You love what your school has to offer, and you wish you could scream it from the rooftops. Since you can’t climb a roof to announce the latest about your school every day, you’re now looking to bolster your school’s image through regular online blogs.

Smart thinking. Research shows that more than 19 million students attended universities and colleges in the fall of 2020. The more you blog, the more likely you are to draw these types of students to your campus.

The question is, what makes a blog successful?

Here’s a rundown of the top types of blog posts you should create to add an element of surprise and variety to your school blog.

Let’s jump in!

Types of Blog Posts

A wide variety of blog posts can give today’s college students and even their parents a sneak peek at what makes your institution the best around. This will allow your institution to seem more personable and, in turn, woo more families to your school.

Let’s take a look at the top types of blogs to include on your school blog.

Interviews with Staff

Consider conducting fun, light interviews with employees and staff in a variety of positions. Don’t just interview the dean of your campus’s largest college or the head of your highest-grossing department. Be sure to also interview a smiling employee in one of your school’s dining facilities, as well as a hard-working custodian.

Interviewing staff and sharing their answers in a blog is a great way to make your trade school or college more human. The interviews will also let your future students know who is who before they get to campus.

On top of this, it will give families insights into the types of individuals their students will interact with regularly when they get to campus.

Messages from the School President

You can also connect both current and future students with your institution’s president by scheduling regular blog posts featuring messages from the president.

In these blogs, your school’s president could share details about the latest goings-on as well as their plans for the school. These posts will make your school’s president seem less intimidating and more approachable.

Students’ Success Stories

Yet another way to light up your school blog is to share engaging stories about some of your college students’ successes. For instance, tell a story about a student who started a popular new club on campus. Or, highlight a student who is representing your school at a national competition in their industry, like robotics.

By spotlighting students who have achieved something spectacular, you give these students the kudos they deserve. However, social proof is also added to your institution.

With these blogs, prospective students and their parents will be more inclined to believe that your school’s educational programs are their paths to success. They will then be more motivated to enroll at your school.

School Tradition Spotlight

Perhaps your educational institution has a wonderful or weird tradition that’s unique to your school’s community. Write blogs that will allow current and future students to learn about these traditions’ origins and what makes them so meaningful.

This may further set your institution apart on a local, national, or international level.

How-To Blogs

You can also add variety to your school blog by including how-to blogs on your site. These are some of today’s most powerful blogging archetypes. After all, people often go online to discover how to achieve something, whether it’s changing their oil or getting out of debt.

How-to blogs that work well for college students may include blogs about how to embrace healthy eating as a college student, for example. The blog may highlight the need for students to eat healthy carbs and practice portion control.

These types of blogs will establish your school’s expertise and credibility on all matters related to college students. This may make your school more attractive to prospective students.

Blogs with Lists

These are also effective blogs to add to any trade school, college, or vocational school blog.

With these types of blogs, you would take information and streamline it into a list that is easy for students and their families to read. Your online audience can then share your list post and start applying it.

An example of a list post that may work on your blog is one about the top three items your new students will need for their college classes. Then, your numbered list may include items like highlighters, index cards, and flash drives.

To-Do Lists or Checklists

You may also want to add blog posts featuring checklists or to-do lists to your school’s blog. These are invaluable because your online audience is seeking direction from you. These blogs can answer their questions or put them in the right direction to get their questions answered.

These types of blogs are similar to how-to blogs. However, they take things a step further by showing your readers how to perform an act more efficiently.

For instance, you could write a story about the top tips for studying effectively. Your blog could then emphasize the value of studying with friends and developing a daily study routine.

You may even want to turn your list into a PDF that your readers can print for their convenience. Branding this PDF with your school name or logo will further help you to market your school in an impactful way.

Blog Post Examples to Educate Students

As we mentioned earlier, some of the best school blogs are those designed to teach students how to perform a certain activity.

Let’s go over some more helpful how-to blog topics that students may be inclined to start sharing on their social media sites. Keep in mind that if you use search engine optimization for blogs, or SEO for blogs, properly, this might even boost your school’s website ranking on search engines, like Google.

Tips for Returning to School

This blog topic will always be a goldmine for schools seeking to attract the attention of students. That’s because there’s so much that students have to remember to bring to campus. Your blog can offer all of this information in a single place.

For instance, you could generate blogs on how college students can get back into an effective school routine for the semester. Consider producing a series of blogs leading up to the first day of college.

Easy Student Recipes

Students and their parents may also fall in love with these blogs.

Busy students will appreciate any tips you can provide for preparing delicious meals that don’t require too much of their time. And parents will cherish how invested you are in their children’s health and well-being while they’re away from home for the first time.

To create these kinds of blogs, crowd-source your current students’ favorite recipe ideas. You can easily do this through social media. Then, ask them if you may publish these recipes as part of a blog series.

Be sure to underline some nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan options. This will help you to attract students with a variety of health needs and interests.

Book Review Blog

Another type of blog worth adding to your college blog site is one that highlights the top books for college students to read.

This blog is an awesome way to spark conversations with students about deep topics related to the human condition.

For instance, your blog could call attention to books like George Orwell’s classic novel Animal Farm. This may appeal to students who enjoy learning about political revolutions.

Another book to add to the list includes Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. This book explores engaging topics like adolescent rebellion.

Blog Post Examples to Show Off Your School

In addition to using your blog site to educate students and their families about topics they might find interesting and useful, consider posting blogs that dive into what makes your school appealing.

Here are a few reputation-boosting blog topics worth exploring on your school blog.

Tours of Classrooms

Consider taking your students on a detailed tour of your school’s classrooms with photos and words. These types of tours will show potential students what they’ll be part of if they enroll in one of your school’s programs.

Feel free to use statistics and quotes in these blogs to keep readers excited and engaged.

Club Updates

Another way to put your school on display on your blog site is to generate blog posts about various societies or clubs on campus.

Ask the leaders of various clubs to provide summaries of what they do, who their clubs are for, and reasons for joining their groups. Then, post this information on your school’s blog site to encourage current and future students to sign up.

Sporting Team Insight

Perhaps your school’s athletic program is a major part of your institution’s success and notoriety. Be sure to highlight your various sports programs through interviews with coaches and student-athletes.

This will help you to engage with current students as well as future students and their families. It will also allow you to connect with community members who simply love watching your students play.

Your school’s alumni will also enjoy staying up to date on how your sports teams are performing, as well as the personalities behind the programs.

Blog Post Examples to Address Issues Students Face

Finally, don’t forget to share blogs on your site that tackle the serious issues that today’s college students want to include in their discussions. Let’s go over some of these dialogue-sparking blog topics.

Inclusivity and Diversity

Your blog can be a wonderful way to address diversity — a subject that has become increasingly important to Gen Z and Millennial college students and professionals.

Be sure to discuss diversity through multiple dimensions, including gender, race, orientation, and identity. You can do this by sharing blogs about the activities (e.g., training and cultural organizations) that both your leaders and your current students are doing to promote diversity on campus.

Mental Health

This is another topic that is important to highlight in your blog given that 64% of students who drop out of college cite mental health challenges as the reason.

Your blogs can make college students and their families aware of your mental support options, like student counseling, on campus. In this way, your readers will know where they can seek help if student life becomes overwhelming.

Sexual Assault

You may also want to call attention to this topic on your school’s blog site, as sexual assault cases at the university level often go unreported. These cases may range from rape to unwanted touching. Sadly, one out of five college women experience this type of assault.

Use your blog site to show readers how to be safe on your college campus, including being aware of their alcohol intake. Your blog can also tell readers which school authorities to report instances of sexual assault to.

How We Can Help

The top types of blog posts that can improve your school’s image include students’ success stories and messages from the school president. You can also attract more students through blogs that educate your students, show off your institution, and address the issues that students face.

Fortunately, at Local Finder, we take pride in helping colleges, trade schools, and vocational schools become authorities in higher education through high-level marketing in Pasadena, CA.

Get in touch with us to learn more about how our blog content marketing services can help you attract more students in the semesters ahead.