An institution of higher learning — especially one offering website design courses — should have an engaging, modern website that not only gets prospective students fired up about visiting and learning more, but also makes it easy for prospects, existing students and alumni to find what they need with ease.
Here are essential features your college web design should have in order to get a passing grade on the Internet.
Navigation and search are critical elements for prospective students looking for the best school to further their studies. They also are essential tools for existing students who need to find an advisor or seek administrative help.
Your college website design should include an easy-to-navigate menu. Work with your college web design company to ensure that new students can easily access their department calendars and syllabuses. Burying these details in convoluted menus can be a frustrating experience for your current students or lead to loss of potential future learners.
Quick, effective on-site search will also score points with prospective students and their parents. It is especially important to make vital information concerning “List of Department Programs” and various “Student Life and Clubs” easy to find and searchable.
Apart from being a learning institution, a college is a family with a special identity and culture. Your college has its unique colors, departments, reputations and special fields of study to showcase. Since your website is your digital portfolio, you need to make sure it represents these aspects clearly and precisely.
Your institution’s core branding, imagery and values should permeate your website design. This will let prospective students know immediately whether your school is a good fit for them, and make current students (and alumni) feel at home. Discuss with your college web design agency how to aesthetically highlight your institution’s uniqueness, strengths and achievements on the home page and throughout your site.
Some of the clients we’ve developed an updated web presence for:
Prospective students are always searching for reputable colleges on social media networks. Be sure to cultivate an engaging and authoritative social media presence across all appropriate social media platforms. Make sure your college website design includes multiple social media buttons or icons that link to your school’s social profiles.
In addition, a majority of young people use smartphones rather than desktop computers to browse the Internet. If you want to reach them, you’ll need a mobile-responsive site. A credible college web design firm will help you build a mobile-friendly college website that is easy to navigate on mobile-sized viewports.
Between student programs, clubs, courses and departments, your students and prospects have a lot of vital information through which to sift. To help them digest all of it in an inviting and engaging way, try creatively incorporating sound bites, student testimonials, blurbs, social media widgets and quotes into your college website design. Instead of making prospective students wade through several paragraphs of text to understand what your college has to offer and how things work, use enticing short video clips and images.
Of course, these suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg for college web design. A reputable college web design company also will incorporate robust lead generation capability into your site, as well as technical web design features to improve functionality, and SEO-friendly tweaks to help your site rank higher on major search engines. By simply implementing the college web design best practices listed above will help you build a website with distinction in the eyes of younger viewers.
