horizons montessori
website case study

We have worked with Horizons since 2015 to grow their enrolment applications online for their school services in Templeogue and Terenure.

This Case Study includes these sections.

Click on any icon to scroll…

the website design...

Each section of the site serves a specific purpose to help convert parents to enquiries, applications, bookings and payments.

- first impression

happy images

TOP BAR – Contains clickable Phone number and Address

LOGO + NAVIGATION – Stays visible as user scrolls down

TRUST IMAGE – Depicts the affection each happy child has for the school, overlaid with the school name and call to action button

SERVICE LOGO’S – Increase brand awareness of the new after school service

SEASONAL CALL TO ACTION – This section from February each year until fully booked, promotes the Summer Camp

- visual navigation

school overview

Introduction text –

Convey briefly the longevity of the school and that it is family run, managed day to day by the owner

Image Grid –

In one view a parent can see every part of the website
Clicking on any image box will open that page
All photographs we took in the school

Enrolment Call To Action –

For parents who already want to apply, the button scrolls them to the Book A Visit form below

- enrolment enquiries

call to action

The most important section of the website is the Call To Action.

In this case it is where parents can take the next step towards applying for enrolment. Clicking the button brings the parent to the application form page.

- parent reviews

word of mouth

Social Proof –

Nothing is more influential in the decision making process than reviews from other parents

Using images and real names increases the credibility

A button underneath links to the full reviews on the Testimonials Page

- news blog

the latest

An updated school news blog is good for Google rankings, and keeps the website information current and up to date in the eyes of a visitor

It is also a good opportunity to convey the wide variety of work that goes on with the children

- school information

contact details

Share Buttons –
Here the website page can be shared by visitors via social media, whatsapp or email

Contact Details –
School name, address, phone number, link to Google Maps and opening hours

Industry Organisations –
A list of logo’s of organisations the school is registered with, another trust signal

Copyright and Legal Pages

the settings...

With two schools in Templeogue and Terenure Dublin.
Horizons Montessori is well known as one of Ireland’s leading Early Years settings.

school

Name
Horizons Montessori School
Owner
Fiona O’Kelly & Fiona Abom
Founded
1993
Locations (2)
Templeogue and Terenure

profile

Classrooms
Templeogue 6, Terenure 7
Ages
2 Yrs 8 mths to 4th Class
Hours
7:30am to 6:30pm
Open
Full Year

services

– Full Day Care
– Part Time Montessori
– Sessional Montessori
– School Collection
– After School Care
– Summer Camp

the project...

In 2015 the school did have an old website and a partial profile on Google.

But the website did not reflect the quality of the settings.

It also was not optimised to serve as an online sales tool.

The Google listing was incomplete for Templeogue and a new one was required for Terenure to ensure the school was found by parents online.

challenges

1 – Old School Website
did not reflect the quality of the schools facilities and services, and was not built to view easily on mobile phones

2 – Parents searching Google
for early years services in Templeogue and Terenure were not always finding Horizons prominently listed

3 – Summer Camp
was an admin heavy service that had issues with child no shows, partial week bookings and lost revenue

4 – Email Accounts
access was only available in the school office and staff did not have school email accounts

solutions

1 – We created a brand new Website
with extensive photography and content to showcase the school, facilities, services and staff

2 – We optimised the schools Google Listing
by creating separate listings for each location and optimising the website

3 – We built a Summer Camp Booking and Payment Form
on the website which means parents have to book full weeks only and pay in advance

4 – We created new email accounts
for staff managers and provided access to shared mailboxes for key personnel

project work

– New Website Design & Build
– Website Copywriting
– Online Payments Automation
– Enrolment Enquiry Automation
– Summer Camp Bookings Online
– Summer Camp Payments Online
– Summer Camp Admin Automation
– Photography
– Videography
– Google Listings
– Google Rankings
– Bing Listings
– Website Reporting
– Website Optimisation
– Website Hosting & Updates
– Email Setup
– Social Media Advertising

old website

BEFORE:
The Horizons Montessori website in 2015 from their previous Web Agency

new website

AFTER:
The current Horizons Montessori website from School Websites Ireland

the results for 2022...

The Project continues to be a big success year after year.

1

2022 new
applications

230+ Child Applications online for Montessori, Full Day Care and After School in 2022

2

2022 camp
payments

240+ Five Day Weeks Booked & Paid Online for Summer Camp 2022, eliminated no-shows

3

more
enrolments

Increased Enrolments for Montessori, Full Day Care, After School and Summer Camp

4

top google
rankings

Page one Google Rankings for school services driving applications on website

5

social media
advertising

Ad Campaigns on Facebook driving new parents to the website for conversions

the summer camp form
results for 2022...

In 2019 we added a Summer Camp Payment Booking Form to the Horizons Montessori website.

The goals were to; Increase Bookings – Payments in Advance – Eliminate no shows – Reduce Administration Time

It has run on the website for four years, 2019/21/22/23 (missed 2020 due to Covid cancellation).

130+

children
booked

130+ children booked and paid for by parents through the camp booking/payment form in 2022

240+

camp
weeks

240+ Full 5 day week Summer Camp payments online

110+

parent
Bookings

110+ Parents booked their children through the website camp form

2

2 problems
solved

Eliminated no-shows and outstanding unpaid fees
Automation of bookings, payments and reporting

Clicking the Orange “Add Child” button on the parent form opens the child booking part of the form in a pop up on screen.

every step
is automated

1

The Parents do the booking and payment

2

The Website sends the school and parent emails

3

The Camp reports do your administration on Google Sheets

4

Stripe processes the payment to your bank

5

The School Owner can relax, we set it all up

Camp Booking & Payments
Automated to Google Sheets

We set up an automated system where every Camp Booking automatically is added to a Google Sheet.

There is a Master summary sheet which totals the revenues, bookings by week, capacity, spaces left etc.

There is a children’s booking sheet by week. Using this you can filter the week and it gives you your sign in sheets data.

Finally there is a Parents List with all their contact details and which children they have booked.

(Google Sheets are Googles version of Spreadsheets, but better because they are accessed online and multiple staff can view and edit.)

the faceboook summer camp
ad campaigns

The school had previously been Boosting Posts on facebook. We switched their spend to facebook adverts instead.

Facebook ads, rather than boosting posts, is the best way to target parents in your locality.

This gets parents from Social Media on to your website.

Bringing your school service to their phones.

We set Horizons up with a Facebook Business Manager and a Facebook Ad’s account and installed the Facebook pixel on their website.

We ran the ad’s for 3 separate weeks and the increase in camp bookings those weeks was over 100% higher than the average of weeks with no ad’s running.

We are now implementing a new Horizons Summer Camp facebook ads campaign for 2023 that will run for up to 12 weeks before camp opens.

the enquiry / application
forms

Having a formal online enquiry or application process for parents is the key function of a school website. There are three enquiry forms on the website.

Montessori Enquiry Form
Homework Club Enquiry Form
Summer Camp Enquiry Form

All the form submissions auto populate to individual Google Spreadsheets.
Class Lists and Waiting lists by service type and enrolment year, are then managed on these Google Sheets, which helps to automate capacity management and reporting.

step by step
the process

So how do the website forms work for Schools and Parents?

Well we set up everything, and the following happens automatically…

1

Parent

- A parent fills out the enquiry/application form on the school website.

- On submission, it opens a page on the website detailing that a confirmation email has been sent to them.

2

Auto Emails

- Once submitted, the form generates two emails.

- A confirmation email with all the details to the parent, and one to the school.

3

Auto Reports

- The details of the enquiries are populated to the schools reporting system.

- This system is on Google Spreadsheets, and can combine class enrolment lists and enquiries by service and year.

4

Response

- The school admin can then review the website enquiries.

- In the reporting dashboard, by service, by school year, and reply to the enquiry as required.

School Applications &
Enquiries Management Automated to Google Sheets

We set up an automated system where every Enquiry automatically is added to a Google Sheet.

There is a Master summary sheet which totals the number of enquiries by service, by school year.

Linked to that we have separate sheets for each service, which can further be divided into school years.

You can then add your existing pupils to the sheets so your allocated places and waiting lists are all in the one place.

It can also display how many places are filled, and vacant by service, by year.

(Google Sheets are Googles version of Spreadsheets, but better because they are accessed online and multiple staff can view and edit.)

After School
Enrolled Lists and Enquiries Management Dashboard

After School Automated
Year 24/25 Class Planner and Waiting List

the deposit &
pay any amount forms

Collecting deposit and one off payments from parents can be difficult to manage.

For Horizons we added two payment forms to the website, one for a fixed amount deposit, and one to collect any one off payment, where the parent keys in the amount to pay.

Downloadable records of the payments are then available in Stripe, the payments processor.

Deposit Payment -
Fixed Amount via Sepa IBAN or Card

In the screenshot you can see the deposit payment page from Horizons website.

Any fixed amount can be set, and paid by the parent using their IBAN, which has much cheaper transaction fees for the school than using a card.

The school emails the parents the page link.

Payment Form -
Pay any amount by Card or Sepa IBAN

In the screenshot you can see the pay any amount page from the Horizons website.

The parent can key in any € amount, which makes the same form usable for multiple payments. Everything from deposits to extra curricular activities to school trips or uniforms.

The school emails the parents the page link.

Payment Reports
Download from Stripe

All payments on the website are processed by Irish company Stripe.

Below you can see their easy to use dashboard, with filters and Export functions.

the owner...

Fiona O’Kelly describes the project experience and outcomes.

“Partnering with School Websites Ireland since 2015, I can confidently say that their exceptional service have been integral to the growth and success of Horizons Montessori and Homework Club.

They take care of everything for us. From Photography to Google Listings to Websites and Online Payments. They designed, built and update the site, which all new parents mention how it helped them to discover and choose our school.

The Enquiry forms on the website automatically populate Google Sheets for us, segmented by service and start year.

The Summer Camp form takes bookings and payments and auto populates Google Sheets that create the booking reports, live revenue and weekly attendance sheets. All the camp admin is done for us. It also eliminated no shows and chasing payments.

We take booking deposits and payments for extra curricular activities through the website too. Parents get payment receipts automatically. The payments again auto populate to Google Sheets so we can easily manage the administration.

They work closely with our office administrator and school managers. Working with a service that specialises in our industry means that they can provide ready made solutions to our requirements.

They treat our business like it was their own. As we are heading for our 3,000th parent enquiry, booking or payment online since we started working together, they are still constantly looking to improve every aspect of our Internet presence.

An honest, professional and responsive service, focused on providing a multiple positive return on your investment. Always contactable and approachable, a safe pair of hands, that puts your school first.

Fiona O'Kelly

Owner, Horizons Montessori

Have some Questions?
Request a Free 30 minute Consultation...

PLAY VIDEO

the video tour...

Join the website designer Denis McCaul, as he takes you on a tour of the website, google listing and the project results.

on mobile...

Between 60 and 80% of traffic to a Preschool website comes from a mobile

We have designed a platform that adapts and re-sizes perfectly

clickable contact

Your phone number and address displayed prominently

fast loading

Websites hosted on our servers are built to load in a flash

contact buttons

Call and Directions buttons on phones making life easy for parents

fully responsive

Designed to resize perfectly on smartphones and tablets

simple navigation

A mobile flyout menu and sticky header makes everything easy to find

google optimised

Each page and post targets phrases parents use on google

the google solution...

Parents will use Google to search for two things relating to a school.
1 – The school by name or
2 – Services in the area that the school provides.
Horizons Montessori only had a listing on Google for Templeogue, which needed work, but also needed a second one for Terenure.

Google Search Results Page for the query “Mullingar Montessori”

1.
School Name
Search Listing on Google

The most important thing on Google Search is to ensure the following.

When a parent types in your school name, you need to carry out work on Google so that the results are dominated by your school.

For Horizons, as they have two locations they needed a separate School Google Business Profile for Templeogue and Terenure.

Below are Google Search Results Pages on Computer and Mobile for the query “Horizons Templeogue” and “Horizons Terenure” after we optimized the listings.

Click any image to enlarge…

horizons templeogue GBP

horizons Templeogue Google Search Mobile

Horizons Terenure GBP

horizons Terenure Google Search Mobile

2.
School Services
Search Listing on Google

When someone is not searching for Horizons school specifically, we want their school to appear when someone searches for the services they provide.

Where competition is high, to achieve page one Google rankings for these types of searches, you need a website with a separate page for each service it provides.

Here are examples of search terms that Horizons School appears for on page 1 of Google.

Google Search Results Page for the query “Full Day Care Templeogue”

After School Care Terenure
Creche Templeogue
Ecce Templeogue
Ecce Terenure
Full Day Care Templeogue
Full Day Care Terenure
Montessori Templeogue
Montessori Dublin 6w
Preschool Templeogue
School Pick Up Terenure
Summer Camps Dublin 6

Click any image to enlarge…

Google Search Results Page for the query “Full Day Care Templeogue”

Microsoft Bing
School Listing

Every Windows laptop and computer sold in Ireland has the default Internet Browser set to Microsoft Edge for accessing the Internet. And the default search engine on that browser is not Google, but Microsoft Bing.

Often on those laptops people think they are using Google to search, when in fact it is Bing.

That is why we also created a dedicated listing on Bing for both schools. This is the templeogue location.