5 WEBSITE MUST-HAVES FOR DRIVING ENROLLMENT AT K-12 SCHOOLS

Be Found Online.
Clarify your Message.
Great Photography.
Call to Action.
Responsive Design.

Steven Lockwood
steve@gradelink.com
(949) 682-7019
www.gradelink.com

❶ BE FOUND ONLINE

SEO IS THE ART OF _________________________________________________________.

KEYS TO SEO:

Update your Google My Business Account
Go to business.google.com
List your school in as many categories as possible
Don’t combine your listing with an affiliated religious organization
List your school on all the major review sites and directories
Niche, Yelp, Facebook, greatschools.org and privateschoolreview.com.
Get online reviews
Google Reviews give you stars in the search results if you have at least 150 during a 12 month period.
Reviews from other sites improve your search rank

PPC IS THE ART OF _________________________________________________________.

KEYS TO PPC:

Bid on the right Keywords
”Lutheran Elementary School Near Me,” “Christian School”
Don’t buy the wrong Keywords
”Elementary School”
Engaging messaging
Make sure your ad is eye catching and easy to understand.

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS CATEGORY CHECKLIST:

You should list your school in multiple categories.

REVIEW SITE AND DIRECTORY CHECKLIST

◯ business.google.com (Google my business)

◯ k12academics.com

◯ k12playground.com

◯ asd.com

◯ greatschools.com

◯ yelp.com

◯ privateschoolreview.com

◯ niche.com

WEBSITE CHECKLIST

◯ Have you started a blog featuring articles and information your customers might find valuable?

◯ Is your website listed on a variety of review sites and private school directories?

◯ Is your Google My Business up to date with the correct school & church information?

❷ CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE:

THE GRUNT TEST

Open your website for an acquaintance and give them 5 seconds to look at it. After 5 seconds, can they answer these 3 questions

What do we offer?
How could what we offer make your life better?
How can you purchase what we offer?

What can you take off your website to make it more clear? Are there buttons, paragraphs or images you could remove that would make your offer more easy to understand?

THE ONE-LINER ASSIGNMENT

Write a sentence that has these three parts. Be as specific as possible.

Identify your customer’s problem.
Explain your plan to them.
Describe a successful ending to their story.

Watch the video here: https://bit.ly/2PW0f1i

WHY CLARIFYING YOUR MESSAGE IS IMPORTANT

The one thing your marketing needs is clarity.
We buy what we understand
Stories help people remember as long as the story is about them.
Your story is about the parents and students. It’s not about your school be awesome.
People only buy if they understand how this will help them.
And they need to understand in about 5 seconds.

Video: Why Positioning is important. See minute 2:35 – 3:45, https://bit.ly/2zGj7XF

Video: Story makes your message easy to understand. See minute 0-3, https://bit.ly/2AYqFHf

WEBSITE CHECKLIST

◯ Is your school tagline featured consistently on your website?

◯ Is there one clear idea communicated on your website that is obvious and communicates a result?

◯ Is there too much information on your website? Are there too many links? If so, can you trim it down?

❸ PHOTOS CAPTURING THE SUCCESS STUDENTS AND PARENTS WILL EXPERIENCE IF THEY ATTEND YOUR SCHOOL.

GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONY LATTIMORE:

KEYS TO TAKING AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHY

Use candid photography
Don’t show people saying “cheese”
Show “doing” photos
People interacting, students playing sports, doing ceramics, playing music.
Show your personality
Capture the personality of the school.
Show many environments
People interacting, Learning & Teaching, Various parts of the campus, Extracurriculars

WEBSITE CHECKLIST

◯ Are there photos that display how a parent will feel after their problem has been resolved by your school?

❹ CLEARLY ASK PARENTS TO BOOK A TOUR

THIS IS WHAT MARKETERS CALL A CALL TO ACTION OR CTA, AND CLEAR CTA IS CRITICAL TO YOUR ABILITY TO BOOK TOURS.

KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL CTA:

Make it stand out
Use a unique color and make it BIG and CENTER on your home page
Frequent:
Make it “sticky” or List throughout the body copy or in the footer
Placement
Above the fold, Top right corner and On your blog

YOUR SECRET WEAPON: A TOUR SCHEDULING APP

Makes booking the tour frictionless
Link to your Facebook or IG
Syncs with your calendar

WEBSITE CHECKLIST

◯ Do you have a tour scheduling app on your website? If not try acuity.

◯ Is there a direct call to action above the fold of your website?

◯ Are there direct calls to action on every page of your website? Are they clear?

◯ Is there too much information on your website? Are there too many links? If so, can you trim it down?

❺ MOBILE WEBSITE DESIGN

WEB DESIGNERS CALL THIS RESPONSIVE DESIGN. IT’S IMPORTANT BECAUSE PARENTS SHOP SCHOOLS WITH THEIR PHONE. IF PARENTS CAN’T ACCESS YOUR SITE ON THEIR PHONE THEY MAY MOVE ON.

KEYS TO RESPONSIVE DESIGN:

Important stuff above the fold
Your one-liner and your call to action should be above the fold.
Sticky Call-To-Action or repeated call to action
Sticky means the call to action follows you on the page
Mobile friendly navigation
Include Click to call.
You probably need a different menu for mobile users than desktop users.
Fluid images
Don’t use images that are too big for mobile users to view. They don’t want to resize on their phone. .

See mobile phone usage: https://selnd.com/2SYRVwe

WEBSITE CHECKLIST

◯ Can one click to call your school from their mobile phone?

◯ Can one navigate your website from a cell phone?

◯ Is the most important stuff at the top for cell phone users? What we offer and how to book a tour?

COMPLETE WEBSITE CHECKLIST