In your website audit, you should evaluate: 

• How many clicks does it take before landing on popular pages?
• Is your site translatable for multilingual users? 
• How does your website look and navigate on a mobile device? 
• Are your interior pages laid out as well as your homepage, or is there much to be desired? 

Take a look at St. Francis Episcopal School’s website as an example of a great user experience. Most of the information parents are seeking can be found within two clicks in the main navigation section. An intuitive menu makes it simple to find what you are looking for.

When it comes to multilingual content, Solomon Schechter Academy has a unique and effective approach. When visitors arrive on the site, they’re asked to pick which language they’d like to view content in before proceeding further.

It’s clear that Susquehanna Township School District had mobile viewers in mind when designing their website. When viewing it on a small screen, the functionality and user experience is on par with the desktop view.

User experience is at the core of your website design. If you find your site is missing the mark with your current audiences, it’s time to consider a refresh.

Continued reading:  

• 5 forgotten pages your school website should have in a virtual world

• Multilingual best practices for schools  

Website Design

Our team of experts knows design (we have more than 140 school website design awards to our name!) Great design goes further than just the homepage. When evaluating your overall site design, consider interior pages as well. 

In your website audit, you should evaluate: 

• How old is your design? (if it’s more than three years old, it’s time to consider a redesign)
• How does your site perform on a mobile device? 
• Is the design navigation both easy to look at and easy to navigate? 
• How many ADA accessibility errors do you find?

Let’s take a look at a few examples of schools and districts with exceptional website design that checks all the boxes.

Cape Henry Collegiate is a great website to start with if you’re looking for inspiration or ideas on what good design can look like. They’ve done everything right from a mobile-first design to intuitive navigation. This is a site to reference when auditing your school’s website.

Another excellent example is Ocean Springs School District. Their sleek design is built with the main user in mind, ensuring navigation prioritizes key information like bell schedules, calendars, and contact information.

Avon Grove School District’s website not only looks beautiful, but it’s also fully ADA compliant (like all Finalsite websites!). Avon Grove uses Audio Eye to ensure they remain in compliance with every new piece of content added.

If your goal is to stand out with your web design, take a look at Istituto Marangoni Miami’s new website. Nothing about it is cookie-cutter in nature, and they’ve taken bold steps with design to reinforce their brand.

The way your website is designed is about more than just looks alone. When auditing your site, consider how your design incorporates aesthetics, navigation, ADA guidelines and the mobile experience. 

Continued reading:

• 6 Signs Your School Website Needs a Redesign 

• 5 Tips For Great Responsive School Websites

• The Pandemic’s Lasting Impact On School Website Design 

Website Content 

The content you post on your school website makes the pages come to life and brings connection to your community, staff, and students. Each year, you should review your news and calendars, written content, visual elements, social media connections, calls to action, and any communications or back-to-school hubs you’ve created.

In your website audit, you should evaluate: 

• Is your content updated regularly? 
• Are you using high-quality images and videos? 
• If you are a Finalsite client, are you making good use of our modules like the social media connector, posts, and COPE functionality. 

For a good example of well-maintained web content, take a look at  Stafford Municipal School District. The district’s communications team makes a point to update the news section of every school site frequently, ensuring the most current information is posted.

Updating your website content also means ensuring high-quality images and videos are not only used everywhere but updated at regular intervals. Stafford’s website is also a great example of how to effectively use photography and video. The quality of the images selected makes each page look polished and professional. 

Overall, ensuring content like news articles, photos and social media integrations are up to date is an important component of auditing your website each year.

Continued reading: 

• The 10 Most Overused Words On School Websites

• 5 Schools With Powerful Marketing Videos 

Search Performance

The last section to consider when reviewing your school or district website is how well you are doing in search performance and what your online reputation is like. Your website is a huge driver of all things search engine optimization (SEO), so if your school isn’t appearing on the first page of Google results, there’s work to be done.

In your website audit, you should evaluate:  

• Do you have custom metadata written for each page, optimizing the content that appears in search engine results?
• Have you claimed your school or district in online business listings? 
• Do you have positive online reviews?

Let’s take a look at McCallie School, located in Chattanooga, TN. If I search for “affordable private high schools near Chattanooga” on Google, McCallie School’s Financial Aid page lands a spot on page 1 of the results.

Why is this? Because they have optimized their on-page SEO and meta content! The content you see in search results, or your meta content, is vital in being found on organic searches. Here, McCallie checks a few of the keyword boxes from our search: school, Chattanooga, and affordable.

Search performance is a big deal for schools, but can also be a source of confusion. If this section has you stumped, Finalsite Advantage can help. Give our team of experts in school reputation and branding a call to help give your school the boost it needs in this area. 

Continued reading:

• SEO for Schools: 5 Strategies For a Page 1 Ranking

• Online Reviews for schools: Why They Matter and What To Do

Key Takeaway: Let’s Get Started!

In most areas of business and education, audits are performed by a third-party entity. Why? Because sometimes you need an objective person who’s not involved in your day-to-day to take an unbiased look at things. The same notion applies to auditing your website. Let Finalsite do the heavy lifting by offering your district a free website report card on an annual basis. We’ll take a (free) detailed look at your content, layout, navigation, and accessibility to make your website the best it can be for your school community.

Ready to get started? We are too! Request your free report card and you’ll see it in your inbox within 1-3 business days...no strings attached!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
As a business development representative at Finalsite, Melanie works to build the knowledge base of Finalsite and who we are to potential clients. With over 15 years of experience in business development, Melanie brings a wealth of expertise in digital strategy to school districts. She is based in Atlanta and is mom to a five year-old boy and three rescue dogs.