My grandfather was a Scottish immigrant who worked as a copper miner back in Australia. When we were young he would show us his hundred year old light bulb that continues to work to this day. It used to bug me, "if old light bulbs still run, then why do they sell light bulbs that always break?" When I got older I understood that in order to make money you cannot have a totally efficient product. This analogy is how I describe the course book publishing industry.
If you have ever watched the documentary "who killed the electric car," you would know what automakers hated about EV's were their efficiency. A car that didn't require the driver to constantly buy spare parts would have seen automakers lose a whole lot of money.
So how is this relevant to course books? Students having to buy a new volume every semester is a perfect business module. How often do students buy a dictionary compared to course books? Even Bill Gates once said "you make people need your product." The reason why you are here is because you found me while searching for class projects. If course books were as efficient as they say they are you wouldn't be here.
I too search online for resources, not to plagiarize, but to give my students variety. Why do I need to reinvent the wheel when another teacher has made useful projects. I am sure you have great ideas of your own and would want to share them with other teachers.
I started a tutorial website for teaching art students how to make their own online gallery.
This can also help you to build your own ESL website. You can learn how to use Flash, Dreamweaver, and other software.
Why make your own than submitting to ESL forums? After all these years of teaching I have something to show for it. I can capitalize on the experience and knowledge I have gained. The only difference between you and I is I can make a website. There are teachers out there just like you in search of lesson plans and you too can capitalize on your knowledge.
 
Do I need to spend so much money advertising my website?
With a "bricks and mortar" shop it's all about location, location, location. With a website it's all about content, content, content. With good content people will find you online the same way you found me.
Build a lot of back links. This means to post a link on most of the ESL forums, and exchange text links with other ESL website like mine.
Is it expensive to own a website?
As I have also a game site, I require a lot of server space, and yet I don't have to pay a whole lot. I spend about $15 for a domain name, roughly $100 for server space a year. This is not a huge sacrifice compared to what you spend just connecting to the internet.
Do I need to know advanced computer programming?
If you were to follow my tutorials you will notice that it barely uses any coding. This site is not forum where people are posting jobs or school reviews. I don't have moderator and its sole purpose is for you to access content. This only requires making pages, then I upload and leave it.
But I don't have any software to make a website?
If you click on this link; I will send you old software for you to get started.
What if I don't know anything about graphic design?
Don't be fooled by the bells and whistles on my site, most of this is squares, circles and stars which is very easy to make. Yet, content is much more important to an ESL site to a teacher than graphics. You can always ask me for help if you get stuck.
Overall; there are so many students out there whose parents spend a fortune on course books instead of getting your valuable knowledge for free.