5 Tips To Build Better Teacher Websites
Technology is an integral aspect of our life. The educational space is the same. Teacher websites are now becoming popular platforms to communicate with students, regardless of whether you are in a brick-and-mortar class or a hybrid virtual in-person model.
It doesn’t matter if it’s online classes, laptops in classrooms, or lessons incorporating multimedia teaching methods and learning continues to evolve. Many teachers have shifted to an in-person and virtual teaching method to meet many learning needs.
A web-based site is your educational hub as an educator of the present.
Various tools can dramatically improve or help you create your own website without the need to master any new technical abilities.
You may be a full-time educator searching for a better method to distribute course materials and a part-time teacher trying to grow your business. This article can be helpful.
Here you’ll discover why every educator has a website today, as well as five strategies you can apply to create or enhance your website.
Why every teacher should have an online site
It doesn’t matter if this is your first time instructing or you’ve already been in education for a long time and have a website. It can be an effective job move. It’s easy to create something as simple as a blog that will help you grow professionally and in your personal life.
Here are a few reasons why websites for teachers are crucial.
Join other teachers to advance your career
A website can showcase your skills. With professional designs and a good blog, you can have the opportunity to share your ideas to the entire world.
Have you come up with a brand new kind of lesson plan or have you used mixed media to receive a fantastic reaction from students? You may have tried different teaching methods and failed to discover they were effective.
Whatever you’ve learned or the results you have gained, it’s important to share. Teaching is a method that is based on feedback. You can open your school to the world through a website and a platform for sharing your thoughts.
A platform for your business helps establish a reputation for your professional career.
When you build your website, you’re creating your brand and establishing a reputation for your profession. It doesn’t matter if you choose to stay in teaching for the rest of your life or start an online course business. The fact that you have websites is an excellent starting point.
Provide alternative educational sources
Most of the time, you’ll encounter students who want to understand more about particular subjects you teach. The past was when students were required to conduct their research or get some books from their local library.
However, you can design profound educational experiences on your website and compile all available educational materials, such as PDFs, videos, and much more. Additionally, you can place the information on your site and make it available in a way that is easy to consume.
It is also a chance to provide educational options for students learning differently. This can be beneficial for students who are forced to skip classes or have to get a break from school.
In the classroom, you’re trying to offer the most effective educational experience to the most significant number of students. You could use your website to host various media forms, meaning that students who don’t benefit from learning in the classroom will have the most holistic educational experience.
Make a side income
In the end, by establishing your website, you can earn a few dollars by the side. Based on the experience you’ve acquired, you’ll be able to start instructing in person or online or even develop and create your online course.
The market for online courses continues to grow year after year. With a strong web presence, you’re set to benefit from this expanding trend.
Over time, the earnings you earn from online courses could surpass that of the traditional teaching position.
Five suggestions for improving your teacher's website this year
Now you know the importance of having a site to help your career in education. If you already have an online presence, you’ll be taught some tricks to improve your site. If you’re just beginning your journey to creating a website, you’ll be taught how to create an excellent foundation for your website.
- Make clear your goals and vision (make your site simple and straightforward).
- Create your main pages.
- Make your website more secure by updating your software and add-ons.
- Find out your offerings for service.
- Up-to-date information on education and schools.
Let’s get started.
1. Make clear your vision and mission (make your site easy to read and understand)
We’ll first begin with the main reason for developing a site. This will guide the style and design of pages you’ll develop.
For instance, a website designed to help enhance (or provide an alternative) your classes in person is different from that of a tutor on a contract basis.
Begin with this list of questions to determine the purpose of your site:
- What goals do you hope to accomplish through your website?
- Do you have a primary focus on giving students information? Coursework? Resources?
- Will your site be promoting your tutoring services or offering online classes?
- Are there any websites you’d like to take inspiration from?
Be aware that your site can be any of these and more. However, it is crucial to keep your focus on one thing so that you don’t wind up in a confusing site.
When a user arrives on your site, they must be able to figure out what the site’s purpose is. If visitors have to question the objective of your website and then reevaluate its job.
You’re a teacher whose main purpose is to host a range of educational materials to your pupils. It would help if you made it easy to get access to the information. However, you also teach during the summer time. So, you’ll earn an additional page on your website which explains your services and then link to it from the top navigation menu.
Before you begin designing your site, you’ll need a precise idea of what the final result will be like and who will visit your website.
2. Design your main pages
A majority of websites for teachers will include similar sites, regardless of what the goal of your website.
Here are a few important pages you’ll need to design when creating your education or teacher-related site.
Homepage page
The first page that visitors will visit It’s crucial to consider this when designing your website.
When you’re creating this page, it is important to provide a brief overview of the services your website offers, along with a call to action and a clear path to the subpages of your website.
The purpose of the homepage is to describe what visitors should anticipate briefly, so make it clear and straightforward.
The About Page
The most effective place to begin is to start with your self. The About page is among the most visited pages, following the homepage. However, it’s challenging to write about yourself.
One trick to build a better page is to focus on your students and other people who visit it, not only you.
Consider how your experience, know-how, skills, and expertise translate into helping others.
By framing your about-page copy from the perspective of the audience that you are serving, you take the burden off of yourself and make it more appealing.
Portfolio/past work
Again, this page might or may not be beneficial, based on the kind of website you’re creating. However, most sites could benefit from a page highlighting your previous work.
For instance, if you’re a teacher who instructs in a classroom it is possible to create videos that demonstrate the way you teach similar to.
If you’re a teacher, you can describe the types of results students from your class have had or the kinds of lesson plans you’ve developed.
Whatever field of education you’re working in, there’s a unique method to show the type of work you’ve performed in the past and what you’re likely to accomplish soon.
Coursework/resources
This page could serve two different functions.
First, let’s assume that you’re a teacher in a classroom. In addition to the classroom tools you’ve got, you could also make a hub on the internet for everything that is related to your class.
Hosting this information through the WordPress courses plugin or utilizing simple embedding tools to host your videos, downloads, and much more is possible.
The other purpose is to host your coursework.
Let’s say you’re a teacher that primarily instructs using an online or hybrid context. If you want to avoid using an external platform, you can utilize an application to build in-depth online courses for your website.
A few famous online plugins comprise (for WordPress):
- LearnPress
- BadgeOS
- WP Courseware
If you’d instead use a third-party platform, various platforms host your classes. Here are a few of the most approved ones:
- Thinkific
- Teachable
- Learnworlds
Services
Again, this page will depend on the reason why your website exists. If you’re working for the local school district, you are not offering any services as a sideline.
However, you could have site-to-market consulting and freelance services. In this case, this website will prove extremely useful.
This is where you’ll outline what you’ll provide to customers and students. It is essential to be precise about what you’re offering. However, ensure that you also focus on the advantages of your services.
What can your client or student benefit from having you as a mentor? Better grades? Acceptance to attend the school they’ve always wanted to attend? A mastery of a subject they’ve struggled with?
Make sure you are as precise as you can about the results you’re offering to people who choose to collaborate with you.
Blog/supplementary content
Another important and popular aspect of your site will comprise your blog. It was mentioned in passing. However, it’s worth digging into the depths.
Blogging is not just an excellent way to share your thoughts and thoughts, but it can also assist in creating new leads, clients, and students.
Your ultimate goal is to present at conferences for teachers around the globe. A blog with a huge following could be the path you’ve been searching for.
Sharing your thoughts and teaching tips could be helpful to your colleagues in the classroom.
There may be a better reason to blog straight from the start; however, it’s an excellent option after you have found the ideal excuse to do it.
3. Update your website's software and add-ons
There are many tools, plugins, and software that you can utilize to turn your site into an audio-visual powerhouse.
If you’re looking for a way to add videos as lectures, videos, or complete courses to your site, There’s software available to make the process straightforward.
For instance, GoDaddy’s Websites + Marketing provides a wide selection of educational web templates that you can select from. These templates are created for teachers and educators of all types.
If you’re looking for more control and personalization, You can create your website using WordPress. With WordPress, you’ll discover an enormous variety of themes that are related to education.
In addition, there are all kinds of plugins, such as LifterLMS and LearnDash, that help you host online courses.
4. Find out what your service offerings are.
If you’re planning on selling your services, you’ll require slightly different website requirements. There will be similar pages and layouts (like the one mentioned above). However, you’ll need to separate your services on other pages.
Here are some of the most common noticeable services provided by educators and teachers:
- Teaching (for assistance with courses in preparation for exams, the study of languages)
- Summer camps based on education
- Consulting services based around the field of education.
- Online courses
5. Up-to-date information about schools and education.
It’s not a secret that resources end up expiring. Particularly online, when links change, or websites cease to exist.
If it’s been many years since you’ve visited your site, double-checked each link, and read your site’s content, then that time is now.
If you’re a teacher in a middle or high school, there are still some aspects that require to be updated. If parents or students visit your site, you’ll want to offer them current information, different from what was the case a few years ago.
A well-designed website can assist in establishing a stronger rapport between parents and teachers. Parents want to know the latest developments in their children’s education. Instead of scheduling an appointment, you could point parents to your website.
You can use your website to share information about upcoming classes, traveling events,speaking events, and much more.
Conclusion thoughts
You should now be more aware of the importance of an educational website and the various ways you can use your website.
Maintaining a site may appear like a lot of extra tasks. Still, when you can grow your career, boost your child’s education, create stronger relationships with your parents and teachers, and even make an extra income, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.
The suggestions above can help steer your site in the right direction during the coming school term.