Creating a successful school blog: a 4-step guide.
Creating a successful school blog has never been easier with our tried-and-true guide.
- Start at the drawing board
- Create a schedule and routine for content
- Write your first of many blogs
- Use the billboard
Trying to revamp your school website? Getting the school community up to date? Or attracting new students? No matter your objective having a school blog can help you achieve it. A blog is a great way to build community with parents, students, and teachers, and is also a great way to showcase events, highlights, and other aspects that your school does regularly. A school blog can help you separate yourself from others, and increase student enrollment and teacher interest. Here you will find a guide to starting your school blog.
Step #1: Start at the drawing board
This might sound like the oldest advice in the book: make a plan. Having a plan serves as a guiding point to expectations, goals, and ultimately our actions. This is why our first step in making our plan is defining our ‘Why’. What are we looking to achieve? Why are we looking to achieve this? Defining our ‘Why’ will guide all our actions toward achieving and making that ‘Why’ true.
Consider the following questions:
- What is the purpose of the school blog?
- Is the purpose to inform, to provide resources for parents, to promote students and their activities, or,
- to shed a light on teacher work?
Who is your target audience? Every blog needs a specific audience they are catering to, this way your blog posts can have the topics, writing style, and information according to your reader. Determining your target audience or creating sections for students, parents and teachers is essential for your blog.
Step #2 Create a schedule and routine for content
Now that you have clearly defined how your school blog will help your reader, and the goals you are looking to achieve, it is time to create some content. Content is what will ultimately “sell” your blog and by extension your school. Having a mixture of topics and themes surrounding your blog will help maintain your audience’s attention and interest. Your school blog can have a mixture of text, pictures, and even videos to enhance the topics.
How to find what topics to write about?
There are several ways to find what topics to write about, in case you are having a hard time finding your first topic or want to find new ideas.
Ask your school community: What do they want to read about? Teachers and counselors can provide topics that should or could be addressed in the community. What events or news can be highlighted? Do any teachers have amazing projects being worked on in their classrooms? What are the clubs doing at school? What topics have parents mentioned they would like support on? We recommend having a notebook or document where you write ideas, topics, and events you wish to write about.
Make a schedule
A content schedule should be designed for two parts of a process: the writing of the blog and the publishing of the blog. Your writer should have enough time to make a draft of a blog and revisions if necessary. Once a timeframe for writing the blogs and publishing the blogs has been sent, both the writer and publisher will have a routine, which is important. Being consistent on the days the blogs are published allows your audience to be attentive to reading your blog, creating for them a routine.
If you decide that the blog will target parents, teachers, and students, and some topics might be specifically tailored, you can color code the title or the banner, as a way to help them identify who the blog is for.
“How do I create a content calendar that is free?”
A content calendar is a layout from which you will determine what blogs will be published, how often, and in what order. If your school already uses GSUITE, Google Calendar is a great tool for everyone on the team to have information accessible, have reminders of when things are due and complete tasks if they are responsible for them. Your content calendar can also include publishing snippets of your blog on other social media platforms, to target a wider audience.
Step #3 Write your first of many blogs
Writing your first blog may seem daunting or make you think you are unable to write 600 words about the school you have worked for the past 5+ years. Imposter syndrome is real, which is another reason why having a clear why is important. When that “I can’t do this, I am just the principal” gets to you, just remind yourself that you have faced and succeeded in a lot more than a blank piece of paper.
When writing your first blog think of the basics you see in every blog:
- A title
- Introduction
- 3 to 5 bullet points you wish to address
- Conclusion
This blogging structure can help you filter the information you need. Here are some other tips you should remember when writing your blog
- When sentences are too long, your reader is suddenly no longer interested. Instead, think of simple sentences. Short sentences. These sentences convey your message easily.
- Remember who your target audience is, always. A teacher will understand when pedagogy terms such as spatial awareness, visual perception, and fluency vs decoding are discussed. Parents might need simpler terms.
Step #4 Use the billboard
Getting readers on your blog is ultimately the goal. Let the school community every time a blog is posted. Use social media to let a wider audience know there is a blog on your website. Ask parents, teachers, and students to comment, like, and share. Answer every and all comments you receive. Allow for readers’ comments to be answered in a blog post. Think about collaborating with professionals in the area, inviting them to write for your blog or for your blog to be shown on theirs. Tell everyone about the new school blog, and have them all tell everyone they know. Getting the word out, and engaging with your audience will allow your school blog to become successful.
Starting or revamping a school blog can be a lot of work, but it is deeply rewarding. Achieving your goal of an informed, celebrated community through your school blog can help parents, teachers, and students feel like they belong. Though managing a school blog requires several steps to be taken, it is consistency that separated the good blog from the excellent blog. Remember your goals, and create a routine and you are on your way to having a successful school blog. We hope this guide has helped answer many questions about having a successful school blog. If you or your school would like more information on managing a school blog, you can contact us at
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