Skip To Main Content
Website Fixer Upper Episode 3: De Smet Jesuit High School's Student Resource Page
Mia Major

Welcome to Episode 3 of 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. Each week, we’ll be rolling up our sleeves and diving into one of our client's websites on Composer to share step-by-step guides for improving their website page.

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! The team at De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis Missouri told me, “Our Student Forms page is one that needs a lot of help. It is more of an internal resource for parents and students, but it does not require a password and is accessible from our home page. Our parents and students refer to this page very regularly, but it’s a mess and difficult to find.”

Does that sound familiar?

In this episode using Composer, Finalsite’s industry-leading content management system, we’ll take an overwhelming and confusing forms page that looks like this:

De Smet Forms - Before

And turn it into this:

forms page - after

Watch the episode below!


Key Takeaways

Make Content Easy to Find

The community at De Smet Jesuit High School had one chief complaint from parents and students: these forms are hard to find. So step one is to (obviously) make them easier to find! Add calls-to-action to the pages you know your parents access frequently, and don’t bury them! Front-and-center buttons easily direct parents to the content they care about and that you want them to find.

Consider the User’s Search Experience

A good search experience is critical to the success of your resource pages — and unfortunately, we don’t always know how website visitors want to search. Offering different experiences based on the type of content, year, or subject makes it easy for different website visitors to find content in the way that makes sense to them.


Submit Your Website

Do you want to submit your website for Finalsite's Website Fixer Upper? Email us at marketing@finalsite.com — and your website could be next! (You can also email me with feedback and suggestions to make this new blog series even better!)

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:

  • You submit your site and website page that you'd like to have "fixed up" to marketing@finalsite.com
     
  • As long as you are a current client on Composer, you'll get added to the docket!
     
  • Your website page will be edited and improved using industry best practices and design elements your site already has in place.
     
  • You're happy. We're happy. Everybody wins!

And if you're not a client, or currently not using Composer, you can request a free website audit to get feedback on your website by clicking the button below!


click here for a free website audit


ABOUT THE HOST

Mia Major

As Finalsite's Content Marketing Manager, Mia shares innovative and helpful content that helps schools and districts create captivating online experiences that increase brand awareness, student and faculty retention, and school-to-home communications. With more than five years experience in the industry, Mia has written more than 200 articles, eBooks, and reports about best practices for schools on a variety of topics from social media to web design. As a former TV and news reporter, and wedding photographer, Mia specializes in sharing how to use storytelling to power your school's admissions funnel. When she isn't busy creating content or hosting her #LIKEABOSS Podcast for FinalsiteFM, you can find her hiking with her Boston terrier, running an army wives meeting at Fort Campbell, or enjoying a well-deserved savasana on her yoga mat.


Explore More Recent Blogs

Subscribe to the Finalsite Blog

Love what you're reading? Join the 10k school marketers who get the newest best practices delivered to their inbox each week.

Request a FREE
website report card

Want feedback on your school or district's site? Get a free website report card, generated by an in-house website expert, sent right to your inbox.