5 Things Every School Website Must Have On Their Home Page

Here is a quick go-to index, just select the topics you would like and go to them!

  1. Clickable Phone Number
  2. Map in the footer
  3. Call to action above the fold
  4. Single great image
  5. Explainer Video

A Clickable Phone Number In The Header

At the top of your page on your website, you want a place for new families to easily be able to reach you, especially if they are on their phones.

Make sure this phone number matches what you have registered with Google. If it does, it will increase your Search Ranking with Google.

How to do this.

  1. Create a button or text hyperlink in your menu.
  2. In the place where you would normally put a website address put this “tel:123456789”.
  3. Replace “123456789” with your phone number and you are good to go!
  4. Test it 🙂

Have a Google Map Embedded in your footer

Since a school is a physical location, you are going to need to have an easy way for people to get directions and understand where your school is in the grand scheme of things.

If you put this map in the footer of your site, new people will easily be able to find the address and open it in their app.

How to do this.

  1. Go to maps.google.com
  2. Type in your school’s Address
  3. The far right widget should be “share”. Click it
  4. Click Embed Map
  5. Copy that code into the footer of your website.
  6. Test it. 🙂

Call To Action Above The Fold

You should have something for new families to click on immediate when they land on your Homepage.

“Schedule A Visit”, “Download All Info About Our School”, “Give Us A Call”, and “Talk to another Parent” are a few great calls to actions that should be prominently placed on the page before someone has to scroll.

On NonprofitMarketingEssentials.com we have a simple button that says “Join Now” which prompts you to put your information in about our upcoming courses.

A Single Great Image

Many schools get caught trying to show everything about their school on the homepage image slider. This is the 4 or 5 images that can be clicked through usually at the top of the home page.

We implore you to not fall into this trap of having several images that someone could either (a.) Has to sit there for 30 seconds and wait for them to cycle through or (B.) click through them.

They are not on your home page to click through images.

You want them to take the action of contacting you or learning more.

What to do.

  1. Pick 1 image that showcases the best your school has to offer!

Explainer Video – “Advanced”

There are two schools of thought on explainer videos.

School of thought #1
Create a highly produced video about your school featuring kids, interviews, parents, activities, etc.
This is usually costly, time-consuming, and resource consuming.

If you have the ability and know-how to do this. By all means, DO IT!!

School of thought #2

Have your principal or a teacher grab their phone, turn it towards themselves, and talk for 90 Seconds.

Answer the following questions while walking out of a classroom into a play recess area.

  1. Who are you?
  2. Why is your school special?
  3. What can someone can do to learn more about what you stand for?

It’s ok, it won’t be perfect. But it accomplishes two things at the same time. Gives your school a persona and breaks the communication barrier. You are talking to them!

We hope that this has been helpful!

As always, if you have any Questions, feel free to drop us a chat!

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