Many organisations seem to give their websites text content a low priority. In fact, the content of a website determines the success more often than not. Your website may look great and function well, yet if it doesn’t say much, why would anyone bother to visit it once, let alone regularly?
In this article, we’ll discuss what makes content great, and how to ensure your website has more useful content than not.
Finding your voice
In media outlets and some large organisations, a document called ‘Editorial style guide’ is often the ‘bible’ of tone and communication. For many of us, however, we don’t have such luxuries.
A guide such as this can be created quite simply and be literally two or three A4 pages. It should answer what your ‘tone’ or ‘voice’ is (is it relaxed, formal, friendly and approachable or succinct, etc) and how you write common words (is it BamCreative, BAM Creative, bam creative, etc).
This article will help you define your ‘content style guide’ easily; The Simple Template for a Thorough Content Style Guide.
Be active not passive
An active voice conveys action and sounds more positive, and always elicits better actions than a dull or passive voice. For example, the statement ‘The executive committee approved the new website’ is active, and ‘The new website was approved by the executive committee’ is passive.
This article, 11 Smart Tips for Brilliant Writing covers a few ways to improve your content, which ensures your website will be better read, and your audience will love you for it.
Asking for action
Statistics prove that banner advertising with the words ‘click here’ are clicked on more frequently than ones that don’t contain the phrase. This leads us to conclude that website users are a lazy bunch; wherever possible, ask them to complete whatever goals you have defined for them.
For example ‘Click here to download the latest newsletter’ is likelier to result in more newsletter downloads than ‘The latest newsletter is here’.
Think about search engines!
We’ll discuss search engines a little later on, however it is worth stressing that content is the most important aspect of being found on search engines than any other possible element or trick.
Having keyword rich text, which uses phrases or words you want to be found for is guaranteed to give you a better boost than without. Let’s say I want to be found for ‘Northbridge school’; which of the two paragraphs do you believe search engines will enjoy more?
“Our campus is close to Perth and handy for public transport and families with parents who work within the CBD. We have classes for years 7 through to 12 at our private school.”
OR
“Our School is located in Northbridge, and features classes for years 7 through 12. Being in Northbridge, our campus is ideally located for those who work in Perth or inner city Perth suburbs.”
You’d be right if you chose the second paragraph. This paragraph is written mindful of keywords. But also of basic grammar and need to be succinct. Be careful not to overdo it though; there is nothing worse than seeing text the reads like;
“This Northbridge School is in Northbridge, Western Australian, close to Perth, Western Australia and perfect for Northbridge students and Northbridge school aged children.”
Be easy to find
I’m always astounded at how many school websites make it a challenge to find their contact details. Be up front and include them anywhere you feel a person may be inspired to get in touch. We commonly include contact details such as phone or email on every single page to make the task less onerous.
Include newsletters and term planners
Many families suffer from a deluge of paper from their various schools and other organisations. Including term planners and the most recent newsletters on your website can save frustration and time. Consider other documents that could also be useful – it takes little effort to upload them to your website.
Reduce administrative costs
The best person to find out what needs including is frequently the registrar or administrative staff. Simple time-saving elements such as PDF versions of regularly requested documents, or at least ensure that the content answers question regularly asked of teachers and support personnel will ensure that the website is indeed useful and reduces those repetitive tasks that could be time better spent on more effective work.
Summary
We have now determined what content will be within your school website, and the functionality it will have. The next stage to this process is to look at the visual elements – the design – of the website, and how this will work with the audience and your content to create an experience your website visitors will enjoy. Stay tuned for my next article, here on Education Matters.
Miles Burke is an Author, Public Speaker and Managing Director of Perth-based digital agency, Bam Creative. His team has created websites and digital marketing campaigns for dozens of schools, and their work has been featured in the media, won plenty of awards and most of all, helped schools demystify the digital marketing space to attract enrolments and better communicate to their communities.
