← The CEO Teacher Podcast
The CEO Teacher Podcast
Stop Selling Products, Start Building a Community
00:11:00
Are you ready to build a community for teachers? This one is for you even IF you don’t think you are ready yet! We love to nurture our people through every piece of content we provide, but what if you could create a true sense of belonging through...
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Hey CEO teachers. Welcome back to the show. Today we're going to talk about why I think you should stop selling so much and start focusing on building a community. Now, this is going to be a lot different than what we normally talk about, but I've got some top secret information that might just help you out for many, many years to come. So stick around. You don't want to miss it. Do you ever feel like you're just trying to stay afloat with everything you have to do as a teacher? Making copies, trying to get bathroom break even when it's on your lunch break? Probably not even taking time off because the thought of writing lesson plans is just too daunting to leave for the sub. Look, I've been there. I felt that. And I believe every teacher listening right now is nodding along and says, you know what? I totally am in that season of life. But I want to help you out. So we have a gold mine of an uplifting and supporting community and I want you to know you belong here where you can come and it's a safe place to talk about all the things you're stressed out about or just to get some advice on how to get through each and every day in a better, more positive way. I want to officially invite you into the room where it all happens. Introducing the CEO Teachers Lounge. It's a community for educators building their online businesses with their limited free time. Even if you haven't got started yet or if you're doing this for a while and we don't want you to do it alone. It's led by myself and our integrator, Allie Elliott, where we're going to explore how to live a purposeful, balanced life and also attain our wildest dreams without burning. The online teacher business world is so much bigger than we could have ever imagined. And it's time that you tapped in to the best community around. You can gain valuable insights and actionable strategies to elevate your teacher career and build a thriving business. Come join us. Go to Casey morris.com Patreon to sign up right now. That's K-A-S E M O R R I S.com P A T R E O N and we'll see you inside of our community. Oprah Winfrey once said, surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher. Now I promised you I was going to give you some really top secret information that could potentially help you for years and years to come. And I am at the end of today's episode. But in the meantime, I Want to talk about why I think you should stop selling and start building a community that wins every time. Then I'll give you the top secret information about communities. But we need to have a little chat because I see way too many teachers out here grinding to sell their products one by1 on TPT and Etsy, hoping that some random $3.75 sale is going to change their life. And I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it won't. Selling products is fine. It's great. I love that you're getting started here, but if you really want freedom, like actual log out of your email, go to the beach freedom, you really need to start building a community. And I want to tell you exactly why. And it's actually not what you think. I'm not talking about just a Facebook or things like that. Although that is a good idea, it's not a bad idea to foster engagement, build a brand that's loyal, provide valuable insights to other people, and plus lead to stronger relationships everywhere. One of the tips that I have is actually go into other people's Facebook groups and start talking with their community members to help you figure out a little bit more about your ideal customer. So let's talk about point number one. I know that selling feels like a never ending hustle, but a community, this is going to be stability. Now you're probably thinking, but Gacy is not generating me money. Okay, okay, but here's the thing. When you're only selling products, your income is completely unpredictable. One month you're making sales, the next it could be crickets. And what happens is you panic, you stress, you start discounting your worth just to move into creating frantically a few more products, hoping that on the next time you'll be able to make more sales next month and feel a lot better. But what if instead of frantically making new products, you worked on building a community of teachers who trust you, who love what you create, and they actually want to learn from you. You're not begging them for sales. Later, you're leading a movement. And instead of constantly finding new customers, you can engage with these people month after month. Okay, you see where, where this is, this is all going all right, Point number two is that when you're selling lesson plans like worksheets and things like that. Remember, you have to keep making more if you want to keep up. But have you ever thought about building a community when it comes to like, let's say a membership, it's like Netflix money. You build the right kind of community with a Great offer. And maybe they can access your resources or monthly training or a community space where teachers can get real support. And suddenly, when you're not relying on one and done sales, you are getting paid every sing. And let me tell you, the first time you wake up and see that your membership is paid overnight on one day of the month, you'll never want to sell another one off product again. All right. Another reason why I believe you should stop selling products and start building community is that a community builds loyalty. And then loyalty is the only thing that creates lifelong customers. So let's be real. When was the last time that you felt emotionally attached to to a TPT seller? I'll wait. Probably never. If so, very few and far between. And when you build a real community, teachers don't just buy from you. Once they stay, they engage. And then they become raving fans. And when you make them an offer, whether it is another membership or a course or a coaching program, they're ready to buy because they already know, like and trust you. So really what I wanted to pinpoint in today's show is that it doesn't truly matter how you build a community. Just getting an idea of why you should build a community is so very important. Now, I promise you, if you stuck around until the end of today's show, we would talk a little bit about a top secret advantage that you could have that's going to help you many, many years to come. I've done a lot of SEO research over the years which just stands for search Engine optimization, but the landscape of SEO is changing so quickly that it's going to be very difficult for you to rank at the top of Google in the years to come, specifically 2027 through 2030. So what could you possibly do right now to be proactive? Well, I'm so happy that you asked. 80% of search engine optimization is predicted in the year 2027-2030 to be related to communities. 80%. And the reason for that is that Google prioritizes helpful content and expertise. Google has shifted towards the EAT model, which we love this as teachers. Right, The EATS lesson plan. The EAT model though, is double E A T which stands experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. All of these things are important for Google's analytics. So what does that mean? That means the more engaged, trusted and active your community is, the more Google sees you as an authority. So if teachers are constantly talking about you, sharing your content, engaging in your space, Google sees that as a massive trust signal. Translation is a thriving community equals Google knows you're legit. Another reason for this top secret advantage is that community has a built in traffic and engagement style game. SEO used to be all about keywords and backlinks, but now Google cares the most about engagement. And when you have a community, your members are constantly searching for your name, clicking on your site, engaging in your content, sharing it with others. So the translation here is that the more people interact with your content inside of a community, the more Google sees it as valuable and ranks it higher. Next is that communities keep people on your website longer, which is a huge SEO win, especially if you build your community on your website. One of Google's biggest ranking factors is dwell time, also known as how long someone stays on your site. So if you have like a membership or an engaged community, teachers aren't just grabbing a freebie and bouncing. They're interacting, they're reading, they're commenting, and they're staying for longer. So this equals more time on your site and that means Google sees your content as high value. Another reason why this is so important is that AI and search are changing so fast. And communities will When AI is making it easier to generate blog posts, but harder to create real human interaction. The future of SEO isn't just about having the most content. It's about having an engaged audience that actually cares about what you create. People trust other people way more than they trust brands. If your community is talking about you, linking to you and engaging, that's SEO gold. AI can write, but it can't replace real community engagement. That's where you will win. Next is that Google does love brands, but the reason for that is because communities build brands. In 2024 and beyond, SEO is shifting toward branded search, so Google ranks recognizable brands higher. How do you build a brand? Well, the best way is through a community. So if teachers are constantly searching for you again, then this will help you. The bottom line here is this. The future of so many different things inside of making money online or building your business is community. Google will prioritize engagement, trust and authority. So build a community, lead conversations, be the name that teachers are searching for. That is exactly how you're going to win when it comes to stop selling products and start building a community as soon as tomorrow. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed today's show. Stick around next week. We've got something brand spanking new I've been working on for so long and I'm so happy to share it with you. And it'll be available to download for free next week. Just come check it out and hang out with us. As always, remember, your best is yet to come. And I'll see you.