Creating and maintaining a blog for your independent school is a very effective and engaging marketing tool. The benefits are numerous and cross all constituencies from prospective families to alumni.
A school blog can:
- Amplify your brand messaging, mission and core values through the most powerful marketing tool there is: storytelling.
- Share your school’s voices – head of school, faculty, students, alumni, etc. – in an authentic way.
- Showcase the work and achievements of your students, faculty and alumni.
- Establish your school leaders as thought leaders and deep subject matter experts on a variety of topics and issues.
- Share resources, advice and insights on important topics for both internal and external audiences.
- Help enhance your school’s online presence and improve SEO.
- Attract potential students and families.
Whether your school has been blogging or is considering starting, there are several key factors to keep in mind to maximize the benefits of this effective marketing strategy.
Writing Engaging Blog Content
What to write about? It’s a question all writers (and busy, often understaffed school communications staff) have asked themselves. The key is finding and writing content that meets your marketing objectives, is engaging and easy to produce.
Blog content for your school should address the questions or concerns your audiences have, serve as a point of pride, and showcase what is unique about your school. What problem are you solving through your blog post, and what challenge is your school uniquely able to solve for your audience?
That’s a tall order, but one you can fill with some planning. Take inspiration from William Wordsworth, who famously wrote, “To begin, begin.” Your first step is to create a Content Calendar.
The Content Calendar should include your blog post titles, the author or authors (if your blog has several voices/guest authors), a brief summary of what you want to write about, and the date you want to publish it. Include where you are publishing it (social, email, etc.). We recommend creating a shareable spreadsheet that may be updated throughout the year.
Your Content Calendar should also include a section that notes the keywords you wish to use throughout each post. Keywords are specific words or phrases in your post that are related to the topic and match what people are searching for online, helping search engines connect your content with the right audience.
To identify the right keywords for your blog post, consider what your audience might search for, and then use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Semrush or Ubersuggest (a free extension you can install from the Chrome Web Store) to identify popular, relevant terms. You can also check Google search suggestions, look at similar blogs or review your own website’s search data. This way, you’ll have those words at your fingertips when you’re ready to create and incorporate them into your blog content.
Each month, review and record the open rate and average length of time a reader stayed on the post, and include this information in your Content Calendar. Note which topics received comments on social. This information will help you plan future blog topics that are top-of-mind for your audience.
Finding Blog Topics to Inspire Your Audiences
What are your messaging pillars and themes for the year? Your core values? These are great themes around which to craft your blog, as every post should reflect your school’s unique value proposition and differentiators for your audience. Ask yourself: When someone finishes reading a blog post about your school, will the reader understand what makes your school special and/or how you are uniquely suited to educate students?
What voices, events and traditions intersect with these messages? Blogs are about telling stories and sharing your school’s unique voices. Yes, you can write about a school event, but a blog post is not the same as a school news post. (Though you should certainly link to the news item, video or social media post about the event in your blog post.)
Use the event as an opportunity to delve deeper into your school’s mission and values. For example, the annual student-run food drive, accompanied by photos and a brief report on the amount collected and its distribution, can be a great post highlighting your school’s values and mission around the importance of service and how it develops your students’ leadership skills and sense of community.
Then look at the natural times on your school’s calendar that could inspire posts. Certainly, the opening of school and graduation season are great topics, as are “national” days and months like May as Mental Health Awareness Month or Teacher Appreciation Week. A blog post does not need to be written in one voice. For Teacher Appreciation Week, consider interviewing several teachers and asking what they’ve learned from their students this year, or their favorite thing about teaching at your school — then share their quotes alongside their photos, subjects taught and years of service..
Look for the “low-hanging” fruit for topics and authors:
- A back-to-school topic might be a “round-up” of advice from teachers and division heads on how best to communicate between school and home, a “What Teachers Wish Parents Knew About Communicating With School-type of post.
- Get the transcripts of the opening school remarks by your head of school and student government president (whoever speaks) to write a post that threads their themes together, including the video link to the speeches.
- Do a Zoom interview with an alumna/us or parent expert in helping families deal with stress in children (search for child psychologist, etc. in your database) and create a post from the interview.
- For early March’s Read Across America Day, interview (and record the interview for an easy transcription) your lower school’s reading specialist on the importance of reading to children and how to raise a reader.
If your head of school authors your blog, sit down in the summer to plan topics with them. Perhaps it’s a monthly exploration of a key core value or habits of the mind that your school espouses.
Start brainstorming, and the ideas will flow. The goal is to map it all out in a calendar and execute the plan. Explore our comprehensive guide to creating a content calendar, featuring numerous ideas for content creation. We’ve also put this information in an easy-to-follow infographic.
Blogging Smarter: Frequency, Promotion and Ideal Post Length
Once you start a blog, you need to be consistent in posting. Once a month is a feasible and sustainable cadence for most schools, with an understandable “break” in July. Your content calendar is essential to keeping the cadence.
In your plan, include HOW you are promoting the blog post to your audiences. Create a title for your blog, include a thumbnail photo and brand it with your school’s logo and colors.
- Share it across all social media channels.
- In every parent and alumni email newsletter, include a section for the blog with the branded title image, the newest post title and author and a hyperlink to the individual post and the blog page on your website.
- Add the blog to your News & Blog page on your website. Make sure it’s easy to find on your website and linked in your navigation. Ensure that each post has its own unique URL and can be easily shared.
- Place it in your footer with a hyperlinked “Read Our Blog” link that directs users to the News & Blog page.
- Put the branded, hyperlinked blog title image in email signatures.
- When creating admissions materials for Open Houses, consider including a QR code and a list of recent topics for prospective families to scan.
The length of your posts is art and science. Thewritepractice.com offers a practical guide for lengths, depending on what your topic and goals are, each with its own pros and cons:
- Short Form content: 300-600 words. “Good middle-ground for social shares and comments, but too short to gain much authority or search traffic.
- News Article length content: 750 words. “Standard length for professional journalism and pretty good for shares on social media.”
- Mid-form content: 1000-1500 words. “Fewer comments [generally] but more shares.”
- Long-form Content: 2,450 words and longer. This length ranks “the highest on Google” and has the best SEO potential.
The length of your post depends on its content, but don’t be afraid to go long. You are establishing your school as a thought leader through your posts, and sharing needed insights and guidance deserves a little space.
Make sure each blog post includes the specific keywords referenced in your Content Calendar—placing them in the URL, the title (near the beginning), the first sentence or paragraph, in your subheads and throughout the post. This helps search engines quickly understand your topic and improves your post’s visibility.
Managing Subscriptions to Your School Blog
You want subscribers, readers who will receive an alert every time you publish a new blog, and (the Holy Grail) share that post on their social media.
Add an RSS feed to your blog and to every post. But there are some things to avoid when trying to entice subscribers, per Business.com:
- Avoid pop-up subscription banners that interrupt the content of the post.
- Don’t ask people to subscribe without telling them the benefit – consider a dedicated subscription landing page.
- Avoid including low-quality images on your site—they can hurt your school’s credibility. Use clear, high-resolution visuals that reflect your brand.
- And don’t skip the Alt Text (alternative text): it’s a short description that should include relevant keywords that appear if the image doesn’t load and is read by screen readers to aid visually impaired users. Inserting relevant keywords in the Alt Text not only improves accessibility but also boosts SEO.
- Ensure your mobile blog experience is easy to read and error-free.
- Don’t provide content that any school can offer – think about what your audience wants and needs (and the problems/challenges they are looking to solve) from your school’s blog content.
Why Substack Isn’t Right for Your School Blog
You may wonder if Substack is a good platform for schools to publish their blogs. We don’t recommend it. It doesn’t offer much flexibility in terms of design, making it challenging to match a school’s branding. As a separate platform, the duplicated content published there will compete with your school’s blog housed on the main website, which can negatively impact SEO and make it more challenging for prospective families to discover your school. It may also feel less official or polished than a blog hosted directly on a school’s website. It’s also heavy on pushing their monetization tools, which aren’t usually a goal for schools. So, enjoy it for the blogs you like to follow, but keep your school’s blog on your website.
Ready to turn your school blog into a powerful admissions tool? Kalix Marketing Group is just a conversation away. Let’s talk.
