The search is specific: “after school care” with the name of a parish, or “afterschool club” with the name of the school itself, because a parent will only consider a club that collects from where their child is. Before they ring they want to know which schools you collect from and how, whether you cover the infant finish as well as the later one, what time the day ends, what the weekly fee is for three days versus five, whether the NCS subsidy applies, what the children eat and whether homework gets done, and if you run camps at mid-term and in the summer. Websites for after-school clubs in Dublin are won on the list of schools and the hours. Everything else is detail.
The school is the search term
Parents do not search for you by your name. They search by the school, and the page has to carry each school you serve as its own line: the school’s name, how the children get to you (walked by your staff, minibus, or the school is next door), and the finish times you cover. When a parent types a school name into Google, your page and your Google listing are what should come up beside it. Being on the map with the right pin and the right hours is a separate piece of work from the site, and we have written up how to get your business on Google Maps because for a club it is half the battle.
Half past one to six
The hard part of your day is not the children, it is the logistics, and the page should show a parent that you have them handled. Junior and senior infants finishing at half one while the rest finish at half two. In-service days and half days when you open early. Late collection and what it costs. The homework hour and whether it is supervised or checked. The snack or the hot meal, and allergies. Registered with Tusla as a school age childcare service, said plainly.
A parent reading all of that in two minutes, on their phone, at the kitchen counter, has had most of their questions answered before they ring, which is why the call that follows is short and usually ends with a place.
Fees by days, and the camp weeks
Fees go on the page as a weekly rate for one to five days, with the sibling rate, the deposit and the notice period for giving up a place. If the NCS subsidy applies in your service, say how it is handled so a parent is not working it out at midnight.
Camps are a second business inside the first. Mid-term in October and February, Easter, and the long summer weeks sell to your own families and to families who use nobody the rest of the year. Each camp week gets a line with dates, hours, the price and whether it is full, and you update that line yourself as the weeks fill. With Complete, the camp week is booked and paid on the page; with Essentials, the enquiry form takes the booking and you confirm it.
What a parent wants to see
The room set up for the afternoon, the homework table, the yard or the hall you use, the snack laid out, and the staff who do the school walk, with a line each on their qualification and that they are Garda vetted. Photographs of children only where the parent has signed consent, and the page is fine without them. The front door and where parents park at ten to six, because the collection rush is real and they are picturing it.
A checklist of what any small business page needs, including the parts a parent looks for without knowing they are looking, is in what should a small business website include.
What we need from the club
The schools you collect from and how, your hours including early finish days, fees by days attended, the NCS position, your Tusla registration details, the camp dates and prices for the year ahead, your policies on late collection and notice, staff names if you want them shown, and the photographs above. Ten minutes on the phone, or at the club after the last child is collected, and the site is usually live within a few days.
Plan and price
A club with a fixed number of places that fills from the school gate and from Google needs to be found and to take the enquiry, which is Essentials at €499 to set up and €50 a month. If you want camp weeks and weekly fees paid on the page, and a chat box answering “do you collect from the Gaelscoil” while you are doing the walk, Complete is €1,499 and €100 a month. The two are compared on the pricing page. A creche’s page has a different shape, with rooms and age groups rather than schools and finish times, and it is at websites for creches and montessoris.