteract this is by setting it to open in a new window. This will open it in a new tab alongside your website tab so it is easier to flick between the two.
5. Dated Photos
This is one of the main areas which can kill your school website. Photos that look dated or ones that are in low resolution can look really tacky and bring your website down. The thing that catches your users attention is eye-catching content, mainly beautiful photos. You could have amazing written content but if your photos look rubbish no one is going to stay on your website long enough to notice it. This is why it is crucial to have amazing photos plastered all over your website. With hopefully warmer weather around the corner or at least some sunshine, now is the perfect time to start booking in your photography days to get the days that suit you best. If you wait too long you might miss out, drop me an email now to get ahead of the curve - nathaniel@schudio.com.
Hopefully, by now you will have made changes from the tips above on your website if you had any. There are lots of other ways to make your website stand out from the others and really out your school as the focal point in your community. if you do need any assistance do drop me an email (nathaniel@schudio.com) and I will be more than willing to help you out. I would love to hear from you.
