We continue our series 25 Stories from 25 Years with this video and interview from 2010…
We recently received this very kind video from Jennifer Snow, principal of Family of Christ Christian School in Tampa. In it she talks about the schoolâs new website and the search marketing services they are receiving from OurChurch.Com.
Knowing the difficult time a lot of private schools are having during this recession, I took the opportunity to also speak with Principal Snow about what itâs been like for her being principal of a private, Christian school during a recession. And she explained how they utilized their website and search marketing to double enrollment in only three years.
Kurt: What has it been like for you as a principal of a Christian / Private school in a big recession?
Jen: The priority for us is always the children and making sure the teachers have the academic tools they need. If anything weâve been blessed during this hard time. So, I look forward to the future as the economy improves.
I think God has a plan for us and without his plan we wouldnât be here. I really think itâs by Godâs hand that weâre being led to go further and that weâre growing. Weâve grown from 79 students in the last few years to 150. We just keep growing. I keep having to add lockers and Iâm running out of room. Itâs a great problem to have!
In fact I could have doubled Kindergarten and probably first grade this year if weâd had more building space.
Kurt: What are some of the struggles and challenges that youâve had to overcome over the past couple of years in bringing in new students?
Jen: It can be a hard sell. This is an elementary and middle school in place where the state offers free education. If the people are struggling financially, then itâs that much harder of a sell. You might sign up one out of every ten people you tour. So, Iâm so grateful for the number of people we have gotten to visit and sign up.
Kurt: What are some of the ways youâve used the Internet, your website, and search engines to overcome the issues that youâve faced?
Jen: We added search marketing with OurChurch.com which makes it easy for families to find us. People can go to Google and we come up immediately as one of the Christian schools in the Tampa area which has been a huge benefit. We are also able to put a lot of information about the school on our website as well as pictures of students and videos of events allowing visitors to learn more about us as well making Family of Christ much more inviting.
Weâve also used the website to help with communication with parents. Especially with Middle school it can be a bit of a challenge. Kids conveniently âforgetâ or âlooseâ homework or âforgetâ to get a test paper signed a lot. So, we are starting to have our teachers post the homework for the day on the website every afternoon. In addition, we are starting to offer an online service where when a teacher grades a test or paper, it can be posted to website so the parents can see the grades in an area that is password protected for each parent. It helps keep the parents informed and helps the parents support the work the teacher is doing.
We have links to the weekly newsletters for each grade posted every Monday and we gone to trying to post the monthly school newsletter only online as well rather than running copies. A few years ago we changed our newsletter to top-notch color graphic design which received a lot of compliments and attention, but between ink and copier malfunctions, running copies of for each newsletter was a costly endeavor. So, posting the newsletters only online saves us a lot of money (and headaches). We also have our student handbook only online as well. That saved a lot of money and is a little greener. We also offer all our forms and permission slips online so parents can just print them out and send them in.
In addition, we are now able to take payments electronically both for field trips and tuition. This has made things easier for us as well as for parents.
I want to thank Jennifer Snow again for taking the time to talk with me for this interview. Family of Christ Christian School is an elementary and middle school in Tampa, FL offering a quality academic education while sharing the love of Christ with their students and the community. You can learn more about Family of Christ Christian School at foc-knights.com.
Comment and Discuss:
- Have you struggled or perhaps, like Jen, grown your school or business in this economy? If so, please leave a comment and let us know what are some of the ways you have you have used the Internet, your website, or the search engines to improve your situation.
OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services
Kurt serves as OurChurch.Comâs Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.
He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.
11 Comments
Love it. A good example of the power of a good school website enabling Christian parents to take a look inside a school before they arrive. At Covenant Christian School Sydney Australia we have found the same impact – but not doubling numbers!!
Going from a school website with 15 pages and 30 photos to one with over 2,000 pages and 7,000 photos has made a dramatic difference. We also recently launched a http://www.whychristianschools.com.au website with extensive use of videos
Neil, that's great! Can you be more specific about the ways your website has impacted your school?
A good question Paul. By adding 2 new stories every school day, lots of photos and videos to our website our existing school community is FAR more aware of what is happening at school. The actual 'product' of the school hasn't changed. There is still the same number of events, excursions and activities as before. Yet now the perception is we have far more going on at school. The only difference is we share far more news about it.
The blogsite also gives our parents the ability to share events at school with other members of their family and friends. As some parents only have kids in Junior School or in High School the blogsite lets them know what is happening right throughout the school. This is important for cross marketing.
When the website was dull no one in the existing community would send a link to it if people asked about the school. Now that our existing parents like the site they are far more willing to send a link to it when prospective parents ask about the school.
The website also creates a more accurate impression of the use of technology in the classrooms. When the website was dull – with no reason to return – it gave the impression the school was not embracing technology and was old fashioned.
That's sounds fantastic! Neil, would you like to put that into a guest blog post which we could publish this month during our Back to School month?
Here's a link to the guest blogger info: https://blog.ourchurch.com/become-a-guest-blogger/
Interesting article,thanks for this.
Sometimes I question the internet and what is posted? The internet never used to be like that, recently though it has turned around. What do you think?
would choose to appreciation for the work you get in writing this article. I really hope a similar best work from you sometime soon too. In reality your creative writing skills has inspired me to get started on my own blog site now.
Informative post. Nice discussion between Kurt and Jen, as a manager of a private school I agree with this point that the priority for us is always the children and making sure the teachers have the academic tools they need. http://www.canadachristianschool.com/
As a Christian Private School one of the toughest challenges we face is getting new student enrollments with minimal resources. This interview is awesome, we have just engaged with a search marketing company to assist us with our online marketing strategy so hearing the success story of this blog post is truly encouraging. Thank you
It's good to hear you're being intentional about trying to increase visitors and ultimately enrollment through search marketing. I hope you'll come back in a few months and let us know how its going.
And if the company you're working with does not live up to your expectations, I know of some folks who can help. đ
Great work..keep it up!