Whether you are a public or a private school, you will need to have a suitable website online that can help attract new students and keep parents informed on what is going on. A school website will need to perform various functions, so it needs to be intuitive and straightforward to use, look fantastic, and have all the features required to become an effective tool for students, parents, teachers, and administrators alike. However, finding a suitable web development agency is not always easy, as there are so many of them, and the quality of work can vary. Below are some tips to help you find a suitable agency to develop your website when your schools need to redesign their existing website.
Decide What Features You Need
One of the first things you will need to decide on before looking for web developers offering school websites is the features and functionality you need for your website. You will also need to have information to satisfy OFSTED, and you can click here to see what you must display, so you are compliant. However, there are other features you may want to include, such as integrating social media and communication functions. You may also want to have secure log-in facilities so parents can get an update on their child’s progress and see where they are up to with assigned work and homework. Consider what features you want to include in your website, and you can then start searching for suitable developers to work on your project.
Ask For Recommendations
An excellent place to start your search for developers offering school web design is asking for recommendations from other schools in your area. Look at the websites for other schools, note the ones you like, and the ones that have the functionality you want. You can then approach the schools and ask which company they used for their website and add the names to a list.
Search Online
Whether you get any recommendations or not, you will also want to look for suitable web developers online. A quick search using your preferred search engine will show many companies you can consider using to develop your school website. You will want to go through all those that look decent and add these to your list. Once you have done this, you will want to look at their online reputations to help ensure you select a reputable web design agency.
See Which Ones Are Best
Once you have compiled your list, you can start looking at the reputations of the various agencies before contacting them. You can use independent review websites and social media sites to help with this, such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Look at the good and bad reviews customers leave each business and how the companies interact with users on their digital properties. You can then narrow down your list to two or three companies and ask them for a quote for your web development project.
You will need to go through all the details with each of the agencies that remain on your list and answer all their questions. They will often have a website questionnaire to send you that you need to fill out with as much detail as possible. The agencies can then send you their quotes, and you can compare them to see which offers the best value for money and select which one to use for your project. Your school will soon have a shiny new website with all the bells and whistles that look fantastic and does everything you need it to do.
