You already know the value of a school blog, right? It helps attract new students, engages the parents, and establishes you as an expert in education. Using it as part of your school marketing efforts with Inbound Marketing and search engine optimization can be a huge factor in increasing enrollment.
But...knowing and doing are two very different things, right?
So, to make this easier, let’s break it down. Let’s begin with how to get started on your own school blog.
Step #1: Pick a blog purpose
Why do you want a school blog? What is your end-goal?? If you don’t have a purpose, it might be interesting and even fun, but it won’t move your school communication efforts forward. What is your purpose? Is it to broaden your communication efforts or share school news at a more personal level? Is it to gather feedback from parents and students or maybe to build a respected brand for your school?
Whatever the goal, writing it down and keeping it where you can see it as you write each blog will help. It could be a single line or a few words, but it should be meaningful to you, and you should keep it front and center as you write. Incorporate your school’s mission in your blog purpose as well, and you’ll vastly expand the value of each blog post. Every post will support your school mission!
Step #2: Create a blog schedule
Start by taking a look at your school calendar, and then incorporate the goals from your school mission statement. Ideas will include school announcements, events, changes, activities, and of course, the purpose behind it all. Create a massive list of all the possibilities, and then start putting them into a calendar.
Include resources you’ll need, which will include the people who are in the know about the topics you’ve identified so you can request their input in advance. Involve those “subject matter experts,” and you’ll have better blog articles, lighten your own load, and recognize others for their contributions. Oh, and consider guest bloggers from your community or other experts in the field (you can provide them with a link back to their website and ask them to promote their post to their audience as well).
Whether you are going to blog once a week or once a month, create a schedule you can be consistent with. Whatever you do, don’t start a blog and then go dark. You’ll lose any audience you’ve earned along with your credibility.
Schedule your topics as far in advance as possible. Here at School Webmasters, we plan for three months out, but it is likely your school could plan out much further than that.
Step #3: Create a blog process
The next step is to create a process that will make your blog posting successful. Answer the following questions:
- Who will write the posts (or will it vary from post to post)?
- How often will you commit to posting your blogs?
- What is the purpose/topic of each blog (ideally tied to and supporting your school mission)?
- What is the call-to-action for each blog?
Step #4: Create a blog content calendar
Once you’ve come up with ideas about who will write the posts (so you can form your team of contributors), you’ll want to work on a time-frame and schedule. By determining the posting dates, you’ll give blog contributors time to prepare, gather photos, research their topic to ensure they will meet the posting date goal. Here is a simple spreadsheet example that can help you keep on track.

Step #5: Share and promote your blog
You’ll make sharing your blog easy by including social media sharing icons (buttons) with each of your blog posts. Include all the channels commonly used by parents like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Of course, you’ll also post links to your blog on all of your school social media platforms as well.
Here are a few more tips for promoting your new blog: