It’s no secret that there are a few school website providers cornering the market in the UK with their expensive proprietary platforms designed for schools. If you’re reading this, the chances are you’ve probably realised the pitfalls of these sorts of products. Perhaps you’ve tried to make changes to your site and been hit with a huge bill for altering anything that isn’t text-based. Or maybe you’re looking to add an additional feature and have discovered that it’s simply not possible.
Whilst there are many independent school website options available, in our opinion WordPress wins this race hands down. Here are a few reasons why we think WordPress works best for school websites.
Get It Done, Fast
When it comes to school websites, it’s important to remember that there are certain things that have to be present on your site at all times. These are the statutory elements of a school site, set out by the government. They include contact details, admission arrangements, OFSTED reports and multiple other aspects of school life. If you are considering updating your school’s site, you may be somewhat concerned about these statutory requirements not being present while the site is rebuilt.
That’s where WordPress comes in. Firstly, it is often possible to simply migrate the whole site to WordPress. If you would prefer to start again and build a new site, WordPress allows you to quickly and easily get the statutory elements on the new site, preferably before transferring the domain over. Once those are on there, it is perfectly fine to build on the live site – much like we did here at Ultimately Better.
Keep Costs Down
Let’s be honest, after the statutory requirements, the next thing most of us think about is cost. Using WordPress is a great way to keep costs down. Multiple hosting packages are available so you can choose one that fits your budget. The same goes for developers – a new site doesn’t have to cost a fortune, you can shop around to find someone who can do what you need at a price you can afford. Better still, once the site is up and running you’ll be able to update it yourself. Swap images, alter text and even add new pages. It’s a very easy platform to use once you take some time to get used to it.
WordPress Is Great For Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Another advantage of being able to grow your website alongside your blossoming school or MAT is that it’s great for SEO. In fact, WordPress is a great starting point for Search Engine Optimisation in general. This means that it will be easier for people to find your site via search engines, meaning more enquiries and more pupils. Not too confident in your own SEO skills? No problem, there are plenty of plugins designed to guide you.
It’s Open Source
Talking of plugins, it’s worth mentioning that WordPress is an open source content management system. That means that professionals from all over the world contribute to its features and improvements. So, if you use WordPress for your website, you can benefit from all that expertise. It also means that any features you have in mind have probably already been developed, so there are plugins you can install to help make your WordPress website work for you.
WordPress Works For Schools Because It’s Great For Security
Security is important in education. After all, you handle people’s data. Luckily, as WordPress is Open Source, regular updates are available to fix any security issues. You have a part to play in this too though – make sure you always install updates as soon as they become available or talk to Ultimately Better about our WordPress maintenance packages to handle keeping your WordPress website up-to-date and secure.
Make Marketing Easy
Marketing is as important to schools as any other business. Whether that means attracting new pupils or raising funds through promoting events, you’ll probably find yourself spending a lot of time on it. Thankfully, WordPress does make it a little easier. You can easily connect your site to your social media platforms, driving traffic between the two. You can even display your Instagram feed on your website if you want to. Better still, newsletters can quickly and easily be created in your site’s blog section and emailed out to parents. That way, each newsletter will help with SEO and drive additional traffic to your website.
WordPress Works For Schools Because It’s Flexible
WordPress is flexible in every way you can imagine: design, feature availability, and simplicity of use to mention just a few. And because it’s the most popular content management system in the world, there are plenty of resources out there to help you build on it in-house. You’ll have lots of choice when it comes to finding a WordPress developer or web designer to help you update your WordPress site too.
As your school or MAT grows, your WordPress website can grow with it. Exciting news to share? Time for a blog post. Adding after school clubs? Create a new page. Welcomed a new school to your Academy Trust? Extend WordPress into a multisite solution so each school within the trust can have their own website within the brand guidelines of the network.
A Great WordPress Site Can Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
If your school has strong environmental values, you’ll probably want an eco-friendly school website. A well designed WordPress site will be fast, with great load speed. You can even use a green host that shares your values. You can read more about reducing your website’s carbon footprint here.
Member Only Areas
Do you have certain information that you want staff or parents to be able to see that doesn’t need to be available to the general public? WordPress can help you with that. It’s easy to create member only areas and give people login details to see the information they need.
Create Your Own Shop And Take Payments
Do you want to sell school merchandise or take payments for school lunches on your website? This is easier with WordPress. You’ll be able to build a shop, and link up with your choice of payment provider so that payments go straight to your bank with minimal hassle.
Convinced? If you’d like to chat more about why WordPress works for school websites, how to migrate your existing school website or what we can do for your WordPress website, get in touch to arrange a call.