school and district websites the k–12 website success handbook€¦ · we created the k—12...

School and District Websites

The K–12 Website Success Handbook

#schoolWebsites https://schoolwebsites.gaggle.net

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Your Guide to a Successful WebsiteWhen parents, students or community members are looking for information about your school or district, your website is likely the first place they go. But what if your website isn’t providing them what they need? Frustrations mount, office staff spends more time answering phone calls, and administrators start asking tough questions.

We created The K—12 Website Success Handbook for those responsible for managing a school website. Whether you’re looking for a new provider or want to re-energize your current website, this ebook will convince you that it’s easier than you think to get the website your school needs.

Your website should help recruit new families, answer common questions and provide quick access to the information parents, students and others seek. It should allow parents and the entire school community to feel good about their choice to send their children to your school and live within its boundaries.

Avoid unnecessary phone calls from

parents by keeping your community up-to-date

and informed.

Is your website a source for parents

and community members to get

information?

THE K–12 WEBSITE SUCCESS HANDBOOK


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Does your website appeal to new families that are considering a move to a nearby neighborhood?

Use these questions as a quick assessment of the condition of your current website.

?Does your website incorporate social media and provide easy access to your learning management system and the other tools being used inside and outside of the classroom?

Does your website answer the most common questions parents or community members call you about?

Is your website mobile-friendly? In other words, does it look good and does it function correctly on tablets and smartphones?

Do you provide frequent updates about school news and other important information, such as weather delays and school closings, on your website?

Is it clear on your website how parents can access their children’s grades?

Is there any outdated material or content on your website?



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Start by Fixing the Most Common Problems Sometimes, the hardest part of any project is knowing where to start. Your website is one of the easiest ways to get parents involved, but what happens if they never see any opportunity when they visit your website?

Of course, the school and students should be showcased, but be careful not to make parents feel excluded. Consider a section or page labeled “For Parents” in your main navigation.

Parents use school websites as a source of information because it’s convenient. If the information provided is wrong, they will likely end up calling the school for the information, which takes up valuable administrative time. Parents also expect to access everything—including a school website—from their tablets or smartphones. Responsive design adds another layer of convenience that parents expect and deserve. Read “Responsive Web Design Matters” later in this ebook for more details.

While your website doesn’t have to be fancy, it should display the same reputation as your schools and campuses. Make sure to have a website design that is both fun and creative, so it gives off good vibes to all visitors.

Schools are the place where knowledge happens. And while it’s not the only place where knowledge takes place, it plays a significant role. Parents have higher than usual expectations of school websites. It can be somewhat alarming for a parent to find grammatical errors, misspellings and typos on the website. Sure, they’re bound to happen, but do your best to stay on top of them. Maybe even get some students involved.

No mention of parents

Misinformation

Lack of mobile functionality

Poor layout and design

Errors and typos



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VOICE Allow your tone of voice

to carry through on all platforms. Create content with

the same tone so it feels as though it’s coming from

the same brand.

MANAGEMENT Stick to your brand.

Consistency breeds familiarity and trust, but takes work and

dedication.

Create a Positive Brand ImageOne of the most effective and efficient ways for a school to build its brand is through the school website. Your brand speaks for you even when you aren’t around. And when you’re not around, you still want to make sure that you have a positive advocate to defend your brand. What better way to do that than with your school website?

Be Aware The worst thing you can do is have an amazing website that your audience has no interest in. As mentioned earlier, parents are your primary audience. Make sure you’re providing content that interests them and keeps them coming back for more.

Be Mobile Everyone accesses everything from their phones, and you don’t want your website to be the one thing that gets in the way. Make sure your website is easily accessible from mobile devices. The more accessible you are, the more positive your brand image becomes.

Be Social If your school website isn’t social, then it’s safe to say that it almost doesn’t exist. Make sure you include the links to your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts and keep them updated as well.

Be Visual If pictures are worth thousands of words, then videos are priceless. Let your website come to life by incorporating videos for your visitors. You might even consider allowing students to create their own videos for a personal touch.

Be Fresh No one likes stale bread, and no one wants a website with outdated content. Encourage your visitors to keep coming back to your website by refreshing the content with daily or weekly updates.

ENGAGEMENT Think like those you are trying to impress.

Engage with parents and community members.

IDENTITY Looks matter. Come

up with a theme that is complimentary to your school and its goals.

ACTION The most important

way to reinforce your brand is to act the

way you want to be perceived.


Start with a Strategy


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Tips to Keep Your Website

Up-to-Date

Create an editorial team

Instead of leaving the task of

managing the website to one

person, consider splitting up

what needs to get done across a

group of people with an interest

in managing some portion of the

website.

Make clear expectationsOnce you have a solid team, assign

roles and responsibilities, so expectations are clear to everyone.

Create deadlines and hold team members to those deadlines.

Build a scheduleSome areas of your website only

need to be updated annually, while

others may need weekly updates. Create a schedule for the various sections of your website based

on the specific content that needs

to be updated annually, quarterly, weekly, and yes, even daily.

Designate a cleanup crewIf your website still has

announcements for events that happened last month, it’s time to clean it up. Assign a task to

someone on your team who can be responsible for looking through the

website for any old material and remove it promptly.

Invite feedback

A lot of work goes in to maintaining

a website, so don’t let those

efforts go to waste. Check in with

your visitors to determine if the

website is helpful to them. Offer

opportunities for parents and

teachers to provide feedback.



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The Do’s and Don’ts on Your Website’s HomepageNo matter how much useful information and fresh content you have on your website, if visitors can’t get beyond your homepage, you’ve got some work to do. The homepage remains one of most important pieces of real estate on any website. Just look at your analytics for proof. It’s likely the most visited, and exited, page on your website.

Your homepage can have a direct impact on enrollment, funding campaigns and the overall perception of your school. Take some cues from these do’s and don’ts to assess your school’s homepage.

Design clear CTAs.The main purpose of a “Call to Action” (CTA) is to prompt a response. If your CTAs are not clear, your website visitors won’t know what you want them to do. Help them make decisions regarding what their next steps should be by making CTAs obvious. Use simple phrases like “Learn More” or “Apply Here.”

Use catchy headlines.A boring headline means no attention to the material. If the content has made it to your website, it must be important to someone. Get creative with your headlines so you can catch your visitors’ attention.

Talk about your school and what makes it unique.Your website should illustrate everything that makes you different from the neighboring school. How is your mission different? How is the student experience unique?

Get feedback from other faculty members and parents.The best way to know whether your homepage is getting the job done is to poll your audience. Ask parents and colleagues for their feedback, and put their opinions to use.

Do not use too many words.Your visitors aren’t on your website to read a manuscript. Give them what they’re looking for as quickly as you can with as few words as possible.

Do not offer too many choices.Simplicity is the key. Giving your visitors an abundance of options on your homepage will overwhelm them and comes across as unorganized. Use your website analytics to find out which pages are the most useful. Once you narrow it down, start directing your visitors to those pages.

Do not make forms hard to find.When something is buried under a half-dozen website pages or at the bottom of a very long, wordy page, no one will ever find it. Help your website visitors get to application forms and feedback questionnaires quickly without too much hassle.

Do not choose to be unresponsive.A responsive design makes your website more accessible to visitors who are on the go using smartphones or tablets.



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Responsive Web Design MattersChoosing a website design is an important early step in your communication strategy with students, parents and community members. But website design doesn’t only mean the aesthetics you might typically think of such as colors, font sizes and page layout. A website should also conform to any device type and screen size.

Responsive website design (RWD) enables a website to adapt its layout to the requirements of any device. Content and layouts automatically resize to fit any screen, resulting in a consistent user experience and removing the need to create a second website designed specifically for mobile. If RWD is in your future, here are some considerations to keep in mind.

Pay attention to the user experienceWhen you design a mobile website, it’s typically created for a particular screen type and layout. With RWD, the more than 200 different screen resolutions that exist are all addressed with one website design, providing a consistent and optimized customer experience.

Lessen the management burdenManaging one website can take time and effort. And if the people responsible for the school or district website have other duties, one website design will reduce the time it takes to make changes.

Plan for the futureInstead of spending time and resources on a website that will likely be extinct in a few years, make a choice that is more forward thinking. The adaptability of RWD makes is much easier to prepare for the device of the future.

Understand your mobile trafficMore and more users are turning to their mobile devices to search the web. In fact, Internet usage on mobile devices now exceeds desktops. If the majority of your website visitors are using their mobile devices to search, it makes even more sense to use responsive design on your website.

Take Google’s recommendationWe could have led with this one, but we didn’t want you to ignore all the other positive points for choosing RWD. Google has said that responsive web design is the preferred method for mobile configuration. When Google released the news that one of its latest algorithm updates favors a mobile design for mobile searches, it was a clear indication that responsive website design was here to stay.

Remember your studentsYounger generations are always on top of the latest technology. School’s are following the digital trend and implementing more technology in the classroom. And with tablets becoming more accessible, students are less likely to use a desktop computer when they need to access their digital tools.



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ChallengeA school district committed to digital conversion, the Rowan-Salisbury School System found success with a comprehensive 1:1 initiative, but quickly realized those devices, and others, weren’t able to properly view the schools’ websites.

SolutionWithin a few months, the school district re-launched 35 websites and a district portal using School & District Websites from Gaggle, developed and designed exclusively for K-12.

Results Since the re-launch, teachers have their own web pages, which are now easy to manage and update. All of the websites use Responsive Web Design and the school district website has been recognized by the North Carolina Public Relations Association.

Using Responsive Design to Create Award-Winning WebsitesIt’s a huge understatement to say that the Rowan-Salisbury School System is a mobile-first district. Case in point: every teacher and student throughout the district’s 35 schools has either a 13-inch MacBook or an iPad as part of a successful 1:1 initiative.

So when Deb Houpe, who serves as the district’s Data Integration Specialist, Distance Learning Coordinator and Webmaster, started to hear complaints about how Rowan-Salisbury’s websites were failing miserably on mobile devices, she knew it was time for a change.

Rowan-Salisbury Schools now has a solution that provides exactly what it needs. But that wasn’t always the case. Looking back, there were three reasons to make the switch: lack of Responsive Web Design; slow page load times; and difficulty creating and editing web pages.

Responsive Web Design

Responsive design enables a website to adapt its layout to the requirements of any device. Content and layouts automatically resize to fit any screen, removing the need to create a second website designed specifically for mobile.

“We had a lot of parents complain because our previous websites were microscopic when they were on their smartphones,” said Deb.

With responsive design, the more than 200 unique screen resolutions that exist are all addressed with one website design, providing a consistent and optimized visitor experience.

“Many times, we lost up to a quarter of our page or more and the major content and information we wanted to get out there was just missing,” recalled Deb. “It just wasn’t there at all on smaller devices.”

Parents deserve instant access to stay informed about their children, and having websites that use responsive design is the best way to satisfy the immediacy they urge. “We no longer lose any content,” said Deb. “Visitors see the same content regardless of their device.”

Rowan-Salisbury Schools also previously had to create web pages from scratch. “We had to build the CSS, the page layouts, everything,” said Deb. “It was a real cumbersome task and took quite a bit of time.”



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Page Load Times

The lack of responsive web design meant that websites didn’t work well, or at all, on the mobile devices used by students and teachers as well as parents trying to access school and district information from their smartphones and tablets. Lengthy load times forced many to just give up.

Website plug-ins added to the amount of time it took for web pages to load. The district had to pay for any plug-ins, which were supposed to add website functionality, and had to configure each one. “A lot of time was spent configuring things and trying to get them to work,” said Deb, “and they didn’t always work as promised and that was another major source of frustration.”

Creating & Editing Web Pages

Updating website content was yet another struggle, especially for teachers. Gaggle’s simple and intuitive WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor allows anyone with the appropriate access, including teachers, to update web pages. “Our teachers started to request web pages to keep their students and parents updated and in the loop,” said Deb. “The ability to edit is now so easy,”

Gaggle can provision user accounts from either the Gaggle Safe Learning Management System or another third-party solution so teachers can easily get started creating web pages and a consistent visitor experience when parents go to district, school and teacher pages.

“We’ve been able to handoff pieces to the different departments, and now they edit their own web presence and that makes hosting information much quicker,” said Deb. “They decide they want to post and it’s right there.”

In addition to tons of positive feedback from students, educators and parents, Rowan-Salisbury Schools won a Blue Ribbon Award from the North Carolina School Public Relations Association.

“We want to make sure that our district is viewed in a positive light,” said Deb, “and now we can use our websites to do that.”

Easily format and align text, create lists, add links, images and more.

Choose from WYSIWYG, HTML or Plain Text editors.

Secure page access for administrators, teachers and other authors.



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Is Your Website also a Recruitment Tool?Neighborhood lines do not always determine where students attend school. Because parents now often have a choice, it’s even more important for your school website to be an accurate reflection of your school and all of its positive characteristics. Schools are competing for students, and having a great website can help win the competition.

Illustrate who you are

Your vision and mission help differentiate you from every other school. It’s not enough to only state your mission statement at the top of your website. Your vision and mission should be illustrated throughout your website in words, pictures and videos. If there’s something on your website that isn’t a strong representative of your school and its values, get rid of it.

Know your target audience

There’s nothing worse than speaking in a room full of people who don’t have any interest in what you’re saying. Take some time to understand the visitors you want to attract and the best way to address them. How do they speak? What interests them? These are all questions you should ask as you create content for your website.

Put your website out there

Your website is your brand. Find ways to attract people to your website. Use social media, commercials and even blogs to spread the word and increase website traffic. The more traffic you have to your website, the more visibility you will gain. And if you do an excellent job illustrating who you are and know your audience, when they arrive, you might have just won the competition.



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Use Teacher and Classroom Web Pages to Drive Family EngagementParents are much more likely to check the school website before calling to see if it’s closed or to learn about school-wide events. But school websites can be used for more than just hubs of information.

Many studies show a direct correlation between parents who are engaged and successful students. Dr. Karen Mapp of the Harvard Graduate School of Education believes “students with engaged families acquire literacy skills faster, earn higher grades and test scores, enroll in higher-level programs, have better behavior in class, and attend school more regularly.”

If, in fact, students are more likely to be successful in school when their parents are more engaged, educators should also consider teacher and classroom web pages as valuable resources to spur more engagement.

The convenience of the digital age can sometimes remove the need for real relationships between parents and teachers. Because it’s so easy for parents to get their questions answered through a quick email, the partnership can fade. Use engaging content on your classroom web pages that goes beyond merely answering questions. Give parents a “window” into their children’s everyday experiences. The idea is to engage parents so that they take an interest in visiting the school more often.

The consistency of teacher web pages illustrates to parents the dedication and commitment to teacher-parent partnership. The pages can be used to express the vision and mission of the classroom, as well as to demonstrate how teachers are meeting classroom goals.

Keep parents connected to the classroomLook at web pages as more than just information repositories. To engage parents, allow teachers to post photos, videos and homework, so parents have insight into classroom activities and ultimately feel more involved. Here are a few pointers on what parents might want:

Helpful homework insights and links

Teacher blog posts recapping the day

Invitations to events and activities

Candid photos of classroom activities

Examples of student work



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A School or District Website Provider Checklistq Gather feedback from surveysConduct a survey of your parents, teachers and students. Ask them what they like about your current website and what needs improvement. Survey feedback can help you identify some glaring website needs.

q Assemble a selection committeeWhether you’re the webmaster, IT director or school communications director, you don’t have to make a decision alone. An excellent way to assure that you’re making the best decision is to put together a committee to help you choose a website provider. The committee should include representatives from your communications and technology departments as well as high-ranking administrators. Don’t forget also to include a teacher or two.

q Define your goalsCreate a written mission statement that describes why your website exists. What do you want the website to do? It’s OK to have more than one objective, but you should prioritize these goals and accomplish first what’s most important.

q Review implementation, training and support offeringsIt’s important to choose a website provider that provides training and will respond immediately to customer service inquiries and other questions. Also, be sure to ask about the implementation process, including migrating content from your old website.

q Ask about potential security issuesSecuring sensitive information should be a high priority. You will want to choose a provider that takes security and reliability very serious.

How, and where, is your website’s data and information stored?

What is the uptime guarantee?

Will they keep your website free from hackers?

q Don’t worry about the number of templates you can choose fromMost providers offer pre-designed templates or themes, which can save you time and money. Rather than scrolling through hundreds of similar looking themes, your website provider should allow you to configure elements to make the design specific to your school such as your school colors and other branding elements, and provide custom design services to make your website stand out.

q Evaluate vendors’ technologyYou don’t want your website to be outdated as soon as it launches. Make sure to dig into a vendor’s technology, and don’t get too distracted by the aesthetics of a website. By choosing inferior technology, it will more than likely be harder to change down the road.

Does the website provider offer themes that use responsive web design?

Does the website work, and look, the same on any browser and operating system?

Is the content management system easy to use, and are web pages easy to create and edit?



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Choose a Theme and Create Something All Your Own!Think of the theme you choose as a basic wireframe for your website. Keep in mind that your theme can easily be adapted to show your school colors, logo, and images, so choose one based on what you want to feature, rather than the generic colors your provider has shown it in; all that can change.



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ChallengeDescribed by many as disorganized and difficult to navigate, the Zumbrota-Mazeppa School District website wasn’t able to communicate effectively with students, families and community members.

SolutionAfter researching vendors, the school district chose Gaggle School & District Websites, a Tech & Learning Award of Excellence winner for Best New Product.

ResultsThe school district’s mobile-friendly website now provides teachers and staff with an easy way to build and edit pages, create alerts and much more. In addition, community members continue to provide positive feedback to Superintendent Gary Anger.

New Website Bridges the Communication DivideWhen Gary Anger arrived at Zumbrota-Mazeppa School District as its new superintendent, one of his first objectives was to address concerns regarding the district’s communications systems. Described by many as disorganized and difficult to navigate, the district website didn’t answer questions from students and families or communicate important information, such as school closings, conference schedules and other timely messages. “It just wasn’t well structured,” Mr. Anger said. “It was added-to so often over the years and, in a way, became a jumbled mess.”

After doing some initial research, Mr. Anger learned that other superintendents shared similar frustrations. “Fortunately, I have a very supportive board and administration as well as forward-thinking teachers who were all behind looking for an alternative.”

With help from Brenda Windhorst, office coordinator, and Grant Voth, technology coordinator, Mr. Anger started researching different vendors. The obvious choice was to work with Gaggle School & District Websites.

Mr. Anger appreciates how easy it is for teachers and staff to edit pages and create alerts as well as the website’s compatibility with mobile devices.

Of course, with any website redesign project, timing was extremely important. While most of the work was completed in time for the new school year, soon after the first school bell rang, the district held an Ed Camp demonstrating how to create and edit website pages.

In addition to providing a hands-on tool that teachers and other staff can use to communicate effectively, Mr. Anger continues to hear positive feedback. “We wanted everyone to visit the website and tell us what was working,” he said. “I’ve had only one complaint and just tons of compliments.” Mr. Anger addressed a concerned community member regarding additional costs by personally calling to assure him that the district was actually saving money.

As a school administrator for two decades, Mr. Anger understands the new benefits a website can bring to a school district. “The first visual or contact that a person used to have with a school district was typically face-to-face,” he said. “Now, it’s really the website. It has to look sharp, convey the right message and establish your brand.”

Another benefit of the new website is that it has become a recruitment tool. There have been many families moving into the Zumbrota-Mazeppa because of the Mayo Clinic in nearby Rochester. Parents often call the school to request more information and tours after initially visiting the school district website.

Zumbrota-MazeppaS C H O O L D I S T R I C T


About GaggleSpecifically created for K-12, the Gaggle Safe Learning Management System (LMS) promotes student and teacher productivity while increasing student engagement and performance. For schools using Google Apps or Office 365, Gaggle Safety Management enhances their compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA).

A leader in educational technology for more than 15 years, Gaggle continues to innovate, providing affordable school and district websites that unify the online experience. The company also offers affordable archiving, backup and records retention for Google Apps, Office 365, and other leading email and communication platforms.

Contact Us Today! 800.288.7750 • [email protected] • @gaggle_k12

school and district websites the k–12 website success handbook€¦ · we created the k—12...

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