Do you find that it hard to effectively portray what life at your international school is really like through your website text? Lesley Comeau, head of international marketing services at International Education Solutions, offers three simple tips to make your website stand out
If you were to open up five international school websites, you’d probably find many similarities in their copywriting: a list of features such as how many nationalities are represented, their curriculum, what they offer in terms of facilities, and why their school is so great.
While these are all important for prospective families to know, it can be difficult to truly differentiate your school from your competitors if everyone is saying the same thing. So, in this post, we’ll be going over three simple copywriting tips that you can use today to set your school apart from the rest!
Tip #1: Change your ‘we’ writing to ‘you’ writing
Parents don’t necessarily care about what ‘you’ offer and are more interested in what they get out of enrolling their child at your school
Time and time again, you’ll see school websites that go on and on about what the school offers and forget about what their families actually want or need. When writing your website’s copy, you need to realize that — even on a subconscious level — parents don’t necessarily care about what ‘you’ offer and are more interested in what they (and their family) get out of enrolling their child at your school.
Here is an example of what typical ‘we’ writing looks like for a school:
“At [school name], we offer high-quality education at an affordable and competitive price. We aim to provide our students with the best chance of success possible. Our staff members are extremely passionate, qualified, and care about our students!”
As you can see, this copy is all about the school. But, when people read your copy, they are wondering: “what’s in it for me?” You want to avoid ‘we are’, ‘we can’, ‘we will’, ‘we offer’ and replace this school-centric way of writing with ‘you-centric’ writing.
Now, here’s an example of rewriting the messaging from above but focusing on the reader, so they feel like you are talking directly to and for them—instead of all about yourself:
“If you’re looking for high-quality education for your child at an affordable price, you’ve come to the right place! You’ll notice right away just how passionate our staff is as soon as your child starts school at [insert school name].”
Read both examples again and notice how you feel when you read each. You’ll probably notice that the second example makes you feel like you’re the priority and that the copy was written just for you.
If you go through your school’s pages and start to change your ‘we’ writing to ‘you’ writing, you’ll be able to attract more families and interest in your school—which should be the main goal of your website!
Tip #2: Focus on the benefits instead of the features
When writing school website copy, you want to focus on the benefits that parents and students will get out of enrolling at your school. Everything your school does should benefit their child’s life and theirs. When they read your copy, they’ll ask themselves 'so what?' as in, 'how does that make our life better?'
So, when you’re writing your copy on your website, you need to also ask yourself : so what? For example, many schools will list statistics or features of their school, without providing much substance to explain why these are important or how the child and the family will benefit.
Here are some examples of these features or benefits that you’ll see often: small class sizes, truly international, great location. While it’s okay to highlight these key features, you should also include why they are important or beneficial, so the parents and students can understand how this will improve their lives.
If, say, you want to express that your school has small class sizes, you should also include why this is a benefit to the reader and their child. Maybe something like this: “In order to offer your child more one-on-one opportunities to learn and grow, we prioritize small class sizes. This way, your child will blossom as an interactive and involved learner inside and outside the classroom.”
See how the paragraph above explains why small classes are important for students? Parents can resonate with that much better than just reading, ‘we offer small class sizes’ and they also learn where your school’s priorities are.
By constantly asking yourself the ‘so what?’ question when writing about your school, you’ll drastically change the focus from you and what you offer to explaining to parents and families how they will benefit and how their lives will be enhanced by choosing your school.
Tip #3: Use CTAs (Calls to action)
Now that you know how to successfully communicate with your prospective families, you’ll want them to do something. Because, after all, the point of your website is to bring in more admissions. You can encourage them to take action by including CTAs throughout your website copy and pages. Without CTAs, you’re missing out on higher conversion rates and increased revenue (school registrations).
A simple rule of thumb is that every page on your website should have a CTA. Regardless of what your page is about, there should be a purpose. And, for school websites, the purpose is to bring in more registrations by encouraging parents to contact you, book a school tour, register their child, learn more, etc.
After you’ve written about your school, you’ll want to encourage action by starting your CTA with a verb (action word). Examples of these could be: Apply Today, Book A School Tour, Find Out More, Subscribe Today, Read More, etc. By using verbs, you are telling your audience what to do and how to do it.
You can even create a sense of urgency with your CTA by using words that generate an emotional response—like the fear of missing out. These can be CTAs such as, ‘Limited-time Registration Offer’, ‘Register Now’, or ‘Limited Spaces Available’.
When you have your CTA, you’ll want it to stand out. You can do this by changing the color of the words so that they are different from the rest of your text and catch the reader’s attention. Before you write your CTA, you can ask a question to make the action even more compelling.
Let’s take a look at an example from above so you can see how to use an effective CTA.
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“If you’re looking for high-quality education for your child at an affordable price, you’ve come to the right place! You’ll notice right away just how passionate our staff is as soon as your child starts school at [insert school name].”
Are you ready to discover the (school name)’s advantage for yourself?
CTA: Book a School tour Today!
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Typically, you’ll want your CTA to be something the reader can click on like a hyperlink or, even better, a button. When they click, they should be taken to a page where they can complete the action you are asking them to do. If you want them to book a school tour today, then they should be able to click through to a page where they can actually contact the school to get a tour, or fill out a form with the day/time they’d like to visit. You want to make their actions as easy as possible.
By changing your ‘we’ copy to ‘you’ copy, focusing on the benefits your reader will receive, and including powerful CTAs on your school’s website, you’ll be able to connect with your prospective families better and increase website conversions.
Start today to make these changes to your copywriting and continue to ask yourself ‘so what’ when writing for your dream families and watch your website conversions increase!
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