Blogging and Childcare Providers - How Can It Help Your Business?

Hey, Daycarematch has a blog.... Here are some thoughts about how childcare providers can use blogs to communicate with parents.

Several years ago, the word “blog” was barely even a commonly used word. Now it seems that everybody has a blog. For those that don’t know, a blog is an online journal where an individual can write about whatever they like, as often or as infrequently as they like. They can be used for many reasons, including as a helpful tool for childcare providers. Here are some guidelines for how to set up a blog, how it could help your business, and some safety precautions.

Blogs have become so popular that there are numerous sites that allow you to set one up for free. Search for the term ‘blog’ and you should discover many sites to choose from. You need minimal computer knowledge since the sites make the initial set-up and adding posts to your blog very easy. Even adding pictures is not that hard. You’ll need to come up with a name for your blog. Using your childcare business name will make it easy for parents to remember.

Once you have your blog set up, how you decided to use it is up to you. You may want to use it mainly to communicate with parents who currently have children in your care. Let them know what you are doing each day, what is coming up, and any announcements they should know about. A blog is a nice way for parents to know what their children do each day, and is a good way for childcare providers to communicate information to all the parents at once. You can remind parents about upcoming events, let them know what the children are working on in each day, and communicate any other information it's helpful for the parents to have. Some providers write an entry each day that summarizes what the kids did that day. That way, parents can read about their child's day.

If you do write about specific children in your care, for safety reasons do not use their full names. Consider using just their initials, or nicknames to identify them. Do not post pictures that show children’s faces. Again for safety, post only pictures that show the children from the back, or other poses in which they cannot be identified. Make sure the parents give permission to use their child's picture.

A blog can also be a powerful tool to let parents looking for childcare to know about the care you provide. They can get an idea of what average days are like at your childcare. The more information you have in your blog, the more likely it is to come up in searches, so parents looking for care may find you by finding your blog in a search.

No matter how you use your blog, remember that it is a representation of you and your business, so keep it professional. Whether you add a post once a day, or once a month, a blog can be a quick and easy way to communicate with both the parents who currently have children in your care, and those who are looking for childcare.