A school website can look polished on the surface while problems quietly build behind the scenes. In this episode, Tara shares how school marketers can run a quick technical checkup to see whether their website is truly healthy. From page speed to mobile performance and broken links, you’ll learn the small set of checks that reveal how your site is really performing.

Tara also explains which alerts are actually worth worrying about and which ones aren’t. Not every warning from Google or imperfect score requires immediate action, and understanding the difference can save schools a lot of unnecessary stress.

Episode Highlights

• The website speed benchmark Google recommends
• Why mobile performance matters as much as desktop
• How broken links impact search visibility and user experience
• A simple way to make sure your website forms are still working
• What an SSL security warning really means for visitors
• Accessibility basics school websites should start addressing

Links Mentioned In The Episode:

• GT Metrix
• Google’s Core Web Vitals
• Google PageSpeed Insights
• Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report
• Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
• Screaming Frog
• Broken Link Checker
• UptimeRobot
• WAVE Accessibility Evaluator (free browser extension)
• Color Contrast Checker

In this episode of Mindful School Marketing, Aubrey and Tara sit down with Jason Craige Harris, a strategist, conflict mediator, and mindfulness teacher who works at the intersection of culture, leadership, and institutional life. Jason brings deep wisdom to the conversation about what it truly means to lead with steadiness in uncertain times.

From navigating school crises to making high-impact strategic decisions, Jason shares how resilient leadership begins with inner work. He explains why suppression is not the same as steadiness, why naming emotions actually changes brain chemistry, and how leaders can balance urgency with reflection in their schools.

If you’ve ever felt stretched thin as a school leader, marketer, or team member, this conversation offers both practical tools and grounding perspective.

• Why resilience is not about “powering through”
• How naming emotions reduces reactivity and builds steadiness
• The difference between proactive routines and in-the-moment micro practices
• How anxiety spreads in organizations and how leaders can stabilize a room
• The tension between transactional leadership and relational leadership
• Why schools need both mechanics (strategy, timelines, accountability) and dynamics (listening, reflection, psychological safety)
• The importance of pre-action and post-action reviews for major decisions
• Jason’s “4 S’s” framework: Soul, Story, Strategy, and Steadiness

In this special live episode of Mindful School Marketing, we recorded a panel discussion straight from the Small School Leaders Conference. Tara and Aubrey are joined by experienced independent school marketers who are in the work every day, navigating small teams, limited budgets, and constantly changing expectations.

We are joined by Lori Kriegel (Chief Communications Officer at Wooster School), Andrea Jenkins (Director of Enrollment Management and Marketing & Communications at St. Luke’s Episcopal School), and Barb Doyle (Director of Marketing and Communications at Renbrook School)

This conversation pulls back the curtain on what school marketing really looks like right now. From outsourcing decisions and content systems to AI, paid advertising, and faculty collaboration, this panel shares what’s working, what’s challenging, and how small school marketing teams are adapting in real time.

• What school marketers would outsource first and why data keeps coming up
• Where additional budget would actually go if marketing teams had the choice
• How small schools stay consistent with content without recreating the wheel
• Practical ways marketing teams are using AI for content, research, and strategy
• What paid advertising is working and how schools measure success
• How marketing teams collaborate with faculty to source photos and stories
• Why community and peer networks matter so much in small school marketing roles