WEB DESIGN ‘MUST HAVES’ for UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, TAFE’s & SCHOOLS.
1. The website must appeal to its primary audience; students
If you are wanting to engage with this audience on their level then the website must have a young, contemporary style.
You want them to arrive on the home page and immediately be engaged with the content and visuals. No matter the size of your institution, whether part of a large university or a small school or college, it’s worth the investment to get a website design that works for your target audience.
2. Strong, creative visual imagery
Your website should clearly reflect the nature and personality of your institution. Avoid overuse of stock imagery – relevant, real-life photos will make a massive difference to the user experience.
3) Clear navigation pathways
You need clear pathways that easily guide students and teachers around the site. Hot buttons on the home page are a great way to grab the users attention.
4) User-Friendly Content Management Systems
Your CMS should allow for university, college, TAFE staff to get into the back-end of the website and make as many changes as they like IN REAL TIME. Ideally, an open-source CMS platform like WordPress should be used as this means that you are not locked into using one web company – it allows flexibility, which is very important in today’s digital environment.
Also read: CMS Solutions for Charities, Non – Profits and NGOs
5) Mobile Phone Friendly Websites
Your new website should be RESPONSIVE, allowing it to be viewed easily on all handheld devices. Students on the go will expect this from your institution, so make sure you get your web designer to implement this function.
6) Can Your University Website Be Found On Google?
Students looking for information about courses, enrolments will need to find your website easily and this is why it is imperative that an SEO or search engine strategy is mapped out and planned for the beginning of your web project. Nowadays in the COVID environment where international students are not coming from overseas, it’s vital that you can attract local Aussie students and talent to your uni or TAFE.
7) Web Content That Works
It is worth the exercise to get a professional copywriter to look at your website content. Writing for the web is totally different to anything else and this is why a web content expert can make a huge difference to the success of your website and online profile.
8) Social Media Marketing
This cannot be ignored! Universities and all educational institutions MUST embrace at least the basic social media platforms including; Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Popular universities, colleges and TAFE’s can easily get a massive following, so it’s wise from a marketing perspective to utilise and benefit from this.
Increase enrollment and student engagement
Dynamic Websites
Most University and School web pages have their very own style and personality. Our in-house technology has been developed to be flexible enough to create real value for all of our clients, even those with very detailed and specific briefs. Our website developers are constantly improving and updating our web technologies to ensure it remains browser compatible, PLUS other add-ons which mean your site will never be left behind.
Budget-Friendly
Customised web design and development can be expensive. As a Sydney based web design company with years of experience, we are able to strategise and deploy your website quicker and much more cost-effectively than most other design studios. Hopping Mad you will outline a detailed proposal and fixed quotation which will be delivered to you on budget and on time.
Search Engine Optimisation
SEO is crucial to increase universities online presence. Our WordPress platform is built upon a CMS designed to provide the on-page components that adhere to Google’s guidelines for best practices.