Changing website providers can be an intimidating process. If you’ve never gone through the steps before, it can be more than a little overwhelming. Websites are complicated, with many different features and functions to choose between. Of course, you’ll want a provider who will not only have a great website for your district, but support you throughout the design, development, transition, launch, and everyday use for your websites. Here’s how you can help determine what’s most important to your district.
Design Details
Do you want a custom design or a template website? Not all website providers will offer both, so this is a great place to start narrowing down your options. A custom design will take longer to complete, but you’ll wind up with a truly unique website, including details such as scroll effects, animations, and hover effects.
A template design, however, will be customizable. A faster and more cost-effective option, template designs can be adjusted to incorporate your district’s brand colours and logo. Depending on your provider, you’ll also likely be able to adjust things like if your menu is collapsed or expanded, but little beyond.
Choosing between a custom and template design is a great way to start narrowing down the best provider for your school district. Regardless of your choice, ensure you’re visiting some of their live websites to experience the layout, navigation, and feel of the website first.
Feature Frenzy
Determine what website features your district needs. Check in with your school webmasters and see what features they’re using (or not using) most.
From calendars and blogs to catchment maps and document management, there’s lots of features to choose from. Rank these features from most important to least important. When you’re looking for a website provider or putting together an RFP, you can include these features in your search and use them to start eliminating providers and finding the best fit for your district.
Intentional Integration
We get asked a lot about different integrations. And yes, it’s always nice when different systems get along. But be intentional about what you want to integrate with your public website - some student information data is sensitive and should be kept separately from the website.
When determining what integrations you need, always ask:
- What will this accomplish?
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How will this save me and my staff time?
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Do I need to fully integrate these platforms or can I just include a link to it?
Knowing what integrations are essential to your district is vital. If a provider doesn’t have that functionality, don’t hesitate to reach out. If you know what system’s you’re trying to integrate and why, it’ll be much easier for a provider to determine if they can build it for you.
Appreciate Accessibility
Depending on the location of your school district, you may have a legal requirement to ensure that your websites are WCAG 2.1 Level AA Compliant. Even if the legislation doesn’t mandate it, it’s still best practice to ensure that your websites can engage all the members of your community. Ensure that your website provider has a content management system (CMS) that’s accessible to everyone.
Tactical Technology
What are the technical specifications your district requires? Beyond hosting and security considerations, do you want to have to manually install updates? Is there a chance you could be stuck on an old version of the software? Who's responsible for troubleshooting and fixing bugs?
Consider how much time – and coding knowledge – your technical team has to dedicate to installing updates and fixing bugs.
Timely Training
Who will teach your staff to use the new websites? Ask about training before you sign on with a new provider. Will it be done in-person or online? Is it pre-recorded or live? We’ve found that training sessions tailored to a user’s role helps staff learn the system better than if they’re thrown into a large session that includes tasks they won’t be completing. Staff need to know how to use the websites, and unless you want to roll out training yourself, it’s important to learn how the provider will empower your staff with training.
Superb Support
When your staff have a question about the system, who do they ask? If you don’t want them emailing you every time they hit a stumbling block, ensure you’re choosing a provider who offers great support.
And don’t be afraid to ask for third party stats or reach out to one of their clients. If you’re paying for direct user support, you deserve a response within a business day.