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| Glen Herbert
Editor/Writer, Our Kids Media
May, 2021 |
Over the past two years we’ve been working to strengthen our position as a home base for families. To not only be a source of qualified information, but also to be a tool that families can use to plan their year. A key aspect of this are the user accounts, launched earlier this year. They allow parents to shortlist and manage their options, bookmark camps and organizations of interest and return to them over time.
The redesign of the landing pages, launching this week, is a key element of the overarching project. In many ways, it’s the most significant. It upends how users navigate their options, making your offering more discoverable, to more people, more often.
Now, rather than only being able to search by your name, users are able to search by individual programs and sessions. We’ve found that this is the way most families prefer to search. They come to Our Kids looking for an experience rather than a specific provider. They are looking to discover new camps, new programs, and new adventures.
That’s what the new design allows them to do. Their search results feature your specific experiences, complete with descriptions, dates, rates and activities. There is better use made of photographs, as information rather than decoration. You now have more space to showcase what you alone are able to offer. On the other side, we’re also making it easier to add your programs and calendar in the Our Kids Control Panel (see instructions below).
It’s a bold move, perhaps, but one that will allow us to do even better what we’ve been doing for more than a quarter of a century: connecting families with programs that will allow their children to learn new things, grow in new ways, and access their passions with peers and mentors who share them.
- How to update your program calendar for 2021
- Log in here
- Under Manage Profiles > Online Profile > Programs & Sessions > scroll down to check if you have “expired programs.” For stronger SEO, edit & restore similar “expired programs” rather than creating new ones. Otherwise, clone or add a new program.
- You should add a program for each unique offering (E.G.: CIT Program, Intro to Camp…). If one program runs multiple times throughout the year (e.g.: session A, B, C), these dates should be added as “sessions” within the program.
- Tips on creating a strong program profile
- Program name: Add descriptive and keyword rich titles that users will be searching for.
- Specialty: For each program, select a "Specialty." This specialty can be different from your overall specialty and will help users sort and find programs. For example, programs with a specialty of “soccer” will be shown first to those users looking for “soccer camps.”
- Photo and mini-description: These are used as your program ‘teaser’ to capture the attention of users. Choose a photo that’s eye-catching and represents the experience of the program. See examples here.
- Sessions (dates): These are the dates, times, and rates this specific program is offered. You can add unlimited weeks or dates to each program. (E.G.: If a program is offered for 1-, 2-, or 4-week options from June–July, add 8 x 1-week sessions, 4 x 2-week sessions, and 2 x 4-week sessions with their associated dates and costs in this same “program.”)
- Main program description: Use this space to describe why families should register for this program. Include activities, themes, structure, and skills gained and remember to also use keywords that may be of interest to parents searching.
- Character development: Share with families two traits your program is designed to foster and the value this contributes to their children’s long-term personal development. This is optional, but when completed, it will add you to our new and prominent character traits portal.
- Activities: Select all activities you offer in this “program.” This helps determine where, how, and to whom your program is promoted.
- Examples of program profiles
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