CTP Top 10: My Favorite Tidbits from 2022

Kirsten 0:56

Hey there, it's Kiersten? Do you have a quick second, I just wanted to give a big thank you to all my listeners who tune in to the creative teacher podcast. If you've enjoyed the show, please take a minute to rate and review. Wherever you listen to the podcast, it would mean the world to me. Thanks again for all your support.

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

turns out. we're winding down: 2022

We're gonna work backwards as you do when you count down for the new year. And we're going to start with number 10. Number 10 shares with you my favorite project management tool. Oh, I should say one of my favorite project management tools. And I always hear a lot of questions or see a lot of questions in the Facebook groups about you know, what's your favorite project management tool. So I wanted to share a little bit about mine from episode number 25. My favorite teacher printer tools. Tool number one is Asana. This is a project management tool. It's very similar to air table. But I have personally more experience with Asana so I can give you highlights of how it works. You can create a variety of tasks and you can segment those tasks based on certain categories. For instance, my categories that I have are content creation, design services, social media product creation, course launch an email marketing, within those projects, which are color coded Of course, I have certain tasks that I add on and I always Like to bucket them in different sections. So with I have my content creation, I have different sections on my content creation board, you can organize it in different ways, you can do it in a list type way, a board, similar to Trello timeline. But what I have is my four different platforms when I go to content creation, like my podcasts, or blogs. And in those little sections, I list out specific tasks that I need to complete in those sections. And it's really easy to create a task, duplicate that task for similar future tasks. And also in those major tasks, you can list in subtasks, and add links to your Google Drive, all kinds of stuff, it has been really helpful for me to have everything out in a calendar style. So I even though have different sections and buckets, I can see that it's color coded. So I can see like, for instance, today, as I'm recording this episode, there are two tasks that are, you know, marking that I need to do. And there are two tasks that are content creation, because they're color coded in that way, it is really cool to play around with I don't even have the full capacity of it. Because I'm just using a free version. I just use it in the way that works for me. I also think it's cool that if you download the app, and set your email notifications on for Asana, it'll give you daily reminders of the tasks that you have to complete. So that's always helpful for me, and I love ticking the box, there's a cute little unicorn. Anytime you check the box, if you complete a task, you can add deadlines, you can add any type of notes. And if you have a team, you can add collaborators or people onto your teams or projects and you can assign them specific roles. So it's a really cool project management tool, I highly recommend you take a look into it.

Okay, moving on to number nine. I shared with you earlier in August, about something that is trending that I really like. I used to be a fan of portrait previews. But in this clip, I share with you a little bit about a different way I've been trying out my new preview templates. Trend number three would be landscape previews. So there are three ways you can orientate your previews. So there's the portrait how most of your printable resources are. But that would be you know, the typical eight and a half by 11 inches. This can be helpful if you want to add a sample in your pre preview. And I started out just doing portrait previews, in the times that I did have a preview because at the beginning, I did not have a preview at all, it was not very good. Square is my second favorite. And this is really great because you can be efficient if you want to have your cover and thumbnails in one slide show. So it's just kind of like an extended version of what you already have with your covers and thumbnails, your first slide could be your cover. And then in the next six or seven slides, you have a variety of different things you add to each slide. And then three of those become your thumbnails. So that's really efficient if you're just kind of like not knowing to do what to do with your previews. And my favorite, my new favorite is landscape 16 by nine proportion dimensions. This is something that was suggested by a couple of colleagues I've heard around about this, this is a really great way for potential buyers to see everything on one page without having to scroll and see on desktop and on mobile. Previously with the other to preview, orient, tations, portrait and square you you're gonna have some words cut off and some pictures cut off, and usually you'll have to scroll to see it. This is a little bit different on the TPT app. It's like hit or miss. But I noticed that the square previews do end up there, it's easy to see but landscape is really easy to even more easier to see on both desktop and mobile. And this is just a way to keep attention the less scrolling, the less distraction, the more opportunities to convert. You don't want to give potential customers have hard time as they're scrolling through the preview just to quickly see what they want to see with the landscape orientation. It's really easy to see everything just in one go. And it's a lot you You know, it's just that's what you want to make it as easy as possible for people trying to see what's inside the resource.

And number eight, I share with you an interesting statistic regarding brands. That was very surprising. All right, I'm going to start out this episode with an interesting statistic, that might surprise you a little bit. And that statistic is that 80% of consumers forget branded content after three days. So if people are stumbling on your TPT, store, or Instagram profile, and it's not memorable, they could potentially forget about it within three days. That's amazing. Considering all of the brands, I do love so much. And then that makes me think of all the brands that I just completely, you know, forgot about that I have been exposed to it's an, it's crazy to think about. And this is because your target audience is not able to keep your brand top of mind. That's just what it comes down to why you don't remember those brands. This is why core values are extremely important in a business. That was a really great episode as far as going into brand values. So if you ever want to really listen to that, it's episode 39 brand values digging deep in the backbone of your TPT business. By the way, if you are kind of really interested in any of the clips, or you're like, Oh, I actually kind of want to listen to the full episode, you can always go into the show notes. And of course, I will link every single one there on the blog.

Alright, moving on to number seven. Number seven is one of my favorite brands. And it was from episode number 36 My favorite brands and what we can learn from them. So let's listen to one of my favorite brands and something we can learn to apply to our own TPT store. The second brand that I really enjoy is someone called mommy labor nurse. She is an actual nurse, and she shares content on social media specifically Instagram is where I first found her, but she also sells courses on natural birth lino C sections, epidurals like she does a whole gauntlet of courses for students to be moms dealing with postnatal care, all of that kind of stuff. And I, this was one of the first courses online that I've ever bought. And I was wanting to try nomads. And so I took one of her courses and you know, learn the information. And I was able to go med free, which was a story for another time. But I came across her platform or brand on Instagram, I found that the a lot of the information that she has was super informative. There are some topics that I had no idea about, like different tips on going through labor, postnatal care, prenatal care, just pretty much anything a future mom or mom to be, or, you know, anybody who's gone through having a kid would want to know, and the best part is, like how she talks about is always really fun. Something that's really memorable. I remember her doing this very recently, is, you know, I don't know if you know, but sometimes they always compare, you know, you're 20 weeks, and you are the size of a grapefruit or how you know, this is completely inaccurate. But what she did was that was really cool is she took actual comparisons like fruits or veggies and put it on a plate and she took a real she did a reel of each week. So it went from like a sunflower seed to a blueberry and and then it progresses for each week. And I thought that was pretty cool seeing the real life, you know, comparisons with how big the baby is, each week with the fruit or veggie. So that's just an example of what she does. She also does really funny reels of like what happens in the birthing room some funny things that dads might say, some like you know, random stuff, it's just really fun and makes it a little less daunting. If you're a first time mom something that you could learn from mommy labor nurse is that brands can be informative and teach something about their audience. And you can do this in your own special way. You can do this through reels. You can do this through infographics. If you want most of your content on Instagram to be mostly informative, you can totally do that. Many people might just really enjoy or like Learning information about a certain topic. Maybe it's like, you know, social studies or, you know, literacy strategies for sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, counseling, SEL, there's so many different ways you can be informative on your platform, you don't always have to do some type of, you know, fun little real about what it is, if you're not comfortable with real, you can always make it informative. So definitely don't stray from doing that as as a brand if that's what you want to be known for. If you listened in that clip, you could probably hear there was a little extra guest with me while I was recording the podcast episode, it's hard to believe that that little baby that was with me is now a year old.

This next clip has to do with my first guest on the podcast, Kristen Doyle. And she gave some tips on how we can stand out in the search results for SEO. Of course, we know that a lot of things have changed with the TPT algorithm. But I feel like this clip really still stands true to this day. Here is number six. What are some ways teacher authors could use what they know about SEO or what they learn through their blog or website and use that to help their product listings on platforms such as TPT? Yeah, so I definitely think hands down, the best way to get more people buying your product is to get them at the top of the TPT search results, I have 100% seen that in my own business. And to get them at the top of the search results, not for just one phrase or one keyword search, but for multiple ones that apply to that product. When I did that, in my own businesses, really when I saw my business, the passive side of my business just really take off. So my biggest tips there are, think like a teacher. Think not about the product that you created, because we all as we're creating a product, we kind of have an idea in mind of what it is and how it's going to be used. And we name it based on that. But think like a teacher, try to think outside of your own box. What other ways might a teacher search for this particular product. And make sure you're using those search phrases in your product title and in your description. Everything that I teach about SEO on Google searches really does still apply to TPT as well.

ing for in a resource in this: 2022

All right. Number four, was a more recent episode. This was from Episode 51, how a TPT storefront can make or break a sale, I share with you some things that I was looking for when I was in the classroom, when I came upon a storefront and what made me follow, and what made me skirt right out of that web browser and go to another place. All right, so I'm gonna share with you a few things that me you know, as I bought resources as a teacher, what I looked for, and what probably a lot of other teachers are looking for as well. The first thing I'm looking for is if there is some type of name to face. And I know it's a little scary to have your face out there out for the world to see, such as in your logo. But sometimes having a name to face kind of gives some the brand a little bit more personality. And especially if it's a very friendly smile, it's you know, it looks like it's updated to current times. And it is fun. It's something I can identify with. And she or he seems like something you know, somebody who would create really fun, great resources for my students. Another thing I'm looking at is the custom categories, like what do they have to offer? I know, there's usually generic categories, such as grades and subject and price and all of that stuff. But sometimes having custom categories on the left hand side of your store friend can kind of give me a really succinct view at what is being offered, for example, as a storefront, maybe there's lettering sets, student crafts, or a bunch of resources for certain holidays, or seasonal resources that can really stand out, because I can see, oh, wow, there's a lot of really great resources, this friendly face has a lot of great resources, I'm going to make sure I follow

number three had to do with recent changes in the TPT algorithm. So this was a bonus episode, I was not actually anticipating on recording it, it just kind of happened in the moment. And I shared a really big tip that I think could still be applicable, not just with the search algorithm, but really anything in your business. On my Instagram Stories last night, I was just also thinking about it. And I just kind of gave three things people can do as a TPT seller. If you choose to, one thing you can do is just just kind of stay the course focus on what you can control. You know, there's only so much we can do with the search algorithm and typing in a bunch of keywords all day and getting mad at what's happening. For me, I'm, you know, in my third trimester, that's not the type of energy I want to spend, I want to spend more energy, you know, working towards my goals, not necessarily on TPT but with you know, building my list, blogging, giving content to teachers and TPT sellers planning for bigger things, not even in TPT but outside of TPT I have different projects that I would love to work on and focus my energy on. So I definitely encourage you to do that if you're feeling overwhelmed with all the noise.

Alright, number two is a really great one. That came from episode number 23 How to manage tough decisions in your teacher business without feeling overwhelmed. And this is something that I think we can all take into the new year as far as decision making. I really loved this tip and that's why I'm adding it in in the top 10 list. Something I want you to know if you can have Have anything from this episode that I want you to remember, I want you to know this. Trust your gut More times than not, your gut feeling is usually right. Think about if you're a teacher, that you tell your students to go with their gut, if they are stuck on a question, and they're down to two answer choices, you always want to just go with your gut, because usually that gut is right. Most of the time, we don't trust ourselves, which could lead to us being indecisive. And it makes it even harder to make a decision we freeze up. But here's something to think about with every decision you make, you're not going to know if it's a good or bad decision until later. But at the very moment you make that decision, it is always a good decision you made that decision. Time will tell if it's a good or a bad decision. But the fact that you made that decision is right at the time for you. I love that reminder of just being able to trust your gut, and just make a decision. And you never know it could be the right decision. Or it may not be the right decision. But it's long as you make a decision. That's what matters.

at reminder moving forward in: 2023

ite clips from the podcast in: 2022

Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.