The Rebranded Teacher
The Rebranded Teacher
SEO Strategies for Top TPT Listings
Want to unlock the secrets to skyrocketing your Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) business? Discover how understanding watch time and sales potential can transform your resource's rankings and boost your profits. Forget about rigid formulas; instead, learn how to harness the power of TPT's search engine to create a win for you, TPT, and your buyers. We'll guide you through mastering keyword strategies and crafting eye-catching product covers that speak directly to buyer intent. Say goodbye to seasonal keyword traps and hello to maximizing your product’s visibility with strategic insights from our journey in social media content creation.
Feeling awkward about promoting your TPT store? You're not alone! Join me as we navigate the common discomfort of self-promotion and explore why reaching out for support can actually strengthen relationships with your followers. Discover how building a community of engaged buyers can lead to enthusiastic reviews and recurring sales. Plus, get a sneak peek into next week’s episode where I’ll reveal strategies to earn an extra thousand dollars in March. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just getting started, this episode offers practical tools and insights to elevate your TPT business.
Check Out My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/laurenfulton
Link to Rank my Resources Bootcamp: https://rebrandedteacher.kartra.com/page/mnx229
My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurentschappler/
My Other YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LaurenATsch
Free Rebranded Teacher Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/749538092194115
Welcome to the Rebranded Teacher Podcast. My name is Lauren Fulton. I'm a full-time teacher, author and seller on Teachers, Pay Teachers, and I help other teacher entrepreneurs grow their TPT businesses in a way that's purposeful and sustainable. So if you're looking for actionable, step-by-step ways to grow your business, you're in the right place. Let's get started.
Speaker 2:Me and you need to have a little talk about how TPT actually ranks resources.
Speaker 1:Let's go.
Speaker 2:If you've been selling on TPT for a little while and you're trying all the tricks, you're watching all the videos, you're trying to make all of the tweaks to get your resources to rank in TPT search engine, but you're coming up with crickets, then this is the podcast episode for you, because one of the things that we're going to cover today is something that not very many people talk about. I mean, some of the things we know but we don't actually think about. One of the things that we're going to talk about today is something that a lot of us tend to breeze by in our SEO strategies. We tend to look for a list of items that we can check off of our list in terms of SEO, rather than understanding big picture of how SEO actually works on TPT and what really gets a resource to rank. Now I'm going to tell you a little story. I started a lifestyle social media page back in December and for the first time in my life, I'm creating content that doesn't revolve around my business or business says right, and in the process of doing this, I'm learning things from scratch and I'm having to go back to the very basics of how do I get people to even view my reels or my TikToks, kind of like how a lot of newbies are feeling with getting their resources to rank on TPT. So I started looking for courses and strategies that were going to tell me exactly what I needed to do. Do this, you will get this result, because this is how we're wired as humans. We want be told. If you follow this exact strategy, this is going to get you the result that you want, because a formula tends to mean that if I put this in, I will get this result. And if we were looking to get a certain measurable result, then we wanna know exactly what we're supposed to put in there. The problem is, this is not exactly how it works, and I know some of you came on here thinking, lauren, would you please take your almost nine years of experience selling on TPT and helping other TPT business owners improve their SEO and improve their profits and tell me exactly what to do. But I can't tell you that what I am gonna share with you today is gonna help deepen your understanding of how SEO works, how the search engine algorithm works, so that you can set yourself up for the best success.
Speaker 2:Back to that story that I was telling you about myself, where I was looking for that perfect formula that was going to allow my social media reels to go viral. I ended up investing in two courses, not one. Two courses in the first few weeks of being on Instagram and creating content. One of them was fantastic. The other one not so much. The one that was kind of meh not surprisingly focused on a formula, a specific formula that they said would basically guarantee that you're going to go viral with your content if you followed their formula. Well, newsflash, I have not gone viral yet. The second one really focused on what causes a video to go viral or to get a lot of views, and that one was very helpful to me because they told me something that really helped all the pieces of good content creation fall into place and really put everything in its proper perspective. Now, just so you guys don't get upset with me over not telling you what that one thing was, I'm going to go ahead and tell you right now. It was watch time. You had to improve your watch time. If you improved your watch time, you would get more views.
Speaker 2:Well, the TPT algorithm is very similar. The one thing that the TPT algorithm is looking to do more than anything else, and the one thing that's gonna cause it to prioritize one resource over another, regardless of how well search engine optimized a product is, is the TPT algorithm. What's TPT? To make money, that's its job. Its job is to make more money for TPT.
Speaker 2:And you might be like those greedy TPT no, that's not what it's about. This makes a lot of really good sense, right. When a product makes TPT more money, it's also making that seller, or those sellers who are at the top, make more money. It's also increasing the stats that buyers are leaving with something that's going to make them happy. So this is really about more than just lining TPTs on pockets Although, of course, that is. The end goal, for any business is to make more money. This is really about making sure that everyone is happy. It's creating a win-win-win situation. The buyer finds a product that they like, the TPT seller makes more money, tpt makes more money and everybody's happy.
Speaker 2:You might be like Lauren I'm not happy. I'm not happy because my product isn't up at the top. Here's what we need to do to get your product up at the top, and this is what you need to think about every single time that you're thinking about SEO strategies. You need to ask yourself is this going to increase my chances of profitability for this product? Are the tweaks and changes that I'm making to this product going to cause me to make more sales? That's the end goal. If your product is making more sales than anybody else's on TPT for those keywords, then you are going to rank at the very top, guaranteed, regardless of the number of reviews that you have, regardless of how beautiful your cover is, how well-crafted your snippet is or how well search engine optimized your product is as a whole. If your resource is outperforming every other resource in terms of sales, then TPT is going to prioritize it. Number one goal of the TPT search engine algorithm is to drive more sales, to make more money, right. So what this does for us is it really simplifies the game. We're taking that step back, like I said before, and we're saying okay, is what I'm doing going to help me make more money for this product? Is what I'm doing going to help this product bring in more revenue for TPT? If the answer is yes, then that's what you wanna do.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about why that mindset is important. A lot of times, tpt sellers will choose keywords they think will help them rank and help them get seen by more people. But in choosing those keywords, they're not necessarily thinking about whether or not it's going to lead to the most amount of sales. Their theory is the more views I get, the more sales I'm going to get, and while that might be true for your specific product, it doesn't mean that you're going to get more sales than all of the rest of the resources surrounding your product. So what we really want to think about, before we just start choosing keywords at random that we think we can rank for, is we want to think about whether or not the buyer typing those keywords in is actually going to be looking for your product as a solution to their problem.
Speaker 2:A really good example of this with seasonal resources is when someone has something like a fall themed resource and when Thanksgiving rolls around and buyers start looking for Thanksgiving themed products, they think you know what this fall themed product would work for Thanksgiving. So I'm going to go ahead and put Thanksgiving as one of my keywords in my title and my snippet. But they're not really thinking about buyer intent. They're not really thinking about the fact that their buyer is probably not looking for a fall themed resource as a solution to their problem and might you make a few more sales? Yeah, you absolutely might. But overall, what is that going to do if it affects your conversion rate from TPT search?
Speaker 2:So if I'm using a keyword like Thanksgiving in my title and my snippet and I'm doing that for the entire month of November, but my product is really a fall themed product what that could potentially do by using keywords that don't completely align with what the buyer is looking for whenever they find my product, I could risk getting passed over in TPT search because my product does not look as Thanksgiving-y as the rest of the products in TPT search and that getting passed over means that other resources for those keywords are generating more revenue for TPT. And I could risk getting knocked down in the search engine rankings because when buyers click through to my product or choose not to click through to my product and pass it on by then TPT could deprioritize my resource, saying you know what? People don't really seem to be liking Lauren's product and that could actually harm me in other areas of TPT search as well for keywords that are actually in line with what the buyer is searching for. So this is about way more than just choosing keywords that are going to help me rank. This is about choosing keywords that are going to help my product make the most money out of all the other resources that are showing up around it in TPT search. So I want to be mindful of that. That's not to say that you can't ever use some of those seasonal words or that you can't ever make tweaks and changes to your title or give something a shot and experiment with it. Absolutely, somebody may really want your fall resource over the Thanksgiving resource because yours is way cooler and it may work out in your favor. So it's not to say don't ever experiment, but it is to say that overall, you really wanna be careful about choosing your keywords and making sure that you're choosing keywords that actually are in line with. I know that when the buyer searches for this, they are specifically looking for something like my product to show up.
Speaker 2:Another thing that I really wanna think about here is my cover. I have a couple of opportunities with my cover to really grab the buyer's attention, and there are two big things that I really wanna think about when I'm crafting my cover in relation to the keywords that I've chosen and what I know my buyer is specifically looking for. Number one I want to make sure that I'm crafting my cover in such a way that it confirms to the buyer that, yes, this product is in line with the keywords that I was searching for. If the buyer was looking for a Thanksgiving product, it is very clear from my cover that it is a Thanksgiving resource. If the buyer was specifically searching for a third grade math resource, then it specifically says third grade on the cover. I want to make sure that, at a glance, my cover is affirming that my product will meet the need that they're searching for.
Speaker 2:The second thing is I want my product to stand out in a good way. I don't want it to stand out in a ooh, that's different kind of way. So I want to make sure that I'm doing my market research before I'm creating my cover to make sure that my product doesn't blend in with the other resources that are showing up on the page of search results, but actually stands out in a way that's positive. So this doesn't mean necessarily using different colors. In fact, oftentimes I would encourage you to use similar color schemes and similar layouts to the types of covers that you're seeing are already doing well, performing well for those keywords.
Speaker 2:Not saying copy. That is absolutely not what I'm saying, and don't anybody twist that. Okay, we're not saying copy. What I'm saying is conduct your market research to ensure that you are bringing a cover to the TPT audience that is in line with the type of covers that they're normally attracted to. Your cover is also a really great place to put something like a value grab. A value grab is a fantastic way to help your product stand out in a positive way. So if I'm looking at all of the other resources that are showing up in TPT search results and they've got all these beautiful images on them, but I can't see a page count and I know my product has 112 pages I'm going to be putting 112 pages on there. If it covers two weeks worth of work, I would be putting two-week unit on there. If it includes a video lesson, a digital version, if it's no prep, whatever it is, I'm putting a value grab on there. Now, you only want one value grab, though? Okay, we really only want one value grab, but pick something.
Speaker 2:Take a look at the other resources that are showing up in TPT search and take notice of what your product has to offer that theirs doesn't. Do theirs look like they're no prep. Do they look like you're gonna have to do a lot of cutting and pasting? Maybe, if they have to do a lot of cutting and pasting, then maybe on yours you say no cut and paste, no glue needed, whatever it is, and then that way they're keeping that in mind as they look at other products and they're like, oh well, I'm gonna need glue for that. Right, you can take something about your resource, anything about your product, and make it stand out on TPT search, make it look like it's better quality, like it might be a better fit, and it may not even be something that the buyer even knew that they wanted. But the instant they see, oh, I don't have to use glue or I don't have to laminate that or I don't have to cut whatever it is, they're gonna be instantly attracted to your product compared to the other resources around, because they're interested in that value that you're offering to them. So use your cover as a hook to really reel them in.
Speaker 2:What this is gonna do for you SEO-wise is it's going to increase your click-through rate through search. Now the hope is that you're going to have a preview, a product description, everything that is optimized for conversion which is a topic for another video so that when they click through, they're more likely to make that purchase and they're going to purchase your product. That's what we really want to happen. So as you get more clicks from TPT search and you get more purchases, your resource is going to naturally start to climb the search engine rankings and you're gonna be able to, over time, rank for more and more broad and high-performing keywords, versus having to use some of the lower-performing keywords and more specific keywords. This is gonna help you make more sales. So we really wanna think what are the things that I can do that are gonna help me make more sales so that TPT prioritizes my product in TPT search? Another really easy way to do this and I don't recommend overusing it, but every now and then this is a really great way to give a new product a boost you can join a niche-specific hashtag sale. I do recommend that they be niche-specific and I do recommend that they don't be too terribly large. So if you join a niche-specific hashtag sale like, say, 20 kindergarten sellers and each one of them has two products in the sale, then that's only 40 products for buyers to comb through to find a dollar deal or a 50% off deal or something like that. Not only is this going to earn you a little bit of revenue, but it's also going to help boost your earnings for that product, the conversion rate for that product, which could help your resource rank higher in TPT search because TPT sees that that product is selling.
Speaker 2:Now let's circle back to the part that most people have the hardest time with, and that is choosing the right keywords so that you can even rank it all. You're like well, lauren, I mean this sounds really great. I can make tweaks to my cover, I can add a value, grab Heck. I can even throw a hashtag sale Zero problems. My issue is figuring out how to rank at all, like how do I choose the keywords that are gonna help buyers find me so that I do get the opportunity to get clicks, so I do get the opportunity to get sales? We're gonna be talking keyword strategies inside of my Rank, my Resource Bootcamp that starts on March 15th. This is a week-long bootcamp that's going to help you search engine optimize three products to get them to rank higher, and you might be going three. I've got 300 that need to be search engine optimized. The goal is to spend a lot of really high quality time during that week through audits with myself, peer audits and step-by-step guides on how to choose the right keywords that are going to help your product rank so that you can get click-throughs, so that you can get more sales. And we're going to do it slowly together so that when you walk away you have three search engine optimized products and you can feel really confident in getting the other 300 or the other 30 or however many you have to rank better in TPT search.
Speaker 2:Now come here. Let me tell you something. If you're thinking about joining this bootcamp, you want to join right now because this coming Saturday, february 22nd, I'm going to be running an exclusive pre-bootcamp call inside of the bootcamp Facebook group where I'm going to be going over some of the strategies that you need to know about SEO, beyond just keywords, before we actually meet for the bootcamp. We'll be talking about optimizing your product listing, talk about a few cover photos, tips and tricks and all of those things before we actually have our bootcamp kickoff on March 15th. So if you're interested in joining, make sure that you join right away so that you can be part of that call this Saturday, february 22nd and you don't miss out on that pre-bootcamp call Now if you want to learn more about TPT SEO, I encourage you to check out this video right here that I dropped just a few weeks ago called TPT SEO Common Common Mistakes to Avoid.
Speaker 2:This video is gonna help you avoid a lot of the common mistakes that I see sellers make. But for sure you do not wanna miss that Rank my Resources Bootcamp. Just gonna tell you right now only one I'm doing this year and you wanna make sure that you're a part of it. Thanks so much for being here on the podcast this week. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure leave me a little review. You know, drop the little five heart kind of thing. Click the little five heart. I think you can. You can review multiple times. Just leave a little five-star review type something if you want, don't. If you don't, and if you haven't checked out our YouTube channel, make sure that you're watching on YouTube.
Speaker 2:This week's episode could all be enjoyed via audio, but sometimes I'll put some additional screen share footage and things like that so you can see everything that's going on, and my goal this year is to grow my YouTube channel, and one of the reasons I tell you guys that is not only because you're a big part of helping me grow some in some of these areas, but also because I want to communicate to you guys what it is that I'm trying to do, so that you can feel more comfortable with telling other people that as well in your business.
Speaker 2:If you've ever felt awkward or weird about saying something like, hey, you guys make sure you follow my TPT store.
Speaker 2:One of my goals right now is to grow my TPT follower account so that more people are getting alerts whenever I release a new product, then I want you to know that that's absolutely okay because it's something that I do and, while I might feel a little bit uncomfortable in the beginning, when you start to see that people are actually really excited to help you out, they're excited to help you meet some of those goals in ways that are very simple for them and don't cost them anything at all.
Speaker 2:Same for asking them to follow you on social media or asking them to leave you a review. A lot of times, people are more willing than you think to help you out and it actually grows and enhances the relationship between the buyer and the seller because they feel like it's reciprocal. It's a two-way street I'm helping them and they're helping me, and they're really grateful to do it. Thanks so much for being here, you guys, I'm going to see you right back here next week and we're going to be talking about how I plan to make an extra thousand dollars in the month of March and what my exact strategy is for that. All right, I'm going to see you right back here next week.