The role of your website is to engage with a number of key audiences. Parents, Pupils, the wider community, teaching, non-teaching staff and not to mention the impression it could give Ofsted in showcasing the true essence of your School or College, the achievements, good news and best practice education on offer.
First impressions will count across all audiences and based on what they see and experience may be a major contributory factor in whether they send their children to you, apply for teaching and non-teaching vacancies, book onto courses, night classes or use any recreational facilities you may offer to the community.
Behaviours are determined by emotions so making sure your website gives the right impression to a prospective parent or a teacher who is thinking of applying for a vacancy is critical. The website will be the first place they visit to get a feel for you and the community you serve. Impressions formed in a matter of minutes will have a lasting effect. It’s the start of an important journey, returning visitors to the site will be able to access valuable information and continue to engage positively in a relaxed manor if you get it right.
Here at Retox Digital we work extremely hard to capture the culture and values of Schools and Colleges alike. We work hard to bring your website alive to demonstrate what it’s like to be a Student, Employee, Parent or Community Partner. We can take care of everything from the photography, site structure to the engaging content your audiences will expect to see.
The way the website functions is just as important. A site that works perfectly on smartphones and tablets will let your audience know you are a forward thinking School or College.
We will recommend that you have fully integrated and active social media accounts to cater for all your audiences and demonstrate your commitment to engagement and communication.
Anything less than a forward thinking and creative website may only serve to damage the first impressions of your school or college.
Our most successful schools and colleges use their websites to fully engage and see their website as a communication and engagement hub, it’s not just an online brochure. We provide a very simple and easy to use system for schools and colleges to constantly update their sites to showcase how much is happening within and outside of the formal curriculum.
All of our sites are designed to a high standard with modern internet and mobile technology there are no design restrictions, so you will be assured of a website totally bespoke to your needs.
So how can you find the budget to get a website your school or college deserves and one which you will be proud of?
After listening very carefully to our education clients who have told us budgets are a key factor in whether they can have a good or bad website, we have responded to this need and come up with a very sensible and achievable solution for all.
Flexible Website Leasing to take the pressure off budgets and make sure you don’t have to compromise on your online marketing being effective.
So what’s the big deal with having a professionally crafted education website? If in doubt please read on. As an example recruitment is probably one of the biggest issues for many schools and staffing budgets given priority over a new website budget. We find more and more that websites are considered less of a priority when budgets are being set. Let me put it this way to you. This does not help the image you project online for your school or college. Your website will play a major role when attracting new talent, it’s the first place of reference by candidates, and the same can be said for attracting Pupils and other Community Stakeholders.
If you would like to find out more about how you can have all you need online and more now is a good time to get in touch. We would love to give you a demo so you can see for yourself what we can do for you and take advantage of our Flexible Website Leasing packages.
Contact me today on 01670 785 786 or email: julie.charlton@retoxdigital.com
