In blogging, there is no surefire way to ‘guarantee’ success. Sure, there are plenty of ways that you can maximise your chances of success, but you simply can’t guarantee it. The online environment is just too unpredictable, there are so many variables, and, at the end of the day, how can you guarantee that people will like your content, warm to you, and keep on coming back to your blog? Put simply, you can’t.

So, with that in mind, instead, you should look to the blogging experts if you are in search of insider info to boost your traffic, grow your readership and establish your brand.

A Constantly Evolving Environment

One of the most hotly-debated topics surrounding blogging is the importance of images. In the past, way back when, images were seen to be rather second-rate, something only to be spared an occasional thought when times were slow. In the early days of blogging, it was your content that ruled the roost. Text-heavy posts and plenty of keyword-stuffing went on, but these great blocks of text weren’t always particularly user-friendly.

As SEO tactics have become more complex over the years, the blogging landscape has also experienced a shift. Nowadays, there is far more creative freedom when it comes to blogging. From designs, themes and layouts to photos, graphics, images and video, the actual text content itself can often end up being overlooked when compared to everything else vying for attention.

Of course, since the way that audiences consume blogs and online content has also changed, as has the way that Google and other search engines read, analyse and index your blog, this shift isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

But with the user experience taking an increasingly dominant role in blogging, is it time for visual to really come into its own and rise to the forefront?

Images, Graphics, Themes and More

From arty photographs and carefully-styled shoots to eye-catching graphics and your blog’s overall theme, it is undeniable that creative freedom is everything when it comes to the visual side of the blog. It’s a simple fact that if a particular blog looks good, people are more likely to want to keep reading and come back in the future – no matter how good the content is, if the blog doesn’t look up to standard, then people aren’t going to stick around.

As well as contributing to the overall look and feel of your blog, the visual aspect can also be highly useful when it comes to creating your own personal brand. Designing a brand, whether it is something as simple as sticking to the same font and colour scheme or something more detailed, can be beneficial when it comes to defining your individual brand identity and promoting future growth.

In addition, you can use the same graphics and visuals across the entirety of your online portfolio to help drive traffic and ensure your brand is instantly recognisable. From your blog to your social media channels, presenting a clear, attractive visual theme is sure to work in your favour.

If you aren’t much of a design whizz yourself, there are plenty of step-by-step beginner’s tutorials online, or alternatively, you could look into a banner maker or consider purchasing pre-existing themes and graphics which you can then easily customise before use. Check this site for more information and design inspiration.

If your content is up to scratch but your blog is going nowhere, it may well be time to consider investing in the future with a refresh to the look of your blog and brand.

The post Are Visuals the Key to a Successful Blog? appeared first on Tech Web Space.

Millennials are generally regarded to be the spearhead for this evolvement and, as the generation begins to have children of their own, schools are being forced to keep up with the times. Ten years ago, school websites were generally regarded as being somewhat bland, and it’s arguably down to the fact that the audience expected nothing else than a simple webpage with snippets of information and contact information.

Now, though, audiences have a far greater expectancy of a website. The site must immediately capture the audience’s attention, all while striking the correct balance of content. With websites now being developed to fit a much smaller screen, while incorporating many more features than just a few short years ago, it has created a challenge for schools who seek to appeal to a new generation of parents.

What do Millennials Want in a Website?

Professionalism is important, it always has been, but in the modern day it is equally important for businesses to project an air of personality. Research claims that the average attention span in the modern human is now below that of a goldfish – 8.25 seconds compared to nine seconds. That figure is considerably less than the 12-second attention span as recent as 2000.

Media is now more easily accessible and competition has grown fiercer. Quite simply, if your website is not giving the audience a reason to stay with it from the moment they land on the page, you are missing out. This means that schools must look beyond their academic values and reach out to parents and students’ social values, discussing matters that are important on a personal level.

Content should be concise and interesting, yet informative. As per Not Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use, 49% of users read less than 111 words on a web page, while the average length of videos watched is 2.7 minutes. It is clear that, as millennials have grown older, visual methods of marketing such as videos and images have become more important.

Portraying the School

As well as attracting parents of potential students by making the website more user-friendly, the website should also be a clear reflection of the school. Going back to the point that more visual methods are known to be more effective amongst millennials, by keeping their interest for longer periods, schools would do well by including videos of activities and/or guided tours of the premises.

Videos on landing pages of children enjoying themselves and learning project the right image in a way that is most likely to retain the audience’s attention. As well as this, this also portrays an air of transparency that may not have always been the case in the past.

By welcoming the user inside of the building (in a matter of speaking), the user feels more connected with the school and its values. Here, they can see the school’s value put into action which, as we know, speaks louder than words.

Navigation

This goes for any and all sectors – the navigation of a website should be seamless and not leave the user guessing as to where to go to find information. For example, if the user wishes to find contact information for a specific head of thedepartment, the user journey should be as simple as possible.

Where many schools make mistakes is by only including one point of contact for the entire facility. One of the primary factors of website design for schools is for the user, which is likely to be a parent, to be able to get in touch as easily as possible.

As school websites are not built on an e-commerce platform, it can be difficult to determine a conversion rate without asking each parent individually how they first found and/or decided on the school. Through Google Analytics, goal tracking can be implemented on contact/thank you pages once a request or message has been sent, but this may not take into consideration any requests made by parents of existing students.

Information for Parents/Guardians of Existing Students

As well as acting as the school’s primary form of marketing to attract new students, the website should also be seen as a resource for information and communication. Just 10 years ago, the main form of contact between teachers and parents was letters handed out to the class to pass on, or infrequent chats before and after school.

Now, as millennials have become parents, and teachers, too, the way in which we consume information has changed. Emails are now the most used form of communication, with the average person checking their boxing once every couple of minutes. School newsletters, then, are an obvious tool to adopt and giving parents/guardians the opportunity to sign up via the website is a no-brainer.

It also makes sense for school bulletins and term dates to be included on the website for users that consume most of their information electronically. Millennials are far more likely to click on the website via their smartphone as opposed to rooting around for hard copy letters.

Embracing Change

While the way in which we browse the internet and consume media has changed, many of the actual decision-makers’ habits do not match that of the audience. School governors are often seen to be more ‘traditional’ and may not fully embrace has technology has involved, largely because they do not understand it themselves.

As part of the board of directors/governors/or anyone responsible for making the decisions, there should be someone who can directly relate and act as the voice for parents/guardians. Long gone are the days when schools can rely on simple word of mouth and, if they don’t embrace technology, they will be left behind.

The post How School Websites Must Change for Millennials appeared first on Tech Web Space.