4 Easy Tips to Become a Teacher Blogger (Make Extra Income)
If you are wanting to become a teacher blogger, you’ve come to the right place! Since I have started my Little Learning Corner website, I have received numerous messages asking for tips on how to set up a teacher blog. Starting a blog can be an intimidating process, but if you take it slow, and follow these 4 easy steps, you can become a teacher blogger in no time!
From Teacher to Blogger
I started my career as a classroom teacher right after college graduation. Early childhood education had been my passion since I was a young child myself. I knew I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher to work with young children.
After years in a public school teaching profession, I thought it was a great idea to start a personal blog. My goal was to share my learning experiences, fun ideas, and own personal experience as a mom and full-time teacher. The blog was a great way to share my content with my student’s families. They loved seeing my classroom management style, seeing pictures of their kids working on the common core, samples of student work, and having a quick and easy way to locate my contact info and email address.
After a couple years on a blogging platform, I discovered my true passion was creating for a wider audience – blogging for more than just my student’s parents.
Since I had already began creating resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, I reached out to a few of my favorite tpt sellers. They had amazing education blogs, and said it was a good idea to go from a personal blog to an educational blog.
This way, I can help more early childhood educators, including veteran and new teachers, with useful resources and fresh ideas.
After 17 years teaching, and a couple years blogging, I took the leap of faith. I quit teaching to create the best teaching blog.
Becoming a teacher blogger has been a personal growth journey, and I’m ready to help you on yours! There are days when I have to pinch myself, because I’m finally doing it! I quit my teaching job to become a blogger, and am loving every minute of it! What started off as a part time side hustle has now become my reality!
Whether you want a classroom blog, to become a teacher blogger to make money, or simply highlight your tpt stores and valuable resources, here are the best practice methods to get you started.
Starting a Teacher Blog
First, if you want to start a teacher blog, you will need a blogging platform to share content with a lot of people. Before you know it, your blog will be the best place to build community and offer real value.
When I first starting blogging, and had no idea what I was doing, I choose Blogger as my platform, because it was free. Little did I know, I was comprising security for myself and my readers. When I went from part-time blogging to a full-time teacher blogger making money, I quickly learned about the importance of blogging and tech tools
I have used blogger and wordpress.org, and HIGHLY recommend using wordpress.
Blogger vs. WordPress.org is like comparing apples to oranges. Blogger was basic, but WordPress.org gives you more control over your blogging experience, and WAY better security!
Let’s consider this your first day as a blogger. Don’t get overwhelmed, but stay focused on the end product – a great blog set up and ready for you to show what you’ve got!
First Steps to Become a Teacher Blogger
Let’s not make this more complicated than it has to be. I will list 4 easy steps to get started with a teacher blog, then I will cover each step in greater detail.
- Get a Web Hosting Provider (Bluehost)
- Select a Domain Name
- Install WordPress (Bluehost now does this for you!)
- Write a blog post
1. Get a Web Hosting Provider
Web hosting is a service that allows you to post a website onto the internet. It is where your website will live. Every website needs web hosting. I chose to use Bluehost as my web hosting service provider.
Bluehost provides services that you will need to become a teacher blogger, such as an email account, wordpress installation and support, sitelock security, domain privacy protection, databases, setting up your domain name, and so much more.
Again, don’t be overwhelmed by these terms. Bluehost explains everything!
The 36 month plan is the best value, but you can choose what works best for you, as you are just getting started.
2. Get a Teacher Blogger Domain Name
A domain name is what people type in the address bar to get to your website. Some people set up their own domain name first, but by using bluehost, I was able to do everything through them with ease. When you sign up with Bluehost, you get a free domain name for the 1st year.
As a teacher blogger, you may want to sell your teacher resources online, or blog to stay connected with family and friends about your journey as an educator.
If you are a TPT seller, I suggest using your store name as your domain name. For example, my TPT store is Little Learning Corner, which is also the name of my website.
If you are not a teacher author on Teachers Pay Teachers, you can set up a domain name to best represent yourself as a teacher blogger, such as a classroom nickname.
3. Install WordPress
Bluehost has recently updated their sign-up flow, called Bluerock, to make it even easier for you to become a blogger.
WordPress will now be automatically installed at sign-in without having to go in and manually installing it yourself.
Hellooo, did you read that?
Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you! I can’t stop smiling, because they truly are the best as making this an easy process for you.
I had an amazing web designer set up my website. Jessica, from Burn the Boats Media, did an amazing job incorporating my brand into a lovely wordpress theme.
However, if you are just starting your journey as a blogger, or have no intentions of selling resources online, then I strongly suggest setting up your own theme. Bluehost will walk you through this process.
If you run across any problems, or just need extra guidance, Bluehost support team will walk you right through it.
They promise to have all new bloggers up and running in 30 minutes. I’m telling ya… Bluehost is where you need to start!
4. Writing a Teacher Blog Post
You are an education blogger with lots of valuable knowledge to share and stories to tell. It’s time to get started writing your content. To get started, you will want to click on POSTS – ADD NEW.
Start writing that amazing content to share with others. The more often you write, the more often they will return to your blog to see your content.
Think about your strengths as a teacher. What do you love? What do you want to help others with? Once you know this, you can quickly plan out a series of blog posts.
4 Ways to Making Money at Blogging
If you’re looking for ways to make extra money blogging, you’ll come to a great place. In the near future, I will write additional information on this topic. However, because I don’t want to take up too much time of yours, here’s a quick list at ways I make money blogging.
- Create products or resources to sell.
- Set up an e-commerce store to sell your resources. I use Ecwid and love it.
- Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive high traffic to your blog and resources. I’ve used several SEO tools, but absolutely LOVE using RANKiq.
- Ads: When you drive traffic to your blog, you can begin making money on ads.
- Affiliate Money: I have joined Share a Sale, and love that I can select merchants that are relevant to my field.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, if you want to become a teacher blogger, you can get started today.
The information above is a one-stop shop for setting up a blog, and learning how to make money at blogging.
The biggest takeaway when becoming a teacher blogger is to not focus on the size of your following, but to offer value to those who view you as the expert!
Before you go, here are a few blog posts you may be interested in:
55 Best Virtual Field Trips for Kids
How Fix Printing Problems with Black Boxes
115 Fun Summer Activities for Kids
Teacher Blogger
Donna says
Hi, Sarah! Thanks for this info. Question: Do most TPT sellers who have blogs create their own cute logos using Canva or some other design website or app? I’d love to have a more professional look to my store and blog. Thanks!
admin says
Some TPT sellers create their own logos in powerpoint or using design apps, while others hire digital designers to create a store logo. I hope this helps.
Kiran Mckenzie says
Wow Sarah! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and experience with us on how to set up a blog. Love the clear simple steps and links. You are amazing!
admin says
Kiran, you’ve been the best supporter and friend to me along this journey! I’m here for ya, girl 🙂