Your school paid good money for that website…back when traditional marketing was still very much effective. You probably didn’t find any use for the website, you abandoned it, and now you have seen the reasons for its effectiveness. The problem now is, that the website is not giving results like you think it would – at that point, the law of diminishing return has taken effect on your website. According to Wikipedia, the law of diminishing return states that “increasing a factor of production by one unit, while holding all other production factors constant, will at some point return a lower unit of output per incremental unit of input.”
In simpler terms, it means increasing your other factors of enrollment increment, while withholding the website upgrade will at some point lower the enrollment you get. Do you now understand that your old website definitely needs an upgrade? But with digital on the rise, it’s no longer enough to just have a website packed with nice visuals and useful information. In this article, we share the top 5 ways to recognize when your website needs an upgrade, and what to do to bring it up to date.
1. Your School’s Website Looks Outdated
Websites go in and out of style just like fashion. Take a good hard look at your website without being biased. Sure you were proud of it when it first launched, but technology, variability in screen sizes, and the dominance of mobile gadgets have changed the way websites look, and how consumers use them.
Take a look around and see what your local competitors are doing. You don’t need to have a website that is exactly like theirs, you want to have one that outshines theirs. Instead of settling for what the average schools are content with, take a look at what the best schools do. You know, schools that can afford to do things right.
2. It’s not Responsive
Sometimes back, we published an article on how not to design your school’s website. It buttressed important things not to do when designing your school’s website. The majority of all e-commerce sales are made through mobile devices, which proves just how much we use our phones as part of daily life. So, why not make school admin easier on the go too by ensuring your website is not just mobile friendly but completely mobile responsive?
This means that the site recognizes when it’s being displayed on a mobile device and adjusts the layout automatically to suit the smaller and more vertical screen. Rather than sizing everything down, it shifts different content blocks so that they fit and become easy to navigate on a phone. If it doesn’t do that, then it’s time to rethink your mobile focus.
READ MORE: How to Generate Leads Using Your Schools’ Website
3. Your Website is hard to Navigate
Many school owners are still oblivious to how search engine helps their school website. Let me give you a quick breakdown: search engines try to mimic human behavior. If Google can detect indications of satisfaction i.e. lots of activity on your website, they are more likely to rank you higher in their search results.
As human beings, we always want the quickest way to whatever we are looking for. If we can find what we want without going through the bulk of materials on your website, we are very much likely to consider doing business with you. Just because you can easily find what you are looking for, only proves that you know where it is. Think like a prospective parent who is looking for something in particular. If it’s more than 3 clicks away, you need to redesign the website.
4. No Added Value
Design issues aside, does your website add value like leads and sales? Or should it be delivering more? Your site might look great and up-to-date but still doesn’t perform what you have in mind for it. Look at your website through the eyes of a parent who is interested in your school, but is visiting your website for the first time, do you get to the point quickly, or do you do an information dump and let your visitors sort it out for themselves?
Whilst websites should be beautifully designed, it’s essential that they are actually performing and adding value. If your website analytics is getting worse month by month, this could be a sign that your website needs urgent attention.
5. It doesn’t Integrate with your Other Systems
Your school needs a lot more than just a website to operate. After all, it is an island of information for not just teachers and their pupils but parents, prospective parents and pupils, the school community, and anyone who might want to get in touch. If your website doesn’t integrate with other systems, for example, a school management app for parents, a selection of social media profiles for optimized engagement, and a basic email list for relevant updates, you will find that your digital presence is not operating as effectively as it could.
To make your job easier, a website that is built for integration will support daily admin and deliver the right information to the right people.
