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Creating a School Counseling Website

2/3/2016

11 Comments

 
Creating a Website for Your School Counseling Program www.counselorup.com
Do you have a school counseling website for your program? I've been surprised to see that not everyone does. When you are thinking about using a service, what is the first thing you do? I check the website. If you don't have a website, you are missing out on being the person that parents, teachers, and even students turn to in order to find the support they need. 

​You can check out my old school website at cpescounselor.weebly.com. 

What are the important things to include?

Home Page

This is what your stakeholders see when they first log in. Make it simple, easy to understand, and professional. The two most important things to include on your home page is a brief description about your program and your contact information. Many people have probably come to your website looking for your contact info, don't make them hunt it!

About Me

Make sure to include a picture on your about me page! Parents have surely seen you in the building but may not know your name and position. You want to help to put a face to a name. It's also nice to include your profession background and a little bit about you personally. 

School Counseling Program

Here's where you get to share about your wonderful program. You can share your curriculum, how to request individual counseling, and what groups you provide. You may need to explain what a comprehensive counseling program is. I like this video to help explain.

Other Pages

You have lots of options for additional pages on your website. It might be helpful to think about what questions you are often asked. Do parents call asking for book recommendations? Do teachers ask for social skills resources?
Some ideas you could include:
  • Parent Resources: book lists, links to parenting websites
  • Student Resources: middle school information, anything that you show or share during a lesson, pbskids.org information pages
  • FAQ page
  • Blog: I embedded this in my school website long before I started counselorup.com - I used it to share what we were doing in our classroom lessons, school events, etc.
  • Announcements

Things to Avoid

  • Too much personal information
  • Outdated information
  • Leaving important information "below the scroll" - if visitors have to scroll down, they might miss it
  • Too many fonts
  • Large blocks of text
  • Counselor-specific domain name for a whole department
  • Burying your website in your school site so that it's hard to find
Do you have a school website? What's your best website tip? Share here so others can see your great pages, leave a comment below. I've also created a printable checklist for creating (or updating) your own website. 
creating_a_school_counseling_website.pdf
File Size: 40 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

11 Comments
Lois Ancrum
7/13/2017 05:23:51 pm

Thank you for this information Rebecca. It has been a great help to me.

Reply
Rebecca Atkins
7/15/2017 04:39:54 pm

I am so glad! Good luck in creating your website. I am sure it will be great!

Reply
Terri Runnebohm
7/20/2017 09:53:43 am

Thank you so much for this. This year I have to develop a website and I was totally lost until I came across this. You are a blessing!

Reply
Rebecca Atkins
7/20/2017 10:09:48 am

I am so glad to hear that! Would love to see your website when you're done.

Reply
Brett
6/13/2018 04:19:17 pm

I'm new to all of this. I really appreciate your tips and ideas!

Reply
Rebecca Atkins
6/14/2018 09:58:50 am

Welcome to the profession Brett! Glad that you found this post helpful.

Reply
Amy Russin
7/14/2018 11:36:13 am

Trying to get used to develop a website for first time any websites existing to look at for ideas ?
Thanks in advance

Reply
Rebecca Atkins
10/2/2018 07:55:13 am

My school website is linked above in the post. Check it out and feel free to use any of the ideas you see there!

Reply
Hayden
5/30/2019 10:26:15 am

I am currently creating a website for my counseling program and wanted to know your thoughts regarding sharing a website with the student support team. This is my first year as a school counselor and I've been working really closely with the social worker. They suggested having everything in one location but I want to ensure my program is not buried with everything. Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated! Thank you!

Reply
Rebecca L Atkins
5/31/2019 08:02:01 am

Hi Hayden! I think it's a great idea to do a combo website if you two work closely together. It's always a good plan to make things easier to understand and more convenient for parents.

Reply
MckinneyVia link
3/17/2022 05:23:46 am

I very much appreciate it. Thank you for this excellent article. Keep posting!

Reply



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    Rebecca Atkins

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