20+ Best School Website Designs that Inspire
School Websites help to engage new visitors in many ways. Here are 20 of the best school website designs we love and the features they embody.
See Our Work Work With AllianceA well-designed website for your school is important to make a great first impression and help stand out from the competition online. When executing a digital strategy for your school, you will want to consider how to attract visitors and how to keep parents and potential students engaged for long enough that they will understand what your school can offer them – both of which can be accomplished through a great website design.
Not all school website designs are equal – we looked at high schools, Prep-schools, elementary schools that were both public and private. What we discovered is not all schools get a passing grade for their online presence.
Why school website design is important
A well-designed website will help your school engage prospective students, educate their parents, and inform current students and alumni about important updates, events, or news. An effective website design will showcase your school in the best way possible through the use of great imagery, information on new and exciting course offerings, and upcoming events in the community, to name a few. Your website design plays a key role in whether someone might choose to apply to your school or choose to donate for any important renovations or resources necessary to provide the best education for your students.
Attract, engage, convert and get more applications!
Attracting new visitors for your school
The focus for our best school website design list was how attract new visitors, engage them with your website, and convert them into applicants or donors.
To attract new visitors to your school’s website – it needs fresh real photography, great functionality and content that connects with students and visitors.
Engaging your audience
Once you have attracted new visitors to your website, you will want to keep them engaged so they can learn more about your course offerings, staff and faculty, and sports and extracurricular activities. To keep your school’s website updated, you could include a blog, which might showcase student life, recap recent events, discuss new course offerings and student opportunities, or highlight specific teachers at your school. Other content to include on your university website might be a resource section for parents with updates on course offerings, community involvement, and activities their child can get involved in. By appropriately engaging your audience online, you can increase student involvement and satisfaction, improve your school’s community, and get more support and donations from parents and alumni to support improvements in your offerings for the future.
Improving Engagement:
- Organized and simple navigation and page structure
- Inclusion of new website content such as a blog or resource section
- Good photography or video elements
- Social media integration
- Inclusion of value statements such as mission, vision, and values
- Detailed careers page to attract applications for professors and teachers
Converting visitors into students
Now that we have learned how to attract and engage your audience online through your school’s website design, the most important step is to focus on online conversions. A conversion is a visitor interaction with a website that translates to a targeted action. Here are some amazing stats on websites:
– The average website conversion rate is 2.35%
– The best websites have conversion rates of 11% or more
– The average mobile conversion rate is around 1.53%
The better the page and the better the form the higher your conversion rates will be.
Source Startup Bonsai
To improve online conversions, you must include well placed call-to-action areas throughout your website. These areas require your visitors to take some sort of action, which could include leaving their contact information, registering for a tour of your school, submitting an application to attend your school if it’s a private or advanced level school, or donating to support future improvements, research, or initiatives. Online conversions serve as a way to communicate further with current students and engage new students.
Inclusion of call-to-action areas to increase conversions:
- Landing pages
- Online newsletter
- Registration for sports or extracurricular activities
- Event signup online
- Online donation area
- Inclusion of contact forms
- Integration of payment systems
Better SEO for your school means more student applications
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a way to optimize your schools website for search engine use. When your school outranks your competition that means more people will click on your school’s website increasing the amount of student applications.
So how does a school improve SEO? By including new content on your school’s website, search engines will rank your school better as the website is seen as more relevant. Having a website design that is responsive on mobile devices can improve your online visitation and user experience by allowing people to access your website from virtually anywhere. By including these elements – on your school’s website design, you can attract prospective students and their parents to learn more about your school’s offerings.
Improving SEO:
- Include new content on your website
- Keyword frequency
- Backlinking and sitemap creation
- Improved hosting for performance
- Improved security
- Responsive design
Below are the best school websites we love and the features they embody:
Hume-Fogg High School
Features:
- Recent school news and announcements featured right on the homepage
- Full family section provides parents access to parent/child opportunities, faculty information and current courses
- Athletics section gives overview of sports offered as well as current schedules and team rosters
Townsend Harris High School
Features:
- Call to action areas allows parents and students to pay directly for exams online
- Inclusion of social media area with high school facebook and instagram to promote visitor engagement
- Alumni area provides access to upcoming school events, news and announcements and contribution opportunity
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Features:
- Careers section allows teachers to apply for open opportunities at the school
- Student and Family area provides resources, safety information and activities their child can get involved in
- Student enrollment area provides all necessary documents and identification information needed for registration
Berkshire School
Features:
- Inclusion of statistics on the homepage showcases total number of students, as well as the number of state and global worldwide
- Option to view interactive campus map and online virtual tour
- Alumni section provides events, school updates and donation options to keep former students engaged in their community
Creekside Middle School
Features:
- Online news area highlights student awards received, event recaps and scholarship winners
- Inclusion of award badge and noteable statistics such as ranking within the United States for best middle school
- Student services section provides resources for counseling and areas of study
PGCPS
Features:
- Full events calendar, school lunch menus and recent school updates accessible right from homepage
- Call to action for school alerts and text messages sent right to your mobile device
- Password protected family portal gives parents access to course load and parent teacher communication
Christopher Columbus High School
Features:
- Student life section features clubs, activities and internship opportunities
- Academic area features current circulars, and library resources accessible online
- Use of statistics showcases the schools current alumni network, sports and activities offered, and average class size
Alexandria City Public Schools
Features:
- Homepage provides content for different visitors to quickly find information- such as new students, parents and students, staff and local community
- Full listing of upcoming events listed on homepage
- Password protected virtual learning portal provides parents and students access to staff communication, assignments and course material
The School Without Walls
Features:
- Call to action area to Donate directly to the school or shop their online store as a way to increase funding
- Full listing of latest school news available right from the website homepage
- Full listing of upcoming events listed on homepage
- Links provided for options to engage with the school online, which is a great way to improve website conversions, including a newsletter subscription, opportunity to join a club or donate to their school
New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School
Features:
- News features and recommendations on student internship opportunity, student awards and event recaps
- Homepage features recent Instagram posts to showcase school community and student life
- Enrollment section of website provides online guides for new students and their parents
Edward R. Roybal Learning Center
Features:
- Interactive video on the homepage provides virtual tour of school campus
- Inclusion of mission statement on the homepage provides insight on school environment and goals for professional development for all students
- Inclusion of most recent Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts for social engagement online
Mary McDowell Friends School
Features:
- Banner at the top of the website provides most recent school announcements
- Inclusion of mission statement on the homepage and link to learn more about values and preferred teaching styles
- Links to student activities such as clubs and athletics help encourage community involvement and improve student satisfaction
MiddleSex School
Features:
- Banner on homepage provides most recent event recap, upcoming workshops and activities as well as news and updates
- Call to action areas for online applications available even for international students helps increase school attendance levels
- Inclusion of statistics provides insight on average student test scores, athletic advancement, average class size and total campus size
Rivers School
Features:
- School mission statement on homepage gives visitors a glance of community involvement, community experiences and faculty values
- Call to action areas to apply to their school, visit the campus or make a donation
- Inclusion of all social media handles including Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn promotes community engagement online
The Lawrenceville School
Features:
- Great use of imagery to showcase student offering for academic learning, sports, performing arts and experiential learning
- Call to action areas to apply to their school, visit the campus or make an online inquiry
- Inclusion of all social media handles including Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram promotes community engagement online
Trevor Day School
Features:
- Inclusion of video on the homepage is a great way to tell the school’s story and give a glimpse of student life
- Call to action areas to apply to their school and visit the campus
- Inclusion of real time statistics as a banner on the homepage gives new visitors a glimpse of average class size, sports and extracurricular activities available
- Inclusion of parent testimonials area showcases student success and parent satisfaction
Lake Tahoe Prep School
Features:
- Inclusion of great imagery to showcase beauty of their school campus as well as student life and activities
- Virtual 3D tour lets visitors explore the full campus online
- Inclusion of statistics on the homepage gives new visitors a glimpse of student teacher ratio, average test scores, sports and extracurricular activities available
Gilbert Public Schools
Features:
- Full list of upcoming events is accessible right from the homepage
- Call to action areas to schedule a school tour, attend an open house or view preschool options
- Inclusion of video to recap recent school meetings, events and activities
Leman Manhattan Private School
Features:
- Short summary on homepage gives a glimpse of school location and mission of the school to provide a great community and educational environment for its students
- Inclusion of real time statistics as a banner on the homepage gives new visitors a glimpse of student diversity, average class sizes, sports and extracurricular activities available, and student locations
- Links to recent news articles provides visitors information on upcoming events, new school services, as well as highlights student success
Cambridge School of Weston
Features:
- Online video highlights individual students at the school and activities they are involved in
- Inclusion of competitive advantages such as a focus on sustainability, humanity and equal rights, academic schedule and student development
- Call to action area to request more information located on the homepage to improve conversion rates
Need Help With Your School’s Website Design?
Alliance Interactive is a full service Washington DC based digital agency that creates engaging websites and marketing campaigns for schools and universities that help boost student enrollment rates, engage students and parents and increase online donations. For more information on a school website design, contact us here.