Your school’s website is the heart of your online presence. These days, your audience’s first impression of your school is often based on your website, so redesigning your website is something to be taken seriously. A website redesign requires time, vision, and, potentially, budget. However, the benefit of a good redesign can be well worth the investment.
It’s important to note that a website redesign doesn’t necessarily require that you have to change every single element on your website, including your logo and other graphic elements. As a matter of fact, a website redesign may only entail some changes to improve your user experience, such as your navigation to make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for.
Here are 7 reasons you redesign your school's website.
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Your website looks outdated or isn’t aesthetically pleasing
Users expect your website to clean, simple, and pleasing to the eye. If you haven’t updated your website in the last 24 months, chances are it’s out of date. If you’re unsure, ask your colleague for an honest opinion. You want a website your school will be proud of.
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It fails to build credibility
Your website needs to demonstrate your school’s credibility. Be sure you’ve used parent, student, and alumni testimonials. Have you shared your school’s mission and core values? Have you included images and bios about your school’s faculty, administration, and other stakeholders?
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Your website isn’t functional
Is your site user-friendly? Sometimes there are elements of your site that aren’t working as well as it should be. Functionality should be a primary focus for you. If it’s not, your traffic and inquiry generation efforts may suffer.
Website functionality includes:
- Navigation – can people find what they’re looking for?
- Clarity – do people feel confused when viewing your website?
- Content – is your most important content readily visible? Are you offering your users the content they want and need? Is your site too text-heavy?
- Current – is your website current and up-to-date?
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You aren’t getting the results you want
Your website exists to serve your users and increase enrollment and your data should show you’re trending toward your goals. Examine your site’s metrics to determine how well it is performing for you.
Consider:
- Call-to-action results – are your calls-to-action achieving your goals (i.e. newsletter sign-ups, downloads, sign up forms, etc.)
- Landing page results – how many inquiry forms are your visitors filling out?
- Bounce rates – how quickly are people bouncing off your pages?
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Your site isn’t mobile-friendly
Almost 50 percent of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Your website needs to be responsive to mobile devices. Mobile users demand great usability on their devices so this should be a primary focus for your school if it isn’t already.
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Your content is outdated
Having fabulous content can drastically change the performance of your website, including search engine optimization (SEO) and customer retention. Schools need a solid content strategy. If you’re considering rewriting your content or adjusting your blog layout, a site redesign may be a smart idea. This way, you can start over with your content strategy and build your content up using the right website structure. Read more: How to Write Content That Will Rank on Google
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You don’t have an effective website design strategy
If you’re considering a redesign, you might be experiencing a sense of overwhelm. Sometimes you don’t have to do a redesign all at once. You can layout a plan to roll it out in small increments over a period of time.
A website redesign takes time, effort, and money, but it can be crucial to your success online. When aligned with your overall marketing strategy, a redesign can increase conversion rates, improve rankings and meet the needs of parents, students, faculty, staff, and other users.