Unwrap the Magic: Elevate Your School's Holiday Spirit with Captivating Visuals and Heartwarming Stories!"

Be memorable and create a connection

It’s Christmas and that means plenty of opportunities to share stories, photos, creative artwork and Christmas plays. It’s been a long start to the year for our schools and their staff, but as we close in on the end of the term and the arrival of the big man in red, don’t forget to share all your positive news with your stakeholders.

Your website is the perfect place to do this and it gives you the platform to build strong connections.

Why should I use visuals?

You don’t want visitors to your website getting lost in a sea of text. Captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression by using the power of visuals. Not only are visuals quicker to digest, but they also have the incredible ability to communicate your message, tell a story, and even create an emotional connection with your audience. In fact, visuals are so memorable that they can leave a lasting impact long after the words have faded away. So why settle for plain text when you can soar like a rocket with the help of captivating visuals?

“When we read text alone, we are likely to remember only 10 percent of the information 3 days later. If that information is presented to us as text combined with a relevant image, we are likely to remember 65 percent of the information 3 days later.” - John Medina, Brain Rules, 2008

Five types of content you can share

Hero Image

A hero image in web design is a large, attention-grabbing picture, often with text and typically shown at the top of the page directly below the header. The hero image can be either static or interactive, such as videos and animations. It can be a captivating picture related to an aspect of your school or setting, a Christmas play, a school competition, or even a school trip.

The main objective is to create an instant visual, emotional, and educational connection with the reader through a compelling image that grabs their attention right away. The purpose is not to fully explain the topic, but rather to introduce it in a way that entices readers to pause their scrolling and click to learn more.

The hero image is a vital component of web design and has several functions and benefits on a website.

Impress and attract visitors

The strength of visual perception is activated from the first second as there is little time to pique a website visitor’s interest in fresh offers or surprise a returning visitor. The possibility to quickly attract users’ attention is provided by the hero image.

Knowledge and information

In general, humans process and interpret visuals considerably more quickly than words. This implies that in addition to being an aspect of attractiveness, the hero image also serves as an educational component of the page by conveying a brief visual message about the content.

Enhanced navigation

An appropriately composed hero image may improve navigation and draw more focus to the call-to-action button.

Provoke feelings in visitors

The emotional context of the user experience plays a significant part and enhances the human-likeness of interaction between both the webpage and its visitor. Hero pictures are a tried-and-true method for evoking the appropriate feelings in viewers through images, forms, and colours, and for creating the right mood from the very first moments of a conversation.

Aesthetic pleasure

Undoubtedly, the website’s services and performance come first. People do, however, also want something eye-pleasing. Aesthetics matter a lot in light of the fierce online competition and the growing popularity of aesthetics as a component of a good user experience, which is satisfied with the help of a hero image.

Videos

Incorporating videos into your content is an excellent strategy to enhance its diversity and engage your audience visually. You have the option to capture your own videos or leverage popular platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. However, it's crucial to acknowledge and attribute the original creators to give credit where it's due.

Gone are the days when websites were mere static brochure sites. Today, savvy schools and settings understand the power of leveraging their website to create immersive brand experiences. More and more schools are actively seeking ways to establish genuine connections and foster relationships with their visitors. They recognise that these connections serve as a catalyst for building a loyal community in the long run.

Images

Images help make your content more visually appealing and contribute to the overall user experience. Optimising your photos with alt-text and captions to your images can even help with your rankings on Google Images.

Images are powerful in that they attract our attention, spark emotions, and draw us in. Because of this, if your website has appealing images, people will become more emotionally invested and involved, therefore viewing and clicking through your website. A recent study found web pages with relevant photos, or Infographics saw a 94% increase in page views versus content without images.

User experience is improved by using images as they help present information in a more digestible way by breaking up the content and contributing to the storytelling process. Enhancing user experience with relevant images relevant to the content will increase user retention on your website and decrease bounce rates.

Awards

All parents love that warm fuzzy feeling that they get when their child brings home an award. Be it a STAR pupil, winner at sports day, or the headteacher's award, sharing the details can instil that same warm and fuzzy feeling in the wider school community.

You may even be able to get local businesses involved in sponsorship and generate additional revenue to support the school and your pupils

Quizzes

Christmas is a great time of year to generate interest from the wider school community, and one way that I have seen generate success is through quizzes. Yes, I know it isn’t the most orthodox approach, but done right a Christmas quiz via the school website could be a great way to generate some interest in the school and worst case a great way to pull the whole school community together.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is crucial to be memorable and create a connection with your audience during the holiday season. Utilising visuals, such as hero images, videos, and images, can captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression. Visuals are not only quicker to digest but also have the power to communicate your message, tell a story, and create an emotional connection. Research shows that combining text with relevant images increases information retention significantly. By incorporating diverse types of content, you can impress and attract visitors, enhance navigation, provoke emotions, provide aesthetic pleasure, improve user experience, and foster genuine connections with your audience. Share your positive news, stories, and achievements on your website to build strong connections with your stakeholders. Remember, visuals are the rocket fuel that can help your content soar and make a lasting impact.