I read a good article in a local magazine by Andy Tilbrook on running businesses in 2011 and the use of websites, and noted overlapping lessons that could be applied to private school marketing and admissions.
The question they posed in the article was whether your company's web site was in the fast lane of the information superhighway or stuck in a cyber cul-de-sac? Phrasing it differently, is your site driving parents and students to look at your school's services or are you missing a key marketing opportunity?
On one hand, you need to have an attractive and functional web site that communicates your school's brand - your unique qualities and strengths, your benefits, and a compelling call to action to have them engage at some level to share their name and email address to draw them into the first stage of your marketing funnel. However, no matter how attractive your site is, it's underutilized if your online audience is too small.
You can use pay-per-click strategies like Google Ads etc. to place your school's key words in front of potential parents/students, but this costs money (however it's a good strategy...do you do this?)
However, there are other ways to boost your rankings in a search engine. This is called organic searches and it's based on how well your web site it optimized.
WEB SITE OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES
1). Submit Your Site To Key Search Engines
Search engines don't just find your site by accident; they need to know that you exist. You need to submit your site to the: Google, Yahoo! and Bing (owned by Microsoft). Their links are:
You should also submit your site to DMOZ at www.dmoz.orglhelplsubmit.html. This is an independent, non-profit web monitoring site that links to Google's directory. However, since it's monitored by volunteers, it takes time to reap rewards.
2). Does Your Site Have A Sitemap?
A sitemap gives search engines a list of your website's pages and content. This helps the search engines and their spider bots search through your website and note your key words. There are several sites such as www.xml-sitemaps.com that can generate one for you. Again, you need to submit your sitemap to the search engines.
3).Using Keywords and Content
Content is king when it comes to making your website visible to search engines and parents/students. Let's say you're private international boarding school in Dallas, Texas. What would potential parents/students type into a search engine? They might be looking for a school local to them, for a particular program, gender, or other unique feature. The text in your website should have these keywords. Have you got all these bases covered?
But it's not how many times you use the keywords, but where they are placed. Search engines note where key words are placed, how they are emphasized (bold, italic, header), and even if they are hidden within the coding of graphics on your site. You can us Google's search based keyword tool (search "keyword tool" at www.google.com) to help you assess your keyword density. Ironically, Google doesn't take any account of keywords. Other search engines do, though.
4). Links To Your Website
Links from other sites to yours can boost your rankings, so it's worth getting involved in forums and discussion boards to link back to your site. It's even better to have key words from other sites (anchor text) link back to your website, as it makes you an authority for that keyword.
5). Meta-Tags Are HTML Coding
There is background coding in your website that can use your keywords that provide information about a web page. Your description meta-tag is hidden from view, but it's critical for search engines. It's your chance to describe succinctly what your website's about. And here's the big one, have each page of your website with a separate description. Don't waste it with the name of your school. Use keywords that will draw new parents and students to your school and rank you higher in searches.
6). Headings
Where meta-tags are not visible, your headings are much more evident. These are vital for search engine robots to scan, so have them feature your site's keywords.
NEXT STEP
Now, armed with this information, go back to your school website designer and ensure that your site is search-engine optimized. There are no guarantees this will result in more students, but it will raise the profile of your site and put it in front of more potential parents.
If you would like to receive written material about HEG, or would like to discuss your particular needs, please contact Doug Halladay directly to find out more about our services. You can set this up by sending him an email to info@halladayeducationgroup.com or calling directly at 1-604-868-0002. | 
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