How to Grow Your TpT Business with a Teacher Blog

Starting a TpT shop is an amazing endeavor!  But for it to be sustainable, you need to know how to grow your TpT business. So what’s a TpT seller to do?

Well, why not increase your TpT sales and grow your TpT business with a teacher blog?  Now before you run away screaming, “Awesome, another thing to add to my overflowing plate,” let me explain and quantify exactly what I mean by a blog in this particular context.  

I’m not talking about a day in your life, a lifestyle blog, or anything outside of what you create and sell within your TpT shop.  You need to grow your TpT business with a teacher blog that is focused on content related to your products and helps solve the problems of your readers because this will ultimately lead to more eyes on your products and more sales. 

Unfortunately, this is where many blogs break down.  Bloggers who are uncertain about who they serve or unclear on the problems of their readers and customers will struggle to create content that lots of people want to read.

I am a great example. 

When I first started blogging, I decided I wanted to help teachers with my blog.  But instead of focusing on providing solutions to their problems, I just wrote about whatever.  I didn’t have a plan, I had no idea what to write about and I certainly had no idea how to showcase and feature my best TpT resources.

So I got frustrated when I would create great products and no one ever saw them.  Then one day it dawned on me that I was blogging about all sorts of things that were completely irrelevant to the awesome TpT resources I was creating.

Once I finally figured out a more strategic approach, my sales skyrocketed because of the content I was creating to support teachers. 

So, I want to share some of those painstakingly slow realizations in the form of the five most underrated benefits that creating a blog will do for you…and ultimately your TpT shop.

5 Benefits of Starting a Teacher Blog for TpT

1. You can provide teachers with more value

One of the most important things for you to understand as a TpT seller and blogger is what problems your ideal customer/client has and how you can provide the solutions.  Ask yourself questions like…

• What issue is my customer facing?
• How can this product or idea help my customer save time or money?
• What can this product do that other tools or resources can’t?
• What other pain points is my customer having?

While every paying customer likes to know what is included in something they are buying, they are much more interested in the solution the product or resource will provide. 

So the key is to think of as many pain points or problems as possible and provide as many answers or solutions as you can…this even applies to questions they may not know they have!  

But how does this relate to a blog?

It actually has everything to do with a blog.  You see, a blog gives you the bandwidth to share tips, tricks, and helpful hints for how to use your products effectively and how your products will solve the problems of your potential buyers.  

Some of the most lucrative (and money-making) post ideas and topics include…

How to use the product 

Teachers love seeing images of the specific resource in action along with a step-by-step process for how to use the product in the most efficient way possible. 

By pulling back the curtain on how YOU use the product in your classroom with your students is super-valuable to potential buyers…even going so far as to explain why you ended up adding another part to the resource because of something you learned while using it with your students. 

Extension ideas for the product

When I consider purchasing a product on TpT, I like to know how the teacher has the product designed and how she uses it with her students, but I also appreciate additional tips and suggestions for using the resource. 

Blogging about extension or differentiation ideas related to a specific TpT product provides meaningful support for teachers in varying positions (including special education, RTI, or homeschool environments)

Additional links and content

The last type of blog post that teachers who are considering investing in your product like to see is additional links and content posts.  Let’s say you have an alphabet resource and you write a blog post about the resource. 

You can share links to additional products you like to incorporate into the lesson (with affiliate links), books that support learning, links to other great websites or videos that have good info to share.  The key is to curate a one stop shop for your potential buyers so they see you as the go to person.

2. You become an authority

A very important fact that many teachers neglect when they start their TpT journey is how having a blog will get more eyes on their products.  Since TpT has its own “search” functions and is seen as an authority in the eyes of Google, we get the perks of that as sellers on the platform.

But what if you became known as the “guru” of whatever topics and resulting products you choose to create and sell?  Think about how much more money you could make if you were the number one authority.

Having a blog dedicated to content all about “learning to read” means that when someone goes to Google to find resources to help their child learn to read, you will be at the top!  So they find your blog, read your awesome content, and buy your products because you know what you’re talking about.

Of course, this isn’t something that happens overnight or with thin content that’s not helpful.  If you create a blog and consistently publish meaningful, relevant content, Google will begin showing more people and slowly (but surely) you’ll find yourself ranking higher in search.  

This will eventually lead to a thriving TpT business with a teacher blog full of helpful content.

3. You are not dependent on someone else’s platform

If you have worked really hard to build an awesome following on Instagram or Facebook, I want to applaud you because that is not easy!!  But I also want to caution you.  Building your business on someone else’s platform can be risky business.

I want to repeat that a little louder for those in the back…building your business on someone else’s platform is risky business.  Why, you might ask; well, what if something happens to the platform you’re using and it just disappears overnight?  Where will all of your followers go?  Will you be able to find them all again?

Probably not.

I think of the Instagram and Facebook outages that have sent influencers into a tizzy because the hundreds of thousands of followers they depend on for their income are gone in a blink!!

Thankfully for them, Facebook and Instagram have recovered without an issue, but for the space of time when they couldn’t access the platform, they couldn’t connect with any of their followers either.

Now let’s compare that to a blog.

If you want to grow your TpT business with a teacher blog, you have the ability to start an email list and gather all of those followers onto YOUR platform.  Then, you can reach out to those followers at any point because you “own” their email addresses regardless of what happens to any other platform.

Another essential piece of the puzzle is the fact that by having your own platform, you have control over what is said and posted on your site as well as what you do and don’t allow on your platform.  You no longer have to bend to the whims of another person’s preferences or decisions.

Freedom of speech is a gift and one that is protected on your own platform as a blogger.  That is why establishing your own platform to connect with people and share your ideas is the key to a sustainable TpT business.

4. You have an email list

While I briefly touched on this in the last benefit of having your own platform, I wanted to give this particular benefit its own moment in the spotlight because your email list will be your bread and butter.

Having your customers’ email addresses (and those potential customer email addresses) is key to providing more value, special coupon codes, and strategic targeted marketing.

Every digital marketer and entrepreneur on the Internet will talk about how important an email list is for your business…and you will find an infinite number of courses about how to leverage your email list to get more sales.  But to put it into simple terms, having access to customer email addresses is gold.

You can build a relationship and give meaningful help directly to customers based on their purchases, interests, etc. and this will allow you to create repeat buyers who want to buy anything (and everything) you create.

Now, you might be thinking, “This all sounds good, but we can email our followers and customers right on the TpT website without having to create our own site.”  And you would be 100% correct.

We do have the ability to reach out to previous customers and followers through an email/messaging system on TpT, but there are three distinct problems that arise when you only use the TpT messaging system.

1. Using TpT email means you are dependent on the TpT platform

Therefore, if the TpT platform collapses tomorrow, you no longer have access to any of your followers and customers.

2. You don’t actually have access to the email addresses

Because of privacy laws, TpT cannot provide the email addresses of any users to us as sellers, and that’s why it would produce a huge problem if the TpT platform ever shut down or was terminated.

3. Your customers only see these emails once they are on the TpT platform

Unlike standard email providers, the TpT messaging/email system is platform specific…meaning that the emails you send will only be accessible on the TpT site itself.  And if your followers are not in the habit of checking their TpT account frequently, they will most likely miss out on whatever content you want to share.

While the TpT messaging is an awesome way to connect with followers and buyers (and it is certainly another great way to stay in contact with them), it just doesn’t produce the same results as having your own blog and email list.  Ultimately, creating an email list on your platform is going to be the winning approach.

5. You have the option to go into TpT full-time

One of the most exciting things in the world to me is seeing a teacher who started TpT as a side hustle just to make a little bit of money for coffee become a full-time business owner.  Watching people succeed makes me so happy!  

But the hard truth is that pursuing TpT full-time rarely happens without a blog connected to your TpT shop.

You see, as you share meaningful content and helpful resources related to your particular subject matter, you become an authority and Google will continue to show your content to people over time who are searching for what you are creating.  

This is the longevity and long-game approach that helps TpT sellers become full-time entrepreneurs.

And as an added benefit, when you share tools and resources designed to make life easier for your readers and customers, you can become an affiliate for other businesses receiving a small reimbursement for sharing their products/services.

Then you can add multiple streams of income including placing ads on your site, creating courses you sell on your website, or even sharing sponsored content.  The most important thing to note is that your brand needs to be synonymous with quality and good information.  

Remember, growing your TpT business with a teacher blog will cost you some time and it will definitely add another “thing” to your plate.  But, if you approach it strategically, you will gain so much more than you invest. 

By starting a blog to accompany those amazing TpT resources, you are giving potential buyers tons of extra value, specific products in action, answers to their most pressing questions, and  the opportunity to see how your products solve their struggles and problems. 

Trust me, starting a teacher blog for TpT will be one of the best decisions you make for your business.