Having a blog is a great way to increase traffic and generate more sales for your TpT store. It will get you more eyeballs on each product, create more opportunities to sell, and help you build authority and name recognition.
To learn more about WHY you need to start a blog, click here.
There are two ways to start a blog: the free way and the paid way.
The Free Route
There are several free platforms to choose from for starting a blog. The three big names are Wix, WordPress, and Blogger. All are easy to use, have good tutorials to help you get started, and have good looking themes.
With the free platforms, you can get a lot of good traffic to your TpT products, advertise your social media platforms, and help build brand recognition. However, there are some limitations.
Limitations of the Free Route
Free blogs do not let you choose your own domain name. So you cannot be TeachCreateSell.com (this website) you would have to be TeachCreateSell.wordpress.com or teachcreatesell.blogspot.com
Customizing your free blog is very difficult (if not possible), which will seriously hamper the number of options you have on your blog.
Finally, you are not able to monetize your blog on some of the platforms or in some ways, such as Google Ads or Amazon Affiliate links. Make sure to read the terms of service when starting, usually, TpT links are okay – but make sure to check before beginning.
Which Provider Should You Choose?
If I were to recommend one over the other, it would depend on my plans. If I were going to stay on a free account for all of time, I would choose Blogger since it is owned and operated by Google. If my plan was to eventually convert to a paid account, I would start with WordPress as it is the most commonly used website designer (almost a third of all websites on the internet are a WordPress website). It is the most common because it is the easiest to use and has the most options for customization.
The Paid Route
The advantage to paying for a blog or webpage is that you’ll have greater control over your page. You will be able to download plugins, you won’t be limited by the service provider, and monetization will become much easier. You will also be able to have your own domain name, like www.TeachCreateSell.com
How To Get Started
First, decide if you want to pay for webhosting or use a free version mentioned above. Paying for a website will cost you a few dollars a month for the first year. I do recommend BlueHost, which can be purchased for $3.95 a month by clicking here.
If you choose the free route, go to the provider’s webpage and signup for a free account.
If you’re choosing the paid route, go to BlueHost.com and check to see if the domain name you want is available (click the domain button in the top menu).
If your domain is not available, it will show you several other options such as similar names or choosing things like .net instead of .com
After choosing your domain name, you will complete your purchase which will also get you BlueHost web site hosting, security, and one-click WordPress install.
What’s Next
From here, it’s a matter of selecting a theme and registering your website with Google. You can join my video-based, online course on how to start your blog to get help with all of this.
Should You Pay for a Theme?
A theme is the overall appearance of your website. With your theme comes what your page full of blog posts will look like, how the menus will appear, the color scheme, fonts, and more. After creating your website you will be asked to pick a theme.
You should NOT purchase a theme from the theme library. Instead, use one of the many free themes that will get the job done and look just fine.
Setup Your Website
After selecting your domain name and theme, you will need to get busy with the work of customizing your webpage. What pages do you want to appear in the top menu option? (Look at the top menu on this website, I have an ‘about me’ page, a link to my free product that I use to collect email addresses (the free ebook), a link to my blog (that’s an automatic), and a link to my featured product- my online course. Since you are just starting you may want to start with an about me page, a link to your TpT store, and a blog.
You will also need to think through your sidebar menu, your footer menu (bottom of the page), and what you will have on your homepage.
Now What?
After setting up your website, you need to start writing blog posts.
You want your posts to be helpful to the reader. They should teach the reader how to do something. But you also want to link to your TpT products.
For example, I have a post on different ways to teach students how to add integers. In that post, I do link to several of my TpT products. But the reader does not need to purchase something to benefit from having read the article.
Here’s another example: I sell a worksheet for teachers to use in their class as they show students episodes of Shark Tank. In the blog post, I go over the benefits of showing this TV series to your math classes, when you should use this option, and how to make it a beneficial experience. At the end of the blog post I tell the reader that if they want my premade worksheet they can buy it on TpT for a low price. Now, in the blog post, I’ve basically given the reader everything they need to create the worksheet themselves. So purchasing the worksheet from me is just a time saver. But I’ve laid out a compelling case in the blog post – which increases my chance of a sale.
If your blog post can paint the picture of how your product will make the reader’s life better (or their students’ lives better) you will have a good chance of converting some readers into buyers. So talk about the problem that your product solves, or show how great their class will be with it.
Start Today
Join my class to begin your blog journey as you help more teachers and make more money.
