Mistakes to be avoided while designing your school website

Nowadays, almost every school runs its own website(s). A school website serves as a powerhouse of information related to day-to-day activities at the school, an important branding tool and the brochure of the school. Therefore, when it comes to the reputation of a school, its website matters a lot.

Given this, you should take optimum care while designing your school website. Especially, you should avoid the following mistakes, which will pose a threat to your school branding activities.

Outdated technologies: Website technologies are evolving rapidly. For example, the earlier trend was to design websites using videos as well as animated graphics. However, with the prevalence of mobile technologies, this procedure is getting obsolete. Flash does not even work in many new devices, such as iPhones and iPads. So, use the latest technologies–such as jQuery, JavaScript technologies–while designing the website so that it can be accessed properly from computers, smartphones and tabs.

Text-heavy website: Do not make your website text-heavy. It has been found that many school websites are stuffed with long texts. Such text-heavy websites ultimately reduce readers’ interest. So, try to maintain a healthy balance between texts and images on your website. Also, make sure that the texts are reader friendly. Keep the texts simple, short, crisp and attention-grabbing.

Zero testimonials: Remember that your school website is an effective branding tool. Therefore, you should put your best efforts to design the website. An effective way to do it is to use testimonials and positive comments of your students and parents on the website. It is an appropriate marketing tactic to catch the interest of prospective parents.

No distinct entity: Many school websites closely resemble the websites of other schools. Such resemblance has a negative impact on a school’s branding activities. So, make sure that your website bears a distinct identity so that it can contribute immensely to all the branding activities aimed at promoting your school.

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