School administrators are busy balancing a lot of different priorities all at once; it’s easy to push your school’s website down the priority list. Without proper analysis or website knowledge, it’s difficult to know where to start. It’s no secret your school’s website plays the largest role in admissions and community engagement — ultimately becoming the largest contributor to your school’s annual revenue. Therefore, it should be your highest priority to fix and maintain. Building a high-quality website for a school requires a provider that understands the unique needs of educational institutions — balancing admissions storytelling, alumni engagement, ease of use, and robust community features. Selecting the best website provider depends on your school’s budget, desired features, and internal resources. Each website provider has their own strengths and challenges. At Katava Marketing, we want to steer every client in the right direction with a website provider that suits every need.
Website Factors to Consider
Before you start contacting sales representatives of any website provider, your school should analyze your website’s current performance. Thinking critically about your current website will help you organize and prioritize your core online needs. While analyzing your website, you should consider:
- Responsiveness: Is your school website mobile-friendly without complications?
- Traffic Performance & Trends: What are your most and least visited pages?
- Search Rankings: How are website visitors finding you online?
- Page Speed & Security: Does your school website load quickly and securely?
- Accessibility: Does your school’s website meet ADA accessibility compliance?
- Integrations: What third-party system integrations need to be connected?
- Missing Gaps: What do your competitors have that you don’t?
- Maintenance: How often do you update your website?
Answering these questions before any sales pitch is a productive way to ensure your needs will be met by any website provider. It will help you come prepared with the right questions to ask, such as:
- Will the website be fully responsive across all devices?
- How will a new website help our school’s search ranking performance?
- Will we have full access and control of the new website for future maintenance and updates?
- Where will the website be hosted, and is it fully secure?
- Will the new website achieve ADA accessibility compliance to reduce our legal risk?
- Can we connect any third-party administrative or marketing systems into our new website?
Knowing exactly what you want out of your new school website — down to the details — will help you make the right decision on a website provider who can deliver on those needs.
WordPress vs Finalsite: Which is Better?
Now that you have a better idea of what you’re looking for, it’s time to compare your website provider options. The most popular options most educational institutions consider include WordPress websites and Finalsite. WordPress is the world’s largest Content Management System (CMS) on the market. Finalsite is a popular Community Relationship Management (CRM) system that offers website development specifically designed for K-12 schools. Let’s break down the biggest differences between WordPress and Finalsite together:
| Feature | WordPress | Finalsite |
| Platform Type | Open-source, general-purpose CMS | Proprietary, school-specific CMS |
| Customization | Highly customizable via themes/plugins | Limited to platform options; less flexible |
| Cost | $-$$ | $$$ |
| Security | High-performance security | High-performance security |
| Ownership | You own and host your site anywhere | Finalsite hosts and manages everything |
| Maintenance | Flexible multi-user management | Managed by Finalsite |
| Scalability | Infinite scalability to school’s needs | Restricted to Finalsite platform |
Key Takeaways:
Both WordPress and Finalsite are great choices for any public or private educational institution. Finalsite is ideal for schools wanting an all-in-one, managed, school-focused solution with strong support and minimal technical overhead, but at a higher cost and with less flexibility. WordPress is best for schools that prioritize flexibility, customization and have the resources or partners to manage technical aspects themselves for proper cost savings.
With over 20 years of combined experience in admissions and marketing, Katava Marketing can build your school a website that will have a positive impact on your school’s enrollment. Contact Us to get started!
