The internet is now the first point of call for people searching for services, and nurseries are no exception.
Acting as a marketing tool and advertisement, a professional and welcoming website is becoming essential to maintaining and growing your business. As well as bringing you to prospective parents via search engine technology, a website helps you to inform and interact with parents and the wider community.
The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) reports that many of its members still believe websites would be expensive to launch and difficult to sustain. However, you can buy a domain name for as little as £3 and pay a software developer a one-off fee of around £149 to create a basic website.
Most software packages also include search engine optimisation - now crucial to a new business as it gives your website the best chance of being found on Google or Ask, when site specific keywords are entered.
Claire Schofield, director of membership, policy and communication at NDNA, says, 'While local marketing and word of mouth are important in promoting your services, a website can be a "real shop window" for your nursery. Many parents expect to be able to view a website for a potential nursery so settings that don't have one should definitely consider creating one.'
INVESTING IN YOUR BUSINESS
Undoubtedly a website can be a worthwhile investment. Those with special secure sections to view photos report that parents love to log in, supporting their relationship with the nursery. A staff member might be really keen to take responsibility to keep your website fresh, interesting and up-to-date, and the software now available makes this easy to do. With a little bit of knowledge you can even build your own.
One notable example of a thoroughly modern website is The Old Station Nursery chain, which operates 13 nurseries and two out-of-school clubs in Oxfordshire, Rutland and Lincolnshire.
Owner Sarah Steel designed the initial site in 2002, was highly involved with designing the current site in 2007, and now blogs on a regular basis.
'We had a website which cost £25 for the first nursery and it was just like an online prospectus. The new site cost £2,000. It's very important to have a good discussion with your website designer about how you want your site to look and feel and how it will represent your nurseries. It is your public face to the world,' stresses Ms Steel.
'If you are a beginner and don't know about the tags which will detect and move your site up the Google search I suggest you go to someone who will give you some good advice. Otherwise your website will not come up when someone Googles "nursery in ..." your town,' she advises.
MAXIMISING VISITOR INTERACTION
The Old Station Nursery site has ten main pages with a lot of background and interest. Parents' testimonials bring satisfaction with the service to life and the chain also sells books and promotional material through the site.
Updates link to its Facebook page, Sarah's Twitter account and blog - and vice versa. The nursery managers will also email staff and parents alerting them to any news and updates on these facilities.
Jacqui Mason is managing director of Children 1st @ Breedon House, which is in the process of launching its new website. 'The existing one was fairly flat with not much interaction or capabilities. We wanted the new one for the future, to market ourselves and also to improve communication with parents,' she explains.
'After consulting several marketing companies we chose one to make us three storyboards. The one that jumped out at us was not the most colourful as we found with our old one the loud backgrounds detracted from the content. This time we wanted it a lot fresher, cleaner and easier to navigate.'
KEEPING PARENTS AND STAFF INFORMED
Children 1st's main aim is to communicate more effectively with parents as this demand came up consistently in the group's regular parent surveys.
Ms Mason says, 'We will have a "Day in the Life ..." section featuring something different every month, starting with a child, then a parent and a nursery nurse. All 13 nursery sites will have their own page with a photo and small biography of the manager. There will be useful information like opening times, sample menus and upcoming curriculum plans.'
A Fun@Children1st section will highlight the exciting activities the group has to offer, such as dance, French, funky feet and forest school. A news section will inform visitors of achievements such as new nurseries, Ofsted reports, refurbishments, conferences and awards.
Job vacancies will also be posted as the group believes the site will be a great opportunity to recruit staff.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT CONTENT OPTION
As every nursery is different, so your ideal website will differ from that of your competitors.
Westminster Day Nurseries is a small Durham business with two settings, Busy Bees and Busy Bears. Their two websites are immediately engaging with professional photography and five simple pages each - Busy Bears has a homepage, about us, age groups, the rooms, and get in touch.
Manager and owner Emma Graham says, 'Our website is just to give visitors that great first impression and get parents interested. We don't have information about our policies, fees and staff as we try to get them actually visiting the nursery to see what we do. It also means that we are not constantly updating, uploading and editing, which in a small setting just takes away from time I would spend with the children.'
Their sites cost £2,000 each to develop in 2006 and upkeep is £150 per year. Developed with two graphic designer friends, the websites have won a number of local and national awards which mean they come second on the Google search for a nursery in Durham. 'It's a great way of getting the hits without paying for it,' says Ms Graham.
COST AND UPKEEP
Cost varies enormously and if you have the skills to update in-house a Content Management System (CMS) site should mean a good return on your initial investment.
The danger of this middle ground is that if no one takes responsibility for it, the standard of your site could slip. Missing links and out-of-date information could put off potential or existing customers, even if you are running an excellent nursery.
The Old Station Nursery pays a monthly upkeep fee of £90, which enables it to set up additional features on demand, such as installing Paypal for its online shop.
'If you are not technical you need that support to understand how the technology works and what it can do for your business,' says Ms Steel. 'We were advised to blog at least once a month as spiders and search engines find blogs very easily and they come higher up in the result listings. You could have the best website but that is no comfort if no-one can find it.
'It is very good value compared with newspaper adverts,' says Ms Steel. 'And the website is a much more vibrant and targeted way of communicating your messages. It's so important because in this day and age it is the public face of your nursery.'
SETTING UP A WEBSITE - TIPS
- A website not only lets people see you but allows you to go to them via search engines such as Google and Ask.
- Perhaps a parent who works in IT can help you set up your site. Ask around for advice but beware being stuck with a site you cannot maintain a few years later.
- If you have the budget, you could pay a marketing company to create and run the site for you, although updating services may be slow.
- A Content Management System (CMS) website represents the middle ground. You can pay someone to create a professional site and then update it yourself.
- Create a site that reflects your brand and image - research your competitors' sites.
- Photography is very important. A decent website should allow you to add pictures as easily as attaching a file to an email.
- Ensure you are able to keep your website current as otherwise it will get fewer hits and misinformation could reflect badly on your nursery.
SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS
SchoolsWire Websites cost £149. It currently offers a free 30-day trial, which includes a training session with a member of the technical team and free support even if you do not take up the website.
Nurserycam One-off set up fee of £299 including website design, domain name and email set up. To continue with maintenance of the site - e-marketing campaign, website hosting and unlimited updates of web content - costs £19.99 per month.
ZuLogic Developed Zu3D, an exciting, stop-motion animation program for schools allowing animations and virtual tours. Standard bespoke CMS package costs £750 plus VAT with hosting and support £150 per year.
