9 Tips for Designing Effective School Marketing Landing Pages

As school marketers develop a more sophisticated approach to digital marketing, they’re bound to encounter new marketing strategies. If you haven’t already, you will likely consider the use of landing pages at some point in time.

You might be wondering how landing pages might fit into your school marketing plan. While developing a landing page might seem like a simple enough task, there are certain tactics and elements you need to include in order for them to perform well.

What is a Landing Page?

Technically, a landing page refers to any page a user lands on, including pages on your website. However, marketers usually think of a landing page as a stand-alone page that is focused on a single purpose. An example of a landing page might be an inquiry form a parent fills out or a webform a visitor fills out in exchange for a lead magnet.

Types of Landing Pages

In general, a landing page is a part of a sequence prospective parents are expected to take on their
enrollment journey. A landing page makes it very clear what the outcome will be if someone submits their information or makes a purchase. If you’re running paid advertising, a landing page will be the next step in the sequence when someone clicks through from the ad. Using the right type of landing page will help ensure the best return on investment from your advertising spend.

Landing Page Versus Homepage

Some school marketers may wonder why they can’t use their website homepage as a landing page. You can, but it is less likely to get a conversion than a landing page. By conversion, I mean the visitor takes the action you are asking them to – usually that means filling out a form in the realm of school marketing.

A homepage is filled with a lot of information and provides access to your main navigation and other clickable elements. If a prospective parents lands on your homepage they are likely to want to look around (that’s a good thing – right?) But if they click through to a landing page with just one objective, they are more likely to take the action being offered such as completing an inquiry form.

Essentially, a homepage is a general page and a landing page is a specific page dedicated to a single objective. A homepage invites visitors to look around and explore whereas a landing page offers a single, call to action.

Inquiry Landing Page

The submission of an inquiry form is usually the first opportunity you have to connect with a prospective parent. An inquiry landing page is unique because it has one call-to-action which is to complete the inquiry form.

An inquiry landing page will not offer multiple pages, hence will not have a navigation menu. There will not be any other “exit points” except to complete the inquiry form.

Inquiry landing pages should use a very specific layout strategy. This strategy can be used for other types of landing pages, such as an event or offer page.

Event Landing Page

Just like an inquiry landing page, an event landing page is a stand-alone page designed to accept registration for an event. Or, you can use an event landing page to add people to an event waiting list. You can then “nurture” people on the waiting list to improve the number of event attendees.

Inquiry Magnet (Content) Landing Page

An inquiry magnet/content landing page is usually a web form designed to collect basic information (name, email address, etc.) in exchange for a “lead magnet”. This is also called “gated content”. For example, you might offer a free guide about your school’s educational philosophy in exchange for name, email address, and the grade they are interested in learning about. If your guide is specifically designed for your target audience, there is a good chance a prospective parent will be willing to provide his or her information in exchange for the guide.

Chatbot Landing Page

I know, I know. No one wants to use chatbots because they seem so impersonal. But if you set it up right, it can actually be more engaging and provide a more “human” touch than a webform. Basically, you set up a chatbot landing page as a conversation. Most chatbot services offer a landing page feature because they know chatbots gain:

  • Higher user engagement
  • Better mobile usage
  • A feeling of familiarity to most users

Important Elements to Include

Regardless of the type of landing page, you are designing, you will need to make sure each landing page includes the following elements. Here are 9 tips for designing effective landing pages. D

  1. Use a clean, organized design 

The overall design of your landing page will have a huge impact on its effectiveness. Use your school branding, images, and a prominent call-to-action button. Maintain a clean, minimalist page. Too much information can be overwhelming so keep it simple and only provide the most essential information.

  1. Make your page is mobile-friendly 

Most of your web activity will come from a mobile device. Making sure your landing page is optimized for mobile use will increase your conversion rate. 

  1. Optimize your page for search engines 

Include target keywords in your landing page headers and copy. As far as external links, you can use them if it makes sense to do so, but it will lower your conversion rate so don’t use them if your main goal is getting people to take the desired action. When it comes to your domain, a custom domain has its advantages but you can also leverage the power of your existing domain. Either way, make sure your domain URL is keyword heavy.

After you’ve published your landing page, add internal links on your website that link to it. This practice will help boost the SEO of the landing page as well as drive traffic from your site to your landing page. One strategy is to place a call-to-action at the end of relevant blog pages inviting readers to click through to the landing page. For example, you might write “Find out more about how Our Independent School helps prepare students for a lifetime of success.” Promote the page using the same website and social media strategies you would use for a blog post you want to rank well. 

  1. Include a value proposition

Just because someone has landed on your landing page doesn’t mean they are ready to take the next step. A value proposition describes why a prospective parent should complete the inquiry form. It lets parents know what they can expect if they register their child and why your school is the best choice for them. Your value proposition is really the foundation of your school’s messaging.

Your landing page should include a header, a sub-header and a re-affirming statement, in that order.

Your header should be in a large font and be at the top of your page. Your sub-header should be in a smaller font and be placed under your header. Your re-affirming statement should be about 1/3 of the way down your page.

  1. Include a video or photo

People relate to people. A quality landing page will include a photo or video of a school leader who is relatable. Maybe it’s your Director of Admissions or Headmaster or you! Make a short, welcoming video or include a photo so prospective parents can relate with a real person.

  1. Include a list of benefits or facts

This is your chance to highlight your school’s achievements. Use a SHORT bulleted list (3-4 items) or infographic to showcase what your school does best. You might already have these assets on your website. You don’t have to create new assets; you can use content you already have put together.

  1. Keep it simple

Research shows shorter forms will gain more inquiries than longer forms. Don’t include more than 5-7 fields AT THE MOST on your landing page webform.

Fields to include:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Address
  • Student information
  • Best time to call
  1. Have a clear call-to-action (CTA)

Your CTA is the main purpose of your landing page. Make sure you include CTA copy in your header and create a CTA button. Make sure you clearly state what action you want visitors to take in big, bold text.

  1. Testimonials

Include social proof on your landing page in the form of a few testimonials. Use quotes from students, parents, faculty, and alumni. You can incorporate them into video format or include a picture of the person giving the testimonial.

Creating a landing page that converts well AND ranks well in search isn’t that complicated. The trickiest part is finding the balance between all the elements. Ideally, you want to make sure you are optimizing a page well-enough that it will show up on the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) but not bogging it down with too much information, making it difficult to read. Once you’ve done this, you’ll have a fantastic landing page that will do its job of turning interested visitors into enrolled families.

Do you use landing pages in your marketing strategy? What have you learned about creating them that you can share with the rest of the school marketing community?

Want to find out how well your website is optimized for search engines? Click here to get your FREE SEO Audit for Schools.

About the author 

Brendan Schneider

Hey, I’m Brendan, and this is my blog. After 28 years working in private, independent schools in mostly admissions, enrollment, marketing, communications, and fundraising roles, I decided to make SchneiderB Media my full-time job, where I help schools get more inquiries through my Fractional Digital Marketer program. I also started the MarCom Society, a membership created expressly to help, support, and train marketing and communications professionals at schools.