Hiring content writing for educational website | Top Things that matter

Content writing for educational websites is typically not similar to any other kind of website content writing!

A school website content writer needs to understand the prestige associated with these temples of knowledge before creating content.

So what do you think is the primary purpose of a school/ college/ university/ coaching center website?

1. Making the presence of your institute felt and being able to attract students

2. Gaining the trust of parents/ guardians seeking quality education for their wards.

3. Gaining recognition in the eyes of scholars and educationists so that they can come to join you as a teaching faculty.

 

In the current digitally advanced world, your educational institution needs to have a good website to be able to have credible and well-spread visibility online.

Having a top-notch institute, offering awesome courses with amazing faculty and trained academicians is possible, but what if such information is unable to reach the target audience when they tend to look up for an institute online?

This is where a website and the content writing for educational website matters. Just having a website is not enough. You need to ensure your website has the right mix of good content, appealing display, easy navigation, value giving information, SEO optimized design, apart from the usual application forms, admission dates, admission procedures, course details, etc.

Websites can easily become the largest and also the cheapest means of lead generation for educational institutions without having to spend huge amounts of money on advertisements. Largest because of the reach it can create in the online world and cheapest because creating and maintaining a website does not call for huge volumes of expenditure.

So, can just a few admin staff with support from some faculty with good vocabulary and expression skills take care of the website content creation aspects?

The plain and simple answer to this is ‘NO’.

Educational institutions must understand that by having an in-house admin staff take care of the official website along with his other admin duties they are missing out on a major chunk of lead generation and conversions that could have happened had they invested in good content and a dynamic website.

Nor can justice be done by letting web development agencies handle the content writing part. They do have knowledge about website designing, but content creation calls understanding of loads of subject expertise elements!

Just like teaching requires expertise, web designing requires technical knowledge and expertise, the same way content creation for websites calls for an in-depth understanding of what works and what does not. Partnering with experts like Towards90 to ensure your educational institution does not miss out on this channel to rope in admissions and create a brand image for your school. Our experts have in their kitty an avalanche of school website content ideas that make your website stand out from your competitors!

New Era of content writing for educational websites

We have landed in a new era. Today education technology is entirely digital content-based.

The recent global pandemic COVID19 has only added fuel to the ‘online’ revolution.

When the world is going online, it is advisable that you ensure that your educational institution has a fully functional website. A website that can answer all probable questions a parent looking to enrol his child may have or things a student would want to know when he is choosing between different universities.

Let your website have irresistible content that would contribute not only to improving your brand value but also in ensuring the generation of prospective-student leads.

Varieties Of Educational Websites

Higher education / professional school websites

The primary goal of this kind of website is endorsing the brand of the institute. Such websites contain a lot of information that is vital to the faculty, students, and staff.

Websites of such institutions also prove a sneak peek into the campus culture for prospective students.

What works well?

Competition in the segment of higher education is fierce.

Therefore you would need to ensure that the landing page of your website is simple yet striking. It has to be powerful enough to glue the attention of the person visiting.

Students happen to be the widest segment of targets that visit websites of  higher education institutions or professional schools. So you need to show off about the great campus life you can offer.

Have an oversized banner image that shows off the uniqueness your university can offer to the students, at the top of your website. In website designing terminology, this is called a hero image. Having the right kind of hero image can ensure the visitor sticks around the website and explores. 

Let us help you understand the same with an example. Have a look at the hero image of the University of Montana website. It depicts the homecoming season and is of the marching band. It is engaging and shows the visitors of your website a distinct aspect of your institution and what great campus life you can offer.

Next, you need to work on designing. It needs to be simple, clear, and well organized, easy-to-comprehend, and navigate. All this would ensure a pleasant website browsing experience.

Elementary School / High school website 

Elementary/ high school websites have one major difference from higher education and professional school websites. It is the audience. While the latter is mostly visited by students themselves, the former are usually visited by parents/ guardians or employees.

And although there is a major difference, the crux still is about being able to communicate everything clearly.

What works well?

What is it that a parent would like seeing on their child’s probable school website?

Pictures showcasing enhancing inquisitiveness and imagination skills of children, of happy students in a schoolroom or on the playground can strike a chord with parents

Point out what makes your school distinctive and how happy students are with your institution. Real-time pictures work best, so avoid using stick images.

Ensure the navigation is user-friendly and important things like the calendar are easily accessible. Do not miss adding a detailed calendar as parents need to plan in advance for the exams, holidays, breaks, and other school events.

Online education websites

The trend of online education or e-learning is fast catching up and is here to stay.

And a well-planned and well-designed website is supremely vital as the website is the only thing that is going to be visible to the world at large. 

Online education could mean a lot of things- homeschooling, online college, special skill courses, just anything under the sun.

What works well?

Here is just a simple and minimalist design that works. The website needs to be user friendly and the student should be able to easily log in and log out. Simple fonts, clearly laid down call to action buttons, properly displayed courses, and all details about them.

Self-motivation is a difficult attribute, especially for students. Therefore ensure your website is motivating enough for students. A simple feature of assigning students badges depending on their progress can do wonders!

 9 Important Ingredients Of Your Educational Website

A website is a medium for an educational institution to communicate with the outside world. It is a medium of creating a connection between the viewers and the educational institution. 

An educational institution’s website has many users like-

• Students
• Teachers
• Parents
• Administrators
• Prospective families intending to seek admission 

Read along as we take you through the 10 elements an educational website needs to have, to be able to better communicate with its users.

Appealing design

Ensure that the website is designed in such a manner that it is appealing, warm, and is easy to understand. Avoid complex navigating options. Simplicity and elegance in the design reflect on the institution’s graceful culture.

Regularly revised website

When you are an educational institutional institution, your website content must be up to date. When you keep the information on your website current and revise it regularly it ensures that the people can trust the website to give the exact and latest information.

Robust search function

This is one of the best things you can have on your educational website. When visitors come to your website in search of a specific page it may get difficult for them to find what they are looking for as your university could offer a diverse set of things. 

With a robust search function, you offer help to users to navigate to what they came looking for. This gives them a pleasant user experience and lowers the chances of abandonment in frustration. It makes the whole process speedy!

Contact information

You must display all possible means that the website readers can contact your educational institution. The email address, phone numbers with the working hours, postal address, website questionnaire, etc.

Philosophy of your institution

Have a short crisp page about the educational philosophy of your institution. This lets prospective students and their families get to know the mission of your institute. It also needs to have all other details like 

• Courses offered and their fee structure
• Curriculum
• Activities you offer apart from curriculum
• Awards and recognitions won by your educational institution
• Grants you provide
• Your major achievements

In short, the ‘about us’ content for school website is a sneak preview to what to expect when they choose your institution.

Staff directory

Your faculty are your most important asset. It is a good idea to have a brief about them, a picture of them, the subjects they take, their experience, their achievements, and any other laurels they hold.

Academic calendar

Your academic calendar needs to be placed on the website. It should have details of all important dates regarding the new admission process; special events like sports meet schedules, fests, competitions, celebrations, etc. For people new to your institution it is a window about the kind of activities that happen at your institution and for people who are already students- it lets them plan their schedules to match with your organization.

Rules, regulations and forms

All the rules and regulations of your educational institution need to be stated clearly and in simple language without leaving any scope for ambiguity.

Also include forms for application, lunch orders, transfer certificate application, etc. in PDF formats to make it easier for you as well as the students.

E-newsletter

It is good to have an e-copy of all newsletters of your institution, current as well as archived ones, in one place for ease of access.

Interaction opportunities 

Make sure you include links to other media your educational institution might have like blogs, social media handles, discussion forums, etc. that serve as added means to communicate with or about you.

Wrapping Up

Imparting education is your area of proficiency. But you also need to ensure that your website conveys the same picture. Whatever be the type of knowledge you are imparting, a well- designed website plays a vital role in adding up to your brand image not only in front of students and their parents but also your faculty- your employees that teach at your institute.

Connect with our experienced team at Towards90 so that we can bring your vision of imparting knowledge in front of the world with our expert website content creators! Not only can we ensure to create a better image for your institution online, but also ensure an improved SEO.

This way you can continue to do what you are best at- teaching and we promise to reflect the same in the form of perfect content on the website of your educational institution.

What are you waiting for?

Contact Towards90 when looking for content writing for educational websites!