A Montessori Website Transformation: KIE International Montessori School
Key Insights
- Website Design
- Graphics & Photos
- Montessori Content
- Automations
- Montessori CRM
- Community Resources
About KIE International Montessori
KIE International is a bilingual Montessori school that is focused on meeting the individual child's intellectual, emotional, and physical needs and to guide them in a hands-on atmosphere. They currently have programs for children aged 2-6 years in Laguna Niguel, California.
Their credentialed and experienced Montessori guides provide students with a comprehensive Montessori education that helps cultivate independence, foundational skills, social ease and self-confidence. At KIE Montessori they teach Mandarin as a part of their bilingual program. They employ a fifty-fifty model: 50 percent of instruction is delivered in Chinese and 50 percent in English.
Their goal through this language immersion program is to develop not only their students' proficiency in English and proficiency in Mandarin Chinese as a second language, but to also provide an intercultural competence and academic performance in the content area. Their native Mandarin speaking teachers with CTCSOL Certificate for Teachers of Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages, are also trained in early childhood education, providing a multicultural Montessori experience to all of their students. Through their hard work and great programs, they are helping the families they serve by creating a diverse environment for each and every child at their school.
Why Nido Marketing?
Ensuring the quality of a great Montessori and bilingual program requires a lot of time and dedication. It became clear that in order to attract the right families to fill their programs, KIE needed a great Montessori website. They wanted to partner with a marketing agency that would not only create a beautiful website that would help them grow admissions, but one that also understood the specific needs and target audience of a Montessori school. This made Nido Marketing the perfect match. We were able to combine our knowledge of digital marketing and web design with our expertise within the Montessori space to build KIE a new school website worthy of their programs and services. We are pleased to have partnered with KIE to help them create their dream school website.
Before Nido Marketing
When KIE came to us with concerns with their school website, it became clear that there were several opportunities for improvement. Their website did not feel appropriate for a Montessori school that provided an authentic and high quality bilingual service to their community. A few issues they were dealing with inlcuded:
- A website that was not fully functional (buttons did not work, parents and visitors could not take action directly on the website)
- There were no calls to action or information on how families could schedule a tour
- Additional pages were not working properly so parents could not access program information or learn more about the school
- Graphics were outdated or felt out of place for a Montessori school
All of these issues meant that they were missing out on valuable enrollment opportunities. Take a look at some of the "before" pictures of the KIE International website:
The first thing parents saw when exploring the KIE website was this landing page. While the logo loooks great, the navigation bar and "Learn More" button were not fully functional and difficult to use. There is also a lack of imagery so visitors didn't get to learn a whole lot about the school at first glance.
Scrolling further down, parents could see what programs were offered as well as learn a bit about KIE's emphasis on multicultural and language studies. Instead of using pictures for the programs offered, they had graphics that felt a bit out of place and not representative of the programs themselves. Montessori environments offer such beautiful photo opportunities. Other than this, there was not much written content on the website. This is a missed opportunity to educate families on the unique benefits of Montessori, why families should choose Montessori, and what sets KIE apart from the rest. This was also negatively impacting their SEO performance.
They also included some images of their beautiful facilities, but no imagery of students at work or Montessori materials. This makes it harder for families to envision the true environment and day-to-day life at KIE International Montessori school.
Room For Improvement: The Importance of Great Web Design
After an in-depth consultation call with KIE, we were able to establish some goals they had with their school website. Nido Marketing offered some insights and solutions to the above issues. After a month of customizations and designing, we were able to launch KIE's new and improved website complete with:
- Montessori photos and graphics
- Automations (automated tour scheduling) that run with our Montessori CRM
- Montessori content that educates visitors on the benefits of Montessori
- An easy to navigate and fully functional website that is compatible across devices
- ADA compliance software to make their website more accessible
KIE's new homepage has beautiful imagery, highlights the unique benefits of Montessori, and includes a call to action for families to schedule a tour on the navigation bar. This homepage invites engagement and learning for all visitors. All graphics and colors are reflective of the KIE International brand, which gives a professional first impression to prospective families. High quality photos also help tell their story to prospective families. You'll also notice the small round blue button on the bottom right of the screen. This is ADA compliant software that can help make the website easier to navigate for those with certain difficulties. This opens KIE up to several opportunities when it comes to growing their enrollment.
We worked with KIE to update their program information section. Now, website visitors can see images from each program rather than graphics that didn't tell the full story. The pages for each program are now fully functional and informative. This sort of content helps with SEO and gives families insights as to what they can expect from the programs being offered.
We added a blog section to the KIE website in order to include more content to educate families. Including a school blog like this one can help schools become thought leaders and attract the right families to their community. These blogs offer a deeper insight into the lasting benefits of Montessori so parents can explore and learn directly from the KIE website.
Before, families would have to call during open ours in order to organize a tour with KIE. Now, busy families can easily schedule a tour whenever they have time directly from the KIE website. This is a game changer when it comes to increasing tours and engagement.
How Does The Website Building Process Work?
We want all of our clients to feel that they are in capable hands when it comes to trusting us with their school website. More often than not, a school website is how prospective families will form their first impression of a school, so we emphasize how important it is to have an effective one. It is a crucial part of a school's digital marketing strategy, and we work hard to make sure that each school we work with feels supported every step of the way. While we do the heavy lifting, we make sure to ask all of the important questions so that each school website we design feels custom and represents each unique school.
When schools partner with us, they are paired with an experienced Client Success Manager who will be familiarized with their situation and requirements. This way, schools have a point of contact that they feel comfortable with when they need to make edits, updates, or get support on their school website. Client Success Managers also help each client get familiarized with our CRM so that they can keep track of leads and communication that comes in through their new school website.
Communication Made Easier with the Montessori CRM
As part of our Montessori website package, Nido Marketing includes Montessori CRM (client relationship manager) software that helps automations run throughout the website, and organizes and tracks leads and communications for admissions and enrollment. Our Montessori CRM has been a huge help with keeping communications in order and simple for KIE.
We custom designed all of KIE's website forms using the Montessori CRM and then integrated them into their school website. Now they can:
- Respond via email or text thanking the visitor for their interest and letting them know that they'll be in touch soon
- Organize the visitor’s contact information and any other information captured on the form for future reference
- Tag them as a “lead” or a “prospect” - or any tag that makes sense!
- Automatically receive reminders to follow up with them by a specific date.
- Track them through their customized admissions pipeline
KIE can also send SMS messages and emails automatically through the CRM to confirm tours. With less things having to be done manually, the KIE team has more time to focus on connecting with their current community and offering more tours. This has helped them grow their admissions and communicate more effectively with prospective families that come in through their school website.
Montessori Thrive Resources & Community
When Montessori schools purchase any of our marketing services, they automatically gain access to Montessori Thrive, our resource exchange and Montessori leadership community website. Here, KIE can find resources that can help them with:
- Marketing
- Communication
- Admissions & enrollment
- Parenting education
- School operations
We also offer a private school leadership forum where school leaders can ask each other questions and find support. We host weekly town hall meetings throughout the school year on Zoom to discuss various school leadership topics that leaders and administrators are always welcome to join. Offering access to community can help Montessori school leaders find support when they need it. It's important to have access to these resources when you're at the top, and we are happy that we can offer support like this to so many schools in the Montessori space.
KIE International is very pleased with their new school website. They now have a school website that is representative of their high quality bilingual Montessori programs. Their school website has allowed them to attract new families and encourage them to schedule a tour.
Nido Marketing is proud to partner with KIE International Montessori school and looks forward to the future! A special thank you to KIE and all that they do for their community and future generations!
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