What Should a Daycare Website Include? A Complete Guide
Starting a daycare and not sure what to include on your site? Or maybe you are creating a website for a daycare and you are wondering “What should a daycare website include?” Well look no further! I know exactly what you need to take your daycare website to the next level. Read below to find out what you should include in your daycare website.
Why Your Daycare Website is Important
Having a well organized and detailed website is essential in the child care industry. Parents are concerned about where their child is going to be and who is going to be taking care of them. They want their child to thrive in a good environment and atmosphere.
This is why your website is SO important!
Parents need reassurance and they need to trust you with ALL their heart.
Luckily you can communicate just how COMPETENT your teachers are, how SAFE your school is and how AMAZING your program is…. Just with your website!
Benefits of Optimizing Your Daycare Website
If you follow these guidelines and learn what to include in your website, you will get more exposure, more leads, and more enrollments. Additionally, prospective teachers will want to work at your school. The higher quality your website is, the more enrollments and better prospects you will receive.
NOW, for the answer to your question!
Pages
Your daycare website should include the following pages
Homepage
Programs
About
Enrollment Page
Contact Page
These are the minimum pages you should include on your daycare website. Alternatively you can fit all of this into one page, but we will discuss that later.
Homepage
Your homepage is the most important, central page of your website. The top of the page is called the “hero” section and should include a well written headline and sub head pertaining to your school.
Here are the sections to include in order on your homepage:
Hero section
Unique Selling Propositions (USPs)
List of information (FAQs, core values, daily schedule)
Testimonials
CTA
Following the hero, you can write several short paragraphs (Unique Selling Propositions or USPs) about your school. Keep them short and add a headline to every paragraph. People don’t read websites like they read books, they scan them quickly to find the information they need.
You can also include lists within this area of the site to break up the paragraphs. You could list some FAQs, your daily schedule, your core values, your program features, etc.
Following the few paragraphs and the list, you can add a nice testimonial section. This will reassure parents with positive words from other parents, a.k.a. social proof.
AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST……
the CTA (or call to action). Your goal is to get the viewer to take action! Book a tour, fill out an enrollment form, fill out a contact form, these are some CTAs to consider.
These are the basic things to include on your homepage, but we can’t forget some very important details. Details such as:
Your address
Phone Number
Hours of operation
Ages accepted
and any other important information that not only prostective parents would need, but other people, like current clients, partners, vendors, etc.
You see, sometimes people just go to your site to get the phone number, or contact information. These important details about your daycare business should be displayed prominently and easy to find for viewers. There are a few places you can include these important facts:
The top bar above the main navigation menu
In the footer
On the contact page
Somewhere else on the home page
All of these options are feasible, and you may even consider posting the information in all 4 places. Why you ask? Because website viewers are happy when they can find they information they need! If they are scrolling and scrolling and can’t find what they need they will click away in a heart beat!
Programs Page
As a daycare, it’s important to have a page about the programs you offer. You can put all your programs on one page, or have a separate page for each program or age group.
On these pages, you can include information about your curriculum, the program benefits, special features, hours, age groups included, class sizes, classroom features, learning materials used, and more!
Following this information, you can once again include the CTA (enroll now, book a tour, etc.)
About Page
Every business needs an about page. We are on the internet after all so people want to know there is a real person behind the website!
On the about page, you can include the owner or founder’s story. Teacher photos and bios. Teacher credentials. Statistics about the school. Awards or certifications, and anything else that shows you are the REAL DEAL.
Enrollment Page
This is where parents go to enroll their child in your daycare. You remember those CTAs we talked about? Well this is where the CTA will take them. The enrollment page is a form for the viewer to fill out. You can ask information such as name, phone number, email, number of children, children’s ages and names, full-time or part-time, etc. For an enrollment page example click here.
Ideally the form will be sent to your email or if you have one, your CRM. Every parent who completes the form is a lead. You can email them back, call them and keep in touch until they become paying customers. If you have a CRM, you can send them an automated response and set up a series of emails to keep them engaged.
Contact Page
The contact page should include this basic information:
Address
Phone Number
Email Address
Contact Form
Google Map location
You can include the best way to contact you and the time frame it takes you to return each inquiry.
Other Pages
Aside from the essential pages listed above, there are some optional pages you can add to your site depending on your needs and preferences.
Book a Tour Page
Locations Page
Careers Page
Parent Login
Forms Page
Blog/ News & Updates/ Calendar
Book a Tour Page
This is similar to the “Enrollment Page,” but instead of having a form for parents to enroll, this page will include a booking calendar for parents to book tours to view the school. Depending on your schedule you may or may not need this page. You can also turn this page on and off depending on your enrollment needs.
To incorporate a Booking calendar into your Book a Tour page, you can use various apps and plug-ins. Here are a few to consider:
Accuity Scheduling (squarespace)
Elementor Pro & Google (wordpress)
Appointment booking calendar (wordpress)
Locations Page
If you have multiple daycare locations, you can have a page for each location, or 1 location page listing all the locations.
Careers Page
Depending on your needs, you may want to create a careers page for potential employees and teachers. This page can list the positions available, other positions, and can have a form for prospective applicants to fill out.
Parent Login
If you have sensitive information or a parent portal, you can include a parent login. This will help parents stay connected with important updates and details about their child’s care. It can include forms such as health documents, permission slips, and more.
Forms Page
Similar to the Enrollment page, the forms page can have additional forms that are needed to complete the enrollment process. Or you can include all the forms on the enrollment page itself.
Blog/ News & Updates/ Calendar
Some schools use a blog to communicate important events and happenings to parents. Others have a monthly newsletter, while others publish a calendar each month. All of these options are great for communicating what is going on at the school with parents and prospective parents.
Conclusion: What Should a Daycare Website Include
Hopefully this information has helped you discern what a daycare website should include. Remember to have fun making your site!
