Does Your School’s Website Keep the Goals of External Users in Mind?
So your school has a website – great! But when deciding what content is placed on there are you using an internal view or an external view? 
It is important to always keep the views of external users in mind. What are the people who are visiting the website looking for and how can we make it convenient for them? Let’s use the homepage of a school’s website for an example. If I were the administrator at the school deciding on what should be posted on the homepage I would automatically think of anything that would show off how wonderful the school is and include the following:
-Promotions for campus events
-A letter from the president
-The school’s mission statement
-A campus slideshow
-Alumni in the news
-A virtual tour
All that is great, and I’m not saying to exclude that stuff, but I can tell you that from the view of a prospective student or current student you missed the boat. Here is an external view on what is important to include:
-Application forms to apply
-Link to the online application process
-Information on class starts
-A useable campus map
-List of faculty phone numbers and emails
-Parking information
-Campus address(es) and phone number
-Programs offered/degree information
All of this information should be easy to access. It is important enough to post on the homepage or at least link to it. People visiting your site shouldn’t have to waste their time figuring out where this important information is. So if you have a website redesign in process or even if you are thinking about one for your school, please remember to keep the goals of external users in mind!
