Updating TPT Resources with Alex Baxter

Kirsten 0:00

Sometimes, though, I think we can be perfectionist, and we worry that everyone's going to judge that old product on our store. But if it's a really terrible seller that doesn't sell then it's just not going to sell. So it's fine if it sits there. So I try not to deactivate anything, I try to use that as a motivation that it needs updating. I worry that if I just kind of deactivated and deleted stuff, then I would never get around to doing it. having it sit there having that cringe factor, things like that makes me update it. So I keep it all in there. And I use that as a motivation factor.

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.

Hey there and welcome to another episode of the creative Teacher Podcast. Today we have a special guest that I am interviewing for the show. And that is Alex Baxter. You may know her as the terrific teacher printer. She also has her own podcast. But she came on the show to talk about updating TPT resources we talk all about when it's a good time to update it. Some tips about like, you know, if it's just best to delete it or deactivate it best practices when you're updating a resource, how often resources should be updated in a lot more. So this is a really great episode. She gave me the opportunity way back a couple of years ago when she first started her podcast to talk about branding on her own podcast. So of course, I had to return the favor and have her on for my podcast. So I can't wait to share with you this conversation with Alex.

All right, well, we've got a special guest on the creative teacher podcast Alexandra Baxter. So welcome to the show.

Alex 3:11

Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Yes.

Kirsten 3:14

So I love asking this question. But just tell us a little bit about yourself and your teacher experience and how you transitioned into being a teacher printer.

Alex 3:28

Awesome. Yes. I love this question too, because I was really nosy when I listen to other podcasts and hear other sellers and their journey. So it's always good fun. Yeah, I'm originally from the UK. That's why we'll be hearing the British accent. But just to confuse everybody. I live in Australia now. And then like, you know, with US dollars, it's all very confusing. But basically, I've been living here for over a decade. And so I like studied, I went to school here study to be a teacher here, did my full time teaching and part time teaching everything here. But a few years ago, I was getting quite burnt out from teaching and I happened to have a little TPT store going. And I found I really threw myself into it when I was doing substitute teaching. So I was able to kind of juggle both, you know, like I was still in the kind of doing stuff in the classroom, but I was able to work on my business. And so my store really took off, which is really exciting. So I was able to sort of leave teaching fully. And now I'm a full time TPT seller, which is really exciting. But you know, nerve wracking at the same time as well, because you like throwing yourself into this one thing. And being a full time salary is like it sounds like the dream but honestly, like at the moment with everything going on with the algorithm stuff on TPT like it is scary. You know, it is your livelihood. So it's like, I just wanted to share the interesting perspective. It's it's a cool thing. I love it, but it has its like scary moments too. But yeah, it's been a crazy journey.

Kirsten 4:44

Yeah, and I guess it's just like all part of being a business owner in general. Even outside of the TPT world. You're gonna have these things that you expect and anticipate and then stuff comes in blindsides you and so you just have to adjust as much as possible, you know So

Alex 5:00

I'm very lucky now I was doing well and everything, but it does. It's very eye opening, having all that stuff kind of go on. But yeah, anyway, I was a teacher a full time teacher like, whatever you guys call it Elementary, we call it primary here like, you know, you 123, that kind of age group. So I've done, I've done that's my focus on my store too. And mostly like, you know, ela resources and stuff like that. Yeah, that's been pretty much my journey.

Kirsten 5:22

That's awesome. Yes. So we are talking today about updating TPT resources, because usually we focus more on like the product creation process, and then we have our listings, and then we upload it. And then sometimes we just kind of leave it there. And not necessarily, you know, we might update the listing or the cover, add some photos, and you know, all that good stuff. But sometimes we might neglect or not give as much love to the actual resource itself. So I'm so happy that you're here to talk to us about that. Why is it important in general, to update resources, even if it's one of your best sellers, or it's just doing really well in your store?

Alex 6:07

I love that question. Because I think it's like this, in our brains, we think, Oh, I've got no bestsellers. And most sellers, like if I'm going to do any kind of optimizing or updating, obviously, I should go to my worst sellers and work on those. But like, actually, the most logical thing you can do is to spend all of your time and energy on your best sellers. Because why would you not want to make something that's already selling, sell more, like, I'm a big analogy kind of gal. And it's almost like if you were cooking, and you have a dish that you're really good at cooking, and one that you're terrible at, like you could spend all this time trying to learn that new one, and just poison everybody in the family. Or you could just perfect the recipe of that one you already have. And just make like the best thing ever. I've like It's like that with TBT. Like, you know, look at your best sellers, how can I get them to just sell that little bit more like, I can make a small action step today like making a preview or better preview, make me literally money tomorrow, whereas with worse sellers and the rest of the stuff in our store, sometimes it feels like you're doing stuff that's necessarily see the return on it. So I think updating in general is really important. But yes, best sell is hands down. Like we should not be neglecting them. When there's something sitting right there that could be making us more money if we just did a few things. Right. That's what I like. Anyway,

Kirsten 7:18

I love you. I love the food analogy that you had, because it's so true. Like, why would I like this? My kids didn't like this food. So why would I try to make it again? They like another food, I'm gonna try to you know, do better at it and make it you know. So yeah, I love how you compare that. But yes, so we might have a resource, maybe it's a best seller, maybe it's you know, it sells pretty good. What are some signs that it is time to update?

Alex 7:46

e age, if it's like from like: 2012

Kirsten 8:54

I can think of a few right now. Like I see it sell constantly. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, you guys are getting that resource. I need to update it.

Alex 9:04

Embarrassing, right? Yes, we will have those there's no there's no shame, but we've had it and that usually sign for me that I'm like, oh, that's gotta go do it. Next up, seasonal stuff. You know, if Valentine's Day is coming up, or like February, you'd be like, Oh, well, fractions are gonna sell well, Valentine's Day. So why not spend December in January doing that. So sometimes I think about seasons, you kind of know what will sell in that month, it can help you update stuff. So this segues well into the next one, which is let the data tell you so if you go to your product statistics, and you can clearly see low conversions, low views, low preview views, low sales and like alarming things, you know, you've got a 1% conversion that can be like a wake up call. So I think that's a good one. And then the last ones I've got are like just in general, if it's a best seller or product line, why not you know, if you're going to update a product, do the whole product line, right so and then the last One second, you're more new seller. If you learn something, go back and fix it. And we always learning something new. We're always learning, hey, I've got a flat and insecure. Oh, hey, I actually need good clipart like, what is this something that you've kind of realized, you know that you used to do badly, like, we'll go back and fix, it doesn't matter. It's a resource you only made two months ago. If it's something you've learned since then you're like, Oh, I really need to fix that. Like, definitely prioritize that. And that was for me, when I was a newer seller, you know, you would learn something new. And you'd be like, Oh, I didn't realize I needed your credits page. Oh, yeah. So that's my little list. And I feel like that kind of covers most of the things that make me think, yes, that needs an update.

Kirsten: 10:38

I love all of those signs. Those are all great for really any level of seller, you know, it's always a good reminder. So let's say you did mention, like if a resource might have really low conversion rates, or views and all of that stuff. So if that kind of thing is happening, is it even worth updating? Like, if it's not, if it's not selling? Well, maybe it might be better to just delete and deactivate rather than trying to update it and try to get people to buy it? What are your thoughts on that?

Alex: 11:11

I'm really strongly anti delete, and anti deactivate. And which I know is crazy. Because you look at resourcing like this is so hideous, I can't believe I should leave this my store. Sometimes though, I think we can be perfectionist, and we worry that everyone's going to judge that old product in our store. But if it's a really terrible seller that doesn't sell then it's just not gonna sell. So the spine of it sits there. So I try not to deactivate anything, I try to use that as a motivation that it needs updating, I worry that if I just kind of deactivate and delete stuff, then I would never get around to doing it, having it sit there having that cringe factor, things like that, that makes me update it. So I keep it all in there. And I use that as a motivation factor. And, and it sounds horrible as well. Like, if it's a bit ugly, you know, someone's still technically bought it. That's still money. So why would you ever say no to money? So you know, yeah, you know, technically, if it's a resource that you know, you made, and you you know, it might be perfect, it may be ugly, but like, in theory, you could help a teacher, there's someone out there that doesn't care what it looks like, they just that content, whatever. And it could technically sell I don't know, it just seems crazy to like, it's like food waste like this altruistic things away.

Kirsten: 12:18

Right, exactly. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, you never know. So and it just really depends, like there is somebody out there who like may need that specific resource that you happen to have that not a lot of people buy, because it's just so like, I don't know, maybe it's just so unique.

Alex: 12:36

if it says like, you know, you realize it's a trademark violation or something really seriously, like the clip that's really dodgy than that, you know, I've done that in the past if I could do that, for the most part is digitally fine. Yeah.

Kirsten: 12:48

Yeah, for sure. Definitely. Well, so we talked about the signs, it's time to update and like keeping up with, you know, not needing to delete anything that doesn't sell well, that's kind of going into the best practices on updating a resource in general, like, what are some tips when you're actually in PowerPoint, or Canva? Or wherever you create your resource? Or have your file? What are some best practices when you're actually updating the resource itself?

Alex: 13:21

I have a really good tip for this one. And it's, I think that you should add to the resource, like I've done a lot of update, I give it a makeover, and I'm like, oh, that's hideous, let's make that prettier kind of thing. And I upload that to TPT. And that's fine. But if you kind of make the effort to sit there and go and do this, like, why would you not throw in an extra few worksheets, a few extra activities, or reading passages, whatever, like, bulk it up just a little bit, or maybe even a lot. And the reason to do that is because then you can increase your price. And I've been doing that in the last year or so like nearly, I say nearly every update I do, I make the product a tiny bit bigger and better. Maybe I only increase the price by like 50 cents or $1. But I think it's had a really big impact. So I looked at my data. And I could see, you know, this month compared to last year, you can see that I've sort of fairly similar amount of units, but my earnings are double. And the same for the year in general and like the unit sold is not that different to last year. But the earnings are like, you know, 1000s $1,000 more and like, well, the only difference really is I'm still selling stuff, the same stuff. But now when I sell it, I make more money. So you can do some updates that make it bigger and juicier and more expensive. I think that's a really, that's a really good thing for like, the product, but in terms of like the listing and stuff I know that's not really what you asked, but I think that no one's gonna give you get to see if you're gonna sit there and do that, like this is my buying my philosophy, you're gonna make the effort on Canva or PowerPoint to update the resource itself. Why not give the listing a major makeover and do it do it all in one go cover thumbnail preview, SEO, good preview, like all that kind of stuff. So it's worthwhile you know, see He's not got these kinds of resources that half half, you know, it's got a good cover, but a bad review. Right? It's done. But the thumbnails bad? Like, why not just do it like prefer all or nothing for me? I don't know if you agree with that or not?

Kirsten: 15:09

I'm I'm the same way Yes, for sure. And that's exactly what I did when I was like becoming active, or really, for the first time after just having a dead store for so many years, I took the time to like, make sure to update every single one of the resources that were already in my store just sitting there. And I added, like a bunch of different pages and activities, I beefed up the cover and thumbnails. So I did the whole nine yards, added a digital version, all that good stuff. So yes, that's definitely like, those are definitely some really great tips on that.

Alex: 15:45

You're going to do it like go all in and, and sometimes as well, like sit in print often do like product photography and things as well, I felt like that's kind of become more non negotiable. Now, I know that you're really big on branding and listings and stuff, too. So it's like, you're gonna make that effort to make the product better make it so that actually sells better by marketing it better. So you do everything. But some people prefer to work, not product by product, they want to just do all of their covers for the whole store. But I think a good thing to keep in mind is that if you go and update a cover, and you don't update the product, eventually you're gonna update the product, and then you're gonna do another cover. So you kind of not worth as smart. If you know what it means it's good to just get it all done in one go, I think.

Kirsten: 16:23

Yes, I totally agree with that. Oh, goodness, those are some great tips on that. So how often should if we have a resource, and we're updating it, how often should it happen? So like, I know, you mentioned, you know, if it's, you know, before a certain time of year, you know, a resource is going to sell pretty well, that's a great time to update it. But in general, how often should a resource be updated?

Alex: 16:49

I know this is probably not like applicable to newer sellers. If you've been selling for like a year, that's different, but for those of us have been selling for years, I like to kind of think that it should be updated maybe every two years or so like I sort of, like I said that thing about 2020. Like I look back and I think it says a copyright on it says 2018 2019 on it and like get a while. So I'm like I feel I like to kind of have nearly everything in my store. It's been done by me and update this year or last year, or maybe the year before that. But I've not got stuff in my store that's really, really old. And I think there's a big difference has really made a difference. And the bigger and newer sellers has even been selling a year. You know, you might still you might do more than one update a year like for us, we leave it for years. And then we update, you might do two or three updates in a year you're learning stuff. That's fine. It's not so much about like us, there's a strict rules about when it should be done. It's just does it need to be done, what needs to be done? Is that going to make you more money? Because if so, like do it 10 times a year if necessary, just to get it I guess? Yeah, no, that's like the goal isn't to sell more. So

Kirsten: 17:56

Exactly. Yeah. So I guess there's no hard or fast rule, it just maybe depends on how long you've been hat, how long you've had a TPT store. And you know what you're learning along the way some people grow or learn exponentially more than they did, you know, and they might need to update more. Whereas others may kind of wait a couple years, two to three years a

Alex: 18:19

good thing as well as a lot of people lately have been taking a lot of courses or listening to podcasts. So a lot of newer sellers learn a really large amount of information in a short period. And so I often hear people say, Well, I've learned all this new stuff, do it, should I go back and update the old stuff? Or should I just keep that in mind when I make my new products? And I'm like, Well, you've instead of like trying to, you know, start all over again, why not get the stuff you already have to sell more? Everything you learn, go back and update it. And just it's a Yeah, and then not to like, say that product creation is bad. It is not. We sometimes are on that hamster wheel of churning out new products over and over and over. When we have stuff in a store that's there like something of like 100 products, and why are they not selling? Let's figure that out and fix that instead of trying to make a new thing.

Kirsten: 19:02

Right. I totally agree with that for sure. Great, great insight. Well, where can we learn more information about creating products and updating products from you?

Alex: 19:16

I would just say, I have like I have my own podcast and Facebook group and Instagram. So I'll just give you the links to those but like I I've done like podcast episodes and Instagram posts and things in the past just about updates and all the things that all the stuff there. So there's loads of free content I have out there with like tips and stuff. So pretty much search the tip, terrific teacher pron. You're on Google, I'm sure it would come up. That's what the podcast and the Facebook group and everything's called. And my Instagram is called terrific selling tactics. So, you know, it's all for free. All the info is there which you know, it's always nice to have that free, free and fun.

Kirsten: 19:49

Sounds good? Well, I'm so glad I finally have been able to have you as a guest. I know I was a guest on your own podcast, like maybe one or two years ago. I don't even know I remember what it was like it was a while back, but I'm glad to be able to return the favor. Yeah,

Alex: 20:07

I'm so glad to come on to. It's nice to do both podcasts. And yeah, I'm coming up to my 100th episode soon, which is really exciting. So that has been a long time since you were on because you're one of the really,

Kirsten: 20:18

I remember. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Alex: 20:22

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Kirsten: 20:38

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.