If I
could go back and start my TpT seller journey over again, this is what
I would have wanted to know… (This is for new sellers or sellers that are stuck
in a rut! Don't give up!
1.
Use Pinterest! I started my TpT store in late 2015 with few products– I
made 64 dollars that year. I wasn’t on Pinterest, and my product covers and
descriptions were basic. During Spring Break of 2016, I got on Pinterest,
updated my product covers/descriptions/prices, and added some new products to
my store. My store began to steadily grow and is continuing to do so! I made 24
times more money after doing so than I did in 2015! I don’t have the data for
2017 yet, but sales are better than they ever were before. Last March (2016) I
made 42 dollars (I was happy with that as it was more than I had made in any
other month!). This March (which isn’t over yet) is already 6 times that
amount! Is it a ton of money?? No! But it’s growing, and the extra monthly
income is such a blessing to my family!!! I will update this blog next March
with the new data… Make sure you download the Pinterest Button! Set aside a
time daily or weekly that you will commit to pinning (like laundry). Just do
it! *Here is a graph comparing Last March (2016 - green) to this March (2017 -
blue)... You can really see the growth (this tool is available on your TpT
Dash)!!
2. Use
the available tools to watch yourself move through those TpT
seller pages (your ranking). My favorite is from The Colorado Classroom
here: http://tpt.naujok.com/. Thanks for this awesome
tool!!! This is no longer available :( But, under your product stats, from your TpT Dashboard, you can see how many times
your product was viewed/downloaded/wish listed (wish listed = new sales). I’ve
read that for every 30 views, you should have a sale or the resource should be wish listed… If this isn’t happening,
time to look at your product titles, prices (I’ve read 10-20 cents per page is
the “general” rule), descriptions, and covers again!!
3. Have a terms of use and/or a thank you page (with credits) in each of your products. *Make sure you're adding a blurb about TpT free credits in your product tou/thank you page/s. Buyers earn free TpT bucks to spend on the site when they review products they have downloaded. It's a win-win! They get TpT credits and you get those precious reviews we all want!!
4. Download the TpT App and become a premium seller (purchase required). You get to keep more profit and it’s really fun to hear your phone go cha-ching (like a cash register– for real) every time you get a sale - it keeps you motivated!
5. Use the Sellers Forum on TpT. You can access it from your TpT Dashboard. There is so much information here! Almost any question you have you can type into the search button on the forum and you will get several answers. You can ask people to look at your store for tips and helpful suggestions, and they have pinning parties as well!! You pin a product of theirs to one of your boards (Create a couple if you don’t have any or look on the forum under Pinterest Power because there are always tons of board invites in exchange for following the board!) and they pin yours – super helpful to get your pins out there!!! If you can't find the question/s already posted, create a new thread to get some responses!
6. Use Tailwind! We’re teachers! Time is like gold!!! Tailwind pins for you while you’re at work or sleeping!!! They make it so easy to schedule your pins!!! Make sure you get the Tailwind button after signing up! If you want to schedule pins regularly (they say 25 - 30 pins per day), but don't always have time, Tailwind is so super helpful (create some boards and make sure you have enough content before you venture on this journey)! Use this link for a FREE MONTH (no risk trial): Free Tailwind!
7. Request for your product to be put into the TpT newsletter. This is located under the Marketing section of your TpT dashboard. I finally made it into January's newsletter and the amount of traffic to my resource/TpT store was incredible! You cannot get this kind of advertising anywhere else!!! Request weekly because it will probably take a while to get in…
8. Put more products in your store. You would be so surprised if you went through your files at how many of those things are TpT worthy (with a little cleaning up, updating, and polishing)! I went from a few products to 177 by going through this process. It was painful. I worked tirelessly from beginning to end of summer last year (and every other spare moment) to make it happen, but it’s paying off now! More products = more sales because you’re reaching a broader market. If you use it in your classroom, chances are someone else will want to use it in theirs!! I used to be happy when I sold a few products a week. Now I sell multiple daily with the exception of a few rare occasions (holidays and such). Some of my products have never sold! I need to look at those product covers, prices, and descriptions again!
9. Link your products, especially if you Bundle or plan on doing so! This means adding a clickable link/s to other products that buyers might be interested in or a link if the product they are viewing is available in a Bundle with other products (usually at a discounted price). This looks scary! It’s not! There are several helpful posts on the TpT forum to help you with this.
10. Make your store beautiful (Can you say banners?)! There are several (FREE) helpful downloads on the TpT forum to walk you through this process. And it’s free advertising!
11. Utilize the free stuff! You will need clip art for your products and product covers. You can buy awesome clip art on TpT!! There are also several freebies as well. Just make sure you give credit where credit is due, and make sure they are free for commercial use (usually stated in the TOU)! Buying clip art and fonts are worthwhile investments and a tax right-off! If you don't invest now, you will be going back to update later- Not Fun!
12. USE Power Point (it's not just for slide shows!). If you don’t own it, buy it! Say goodbye to Word forever. You can create and manipulate your design/s so much easier with PP. Don’t learn this the hard way and then have to go back and redo all of your hard work!!
Don’t give up! Be patient! My Grandma used to say Good Things Come To Those Who Wait (and work really dang hard)! Sales and followers are slow to start! It’s frustrating! I recently watched a podcast including Deanna Jump (If you don’t know who that is, she is a TpT Bestseller!) She said her first year she only made a few hundred dollars and she debated quitting because it was so much work for so little profit. She said her hubby encouraged her to keep going and she was so glad he did! Thanks, Deanna, for being such an inspiration to us all!!!
*Looking for some help with your observation and evaluation (my specialty)? Please visit my TpT store for Lesson Plans, Evaluation Answers, and much much more: My TpT Store
**You can also find me on Pinterest here: Mrs Wenning's Class on Pinterest
***I hope you found this helpful! Please comment below with any questions… Feedback is always appreciated!!! Thanks so much and Good Luck!!!! 😊
