77% of internet users read blogs. Blogs are an efficient way to inform, entertain and engage an audience with ease. Hence, we are going to share with you 5 tips to write an effective academic blog!
Writing and managing a blog may take some effort, but it can prove to be crucial in setting up effective school communication between teachers and parents.
Let us take a look at some tips you can incorporate to write an engaging academic blog to keep parents updated about all the happenings of the academic year.
Adding a blog to your existing website can increase its traffic by a whopping 434%. With educational institutions, however, the goal isn’t simply to draw traffic to their website. It is to keep students and their parents in the loop about the happenings of the school.
Creating an academic blog helps bring transparency to the way a school facilitates the learning of its students. Given below are the five tips you can follow to write a dynamic academic blog to keep students and parents up to date with the academic year:
1. Know your audience base
Creating authentic content that engages your readers begins by identifying the audience first and foremost. Who will be reading your blog? Who will it be targeted at? Students and their parents.
The content you create should be meant for them. For example, if you want to create a blog post about the importance of physical activity for students, it should be aimed at encouraging parents to ensure that their children stay active.
2. Ensure it is accessible to the parents
No matter how good your content is, it will only fulfill its purpose when your target audience is able to access it. Ensure that they receive the blog posts with ease. You may send them notifications, messages, or emails with the link to the blog.
You can also share them on social media to extend your reach. Another way to make sure parents see them is to share them in the places which parents frequent, such as community forums and the academic calendar on your website.
3. Provide a navigation path
To ensure increased and consistent engagement from the parents, educate them on how they can make the most out of blogs. Simple things such as knowing how to search a blog or leave comments can help them authentically engage with you.
Give clear navigation paths to parents via messages and emails. You may also do this in a face-to-face setting. Encourage them to ask questions in case they get stuck at any step. It helps them become a part of a wider blogging community.
4. Publish static information on your blog
Add additional pages to your blog that provide stationary information about your blog and school in general. It can act as an anchor for new readers and even older ones in case they wish to look for something particular.
Create an index of sorts where you explain the goal of the blog and divide content into groups. Add information about how to navigate the blog and how readers can get more involved by way of commenting and sharing.
5. Offer regular opportunities for involvement
Offer opportunities for parents to get more involved with your blog. One of the simplest ways to do this is by ending every blog with a question for them to answer in the comments. They may also share their answers on social media.
Another way to do this is by asking for guest posts by parents that may be published, say, once a month. Keen writers may send in their thoughts, making the blog much more engaging for its audience.
Conclusion
While many schools host blogs on their websites, they often struggle to maintain them or come up with new content. The target audience for your blog is often the parents of the students.
Focus on creating content that keeps them in the loop about the academic year in an entertaining manner. You can also involve them with the blog more by encouraging them to comment and share the blog posts.
If you’d like to know more, don’t forget to get in touch! At School Jotter we love chatting about all things education and how to make it fun!
