The Finalsite Blog

Imagine how easy it could be, for everyone, if all payments and donations could be made online, through one mobile-friendly, international-friendly, payment platform? Recognizing this as a key issue for our clients around the world, we have released our new online payment platform, Finalsite Payments.

In episode 3 of Website Fixer Upper, I’m tackling an important page that every school website has that gets a ton of website traffic...but is often poorly structured do its rather “boring” nature: A “forms” page! 

A marketing plan is a crucial piece of your school’s overall business plan. It outlines your goals, how you’ll get there, and the budget and resources you need to make it happen. Follow these eight steps to get started.

In this blog, we'll cover how to effectively showcase and communicate your district's brand to current and prospective families.

Recent news articles have focused on the fact that some school and educational websites contain tracking technologies and potentially sell or target their user’s data, including students

From SERPs to CROs, we're defining the most important inbound marketing terms that every school marketer should know before beginning their inbound strategy.

Many schools are missing out on engaging this important—and caring—group to enrich their community, increase donations and improve retention. In this blog, we share actionable ways you can start reaching your school's prospective and current grandparents.

Michelle Starke, PR & Marketing Manager at Leysin American School in Leysin, Switzerland (and a member of #TeamMeredith) joins Max and Meredith on Episode 3 of Finalsite #WorldTour.

Welcome to our new video blog series, Website Fixer Upper! In this new series, we're showcasing how you can take the good bones of any website, and transform pages into incredible digital experiences.

This blog looks at key features and considerations with online publications and new ways to present this tried-and-true communication piece with the Finalsite platform.

This year, as we added more than 70 new districts to the Finalsite family, we’re doing a second round-up of some of our most inspiring and original school district website designs that went through the biggest transformations.

In this blog, we share a ten-step guide for developing and executing your social media plan, complete with this free worksheet to create your own.

Social media is an essential communication tool for schools, but how can you use it strategically during crises? Here are five easy steps to follow to assure you are best equipped to use the media when an unexpected event occurs.

Let's take a closer look at some of Google's recent changes, and what it means for you, the school marketer.

Take the time now, before campus gets busy again, to implement one, two, or all ten of these highly effective ways to promote and fill up your school's open houses.

In webspeak, as Wikipedia notes, “above the fold” or “above the scroll” is really “the portion of the webpage that is visible without scrolling.” So we need to shove everything into a small space, right? No! Here's why!

Because web accessibility isn’t mandatory for independent schools like it is for public school districts and some universities, we reached out to three of our early adopters at independent schools to understand why they're prioritizing web accessibility.

Working towards an ADA-compliant website design is a process — and no one knows that better than Barbers Hill Independent School District in Texas. Be inspired by the success of their redesign story and how their new website offers a new kind of user-experience.

Knowing the importance of having a responsive website, members of Lincoln Community School (LCS) knew the direction they wanted to take their recent project. Be inspired by their experience and tips for a mobile first design.

Summer is here and we've narrowed down four easy tasks you can complete to get you ahead of next school year. Are you up for the challenge?

Whether you were able to attend or may still be suffering from FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), here are the top ten school marketing takeaways from FinalsiteU 2018 that you should know!

Website accessibility and ADA compliance is often a complicated subject, and the steps required to ensure your site’s design, structure and content are accessible can be labor-intensive. However, one of the easiest components of an accessibility initiative is an accessibility statement.

Web accessibility isn’t just about adhering to WCAG guidelines to avoid a fine — web accessibility is about helping all schools and districts improve the overall experience on their site. Discover 6 easy web accessibility best practices every school and district should follow in this blog.

Mary Ellen Rowe, Marketing Director for Clarkston Community Schools in Michigan, joins Mia on Episode 2 of the #LIKEABOSS podcast to share school marketing strategies for success from both her independent and district background.

Rowan-Salisbury School System recently launched their new Best-in-Class website for its 20,000 students in 35 schools. Check out what makes their new website, and the intentional approach behind its content, so unique in this new case study.

Even though social media isn't always perfect, there are so many reasons to use it for your school marketing. We tackle the top concerns school pros have with some solutions to work around them.

Marketing to millennial parents is different from marketing to any other generation, and it is essential that you adapt your marketing strategies to effectively reach them where they are. As you build your 2018-2019 marketing plan, here are eight important truths to consider.

As of June 5, 2018, WCAG 2.1’s guidelines are not regulations and/or requirements at this point in the U.S. Here's what schools and districts need to know.

There is no silver bullet to social media engagement. Not even the 4-1-1 rule. However, from our research and work with more than 2,200 schools around the world, we can say with certainty the following three types of post get the most engagement time and time again.

Many schools go without good photography or videography because of budget, but we're here to tell you, it is possible to have amazing photos for your school marketing from something you use every day: your cell phone.

It is about consistent, relevant and timely engagement year-round — not just when you need them to advocate. Discover six ways to keep your school’s alumni engaged in this blog post.

If you are looking to spruce up your school’s website over the summer or redesign completely, this is the blog for you!

Notice anything different on Google recently? Some Google searches are now appearing in a list-like display called a carousel. Learn how this feature is impacting school's search results and how to improve yours.

Mia Major kicks off her first Strategize Like a Boss podcast with Ty D’Amore of AudioEye to discuss a topic affecting schools today — web accessibility.

Good SIS integration is critical to an independent school’s day-to-day functioning. It saves so much time. Plus, if you can’t rely on the accuracy of your data, life gets complicated fast.

Discover how one international school is engaging their community, driving traffic to their website, and offering a unique online experience for parents with Portals.

Amazing photography can be accomplished on a budget and brings your website to life. Get inspired by these 8 schools and districts doing it right!

Looking to do content marketing on a budget? Here's what you can do with a humble $2,000 annual budget.

Discover how creating a microsite for this school's college fund improved its engagement with alumni, donors, and more.

Toby Brunt, Social Media and Communications Specialist at American School of Warsaw, joins Max and Meredith on Episode 2 of Finalsite #WorldTour to share his background and role at the school.

The new Finalsite website is here! Want a sneak peak of what went into the redesign process? We tell all in this post.

Jon Morgan, Owner, Director and Producer at JM Films shares four aspects your independent school videos should cover.

At Finalsite we pride ourselves on collaborating with our clients to create amazing user experiences and user journeys. This week UX/UI designer Rob Potter delves into the differences between UX, UI and CX and why they matter.

What people are saying about your school on the Internet matters. Learn why you should care about online reviews and what to do with them in this podcast.

Convincing your school's higher-ups or stakeholders to redesign can sometimes be a difficult task. We tackle how to work around five common reasons schools avoid redesigning to help you kickstart your next redesign project, improve traffic to your website, and get the website you need for your school to meet your marketing and communication goals.

Learn how to craft targeted messages for your personas to help improve your school marketing and engagement in this guest blog from Bart Caylor, President & Founder of Caylor Solutions.

Jon Morgan, Owner, Director and Producer at JM Films shares the top five most popular videos independent schools should create or invest in this year.