3 Reasons to Keep Your School Website Skills Current

SHORTCUTS

1. Training saves time - training is a time INVESTMENT.

2. Training builds confidence - confidence = speed. “Easy when you know how” once you know you can pass that knowledge on to others and delegate tasks

3. Training allows you to use tools more powerfully - without training you will never get past basic day to day activities. Once they are easy because you have invested your time, built confidence you can move on to use more advanced tools which will make your website more engaging for your audience

Below is a full transcript of thje conversation between China and Ian in this month’s podcast episode. Together we’re exploring how vital it is to be right up to date with the training from your chosen website software and provider.

FULL NOTES AND TRANSCRIPT >>

DOWNLOAD THE SHOWNOTES/WORKSHEET HERE

Welcome to the Schudio podcast!

We're continuing a series on the Best School Websites in 2023 - Part 2. This is something I'm really quite passionate about because I know that we can get bogged down in all the things that we have to do with our websites, all the compliance stuff, and all the things we need to put on there. But actually, some of the stuff that's really great about working with schools and managing school websites is that you get to use the technology that's in your hands to have really impactful relationships with everybody in the school community.

If you get it right, technology can be a very powerful partner. 

Parental partnership and good relationships, you know this much better than I do, and of course, for the success of your school, we know that you work incredibly hard at nurturing those relationships. 

In this episode we look at two types of communication generally used in schools. Then we look at how we should be communicating. Finally,  we look at some of the things you definitely need to keep in mind to make sure that your efforts are worthwhile.

DOWNLOAD THE SHOWNOTES/WORKSHEET HERE

Below are 5 practical ways to achieve this - strong processes help us avoid distractions and increase focus ...

1/ Start with your 'not to do list'

One of the most impactful decisions we can make in any position of leadership is what we say "no" to. To become more efficient in your website management you need to make smart decisions about what you spend your time creating and posting. What actually needs doing? If it doesn't need doing, don't waste your time on it!

Use the attached template to prioritize your your work and decide what you will NOT do, before you get to work on what you will do.

2/ Remove what needs doing from your head

The action of writing down what needs doing removes the strain from your brain, clears your head and enables you to focus on doing the task at hand. We use Asana for every task we complete. If a task is not in Asana, or in any other task list, then it doesn't get done. By sticking to that principle we give ourselves permission to not think about a task that needs to be done until we need to get it done. It makes us more efficient and better at focusing on the task.

You could simply make a note of the 3 things you want to get done today. It doesn't have to be hi-tech or fancy, it just needs to work.

3/ Decide on clear, actionable steps

Think about the next step. This is especially helpful if you are facing a big project and you don't know when to start. Break down what needs doing into simple, clear, actionable steps. You will find yourself getting small tasks done, and over time they will accumulate into a significant impact.

4/ Prioritise

Here is a rule I try to follow: "Just because a problem is urgent doesn’t mean it’s important."

Of course, we need to deal with issues as they come up. There are things we can't ignore. As much as you're able, stick to the rule that important trumps urgent.

5/ Build momentum

We have talked about the flywheel before. The idea is that by consistently completing important, smaller tasks we build momentum that results in a much bigger impact. Keep out the distractions and focus on completing what needs doing to take small steps towards your goal. Do it consistently. Then, watch the results.

In more and more conversations, I'm having with school leaders and those of you who are looking after school websites, there are a number of trends that I'm hearing repeatedly. And I'm not sure if any of this resonates with you: a sense of isolation and loneliness; a sense of being mostly on your own at work. It is quite unusual for there to be a number of people working on the engagement and marketing side of things within schools, particularly in primary or elementary schools.

In this episode of the School Marketing & Communications Podcast, I explore the strategies I employ to maintain a lean team, work efficiently and manage a strong work-life balance ... something we're all in need of more and more.

To go deeper, download the podcast show notes and join me for our next live session where I'll be going in to much more detail about how powerful these strategies can be. 

WORKSHOP: Powerful processes for School Website Managers

This workshop is available for a one off cost of £29 and included for all Community+ members.

It's no overstatement when we say that these three tenets of school website compliance ease the burden of insuring your websites up to date all year around. What school leaders have told us when they know that their website information is up to date that they're confident about that, that the quality of education in school is being evidenced through the

website consistently the pressure is lifted enormously. You absolutely have the power to achieve the same goals one of the other things that came out in the same conversation was the best schools, website wise, are the best schools. The best schools, website wise are the best schools and you do have the power to make that difference because what we find is that successful schools do consistently what others do occasionally. So how do we go about making sure that you are doing things that you need to do consistently rather than occasionally. How do you make that happen?

How do you take the steps from having to remember all these things that you need to do from a compliance point of view?  How do you go from that to actually having a plan in place that you know you can follow that you know is going to do what you need to do, what you need to do when you need to do it? How do you do that?

Podcast Notes

To get the most out of our first episode, download the podcast notes to use as you listen.

Graphics for you

If you want to share a quote from last month's episode on social media, check out these graphics. Tag @schudioschoolwebsites, and we might repost you!

Join us for our next LIVE workshop

Join us on November 22 for a live workshop discussing in depth the topics raised in this month's podcast episodes. I'll be teaching you how to implement processes to save time and ease stress.

BOOK YOUR PLACE >>

P.S. Join The School Marketing & Communications Community today for free access to this workshop and all future online workshops

One way or another you WILL show your website visitors who you are and what you are about as a school. You can either do it deliberately through concerted, consistent efforts or blindly and with no strategic approach. But, be assured, visitors will be left in no doubt as to what you're about based on what they discover when they visit your website. 

Whether we're talking about the legal school website requirements or attracting new students, the best school websites in 2023 will be those that take consistent steps toward best practice.

Step 1: Take an accurate & honest audit of where you are

Step 2: Create a plan

Step 3: Use the tools available to you

There is a range of tools and resources available to schools at no or low cost that can make all the difference. Here are some of our favourites:

• Schudio School Website Requirements Guide [FREE - updated annually and when requirements change, designed for every school to make compliance clear and easy]
• School Website Compliance Software [Low Cost / Inc in Website Packages from Schudio]
• School Social Media Management Software [Low Cost - great for posting to all your social media channels in one place]
• Asana [One of the best project management and task manager systems around, one we have been using for over 10 years to manage all our operations and highly recommend]
• Canva  [We always include Canva in any list of recommendations because it is a hugely helpful tool to any organisation. Canva is a fantastic tool to help anyone, no matter the skill level, make graphics, banners, social post and so much more very easily and quickly]

Your next step should be to download The School Website Requirements Guide to make sure you have all the information you need and you're right up to date.