5 Things I Did to 5x My Teachers Pay Teachers Income

I started my Teachers Pay Teachers store in April 2023 not knowing what I was doing.

I tried a little of this and a little of that.

In the first few months of selling products on Teachers Pay Teachers, it was hard to see what actions were making a real difference in my profits.

But after about nine months, I started to see trends.

My hope is that by sharing the actions I took that really seemed to make a difference in my Teachers Pay Teachers income, you can avoid wasting time on actions that won’t help as much.

Be sure to read to the end for an important caveat to all of this (teaser: fast-paced growth versus slow growth on TPT).

TPT Premium Seller Account

The first action I took that made a significant difference in my Teachers Pay Teachers income was signing up for a TPT Premium Seller account.

At the time I started, there was a free seller account, which is what I started with.  I wanted to make sure this was going to be a successful venture before sinking money into it.

Now TPT does not offer a free seller account at all.  This is to prevent spammy sellers from entering the platform.

As of today, the options for teacher sellers are: 

• Basic Seller Account – $29 one-time application fee
• Premium Seller Account – $59.95 per year

For further details on the basic and premium seller options, check out this page on teacherspayteachers.com.

I noticed an immediate increase in my Teachers Pay Teachers income when I signed up for the Premium Seller account simply because I was making a higher percentage with every product I sold.

Got My TPT Store Looking Like a Store 

The second action I took that really seemed to make a difference in my Teachers Pay Teachers income was getting my store looking like a store.

There is no tangible way of tracking this hypothesis, besides an increase in my conversion rate.  But once I had my TPT store all “set up” like I wanted it, I noticed more regular sales coming in.

So, what do I mean by “looking like a store” or “set up”?

Here are the small actions I took to complete my TPT store set up:

• Nice logo.  I went through three or four logos before I settled on just the right one.  It is the first impression of your storefront, whether people are seeing it at the top of your TPT store, on your products as they’re browsing, or on social media.  It’s important!  Adding your face to your logo can help connect you to your brand and draw people in as well.
• Customized banners.  I’m embarrassed to say I had the text quote banner up for far too long.  It is not hard to get those banners customized with a free Canva account.  Comment at the end of this article if you’d like a tutorial on how to do this!  Once you get a nice set of banners up that match your logo–it will make such a difference!  There’s an element of trust that comes when customers see you really mean business and take this seriously.
• Enough products.  No matter how beautiful your logo and banners, if you only have three products in your store…that ain’t it, sis.  Make it a goal to fill up that first page of product results as soon as you can (with the highest quality).  That’s 20 products.  Visitors can scroll down and see a full store adding to the trust factor.
• Nailed down niche.  Notice I didn’t mention this first.  I think your niche comes into focus once you’ve created your first 20 products and checked out what’s selling.  We’ll discuss this topic more in depth in the seasonal products and niche sections.
• Branding throughout.  By the time you get 20 products up, you should know your brand.  Your branding includes your niche, your product type(s), your colors and fonts, and you!
• Mastered covers (thumbnails).  Once you hit 20 uploaded products, go back and look at how your thumbnails have progressed.  You should now have a better idea of your brand’s colors and fonts and the look you want for your covers and thumbnails.  Time to redo your first products’ covers so everything on that first page of listings has a cohesive look!  I know it’s extra work, but it will be so satisfying and effective to be able to scroll from product 1 through 20 and see that branding looking oh-so-polished!
• Thoughtful featured products.  And, finally, pick the best four products to feature at the top of your store (and keep updating these for the next season as needed).  Also, think about your primary freebie and this could greatly affect a new customer’s view of your store and the quality of your products.  Update your free product as needed!

Pinterest 

The third action I took that made a trackable difference in my Teachers Pay Teachers income was regularly posting to Pinterest.

There are many social media platforms where TPT sellers are finding traction and getting sales, but for me, the only platform that has worked so far is Pinterest.

I got into the habit of creating three to four nice pins for each TPT product I made.  

It was easy to find a rhythm because I was creating covers and thumbnails anyways…why not just turn those into 1000 x 1500 pixel pins?!

I scheduled out my pins through Pinterest’s native scheduler.  Some pins would lead to blog posts on this website, and some directly to products on Teachers Pay Teachers.

And I saw sales from those pins!

How do I know the sales came from Pinterest?  I used TPT’s UTM codes to track which pins were getting clicks and which clicks converted to sales.

Want to learn more about Pinterest or UTM codes?  Comment at the end of this post and I can make a tutorial!

Seasonal Products 

Those who have been selling on TPT for years often give the advice to focus on evergreen products first.  Evergreen products are products that will sell all year long.

This is good advice because you are creating products that will continue to sell and you’ll be able to see slow, steady growth.

However, I did the opposite of this advice!

I created seasonal products first.  Mostly.  I did create some evergreen products as well.

Here’s my two cents on the matter… 

If you want to quickly see what teachers like and want to buy, make seasonal versions of those product ideas.

If you want slow and steady growth, make evergreen products and wait to see which ones teachers are searching for and willing to buy.

Two different strategies.  Both with merit.

I chose to go the seasonal route with no regrets.

You see, teachers are searching specifically for seasonal products in their niche so your seasonal products are more likely to be seen in search even if they are newer.

The downside to this is: YOU HAVE TO KEEP MAKING PRODUCTS FOR THE NEXT SEASON.  AND THE NEXT.  AND…   you get the idea.

It’s a hamster wheel that you are stuck on at least for the first year of creating products.  There are deadlines and pressure to create next season’s products on time!

But I’ve seen fast growth with this technique so I’m sticking with it!

Explored My Niche 

And the final action I took which made a difference in my Teachers Pay Teachers income was exploring my niche.

My niche is piano teacher resources.  That may already sound pretty niched down.  But there’s some competition there.  So if I can nail down the products that I’m really good at making and that teachers really need, I can find my little piece of the pie!

The way I explored my niche, was through freebies and seasonal products.  That’s how I tested a new idea without my niche.

So the process goes something like this…

• I think of a brand new idea for a type of product.
• I create a mini version for free.
• I create a seasonally-relevant version for an upcoming holiday.
• I promote the free version and the seasonal version to my audience and feature it in my TPT store.
• I see how it does!

You might think that if it’s free, anyone will just download it because, well, it’s FREE.  But that isn’t the case!

Yes, people are more likely to download a free product than a paid product.  And, yes, people are more likely to download a seasonal product that fits the next holiday than an evergreen product.  But people will still be picky and will only bother downloading it if they think it WILL BE OF VALUE.

And that, my teacher friend, is how you “trial” a new niche idea to see if it has merit!  If it does well, make a whole product line out of it.  And if it doesn’t do so well, save your time and try another idea.

Let’s Talk ROI 

When looking to increase my Teachers Pay Teachers income, I was all about what will be the greatest ROI this month?

ROI stands for Return On Investment.  It means did you get enough out of your investment to make it worth it?  This applies to monetary investments as well as time and energy investments.

But here’s what I don’t hear people talking about…

THERE IS SHORT-TERM ROI AND LONG-TERM ROI.

Let me explain.  

If I focus all of my efforts on seasonal products, that’s a pretty short-term ROI.  I might make a lot of sales in October on my Halloween games, but I’m going to make ZERO dollars on Halloween games in November.  And December.  And so on.

If I focus all of my efforts on evergreen products, I’m focusing more on a long-term ROI.  My sales won’t blow up during the Black Friday sale, but I could see slow and steady growth that could bring in money 365 days a year.

See what I mean?

And we’re not just talking seasonal products.  There is a short-term ROI and a long-term ROI way of approaching everything I mentioned!  

So what’s the solution?  Do we go short-term or long-term?

Might I introduce the concept of: MID-TERM ROI.

I’m talking about striking a balance between the two.  Being mindful of which investments are short-term and which are long-term and planning accordingly.

Just by realizing that there are short-term and long-term consequences to every action can be a game-changer.

TPT Income Reports

If you are feeling utterly disappointed at this time because I didn’t mention any numbers in this article, my apologies!

I don’t like to leave income numbers lying around on my blog.

I do, however, post income reports to my YouTube channel.

The journey starts here if you want to follow my TPT income reports on YouTube: