A swim school site exists to let parents on phones find the right level, see session dates and spaces, and register without calling. Build plain level descriptions, a text schedule and phone-friendly registration first.

What the site is actually for

A swim school website is read mostly by parents, mostly on phones, and mostly in the gaps: in the car park, on the pool deck, after the children are in bed.

They are not browsing. They want to know which level their child belongs in, when the classes are, whether there is space, and how to sign up.

In May, that last question has a deadline. Summer sessions fill quickly, and registration often opens at a set time that many parents are watching at once.

The site's job is to answer all of this faster than a phone call could, at any hour.

The questions parents arrive with

The first is the one most sites answer worst. A parent who guesses the level wrong costs the school a transfer, a refund or an unhappy child in the wrong class.

Levels described by what a child can do

Many schools name their levels after a national program, colours or sea creatures. The names mean a great deal to staff and little to a parent who has never stood on the deck.

Describe each level by what a child can do on the first day and by the last: put their face in the water, float on their back unaided, swim a width without stopping.

Give ages as a guide, not a rule. A confident six-year-old and a nervous nine-year-old may belong in the same class.

And say what to do when unsure: a placement guide, a free assessment, or a phone number answered by somebody who knows the levels.

Session dates a phone can read

Schedules on swim school sites are often a PDF or a photo of a spreadsheet. On a phone, both mean pinching and zooming to find one row.

Put the schedule on the page as text, sorted the way parents look for it: by pool, then level, then day and time.

Each session needs its start and end dates, the number of lessons, any days without class, and the price.

Take last season's schedule down when the new one goes up. Two sets of dates on one page will be misread.

Registration that works on a phone

Most swim schools take registrations through a booking system rather than the website itself. That is sensible, and it means the hand-off between the two needs testing.

Try it on a phone, as a parent would, from the home page to a confirmed place. Every step that needs zooming will cost somebody their spot.

If the system needs an account, let parents create it before registration opens. Nobody should be inventing a password while the class they wanted fills.

State the opening date and time plainly, in the same words everywhere it appears.

Waitlists and openings

A class marked full with no next step sends the parent to the next swim school in the results.

Explain how the waitlist works: how to join, how families are contacted, and how long they have to accept a space before it moves on.

Show availability as close to live as the registration system allows. If it cannot, update the full markers by hand and date the page.

Mid-session openings, private lessons and the next session's start date all belong beside a full class.

A worked example

A swim school teaching in two rented pools in a suburb opened summer registration at seven on a weekday evening last year.

The schedule was a four-page PDF, the levels page listed program names with no descriptions, and the registration system needed an account most parents did not have.

Within the hour the phone line was jammed with parents asking which level to choose, and several classes filled with children who later had to be moved.

For the next season, the school rewrote every level as two short lists, what a child can do before and what they learn, and turned the schedule into a text table for each pool.

A week before opening, it emailed families asking them to create their accounts in advance.

When registration next opened, the calls were about parking and change rooms rather than levels.

Who is teaching

A parent is handing a child to a stranger, in water. The site should make that easier.

List the certifications your instructors and lifeguards hold, say that they are kept current, and mention first aid training and criminal record checks if your staff have them.

State the number of swimmers per instructor for each level, since it is the figure parents compare between schools.

Photographs of your own instructors teaching, with parents' permission for any child in the frame, say more than any description.

What to bring and what happens on the day

The first lesson generates more questions than the rest of the session combined.

Say what to bring: swimsuit, towel, goggles if your school allows them, and swim diapers for children not yet toilet trained, if the pool requires them.

Say how early to arrive, where to change, where parents wait and whether they can watch, and where to park.

Then add the policies parents look for before paying: missed lessons, make-up classes, illness, refunds and moving between levels.

The counter-case

Not every swim school needs all of this at once.

A small school teaching private lessons in a backyard pool, with families who return every summer, can start with less: the levels, the dates and a clear way to book.

A school whose pool operator runs the registration does not control the sign-up, and its site should link clearly to the right page rather than copy it.

But the questions the site leaves unanswered still arrive at the front desk, usually at the busiest hour.

Describe the levels, publish the dates as text, and test registration on a phone.

What to build first

  1. Rewrite each level as before and after skills.
  2. Add a placement guide or an assessment option.
  3. Put the schedule on the page as text.
  4. Test registration on a phone, start to finish.
  5. Explain the waitlist beside every full class.
  6. List instructor certifications and swimmer ratios.
  7. Publish what to bring and where to go.

Step four is the one to finish before registration opens. Every other gap costs a phone call; a form that fails on a phone costs the family their place.

The same approach for a very different business is in what a siding contractor website needs.

Frequently asked questions

What do parents look for on a swim school site?

Which level their child belongs in, when and where classes run, whether there is space, how to register, what it costs, who teaches and what to bring.

How should swim levels be described?

By what a child can do on the first day and by the last, with ages as a guide only, plus a placement guide or assessment for parents who are unsure.

Is a PDF schedule good enough?

Not on a phone, where it means pinching and zooming to find one row. Put the schedule on the page as text, sorted by pool, level, day and time.

How do we prepare for registration night?

Test registration on a phone from start to finish, publish the opening time everywhere, and ask families to create any required accounts a week before it opens.

What should a full class show?

How the waitlist works, how families are contacted and how long they have to accept, plus mid-session openings, private lessons and the next session's start date.

What should we say about instructors?

Which certifications they hold and that they are current, first aid and criminal record checks if staff have them, swimmers per instructor for each level, and real photographs.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Summer registration coming and the site not ready?

We will test your registration on a phone, rewrite the level pages and put the schedule into plain text.

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