Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Teachers Pay Teachers Conference July 2014 Session 4 Notes




It seems like day 4 of these posts has come up so quickly!  Kind of like the conference it is a bit of a blur!  If you missed my previous posts, you can find them here:

                                                                          Keynote
                                                                          Session 1


All of the presenters uploaded their session handouts to TpT for free.  You can find the handout for this session here.

TpT Conference 2014 Handout - Session T-19: Accelerate You

When I hear the words interactive notebook, I automatically think Lovin Lit!  Erin has not only dominated the interactive notebook sales, but she has also quickly found a way to the top 100 sellers list!  Here are the notes from her session:

Erin started selling on Teachers Pay Teachers in February 2013.  In just 6 months (yes, 6 months) she had made the top 10 sellers list and reached two milestones. For those of you who don't know, the first milestone is $20,000!  


According to Erin, the first step in sky rocketing your own success is to find your magic ingredient.  For Erin, hers was her interactive notebooks.  

Where do I spend my time?

You need to ask yourself where you are spending your time.  Is it on the products that you are actually selling?  You should spend your time making items that are similar to the ones that ARE selling in your store.  Task cards are popular, but if yours aren't selling, focus your efforts on the things that do sell in your store.

 Does that really belong in my store?

Erin mentioned some items that she had in her store from when she first started.  She says they were awful so she pulled them from her store.  Look at your store with a critical eye.  Do your early products still shine, or do they need to be revamped or pulled from your store.

What's My Magic Ingredient?

This will obviously be different for everyone, but for Erin she said it was her foldables.  She noticed that a product she made with foldables was really popular.  That is when she focused on her interactive notebooks. She also said to make sure that your magic ingredients are also included in your freebies so people can get a sense of what it is you do that makes your products special and uniquely yours.


Use your customers' eyes

Look at your storefront from your customers' eyes. What do they notice when they first see your store?  Erin suggested changing your store banner to reflect what you sell.

Do all of your items fit, or are some of them just fillers?  

It's all about the numbers

When you look at your store, there are a whole lot of numbers to look at!  There is the number following you and the number of votes.  Do your numbers make you look credible.  Buyers will buy from brand new sellers, but many will often go with more established sellers with bigger numbers.

 How can you grow your numbers?  Erin suggests hosting and joining giveaways where entrants are asked to follow you.  One of the first giveaways I joined was one of Erin's! She has also donated items to several of mine as well!

You can also use Flash Freebies to increase your vote number.  I saw a significant upswing when I started doing these things.

Do I really need a blog?

Yes. A blog drives traffic to your store!  Erin tries to blog at least once a week, but she thinks 3 blog posts a week is optimal. You can see her blog here.

Am I Pinning responsibly?

We all know that Pinterest drives traffic to our stores, but people don't want to see pages and pages of nothing but products.  Make sure you pin a mix of items along with your products.  You can find Erin's Pinterest here.  I have been pretty successful with my Pinterest as well, so I thought I'd share mine as well.


Erin also suggested using looong pins instead of shorter pins.  Vertical pins tend to be re-pinned more often.  An example of this is one of her pins:

This Interactive Grammar Notebook is the latest in my series of interactive notebook products for reading and ELA grades 4-8. Click for a list of lessons included. $12

You can make these long pics using PowerPoint and then embed them in your blog posts as well.

Applying for the Newsletter and Advertising

Erin says you should apply for the newsletter every week until you are chosen.  She says it will have an amazing impact on your sales.  She also says to advertise on TpT - I have had decent results with advertising, but I haven't been selected for the newsletter yet.


Like I said in the beginning, I can't believe how fast these posts have gone by!  Tomorrow I will tell you a little more about me, why I attended the conference, and why I will definitely be going again.  I will also be asking about you!  I have gotten a great response to these posts and I heard some people chatting throughout the conference about some things they wish WOULD have been shared that weren't that I am going to be posting about in the future.  

Do you have any must knows or things you are wondering about?  If I know, I will share right away, if I don't I will find out for you!





9 comments:

  1. I can't thank you enough for all your posts this week, Kelly! I have learned so much and I haven't even left my house! I truly appreciate you being so generous and sharing all this information. I'm definitely all ready to go to next year's conference from reading your posts. :)
    Thanks a bunch!
    Aylin
    Learning to the Core

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  2. Thanks for the review, Kelly! It's so interesting to see what others gathered from the session, especially since I was SO nervous that I barely remember any of it! :) erin

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  3. Another great post! I've been checking my phone obsessively every day this week just waiting for your next post! Thank you so much for sharing all of this information with us. I definitely took a lot of notes while reading!

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  4. Thank you again for all of your posts about the TpT conference!! I was so disappointed to miss it, but I feel like I have learned so much from your posts! I really appreciate you sharing out! I'm so glad you had a wonderful trip!! Hopefully I will be able to go next year!

    Andrea
    Tricks of the Trade in First Grade

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  5. Kelly, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about each and every one of your posts about the TpT conference. It speaks volumes about the type of person you are that you would be willing to share with those of us that were unable to attend. Kristen Doyle from Chalk & Apples and Teaching Trio has also been sharing her experiences. I appreciate the both of you stepping out on a limb and helping everyone else around you. Kudos to you! XO
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

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  6. I also want to thank you very much for all your posts on the TpT conference! I have learned a lot because of your willingness to share. Thanks again!

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  7. Thank you so much for sharing all of this information! I'm trying to prepare myself before heading to this year's conference as a first-timer, and this was great information to come across. :)

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  8. You are so awesome for sharing this! I just started tpt 4 months ago, and I love learning all of these things!

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