Sure, the perks you expect from redesigning your school website are exciting: better engagement and communication, more site traffic and storytelling, stronger enrollment, and a smooth user experience.

But what if you uncover a few surprising gems along the way? What if there was some unexpected ROI waiting for you at the finish line?

As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. Often, it’s only when the project wraps that you and your team really realize the value of what you’ve gained.

Your end-users will undoubtedly have a better experience, but there are a handful of surprising benefits to redesigning a website that can make your project a rewarding experience for everyone involved. Think of these as the icing on the cake, or an added bonus that makes the entire journey even that much sweeter.

1. You'll Understand Your Story and Vision Better than Ever

When working on a school website design, one of the most important steps is researching and organizing your content to clarify what your school stands for, its mission, values, and long-term goals.

Revealing Your School’s True Identity

During the redesign, you'll review ALL the information about your school—its achievements, programs, people, and more. As you go through the history, you'll start to see a clearer picture of your school's identity. Each piece of content, whether it's a page about a special program or a story about a student's success, fits together to show what makes your school unique and how it became what it is today.

As you organize your content for the redesign, you’ll be updating old information, adding new pages, or changing the way you present certain programs. You'll come across new information and achievements that might have been overlooked before, so now’s your chance to make sure every great thing about your school gets the attention it deserves. The goal is to create a website that accurately represents your school's past, and its vision for the future.

Strengthening Your School’s Message

As you work on the project, you'll also strengthen your school's message and make sure that everything on your website supports a clear and consistent story about your school.

This can involve optimizing old content, telling new stories, and finding different ways to communicate your school's values. The result is a website that not only looks good but also tells a compelling story about your school.

“The whole process was an incredibly valuable self-study, as if we were writing the school’s autobiography,” said Hasan Al-Masri, educational technology and web services manager at The American Community School of Beirut.

“Everyone had to think—and reflect—on what makes us a school and a community. We identified what we do really well and also identified new avenues we want to pursue as a school. In that sense, this process was more than just creating a website; it helped us chart a way forward.” So true!

2. You'll Find Hidden Talents in Your Team

Collaboration is key when you’re working on a website redesign. You'll spend a lot of time working with your colleagues from different departments and backgrounds, and as you work together, you start to see what teammates are really good at and what they specialize in.

For example, you might learn that:

• One teacher has a knack for writing engaging content about their classroom projects.
• The admissions office will know what questions students and parents want answered.
• Another colleague might be great at taking photos or creating videos that capture the spirit of school events.

This process helps you appreciate the unique skills each person brings to the table, so tap into these talents to make your new website even better.

An Appreciation for Different Ways of Thinking

On that note, teachers, administrators, and staff all have their own views on what makes the school special and how it should be presented. Teachers see what happens every day in the classrooms, your advancement or alumni office knows the generosity of parents and graduates, and the athletic department notices the resilience of students after a loss, as well as the thrill of a big win.

As you work on the redesign, you’ll hear these different viewpoints and learn to incorporate them into the final product. Combine these different ideas, and you'll create a more dynamic, diverse, and engaging website with new and creative ways of presenting information.

“Buy-in from faculty and staff helped a lot with the success of our launch,” shared Father Ryan High School’s communications director, Cara Hunter. “Taking time to meet with departments and learn what they liked/disliked about our current site gave us an interesting perspective, and by allowing them to review their new pages before the launch and provide feedback, we had the support of our internal community before it went live.”

Building a Cohesive Team Dynamic

Working together on a redesign project helps build stronger relationships among colleagues, too. As you work through the redesign process, you'll develop a more cohesive team dynamic, one that communicates effectively, shares ideas openly, and supports each other's efforts.

As you collaborate, you get to know each other better and understand what drives and motivates your team. When asked what suggestions to give a school considering starting a website project, The Heritage School shared, "Create a team focused on your plan and divide the roles and responsibilities. Hold each other accountable to deadlines and ensure it is the number one project you are currently working on.”

By the end of the project, you'll have not only a visually appealing and user-friendly website but also a stronger, more united team to help your school tackle future projects with even greater efficiency and success.

3. You'll Become a Project Management Pro

A website redesign can be a giant project that takes time. You'll need to manage it over several weeks, months, or the better part of a year, depending on your goals and timeline. It can seem like a lot, but it's a great way to learn how to handle a long-term project.

Time Management and Organization

With so many tasks to complete, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. But with good time management, you can stay on top of everything. Content planning, design work, editing, testing…working on these tasks step by step teaches you how to keep track of progress and make sure everything gets done on time. This is a major, transferable skill for any big project you work on in the future, or your next redesign.

Juggling Multiple Teams and Goals

A website redesign involves many people from different parts of the school, each with their own goals and ideas for the new site. Managing all these teams can be challenging, but it's a great way to learn how to balance different needs, priorities, and goals.

• Start by setting clear goals for the project. Make sure everyone understands what the new website should achieve, whether it's improving user experience, showcasing programs, or increasing enrollment.
   
• Hold regular meetings to keep everyone informed and involved. Sometimes, you’ll need to make tough decisions to balance different goals, but by finding a balance between these objectives, you can create a website that incorporates everyone's needs.

“I think sometimes, when we had a website project, we had just kept to the marketing and communications department, shared Cortez Strickland, marketing and communications manager at Birmingham Public Schools. "But we needed IT and special education, we needed the admissions team, and we needed superintendents involved. We had to make sure that we were having in-depth conversations, and having everyone in the room really helped us with that decision-making process.”

Meeting Deadlines

Meeting deadlines requires careful planning and good communication to keep the project moving forward and ensure that everything gets done on time.

• Start by setting realistic deadlines for each task and giving yourself and your team enough time to complete each part of the project.
   
• Staying flexible is also key. Things often don’t go as planned, and you might need to adjust your schedule. Maybe a certain task takes longer than expected, or there are challenges with turnover and creating content. By staying flexible and adjusting as needed, you can still meet your overall project deadline.

The good news is that you're not alone! If you're redesigning your school's website with Finalsite, you'll work closely with a dedicated project manager to help bring your site to life. During the implementation process, discovery meetings, regular check-ins, custom checklists, and project management software will help you stay organized, hit your deadlines, and go live when the time comes.

Key Takeaway

A website redesign starts as a project to create a better online presence, but aside from the modern design, mobile-friendly layouts, and improved user experience, you’ll learn a few things about representing your school, improving as a team, and growing as a professional. You might even look back and wonder, "When can I do it again?" 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Connor has spent the last decade within the field of marketing and communications, working with independent schools and colleges throughout New England. At Finalsite, Connor plans and executes marketing strategies and digital content across the web. A former photojournalist, he has a passion for digital media, storytelling, coffee, and creating content that connects.