PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION

Case Study: The Sycamore School

A case on how good user interface and user experience (UX/UI) and behavioral science are used to effectively communicate the messaging of a progressive school business in the Philippines.

Overview

The Sycamore School is a progressive school that aims for academic excellence and also prioritizes cultivating individuals with a thirst for knowledge. They promote critical and creative thinking through project-based learning. Their school prioritizes character and work ethic development, preparing students for life’s challenges and leadership roles in their fields. Their faith and values are integrated into teachings for a deeper understanding of one’s relationship with God.

I was asked to redesign and develop their website to better convey the benefits of progressive education to parents who may not have any prior knowledge of the topic. Their website was disorganized, making it difficult for users to navigate, and had additional user experience and interface issues.

Challenges

The Sycamore School’s website does not properly communicate the school’s message to parents on how they can contribute to holistic child development.

The website needed to be designed and built in order to effectively communicate its message to parents.

Streamline navigation to prevent confusion and guide parents on what they need to know about the school's progressive education services.

The website needed a Content Management System (CMS) that the school's faculty could use to publish school events and blogs.

Improve website traffic and brand awareness.

Reorganize the information and content to make them easily accessible, understandable, and comprehensible.

Create and publish content that educates parents about the strengths of progressive education and why they should enroll their children at their school.

Specific Objectives

The primary objective of this project is to redesign the website to enhance user experience and usability.
To create new content and improve existing material to educate parents on how the school can assist their children in enhancing their skills holistically.
To enable parents to schedule a complimentary consultation and trial class.
To elevate brand awareness and searchability.

Solution

To effectively communicate The Sycamore School’s message to parents, a website redesign and redevelopment were needed to address user experience and usability issues. Behavioral science was also utilized to effectively convey their brand message and potentially attract parents.

1. Chose a fast reliable hosting.

One of the principles of progressive education is to develop children holistically. The same can be applied to designing and developing websites. To ensure its success, the approach to design must be holistic.

It always begins by selecting a fast and dependable server, as this is where you will be hosting your website. An unreliable, slow, and cheap website hosting can impact both the overall user experience and the website’s search engine optimization.

We hosted the website on Hostinger, which has built-in optimization and security tools, allowing the owner to save money on purchasing third-party plugins.

2. Used WordPress for Content Management System (CMS) and Elementor Website Builder to design and develop the website.

Two of the most annoying problems that users experience are disorganized presentation of content or information and difficult navigation.

To rectify this issue, I initially strategized the website’s structure or architecture, grouping similar contents together to facilitate effortless search for information.

Having organized contents is meaningless if the website’s navigation is difficult. So, I streamlined the main navigation and limited it to only show what parents need to immediately know.

After all the content was ready, I began to design directly on Elementor Website Builder, allowing me to create a working prototype for client approval immediately.

A Content Management System (CMS) is necessary as the website will be used to write about school events and other blog contents.

3. Improve the performance and security.

Moving the website to a faster and more secure server was the first step in improving its performance and security. A slow server won’t make your site faster no matter how much optimization you do. It always begins with the server.

I also used the built-in optimization, CDN, and security plugins. Thanks to them, the owner saved money by not having to purchase these plugins. I also ensured that the website’s security was strengthened before deployment. This is a crucial step, especially for websites that accept online payments.

4. Improve the website architecture.

A well-structured website architecture helps you reach both your target audience and search engines more effectively.

A clearly structured website helps search engine spiders to index the pages. It also improves user experience with easy navigation and clear hierarchy, which creates a sense of order and user-friendliness.

5. Keyword research, content creation and on-page optimization

Looking at the website’s analytics and Google Search Console, I noticed that there were very few keywords for which the website is ranking. Surprisingly, the website was developed a few years before the pandemic.

This was an indication that the website was not properly optimized, and no other content was produced. To resolve this issue, I re-created every page’s content, particularly the homepage, about us page, and the tour pages.

Keyword research and on-page optimization played key roles in achieving better search engine rankings.

5. Online booking calendar, WooCommerce, and PayPal payment gateway integration.

I integrated an easy-to-use online booking calendar along with WooCommerce and a local payment gateway to transform the website into a fully functional online booking platform.

An online booking calendar was necessary to monitor and manage manual and online bookings. This helped to avoid booking errors by automatically blocking dates that were already booked.

WooCommerce was necessary so that I could integrate the Paypal Payment Gateway and accept payments from anywhere in the world.

7. Google My Business Optimization

For local businesses, it is important to ensure that your Google My Business page is properly optimized because it can help drive traffic to your website and potentially generate revenue.

To optimize it, I ensured that all information is up-to-date. This includes phone numbers, operating hours, and days. Additionally, there is valuable information available regarding conducting business with the company.

Results

I transformed the website into a mobile-friendly tour booking website. With streamlined navigation and a user-friendly design, the website now gained 600% increase in organic traffic and top 10 ranking for over 40 keywords.

Responsive web design with streamlined navigation.

Customers are now able to book and pay online easily and securely.

Improved overall user experience and user interface.

40+ Top 10 Keyword positions.

1,270+ new keywords gained.

600% Increase in Monthly Organic Traffic.

1. Designed the website to be responsive on different screen sizes.

It’s important that a website nowadays is responsive to different screen sizes, especially mobile. I looked at their Google Analytics and found that 65% of their traffic is from mobile devices.

I also streamlined the navigation to only show the important links that the user needs to find information about the tour and potential booking.

It is now easy to book and pay securely.

I integrated an online booking and calendar system, as well as a PayPal payment gateway, that make it easy for users to book and pay securely.

Also, it is now easier for owners and tour managers to monitor bookings, avoiding potential scheduling mistakes.

3. The user experience and user interface have been improved and are now easier to follow.

I reorganized the presentation of information so that it is easier for users to digest while reading. Additionally, I restructured the website’s architecture and navigation to guide users in making a booking.

To present information clearly, I designed user interfaces using cards. Animations were kept minimal to avoid distractions while reading.

4. Improved search engine ranking, searchability and brand awareness.

Using SEO best practices like on-page optimization, fixing technical issues, and keyword research I was able to improve the website’s page ranking.

The website now has 40+ high-volume keywords in top 10 positions, competing against big tour companies like Viator, Klook, and Guide to the Philippines.

Content marketing also helped the website gain 1,270+ new keywords.

5. Boosted monthly organic traffic through content marketing.

The current page content was not sufficient to generate traffic to the website. Therefore, I am consistently creating content that addresses travelers’ inquiries about traveling to Coron and the Philippines.

Although our monthly traffic is relatively low, we have gone from zero to over 600 monthly organic visitors. SEO takes time to yield results, but we are steadily making progress.