Getting a website helps an educational institute with brand building and increased credibility so that parents and students can discover you more easily. Here are the top dos and don’ts for a successful educational website.
It also helps make your classes more accessible – interested parents and students can search online to discover you more easily, you can boost enrolment, and stay on top of quality.
How does taking your institute online help?
- Parents go through the website and get all the information they need to make a decision
- They can get updates on upcoming batches and enrol & pay for them online
- Parents can share links with parent groups to enhance your brand credibility and online reputation
- The rise in organic clicks will improve your Google ranking
- Your institute will be able to reach a larger audience and boost enrolment
- You will be able to measure ROI, check response, and rework your marketing plans/ services
But how can teachers and coaches take their institutes online?
Sonali Sehgal, who runs a tuition class in Jhansi, and Ramesh Patel, who runs an educational training institute in Rajkot, are among those who want to know the dos and don’ts for a teacher going online for the very first time.
DO
Keep the website design simple
Keep your website navigation and design simple. Too many features and colours can confuse and overwhelm your website visitors – especially those who are using online channels for the first time.
Make your website responsive
A responsive website will make your site mobile-friendly, improve its appearance on different devices and boost the amount of time visitors spend on it.
It can also assist you in improving your search engine rankings. Ensure you make your website responsive for different kinds of platforms, including PCs, laptops, and mobile phones.
Position yourself as an expert
Social media networks can help increase credibility and boost your reputation. Use all major social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and post content regularly to position yourself as an expert in your subject.
You can write blogs, share articles and videos, post video lessons, and send out a weekly newsletter to engage your target audience.
If you’re comfortable with videos, try Facebook or Instagram Live to connect directly on questions/issues that matter.
Create a learning community
Use your website to add custom modules, quizzes, contests, additional information and even symposiums to enhance learning outcomes.
You can even create a specific batch online and ask students to register for special video sessions to solve doubts and queries.
Ask for reviews and ratings
Great reviews can help promote and expand your business while negative reviews can hurt your credibility and keep customers away.
With online recommendations now being taken as seriously as nudges from family and friends, it makes sense to incorporate them into your online strategy.
Reviews provide feedback, help you get found online, enhance your credibility, build trust, and facilitate word-of-mouth marketing and referrals.
Display reviews from happy students and happier parents to use them to your advantage.
DON’T
Overlook the technical aspects
The most important part of a website is the loading time. If it takes longer than 30 seconds, most visitors are likely to abandon it.
What makes a website slow? Too much information, too little data capacity is often the main culprit.
Make sure the website is attractive, colourful, and has numerous images, but also ensure that it is quick to load.
It’s also important that people looking for educational institutes are able to find you. For this, you will need to employ search engine optimisation (SEO) practices that help increase your rankings on search engines.
Omit a social media strategy
You can use the many digital marketing channels and social media platforms to create a presence where it matters.
Many students are now on sites like Instagram and Snapchat, and it makes sense to meet them there.
Think differently for parents – perhaps Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Plan and organise your strategy, including your posts, to boost your following and make an impact.
Make mistakes when it comes to information
It’s a given that every educational institute must post accurate information and facts. Begin with posting correct contact information, including names, addresses, email addresses, and more.
If you are posting blogs, articles, and videos to help facilitate learning, double-check so that all the information you put out is correct and accurate.
Nothing can affect your credibility more than inaccurate material.
Forget to motivate students
Everyone learns differently, and it’s important to keep every student motivated. It is important to involve students and parents in the learning journey and keep them in the know when reaching new milestones.
Some students are self-motivated, but many need a regular push to do better. Think of different ways to motivate all your students – via points, rewards, and vouchers. Motivation and recognition during weekly/monthly calls also work well. Schedule virtual one-on-ones with students and parents to monitor their progress over time. This helps them improve – and shows that you care about their learning journey.
Ever not respond to technical issues
Technical issues are sure to arise during the course of the term, and it’s important for any educational website to be able to respond quickly and resolve the issue.
Open up a variety of mediums for students/ parents to complain – email, text messages, call, or online forms – and make sure you work to tackle the snag and assuage their feelings.
As stated earlier, only a website is not a guarantee of doing well for any business. It needs to be connected with analytics tools to gain insight and information that you can use.
You can find out your number of visitors, how they found you, what page they visited, how long they stayed on your site, what device they used, and which city/state/country they were from. This data can be used for follow-ups and cold calls.
It’s clear that every educational institute is unique and needs a different online strategy. Whether you have a website, want to create one, or plan to launch online classes, Boost can help.
Every business needs a website, and an educator needs to ensure that his or her website is attractive and informative.
The website should be user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and must drive conversations and conversions. Use simple English, create only as many pages as you need, and keep the layout straightforward.
Using Boost 360 to master the Dos and avoid the Don’ts
Boost 360 helps you to take your institute online in a matter of a few minutes. It’s easy to use, budget-friendly and requires no additional resources.
It offers step-by-step instructions on adding various elements to your website with a theme that is suitable for your need.
Connect social media channels and start sharing information from your website with a single click. With its auto-SEO and updates feature, you will have better visibility on search engines.
You can also easily list your courses, provide details of upcoming courses and collect payment with a secure payment gateway.
