Advertising

There is no doubt that the internet is the first stop for the vast majority of parents seeking an independent school in the UK for their child. Most will start their search by looking for something like "the best UK private school" or a "top independent school", which will invariably bring them to one of our websites.

www.best-schools.co.uk was launched in November 2005 and now has over 800,000 unique visitors per year. This volume increases to around 1.5 million when we include our other 11 websites. All our sites give parents factual listings on independent schools, including their latest exam results. We also offer a number of downloadable eGuides on how to assess the non-academic factors when choosing a school.

We do not go out of our way to "sell" advertising space on our sites but we do have a limited number of spaces for schools to have bespoke banners which drive traffic directly to their own websites. It is our aim that the promotion cost is repaid many times over. Indeed most of our school clients achieve more than 100 clicks per month on their banners. Our biggest client is receiving over 75% of their entire website traffic via their banners on our sites, amounting to around 10,000 referrals per annum.

Properly structured internet advertising can deliver far more enquiries than traditional paper advertising and it is more easily measurable.

Most hard copy adverts in glossy magazines only appear once and deliver very few enquiries, which also can rarely be measured properly.
Entries in paper directories can be lost among hundreds of other competing schools
Our banner adverts typically have between 3 to 6 banner headlines to attract the attention of the right parents.
We restrict the number of banners per site to avoid over saturation. We close some sites to new advertisers until existing ones depart.
We have 12 different sites – so adverts can be placed on relevant segments to attract the right parents.

How does it work?

We design a rectangular banner which revolves around 3 to 6 messages of your choice. However we are happy to give you suggestions. These are typically designed to match your school colours and brand.
When parents click on a banner they are transported straight to your school’s website and these click throughs can be measured.
The school also gets a 300 - 400 word profile under our “Top Featured Schools” section. These generally generate an extra 30 per cent volume of click throughs to your website.
We adjust the geographic search fields for your school to generate more positive search hits.

Examples

We can also design video ads – see this example for Hurtwood House

Prices range from £50 to £120 + VAT per month per school site. We can offer a 50% discount to English Prep Schools and Scottish day schools but Scottish boarding schools pay the full price. Designer banners may cost extra. Video ads incur the same placement cost but production costs are extra.

Let us quote you on a campaign to suit your needs. Most exercises cost less than the acquisition margin in one pupil’s fees. Adverts across multiple sites are done on bulk discounts.

Ask us for a customised proposal for your school.