How to Increase Enrollment Using Your School Website

Are you trying to increase enrollment at your school or organization?
Attracting new prospects doesn’t have to be so hard. We’ll walk you through strategies to increase enrollment through your school website.

What Do Parents Want for Their Children?

Parents are searching for the right fit for their children. You have a great program. Focus on how you can show that your program or school is exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Think like they think. See things from a parent’s perspective. Ask yourself these questions:

• What terms would parents use to search for programs in their area? Do a Google search for possible terms, noticing any related search suggestions.
• Can parents find information like hours, how to apply, various program options available?
• What sets your school apart from all the others? How are you communicating that?
• How can parents move from being a website visitor to dropping their child off for school?

Getting the right mindset is paramount. From there, it’s time to review your school’s website.

What’s In It For Them?

It’s easy to focus on how great your program is because you know how great your school is! To draw in new students, you need to consider what matters to them first and what problems they are trying to solve. Your school website shouldn’t focus on all your staff, certifications, and rewards. You should still include that validating information, but it shouldn’t be what you use to draw people to your site.

Parents want to know what they and their children will get out of your program. What will students be able to do? What opportunities will children have at school? Is it fun? What will kids be able to do after completing the program?

You can demonstrate these with photos, blog posts summarizing recent activities, and promoting upcoming events.

What Challenges Do They Face?

Your website should identify with the people you are trying to reach. What is their pain point? What problems are they trying to solve? Why are they considering your school? What other schools might they be looking at? Make an emotional connection with them to let them know you understand where they are coming from.

List out all the concerns parents may have about your program. Consider including a Frequently Asked Questions page (FAQ).

A few examples could be:

• Tuition
• Payment plans
• Transportation options
• Extended care hours
• Flexibility to reschedule
• Tours and Open Houses

Look around on your site for this. Can you find the information easily?

Reveal Your Best Side

Show off a bit. Share parent testimonials in a prominent place. Make it easy for prospective parents to get a feel for the application process, the staff, activities, and enrichment programs their students will receive. Don’t hesitate to ask current parents for recommendations.

Draw their attention to specific content

Is your site outdated? How does it look on a phone? Is your website basically a brochure or does it engage the viewer to take action? All these questions and more are important when drawing in new students.

Your School Website Structure:

• Home Page – Does the home page of your site feature fun and lively photos, a summary of new and noteworthy information, and a clear path to find any further information? Can the clients reach you via phone, your address, or get to a contact form?
• About – Here is where you can share the mission and purpose of your school, staff directory, accreditations, and awards. If you have a lot of information, break it down into several pages within the “About” section for easier organization.
• Events – Open houses, financial planning, school closings, and so much more are happening at your school. Keep events centralized on your website so parents always know where to look.
• Next Steps – What do you want parents to do after they visit your site? You could include signing up for a newsletter, a form on your site to enroll, or an RSVP for your next open house.
• Contact – Your home page is a condensed look at the top-level priorities for your site. But the contact page can be much more thorough. Here you can include a contact form, maps to your schools, and more.

Other Website Considerations:

• Navigation – Is the menu navigation on your website cluttered? Can you simplify things down to 5 top-level menu items?
• Mobile-friendly – How does your website look on the most common mobile devices (both phones and tablets)?
• Local SEO – Does your school get found in search results within your neighborhood? Do you outrank your competition? Do you have Google My Business set up and does it include reviews?
• Measuring Your Traffic – Do you know how people are finding your website? What pages are they reaching first? What do they do next?
• Website Speed – If your website takes too long to load, you will lose your audience before they have a chance to see what you have to offer. Make sure your website loads in under 3 seconds.

In Conclusion

Enrolling students is key to keeping your business running. Your website can really help you increase your enrollment and retain students.

Hopefully, you’ve given your website a review with a fresh perspective.
If you need help revising or creating your school website, we’re here to help. Let’s set up a consultation today!