Over 80% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing, with another 69% investing in search engine optimization (SEO). About 67% say content marketing generates leads. In fact, content marketing generates more than three times more leads than outbound strategies.

With a strong strategy, you can use your school blog to generate more traffic to your school’s website. More people will learn about your school, enabling you to generate more leads.

Not sure how to develop your content marketing strategy to direct traffic to your blog? Read on for the tips you need for success today!

Research Your Readers

One of the biggest content marketing mistakes you can make is assuming you understand your audience. Instead of writing about what you think makes your school look good, it’s important to write about what students want to read.

First, define who you’re trying to reach by researching your students. Perhaps you’re trying to reach their parents instead. Create distinct buyer personas if you’re trying to reach multiple audiences.

Determine what your readers are interested in. Consider what questions they’re asking, too. Then, create blog content that provides your readers content they want.

In fact, over 70% of people get annoyed when website content doesn’t match their interests. Use your research to create personalized content for your readers.

About 98% of marketers say personalization advances relationships. It could boost your marketing ROI by eight times, too.

Researching your audience can help you determine a specific focus for your school’s blog as well. For example, maybe you want to cover current events, your school’s culture, or class-specific topics.

Organize your blog by creating categories and subcategories. Readers will then have an easier time finding the information they want to read.

Gather Keyword Research

Before you develop your content marketing strategy, gather keyword research. Keyword research can help you determine what your readers search to find your content online. You can use SEO to appear for those keywords by creating content that targets those keywords.

For example, perhaps many of your students search “how to choose a major.” You can create a blog post covering this topic to appear for this search term.

When building a list of target keywords, look for long-tail keywords. These longer phrases (which feature four or more words) are more precise. Otherwise, a short-tail keyword, like “school,” can make it difficult for you to determine the reader’s exact interest.

For each long-tail keyword on your list, choose a few related keywords and synonyms. When writing content, don’t stuff the post with a single keyword. Instead, use these secondary keywords to help Google gain a better understanding of the content.

Research Other Schools

You can also learn more about your target audience by researching competing trade schools and colleges. Take a look at their most recent blog posts. What topics do they cover?

Make a note of the blog posts that have generated the most engagement. Try to determine what keyword the post is targeting. You’ll usually find the post’s target keyword in the title and URL.

Update Your School Website

Improving the user experience (UX) on your website can yield conversion rates of up to 400%. It’s also essential if you want to improve your search engine rankings. Google reviews the UX of your website to ensure you’re providing the best possible experience.

If your school blog is on an old, slow, insecure website, it’s time for a change! Make sure your website is:

Google will check the mobile version of your website first before determining your organic rankings. Run your site through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to ensure it’s optimized for mobile users.

About 85% of adults think a business’s mobile website should be as good as or better than the desktop version. Bad mobile optimization annoys 48% of users, which could encourage visitors to leave. If they leave without exploring additional pages, your website’s bounce rate will increase.

As your website bounce rate increases, your organic rankings could drop. Future students might not find your blog content during online searches if you’re not on the first page.

Make sure your school website appeals to Google’s Core Web Vitals to offer the best possible user experience.

Create Helpful, Engaging Content

Create a content marketing calendar to remain organized. Google looks for fresh content when determining rankings. Make an effort to post new content throughout the year.

Creating a content marketing calendar can also help you determine if there are gaps in your schedule. If you’re struggling to create content alone, consider gathering a group of students, alumni, and teachers to help. Building a team of writers can help you share content that appeals to different readers.

Prioritize quality over quantity as you start creating blog content, though. Make sure you’re providing readers with useful, actionable information.

Add EAT (expertise, authority, trustworthiness) to your content to boost your credibility. Establishing your credibility can encourage readers to trust your school. It could encourage them to visit your blog for more content in the future.

Polls and quizzes are forms of interactive content you can use to boost engagement.

Try to end your blog posts with a call to action. For example, you can encourage readers to subscribe to your email newsletter. Generating subscriptions can help you draw readers back to your blog in the future.

Improve the Readability

Before posting any of your blog content online, make an effort to improve the post’s readability. Most people skim through blog posts, searching for the information they want. Improving the post’s readability can keep people engaged with the content.

If it’s difficult to read, they could leave, causing your bounce rate to increase.

Instead, start using smaller sentences and paragraphs. This technique will add white space around the text, making it easier to read.

Make sure you’re using easy-to-read fonts on your website, too. Add line spacing or change the font size if necessary.

You can run your blog posts through tools like HemmingwayApp.com to further improve the readability. Avoid passive voice or run-on sentences.

Otherwise, always have someone read over your content for you. You can also read each sentence aloud to make sure it’s easy to understand. Try to use a conversational voice to keep the reader engaged.

You can also capture and maintain their attention by adding visuals to your posts. Share images, videos, infographics, or other visual elements to add more substance to the content.

Optimize for SEO

Search engine optimization can help your blog content rank on the first page of results for relevant searches. It can also help you appear in front of locals, allowing you to reach nearby students.

In fact, 46% of all Google searches are local. Meanwhile, over 90% of all experiences online start with a search. Search engines drive 300% more traffic to website content than social media marketing, too.

First, always choose a target keyword before you begin writing a post. Otherwise, the content might sound awkward if you try to add a keyword after the fact.

The SEO title and meta description will appear on search engine result pages during the user’s search. Make sure it’s engaging and relevant to their search intent. Otherwise, they won’t click on it.

Generating more clicks will boost your clickthrough rate, which can help improve your organic rankings.

Google users are also using Google Images to find photos and content. Optimize your images for searches by updating the file name and alt text with the target keyword.

If you need help creating SEO-optimized blog content to generate more blog traffic, consider working with an experienced marketing agency this year. They can help you improve your online rankings, allowing you to generate more brand awareness and traffic.

Help Google better understand your website content by adding internal links to your posts. Internal links send readers to other pages on your website. For example, you can direct them to a relevant blog post, an enrollment page, or the Contact page.

Add external links to your content, too. External links send readers to studies, data, or other blog posts on other websites. You can use external links to boost your brand’s credibility.

Generate Backlinks

Backlinks appear on other websites before sending readers to your school website. Each backlink is a vote of confidence in your content. The more backlinks a post generates, the more likely its search engine ranking will improve.

You can generate backlinks by guest blogging on other websites your readers already trust. Guest posts can help you generate more referral traffic. You can add a link to your school blog within the post to direct readers to your content.

Otherwise, reach out to other blogs or influencers within your industry. Tell them you want to write a post you think might appeal to their target audience.

Promote Your Content

Once you begin creating fresh content for your school blog, have a distribution plan.

For example, you can send a weekly or bi-monthly newsletter to email subscribers. Email marketing can help you remain top-of-mind with continuous engagement.

Make sure to add a lead generation form on your website to make it easy for readers to opt in.

You can also share your blog content on social media. Make sure you’re choosing platforms your readers already spend time on. For example, if you’re trying to reach teachers, consider LinkedIn.

If you’re trying to reach younger students, consider formatting your content for Instagram or TikTok. Then, use a link to the blog post to generate more blog traffic.

There are also tools and plugins you can use to automatically share your posts online.

You’re not limited to sharing a post once! Instead, share different snippets, use different captions, or switch out the images when promoting your blog content. You could get a second chance to attract a reader to your website.

Add a social sharing plugin to your school blog to encourage your readers to share the posts with their audiences, too.

Review the Data

Determine which blog posts are generating the most traffic or engagement. Consider which topics you covered or which keywords you targeted. Make a note of the post format you used as well.

Then, use the data you collect to start making changes to your content marketing strategy. Give your readers more of what they want! Changing your content marketing strategy over time will help you find ways to make improvements.

Start Attracting More Traffic to Your School Blog Today

Learning how to generate more traffic to your school blog could prove crucial to your enrollment rates. Use these easy tips to give your content marketing strategy an upgrade. Then, keep updating your strategy over time to generate even more traffic in the future.

Remember, you don’t have to develop your content marketing strategy alone. We’re here to help.

Contact our agency today to learn more about generating traffic to your school’s website!

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Top Tips to Boost Traffic to Your School Blog