Directory Listing Management for Private Schools Can Be Very Time Consuming If You Don’t Know What You’re Doing.
With so many options to choose from and so many different features, using directory listings for private schools can be very confusing. In this article we will discuss the ways that private schools can benefit from online directory platforms, and how to use them most effectively to ensure good results.
There are many benefits to using private school directory listings, including getting new private school students online, and making it easier for prospective students, staff, families, and even donors to connect with your institution.
By properly utilizing these resources administrators can make sure potential students find your private school with directory listings.
Which Directory Listings are Best for Private Schools?
Think About What Makes A Private School Directory Valuable
Before listing your private school in a directory, you must determine whether the directory will be impactful for your private school.
- Does it offer an unique benefit you can’t find on other platforms?
- Some directories have fees associated with listings, so when you pay for them, how is your marketing budget being spent?
Answering these questions will help you avoid wasting resources like time and money on directories that do not pay off in the long run or worse yet, actually limit the success of your private school online.
How Does This Directory Benefit Your Potential Students and Parents?
Keeping the welfare of your students and your private school in mind is probably second-nature by now, and the same philosophy applies to choosing the right directory platforms for your school.
Here are just a few of the questions you will want to ask:
- Does this specific directory deliver value to the parents and students who use it?
- Is it favored by the type of students and parents you wish to enroll in your school?
- How likely is it that a qualified potential student or parent is going to locate your private school on this directory?
- Can you determine how many students or parents are actually searching on this directory?
In the situation where a facility can choose between a directory platform such as Yelp and a lesser-known private school directory, Yelp is going to be the better choice to start with. Yelp has millions of visitors each month and is a trusted resource for accurate information. Your private school is going to be found more frequently on Yelp than it will be on a less popular directory.
It’s important to weigh all the pros and cons of a particular platform in order to maximize the benefits of directory listings for private schools.
Private Schools Should Start With Popular Directories First
There are countless directories available, but setting up a profile on every single directory is not something we recommend. It is not the most effective approach to establishing a strong online presence for your private school.
We suggest that private schools publish their institutions on directory platforms like Google and Yelp to start, and then move on to some of the more obscure ones. It is less likely that prospective students and their families will be looking for schools on the less-popular platforms, and more likely that they will connect with your facility on the more mainstream ones. Most likely, potential students or parents are actually frequently reviewing information on these popular directories.
Yelp is a popular directory platform for mobile users, especially in larger, tech-savvy, cosmopolitan areas such as San Francisco. Many students or parents in such areas frequently turn to Yelp for insight. And a sizable number of students or parents actually conduct searches for institutions (private schools included) on Yelp before they make any final decisions.
Build Up Directory Profiles With Reputation Management Tools
It is very beneficial to “claim” your institution’s profiles on such directory channels as Yelp or Google and then utilize these channels to broadcast the services and values of your school.
Your private school can continue to flush out out these profiles over time with reviews from former students, or testimonials from staff, parents, or donors. These reviews carry a huge impact on prospective students and their families when they are choosing a private school. The importance of reputation management is increasing all the time. For a majority of the population, digital testimonials are just as important to their decision-making process as those from a friend or neighbor.
The good news? The process of collecting, publishing, and managing your private school’s reputation does not have to be a hassle.
Use Reputation Management Tools For Your Private School
The AdInfusion system has built-in recommendation engines that enable you to add testimonials to your private school’s website very quickly and efficiently. In addition, our system produces an index that allows potential students or parents to search for the testimonials that are most relevant to their situations. Our system gives private schools complete authority over which of their reviews are shown and where.
These recommendations will become a vital component of your site, since they do not reach beyond your site to directory platforms like Google and Yelp.
Consider the Smaller Directories When You Have Time
After you have established, and flushed out profiles for your private school on the larger, more prominent directories, and supplemented them with testimonials and reviews, then it might be the right time to start investigating some of the smaller directories.
Be sure this process does not detract from nurturing the resources your private school already possesses–like your website and blog. If you get too focused on things like directory listings instead of developing high-quality, enticing content on your site, you may compromise your private school’s digital presence unintentionally, leading to wasted resources, like money and time, on systems that don’t yield results for your private school.
Let AdInfusion Simplify Your Private School’s Digital Marketing
At AdInfusion, we propel private schools forward with the best digital marketing strategies available. AdInfusion’s very purpose is to empower private schools to to take control of their digital marketing, resulting in extraordinary success, while saving you time and money.
AdInfusion offers effective marketing solutions for private schools and their administrators. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help your private school succeed in the digital world, call us at 916-798-5707 today.
