Path #2 Sharpen Your Axe

Step 1. Get Ready

You’ll need to provide:

• The URL of your TPT store.
• The URL of your best-selling TPT product that fits your TPT niche.
• Your TPT Business contact information (probably an email address. If you’ve been on the TPT journey for a while, you might have a TPT business address and phone number)
• The names of three to five categories or products lines. (Most themes showcase a few categories on the home page. What do you want to showcase?)
• The URL of any social media accounts that you have. (Optional. You don’t need this now. You can add this later on by yourself.)
• Any images that you want to use on your TPT website. PRO TIP: send me the URL of photos you like from Storyblocks. (I have a paid account with Storyblocks so stock images from Storyblocks are included in your TEACHERpreneur.VIP design service.)

You’ll also need to think about the following:

1. What sets your TPT store apart from all of the other TPT stores and resources? (What is your unique value proposition?)
2. What sets you apart from all of the other TPT sellers? (What’s your unfair advantage?)
3. Who needs your products? (Who is your ideal customer avatar? Your raving fans who find your products exactly what they are looking for.)
4. Decide if the Call To Action of your website is
   • Option 1: Get people to sign up for your email list. (I recommend this for most people.)
   • Option 2: Send people to a specific TPT product (i.e. a large bundle)
   • Option 3: Send people to your TPT store

If you’re like most TPT sellers, you haven’t really thought about this. You just made lesson plans and sold them on TPT.

But now is the time to sharpen the proverbial axe.

For example, my TPT niche is not Grade 8 teachers. My niche is:

1. Grade 8
2. English Language Arts teachers
3. who love technology,
4. are passionate about making the world a better place,
5. and believe in a strategy-based approach.
6. They stay up late creating awesome learning experiences for their students
7. Their program constantly evolves – they’re not using the same set of lessons they made in their first year of teaching
8. Their classroom is their personal laboratory where they’re excited to try out new pedagogical approaches and ideas. (i.e. they go to a workshop, and then they immediately try something they learned to see if it works.)
9. Lots of the things they do flop, but some thinigs turn out awesome, and that’s part of the game.

The people who agree with those nine items will absolutely love my Educircles products because it exactly fits what they’re looking for. My resources save them time and money (so they can go use the bathroom during their breaks.)

Yes, other people will still love my Educircles products, even if they don’t agree with all 9 points. But they’re like icing on the cake. I want to make sure I create products for my core audience.

The sharper your message is, the more likely you can cut through the millions of other teaching resources online and reach your exact customer avatar.

Be creative. Ask yourself what would [insert your favourite business] do?

PRO TIP: Have a conversation with our robot friend ChatGPT and ask for help answering those three questions.

Step 2. Get Set

We use the free version of Kadence Themes and Kadence Blocks for our website framework.

Look through the starter templates on this page and find a layout and look that you like.

• Make sure the starter template is FREE and not PRO. Otherwise you’ll have to buy a license from KadenceWP which will cost $149 per year. (Kadence Essentials Bundle is not included in the TEACHERpreneur.VIP or SEOT Hosting service.)
  • The BBQ BEER Fest theme is FREE.
  • The Fall Festival theme is PRO (and you will have to buy a license from KadenceWP.)
• Don’t get distracted by the name of the theme or the images. Remember, images can be swapped out with other images, so you’re really thinking about layout and design choices.
• Make sure you look at the full website demo (and not just the home page image). Look for the button on the KadenceWP website that says “Preview Starter Template”
• Look at the website demo on a desktop and on a phone to make sure you like the look and feel.
• Make sure to look at the different pages in the website demo so you know what the layout of a single page looks like. (It’s easy to copy and paste blocks from different pages and just edit the text.)
• You can change font and colours yourself quite easily.
• Write down the name of the Kadence Theme you like (i.e. BBQ BEER Fest)

What do I get as part of the TEACHERpreneur.VIP Website Design service?

I install the Kadence Theme of your choice on your WordPress website.

Then, depending on your service plan, I customize some pages and turn the other pages into draft mode (so they’re still there, but the public can’t see them. This way, you can customize them later, and when you’re ready, you can publish them.)

Remember: The goal is to get your website “good enough” to launch (i.e. 80% done.) Then you spend your time learning about what works and doesn’t work. Do NOT wait until your website is “perfect” because you’re probably “perfecting” the wrong thing (and wasting your valuable time.)

All service plans include the following two pages:

A Home Page

• I replace the sentences in the starter template with new sentences that fit your TPT business. I do this by using the answers to your questions in Step 1 and applying Artificial Intelligence to customize the website text.
• I replace the images in the starter template with images you have provided me. If you haven’t provided enough images (which is likely the case because most home pages have lots of images), I will look for images I can use from your TPT store, or your TPT seller social media accounts. If I can’t find anything I like, I will use purchased stock photography (from storyblocks.com) *I have a paid account with Storyblocks so you don’t have to buy or pay for the images.
• I replace any statistic number counters (i.e. 729k+ YouTube subscribers) with either statistics from your TPT store or socials. Or, I replace the number counters with something else (i.e. a Product Category, or one of your Unique Selling Points.)
• I replace the Call To Action buttons on the starter theme with your Call To Action. The point of a true landing page is the Call To Action. There are no other links, just multiple opportunities to click on the Call To Action. You may decide to add links to other products, and that’s okay. I can show you how.

A TPT Product Page (Custom Post)

• I will do a SEMRUSH keyword analysis of the TPT product page that you gave me and identify a target keyword.
• I will use Artificial Intelligence to repurpose the content of your TPT product into a blog page.
• I will optimize the content in the blog page using AIOSEO (All In One SEO)
• The custom post will includes a call to action (link to your TPT product) at the top of the blog post with your product cover. It also includes a call to action (link to your TPT product) link at the bottom of the website page.
• (You will be able to duplicate this custom post that I make for you to create pages for your other TPT products.)

Step 3. Go!

Once you have completed steps 1 and 2, contact me using the information at the top of this page.

• I will send you a form to submit your answers to Steps 1 and 2.

If it looks like we’re a good fit for each other, we’ll move on to a FREE 30 minute Zoom Consultation to make sure we’re a good fit.

• We’ll chat about your answers to Steps 1 and 2.
• We’ll chat about your TPT store and what you’re hoping to get out of starting a TPT website / blog
• I’ll answer any questions you have – about the TEACHERpreneur.VIP website design service, SEOT Hosting, or selling on TPT in general.

If everything is a green light…

• We’ll set you up with SEOT Hosting and a domain. (You will receive an invoice for the web hosting.)
• I’ll do the 14 steps + create 2 pages (or more, depending on your service option.)
• Look at the website and make a list of questions.
• We’ll meet for the Revision Coaching Session(s) where I’ll answer your questions and show you how to make the changes yourself. I’ll record the Zoom video and screencast and save them as tutorial videos in your WordPress website for your reference.
• I’ll send you an invoice for the Design service.

Take Action!

Go back and do steps 1 and 2.

When you’re ready, fill out this form and include the secret word: narwhal