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

Session 2

Session 3

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

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:

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!