Blogs are Easy to Use, Versatile, and Interactive As a communication tool, a web log, or blog, can offer features that an ordinary website cannot. It is an excellent way for dance studio owners and teachers to interact and communicate with students, parents, other teachers, and potential customers. Because updates on a blog can be automatically converted to an RSS feed, they can be sent immediately to anyone that has subscribed to the feed.

How Do I Receive Information From a Blog?

There are a number of methods for subscribing to a blog feed which will enable your students and parents to receive every update you post in an email, through online tools, or even on mobile devices. The information comes to them almost instantly.

Your parents and students will appreciate the effort you make in reaching out to them with the technology that is so prevalent in their world. Even if many of them do not yet know or understand much about a blog, they will quickly value and adapt to the flow of conversation and information that you are making available to them through its use.

What Are Some Ways To Use A Blog?

Registering at a site that hosts free blog-space is relatively painless, and it is easy to update posts and pages. You may already have a studio website with static pages of information that don't change often. In this case, a blog can simply be an extension of that site - a source of news and information about your school.

Posts may include things like reminders, schedule changes, rehearsal times, etc. They can also incorporate items normally found in your studio's handbook that need to be reiterated throughout the year. Although not a replacement for a traditional handbook, these communications are more likely to be read, remembered, and acted upon because they are received as a short reminder and not smothered within a larger whole.

But I Don't Even Have My Own Studio Website Yet!

If you do not already have a studio website, it is good to know that it is possible for a blog to actually replace a traditional website. Unlike regular posts which are continuously "rolled" downward in visibility with each new entry that is added, some blog platforms allow you to create static pages. Pages on a blog can contain information that does not change often (teacher bios, policies, your mission statement, etc.) and are placed where they are accessible at all times.

Other platforms have spaces, usually in a stationary sidebar on the website, in which information or links can be placed. However, these do not hold large amounts of information. Therefore, a platform which offers pages may be preferable for studios in which the blog will be not only a place to get news updates, but to get all necessary information about the school.

Free blogs are quite customizable with widgets to add to the site that will enhance its usefulness for you and your readers, including gadgets that make it possible to search the archives (or, past posts) of your blog, view video or photo slideshows, and sample the feeds of other news websites or blogs.

What Other Uses Would I Have For A Blog?

The above ideas are really just the tip of the iceberg. Studios can also use their blog as a teaching tool. In traditional teaching there are so many things to cover beyond technique and study of a particular dance style. History, anatomy, current dance events, classroom etiquette, how to get a good fit on shoes, books, dance movies or performances to share - there is so little time in each class to fit it all in!

Blogging offers an opportunity to put this supplemental information into words and into a space where they can be read, re-visited, and remembered. By facilitating this type of information on a studio's blog, the studio owner directly supplies their students with online tools, articles, and more.

I Don't Have Time To Write A Blog!

Even if you, as a studio owner, don't have time to write entire articles, linking to other sites and resources is simple and not nearly as time consuming. Also, because it is possible to set up some blogs to accommodate multiple authors, your teachers could be featured contributors to the site, writing posts to which students and parents could then comment or respond. Students or parents could submit entries or be contributors as well, sharing where to get info online about a particular dance artist, writing reviews for the latest dance movie or concert, or telling about experiences they had at a competition or conference.

Your blog could function much like a school newsletter or magazine, except that it would be interactive and without printing costs. The sky and your imagination is truly the limit!

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Nichelle Strzepek holds a B.A. in Dance from Slippery Rock University, has taught and performed professionally for over 10 years and has danced nearly all of her life. Her inspiration for beginning a blog was fueled by her desire to maintain a connection to dance and "teach" outside of a studio classroom when she first became a mom a little over a year ago.

A love of writing and passion for sharing her love and knowledge of dance keeps the flame burning as she continues to explore the world of internet technologies. Her blog, Dance Advantage presented its inaugural post in April 2008 and has grown rapidly in that short time.

As she balances motherhood, a performing and teaching career, she hopes to expand her achievements as a writer as well. Nichelle lives in Houston, TX and you can find out more about her and read her blog at DanceAdvantage.net

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