10 Tips to Make Your Website Family Friendly

If you’re building a website that you are hoping will attract families, and/or children in particular, you will want to make sure that your site is family friendly. The site should be attractive to children as well as adults. Also, if there are any elements that parents might find offensive or dangerous for their children, they won’t let their kids access your site.

1. Bright Colors. Kids are attracted by bright colors and movement. If you want your site to capture the attention of kids when they log onto it, use a rainbow of colors on your home page.
2. Parental Permission. Requiring an email verification in order to login can help reassure parents that you are on their side. This little step communicates to the parents that you recognize their authority and their desire to protect their children, and that you will not circumvent it.
3. Family Friendly Web Host. Be selective in choosing your web host. There are many free web hosting sites that are family friendly and even more that are not. A small amount of research will enable you to find out which are which. One easy clue is to find out what other types of sites are being hosted by the service.
4. Free Games. Offer free children’s games on your site that are appropriate for a variety of age levels. This is another subtle means of communicating to parents that you value children.
5. Advertisers. If there will be ads on your website, make sure that you are in control of what those ads will be. If your advertisers aren’t family friendly, then your site won’t be considered family friendly. This is a very critical point in setting up your website.
6. Parenting Tips. Providing helpful tips and information for parents will also communicate the fact that your site is interested in reaching out to families. If parents find value in the information on your site, they will keep coming back.
7. Fun Facts. Keep your website light-hearted, fun and educational. Lists of fun facts for different ages can be great connecting points on your homepage.
8. Screen your links. If you provide links to other websites from your website, take the time to carefully screen those other sites yourself before adding the link. Make sure those websites meet the same family friendly criteria that you have set for your own website.
9. Privacy Protection. Carefully think through what information from your users will be visible on your site. If you are wanting a family friendly site, that means you want a site where children’s identities and contact information is hidden from other users. You will also want your privacy policies stated clearly on the site to reassure parents that their information is safe.
10. Limited interaction. This fits into the privacy protection arena as well. Parents need to be assured that their children will not be interacting with people they do not know. The safest way to do this is to have no interaction with other users at all.

If you want your website to be family friendly, think about each aspect of your site from a parent’s perspective. What are their concerns? What are their needs and desires for their kids and themselves? Then do your best to fulfill those expectations to the best of your ability.

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