The Ultimate Blog Podcast - Your Summer Roadmap: How Teachers Can Start a Profitable Blog

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

Are you a teacher who wants a better way to make some extra money, or a creative outlet that helps people? Blogging might be perfect for you – and summer is a great time to get started. Tune in to hear why teachers are uniquely positioned to start profitable blogs, how to set yourself up for success this summer so you can maintain your blogging business year-round, and what resources you can use to get started. ☀️Get the Summer Startup Checklist🔗Start your blog today→ Join The Ultimate Blog Roadmap🏫 Register for the Teacher Seller’s SummitDo you love this podcast? Say thanks by leaving a positive review and/or rating!  🔗Click here and check out the show notes for this episode!

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reinicki. And I'm Jennifer Draper. Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice.

Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. Today, we want to talk to those of you who are teachers. And if you're not a teacher, consider sending this episode over to someone that you know, who is a teacher who might just find a little inspiration with this. Maybe it's somebody who's, you know, looking for either a side hustle or just something to do this summer that makes them feel good, quite honestly, and gives them a new sense of purpose. Summer usually comes with the opportunity that gives teachers a little bit more breathing room than what they're used to during the school year.

And I know the teachers that I know, it's a time to ask yourself the question of like, how do I want this next year to look like? Or how can I organize? Or what else can I do? And I do know a lot of teachers who do things on the side, whether that is tutoring, a lot of them have part-time jobs and things like that. And really what the purpose of this episode is, is to help you understand that we want you to utilize

what you already have with InsideU and potentially turn that into a blog-based business that can work for you, even when you're not working on it as much during the school year, and that's really the goal. So we do want to show you today how blogging can be that really important foundation of something real, something that you are building and something that is yours. Scalable, sustainable business that has your expertise, it has your ideas and your voice, and it doesn't have to just be about teaching. It can be about anything that you are passionate about. So we are going to dive right into that foundation and Jennifer is going to kick us off there. Yeah, we are so excited to do this episode today because it's getting released right

before most people get out of school for the summer. And we just thought this was a really good time to reach out specifically to people who did this amazing job of teaching our children. But we also know that often there's something more that they want. Like Amy said, they might have side hustles, other jobs. So we want to put something else out in front of you guys because what we know is you guys are uniquely leveraged with the kind of expertise you have to be able to create another business. And I think it's just something that people don't always think about or understand. I know I've sometimes talked to some of my teacher friends and they haven't really been exposed to this opportunity. So we thought this would be a really fun idea today to talk about all the different possibilities. So teachers, you guys are already experts. You're experts

in whatever your current job is because you might be teaching preschool, you might be teaching elementary age kids, you might be teaching a specific subject like English or math. Whatever you're doing is already setting you up for success when it comes to starting your own business. Because when it comes to blogging, just having that specific niche can be really helpful because you are kind of the authority on the topic and you're going to be able to help other people in a variety of different ways. So as a teacher, you're already creating content. I mean, you create lesson plans and you explain things to people so that they can clearly understand it. You guide people through learning

different things. And that's a lot about what blogging is. It's teaching, it's sharing, it's helping, it's helping somebody understand something. So you are so uniquely created for this type of a business opportunity. And so as a teacher, your skills can translate into writing blog posts, creating email content, creating digital products. You're so creative. You're going to be able to tackle all these different things that come along with having a blog. And having a blog, what we want to talk about today is how it can open doors to creating different income streams for you. As teachers, often you're probably looking for like, can I create some worksheets and sell them on Teachers Pay Teachers? What are the different

opportunities out there? And so we just wanted to present that to you as how a blog as your foundation can help you open up some of those different streams of income like affiliate marketing. You could have a blog that gets traffic and has ad revenue. We already talked about digital products. Gosh, you are going to be great at creating courses or doing coaching because that's what you do every day. And then there's different brand partnerships. There's so many different opportunities and you don't have to choose just one.

You can start in one place in what sounds the most exciting to you and then expand that to create a real sustainable business. So a blog is going to be something that is the foundation of a business. It can work for you. You're writing blog content. You're working on this during the summer and this blog is going to be working for you throughout the year. And having a blog is really helpful because you can write content that's going to be kind of evergreen. You're not having to constantly be on daily necessarily posting on social media trying to get all those likes. You're going to have more control over it and you're not going to be like feeling like

you're trying to hustle all the time to make like a sale or something. And then your blog can really be the foundation. So it becomes like the place people go for what they're looking for. So whatever it is that you decide is your niche, what you have to share, what you have to offer, people are going to start to get to know you and they're going to come to your website for that connection, for that information, for your voice, for your values. And they're really going to connect with you in that way. So it's not just creating the income. That is a fantastic opportunity for you, but it's also about building something that's yours and you can use it in a way that fits in with

your life, with your goals, with your dreams, whether that's creating a blog that's just a way to reach people, whether that's creating a blog that's a way to bring in a little side income or whether it's about creating a long-term strategy that might mean this is going to be your business someday and you're going to get out of teaching in some way or another. Yeah, kind of the world is your oyster a little bit, I think, in regards to this and allowing yourself to kind of look at the big picture. And like Jennifer said, you're equipped with a lot of the skills that you need already to create content. So you have to create lesson plans. Well, content calendars are really helpful if you have a blog as well. So you're essentially

planning forward and that's what bloggers do too. But there's some other things that we want to give you some tools that we want to give you to be able to use this efficiently because we know that especially during the school year, like your time is really valuable and it's limited. And so how can you use the summer to kind of set yourself up for success? And this episode is launching at the end of April. So you kind of have May to kind of like think about it if you want as you're like rounding out the year, finishing it up.

And then that way you can just like really go hard into May, June and get going. So four basic strategy things that we want you to consider is number one is to really understand your niche and your audience. So when we're speaking to you as teachers and starting a blog, we aren't necessarily saying that you have to have a blog about teaching. Maybe you don't want to do anything about teaching. Maybe you want to come up with a totally new idea, or maybe you have a hobby that you're actually really passionate about as well. So you have to ask yourself, who do you want to help? And who do you want to

serve? Like who is your ideal reader? And so whether that is like creating, you know, we use teacher pay teacher as a, as an example, like if you're creating content in that way, then having a website as well. But maybe you're wanting to start a food blog. Maybe you're wanting to start a craft blog. Maybe you want to start a book blog or something like that. It really, you just have to know what you want to talk about because not knowing that it's not going to be helpful.

It's not going to get you going where you need to get going because you are you're of limited time because you're going to use the summer to really just work on your strong foundation. So knowing that niche and knowing that audience is going to be really important out of the gate. So don't skip that that step that part. It's a really crucial part. Goes right into building a strong foundation, which is number two. And what we mean by strong foundation is that we believe

that most bloggers should be on a self-hosted WordPress platform using an optimized theme. It does not need to be a personalized website that costs you like tens of thousands of dollars, like they can. And it also isn't about being perfect. It's just about getting your content out there in a way that people can find it, they can relate to it, and you can help them. And that is what we're just encouraging you to do if you're wanting to build this this summer is having that strong

foundation because you don't want to go and try to figure things out along the way and then later have to go back and redo a lot. I think that you can just really arm yourself with the knowledge that you need out of the gate to save yourself time in the long run. With that said, number three is starting your email list right away. So as you're setting up your website, we firmly believe that at that exact same moment, that is when you also start building your email list. I don't care if it's like your teacher buddy and a parent who's been part of your classroom or whatever, and those are the only two people

on your list. You're going to talk to those people out of the gate and let them know. We've had some people in the membership who have been resistant to the fact of like telling people what they're doing and that they're starting a blog. And these are women who are so talented and so creative and have something that is truly going to help others. So I want you to know that, yes, you are a teacher. Yes, that is probably your passion. You've probably done it for a long time and you don't want to stop doing that, or maybe you do, I don't know, but it's okay to also have something else that excites you and, and something else that you want to do too. Don't be afraid to invite others into that and to share with people like,

Hey, I decided to do this new thing this summer. And instead of going and working at a retail store, you know, three nights a week to earn extra income, I'm going to stay at home in the comfort of my own home and work on it when I have the availability to do so and inviting those people into the journey there and not just the people like who you're going to connect with them online, but just the people in your real life to like being willing to share. I think that, you know, you can build a lot online and, and sometimes you can do that almost secretively because you don't want to share with people in your real life. But I want you to think about the impact you could make with people who you talk to each

and every day. Maybe it's a neighbor, maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a family member that whatever you're choosing to talk about on your blog, think about the impact it can have on the people who are in your real life and how you can impact them as well. Hey teachers, what if this summer was the start of something bigger? If you've been thinking about starting a blog or growing the online business you might already have, we have an incredible opportunity coming your way this summer. We are thrilled to be speaking at the Teacher Seller Summit and it's happening June 26th through June 29th. This event is a virtual event that is going to be packed with sessions from experienced teacherpreneurs

and online business experts. Whether you're selling on Teachers Pay Teachers or you're dreaming about launching your own products or even looking to build something that's truly yours with a blog, you are going to build something that's truly yours with a blog, you are going to find so much value here. We will be sharing how a blog can be a total game changer for you by helping you grow an audience,

diversifying your income, and building a sustainable business beyond the work that you do in the classroom. If you are ready and interested, we would love to invite you to join us. I have included a link for you to get registered in our show notes, so be sure to find it there. And we cannot wait to help you turn your passion into a thriving business this summer. Number four is thinking long-term and how you want to build and grow your blog. And so you're going to need to know like some

basic SEO, which is search engine optimization. We have several episodes that share about search engine optimization. It is a piece of blogging that we just don't recommend skipping. It is going to be something that you're going to want to truly understand. And I know it can sound a little bit confusing. But if there's one thing I know about teachers is that you can usually figure things out pretty quickly and you are willing to kind of like dig in the weeds and DIY it. And that's really what we think is going to be helpful for you is truly understanding the impacts of SEO and keyword research and how that's going to grow essentially long-term visibility because while you're going to have likely

more time in the summer to work, we know that your time looks different come fall, looks different come winter and spring. But that's the beautiful thing about having that foundation and batching work and a lot of other things is that you don't have to have the same amount of time all the time. So Jennifer's kind of going to talk next about like building that schedule out, but knowing that there are some basic things that if you could arm yourself with in the beginning and you having those strategies going in, it is going to just get you started on the right foot.

So you don't have to waste time because we know you don't have time to waste. Yeah. If this all sounds like something that is exciting to you and you're like, yeah, I would really like to do this. But I mean, I think there's a lot of fears that hold people back from taking on something new. I think we all experience this in one of those things is like, okay, but how in the heck am I going to have time for this? But I think as a teacher, you probably already have a pretty good

idea of how to create and stay on a schedule. You kind of have to do that on a day-to-day basis. So you probably have some good systems and routines in place in your life. When it comes to blogging, over the years what we've learned is you really have to have really solid systems and plans in place to efficiently and effectively grow a blogging business and an online business. So over the last few years, we've really been ramping up how we handle that. And we like to use like a project management tool. We have an episode about this. We use ClickUp, but you could use ClickUp or any sort of tool like that. The idea is that you're going to have a plan. You're going to have

documentation of what you need to do. You're going to have workflow set up. You're going to understand how to batch your work so that you're being really efficient. Like if you're writing blog posts, maybe one day you're writing all your blog posts. The next day you're adding all the photos to them and then you're scheduling them out. So you're kind of working ahead, you have a good plan, you have a checklist, and you have a to-do list so that you know what your most important priorities are. And then the next thing is you just need to set up a publishing schedule or a work schedule that is going to make sense for you because that that is gonna look different for every single person and

For their goals. So like your your goal, maybe I want to publish a blog post Once a week during the school year, so you're gonna say, okay Here's what needs to happen while I have time off this summer. Here's the research I need to do Here's the planning I need to do so that I know I'm going to spend two hours or five hours a week writing blog posts once school starts. So just thinking about a plan to make progress, it's not about getting as much done as possible, it's about having a consistent plan and knowing what you need to do. And knowing what you need to do comes about by being able to prioritize the things that

are going to have an impact in your business. So don't write a blog post just to write a blog post. Make sure that you know the impact the blog post is going to have on your audience, on your business. What value is it going to add? Is it going to attract new readers? Is this going to help establish my authority with my current readers? Am I going to be able to authority with my current readers? Am I going

to be able to monetize this post in some way?" So really making sure that the things that you're spending time on are going to have impact because when it comes to blogging, there's so many things you can do. But we are true believers that you don't have to do every single thing. You have to pick the things that make sense for you, for your business, and for your goals. And from that perspective as well, we've really gotten into this concept lately of repurposing content.

So if you're gonna write a blog post, that's gonna be your biggest piece of content that's gonna serve as the base, just like the blog is the foundation of your business. Those blog posts are the foundation of all your content that you're going to create. So that's really the true work. Those are your priorities. You can reuse that one piece of content in I don't even know how many different ways because the possibilities are kind of endless depending on what's in there. So you can break it down and you can write an email

or multiple emails. You can create pins and share it to Pinterest. You can create really simple social media posts that just really break down that information into really easy to digest bits of information or education that will lead people back to your blog post for more. And there's so many different scheduling tools and automation tools.

You've got Tailwind to schedule on Pinterest. You've got native scheduling within Facebook and Instagram. And you've got things like ChatGPT to help you break down your content and come up with ideas. So there's so many ways to gain efficiency in this day and age with all the tools that we have. It's not like blogging is quote like real time. It's something that you can work on very strategically and very carefully and have your week or your

month or your quarter planned out. So you're not ever like rushing or panicking trying to get content out. You have a solid plan and you're able to easily share what you've created in a methodical and easy way that helps you stay in front of people and helps you stay consistent, which is just one of the most important things that you can do when it comes to building an online business is just to have that consistent messaging, consistent publishing, consistent staying in front of people. Yeah. Great things to think about. And we hope that this episode just inspires you to kind of think outside the box. Maybe what you thought blogging was looks a little bit

different. It is very different. I would say blogging today looks different than just sitting down and writing articles. There's a lot of opportunity there for you to truly create your own brand and build income on the side to get started. And then if it's a goal to replace income someday, that's also a possibility as well. So if you're kind of listening to this today, like, oh gosh, this has me like wondering, could this be the start of something new for me? We have a free resource that we'd love to share with you. We've created something called the summer startup checklist. And this is really designed to just help you lay that foundation for a blog based business that's going to give you some clarity and some intention. And a lot of times people don't move forward with a

project or an idea because they don't know where to start or they don't know where they're going. And so that's why this checklist is going to be so empowering for you. And so in it, you're going to find just some key pieces of things that you need to think through kind of about your niche, like your content, how often and how much you're going to want to post the platform that you want to build on. And then just your goals, because knowing why you're blogging is going to be a really important piece of if you want to take on and then just your goals, because knowing why you're blogging is going to be a really important piece of if you want to take the time to do this and if you want to move forward with the plan, instead of it just kind of being this idea

that you're slightly entertaining sometimes. So if you want to grab that free checklist, you can do so at theultimateblogpodcast.com slash summer. I've also put the link for you in our show notes and so you can just click there. But if you are ready to just get started and get going, know that you always have an invitation to join us in our membership program as well. And that is called the ultimate blog roadmap. We support bloggers at all levels who want to start and grow a blogging business. Jennifer and I are both in there and are able to just walk alongside you in that journey.

Summer is a fantastic time to join us and really get laser focused on what you're doing, what you're building and why you are building it. So I will put a link to the roadmap as well in the show notes So you can see if that might be a better avenue for you as well. Really, we just wanna give you options that if starting a content creation business is something that you are considering, maybe this summer is the summer that you can take it

from something that you're thinking about to something that you're doing. And we would love to support you along that journey. So check out the links and the show notes to see how we can help you. And you can always message us Email or find us on socials at spark media concepts and we can answer any questions that you have. Thanks for tuning in today Thanks for listening to the ultimate blog podcast

If you'd like to learn more about building your blog visit the ultimate blog podcast dot com Backslash newsletter to get signed up for our email newsletter. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to share it with a friend, subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts. Thanks for tuning in today and we'll see you next time.