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How to develop a messaging framework for your small school
As we enter the holiday season, tie off 2021 and prepare for the new year, you may find an opportunity to revisit the effectiveness of your small school’s messaging and how well you’re communicating with your audiences. How would you sell your school to parents if you only had two…
Preparing your nonprofit website holiday campaigns
The holiday season usually means relaxing and quality time spent with close friends and family; however, if you work at a nonprofit organization, it’s normally your busiest time of year. Not only does the holiday season bring joy and cheer to many, it also brings campaigns and donation drives that…
When Should You Use Accordions on Your Website
Using accordions on a website can make the content easier to read at a glance and avoid overwhelming a website visitors with too many words. However, it should not be overused as accordions can also make a website harder to use by forcing too much clicking to access important information….
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Tips for Improving Alumni Engagement for Small Schools
The pandemic has disrupted nearly everything about education for schools, alumni engagement included – especially in smaller schools. Students of all ages have sacrificed so much during the pandemic: their regular lifestyles, class schedules, social lives on campus, extracurricular activities, the list goes on and on! After everything students have…
How much does a school website cost?
Your school needs a new, fresh website. One reason you may be putting this off is because you are worried that a website refresh is more than you can afford— how much does a school website cost? A professional school website plays a huge role in the success of a…
4 Key School Website Performance Metrics and Why They Matter
When you’re running a school or nonprofit organization, it’s crucial to work out the balance between “nice-to-have” and “need-to-have.” Some things are “nice to have.” For example, a few less meetings so you can focus more time to get stuff done. Some things are “need to have.” A website –…
What is a CDN and How Do I Use It on My Website?
We’ve written about caching – what it is and how to clear your cache. A related topic is the impact of a CDN on caching – let’s go over what a CDN is, why you might use it and how to connect it to your website. What is a CDN?…
Does your WordPress website load in under 3 seconds?
Google favors websites that load in under 3 seconds, because that is a benchmark for a better user experience and website performance. It shouldn’t be hard to make your website load this fast, but many websites fail to meet this benchmark. We recently started working with a nonprofit whose WordPress…
Design TLC Wins Platinum Hermes Creative Award
Design TLC was awarded a best school website award from the Platinum Hermes Creative Award for 2021 for the development of the microsite for Wittenberg University. We worked with the multi-talented Edit Barry and Allison Le of E&Aco to build a microsite for the University’s $100 million capital campaign, “Having…
How To Increase Your School’s Email Open Rates in 2021
From relaying important updates to sharing fun events happening at your school, sending email newsletters is important for building community and engagement at your school, as well as serving as a marketing tool for retention and prospective families. You may be wondering if email marketing is even still worth it…
5 best practices for your non-profit website
Overhauling a non-profit website, or going through a re-designing phase is no easy feat, and it can be difficult to know what to prioritize. Or, sometimes it’s difficult to know when your website is ready for a refresh, especially if you don’t know the criteria that make up a great…
Summer projects for your school website
Summer is rapidly approaching, and as your students are anticipating the upcoming summer vacation, it’s time to start preparing your school’s website for the next school year. Website upkeep isn’t easy work. However, it is crucial to ensure your website is reaching its full potential. In this article we’ll list…
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SEO copywriting hacks for your school website
It can be frustrating when you spend hours developing content for your school website without seeing any improvements in search rankings, enrollments, etc. If you find yourself in this case, it’s time to dial in on the actual content you’re writing. You could build out your website’s content for days,…
How to build a great nonprofit mission statement
A mission statement is the foundation of any organization. It defines the culture and can influence every aspect of a business or organization. Mission statements are usually concise and to the point. It can be difficult to capture the essence of your organization in one simple sentence. The process of…
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Tips for developing clear messaging for your school
Your school’s messaging is incredibly important when it comes to website design and development. Imagery, multimedia elements and other flashy features may get the attention of your website visitors, but it’s the content of your website’s message that will hook them in for more. It’s important that your school’s messaging…
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The importance of avoiding duplicate content
If you’re trying to learn more about SEO for your small school’s website, you’ve probably heard of duplicate content. There’s a lot of mixed information out there about duplicate content, ranging from what duplicate content actually is, how you can be penalized for it, and whether or not it actually…
Google Core Web Vitals for your school website
Your website’s user-experience is critical to reaching your long term marketing goals. There are many elements that make up your school or non-profit website’s user experience: site speed, interactivity, responsiveness, etc. In 2020, Google announced that “Core Web Vitals” would be used as ranking signals in 2021. What does this…
4 reasons why WordPress is perfect for small school websites
At DesignTLC, we proudly use WordPress to design websites for our clients. There are plenty of other platforms available, like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace, and Finalsite is a big name in school websites. WordPress is our favorite for four reasons: Ease of Use Ownership Extendabilty Community 1. Affordability It’s no…
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Great school website design trends to note for 2021
As we are hustling through the new year into the spring, school website designers are picking up more assignments for small schools to meet their deadlines to start marketing for recruitment. If you’re in a similar position and you’ve reached a creative rut, or you don’t know which elements of…
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Prioritizing Quality over Quantity website traffic
When it comes to website traffic, it may be hard to believe that quality visitors over quantity matter. You may think, “Why should it? I’m getting loads of traffic, it should be helping me.” Lots of traffic is awesome, but it doesn’t always help if you don’t know the quality…