The Rebranded Teacher
The Rebranded Teacher
5 TPT Seller Non-Negotiables for Growth on Teachers Pay Teachers
Today we dive into the five essential components that every growing TPT business must prioritize, regardless of how busy life gets. These strategies separate successful sellers from those who struggle to gain traction in the marketplace.
• Consistent product creation remains critical for driving traffic and sales, even during busy seasons
• Market research should precede all product development to ensure you're creating resources buyers actually want
• Long-term marketing strategies that build organic traffic are essential for sustainable growth without constant content creation
• Continuous learning from other successful sellers provides fresh ideas and keeps you from falling into stagnant routines
• Strategic SEO implementation is non-negotiable for visibility and is often the simplest way to boost revenue
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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 it. Let's talk about five non-negotiables for TPT sellers who want to grow their business. Now let me tell you something If you're like in a maintenance phase where you're not really interested in growing your TPT business, then these five things do not apply, which I don't know very many people who are not interested in growing their business. Chances are, if you're watching this video, you want to start making more money on TPT, and here are the five things that I would just not ever stop doing if I were trying to grow my TPT business.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's start with number one. The first thing is I would never stop creating. Now, I don't mean like taking a little pause from product creation. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about I would never just say I'm going to spend the next year not creating any new products. There are some very small exceptions to this, and I would say that this would be like if you have over 500 products and you are really behind on, say, updating which, by the way, I would still consider that to be creating because you are still working on and transforming your resources. But I'm talking about, like deciding that you're not going to create any new products. It's really difficult to grow if you're not creating for the vast majority of sellers. Again, there are some exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, you want to make sure you're still creating resources and, again, that doesn't mean not taking a break. I'm a huge advocate and believer in that, when life gets busy, to take a step back and really prioritize and segment your goals. So, if I need to create resources, if I need to really amp up my email marketing or whatever it is, I think it's perfectly acceptable and even great in a lot of occasions, when you're short on time, to say I'm going to spend first quarter really working on batching out my emails or batching out my blog posts or whatever that is, and then, second quarter, I'm going to work on product creation and then, third quarter, I'm going to work on something else. What I'm talking about is a complete hiatus from product creation without some sort of plan. You really need to make sure that product creation, which is going to be something that is gonna help drive traffic to your TPT store. If you're doing it correctly, by creating new resources, it gets you more views, it gets you more sales and overall boost your growth on TPT.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about number two. Number two is market research. I think when things get busy, a lot of times we kind of fall back on the basics right, or what we consider to be the basics. I'm gonna create these resources that have been on my to-do list for a long time. I'm gonna do the bare minimum in my marketing which is totally fine, by the way to going to do the bare minimum in my marketing, which is totally fine, by the way, to do bare minimum in marketing, as long as you're doing something, I'm going to send out my email newsletter, I'm going to do that one blog post a month or whatever it is. That's on your bare minimum list and we kind of forget that the foundation that makes product creation, that makes product marketing, all that stuff successful, is actually doing your market research to know whether or not there's an existing market for that research, to know whether or not there's an existing market for that product, to know whether or not buyers are actually going to want to purchase that product or even be able to find it organically on TPT. So one of the big things that you should never give up it's a non-negotiable is you should be conducting market research. Now, if you need some help with this, I've actually created a video right up here. You can click right here and you can go watch this video where you can find it down in the description, where I've talked about how to do market research, what this looks like, and I've walked you through step-by-step how to do this inside of your own store to make sure that you're creating resources that buyers can actually find that there is actually a product gap for on TPT.
Speaker 1:But let me just tell you what market research is in a nutshell Now. There's market research for marketing. There's market research for list building, for identifying your audience, your niche. There's all kinds of market research. But specifically I'm talking about conducting market research when it comes to product creation, product optimizations and figuring out where you're going to get the biggest bang for your time buck inside of your business. I cannot tell you the sheer volume of TPT sellers that I sit down with and I look at their store and they're like I'm making all these products and they're not selling. And I'm like, well, of course they're not selling because it's either you're entering a super saturated niche with products that are really hard to differentiate between in TPT search, or meaning that I'm creating, say, letter recognition worksheets for pre-K and they're standard run-of-the-mill letter recognition worksheets Well, it's going to be really hard to use keywords that are going to help me stand out in TPT search if I don't have a standout product and the market is already saturated for that resource.
Speaker 1:So, keeping that in mind, you want to make sure you're conducting market research before you're creating resources, to decide where you're going to get the biggest return on your investment and to make sure that you are putting your time, effort and energy into the right things. And this is important no matter what stage of business you're in. But if you're short on time, this is especially important because you don't want to spend a lot of time making resources that people are never going to be able to find or never going to be looking for, because, on the flip side of that, you could create a product that you're like I wish I had this. This would have been so amazing. But then you go and look on TPT and you realize like buyers aren't searching for it and there are products that exist for that topic or for that particular niche or for that area of need and buyers aren't purchasing them. If the top search result for the product that you're looking for, for the keywords that you're searching for, if the very top search results has like five reviews and everything beneath that has something similar or less, then there's a really good chance that there's not a big market for that product and you don't want to spend a lot of time creating something. If buyers aren't looking for it, slash purchasing it.
Speaker 1:Number three non-negotiable is thinking about organic marketing and organic audience growth for your TPT business. We were actually talking about this today inside of Selling 101. We were doing an audit, which Selling 101, by the way, is a membership for brand new TPT sellers and we were talking about really how to just like grow your email list long-term and some of the things that you need. And I think a lot of times sellers think about marketing in the short term. How can I drive traffic as quickly as possible to my TPT business? And that's great. We want traffic, we want it fast. We want it now because traffic now hopefully means sales now. But you also need to remember that life gets busy and you're not always going to be able to drive high amounts of traffic to your TPT store unless you have a large, established audience.
Speaker 1:And in order to get a large and established audience, I really need to think about where are those people going to come from right. So, when I'm thinking about where am I going to get those people who are going to be a part of my world, who are going to be a part of my audience it's probably not going to be from going viral on TikTok Now maybe it is, but in most cases it's not going to be I want to think about how am I going to foster long-term organic growth so that I have people who are joining my audience, joining my email list on a regular basis, without me having to constantly put out content? Now, being on social media and consistently putting out content, this is great and it can be a phenomenal marketing strategy. But if you're already finding yourself to be extremely overwhelmed or time poor, then it might not be the best strategy for your business and, in fact, I don't recommend that that be anyone's only strategy long-term you really want to think about how can I get people to join my audience with minimal effort on my part or with me doing something one time and it continuing to bring someone in. So when we're talking about long-term traffic, we're talking about things like longer form content blogs, youtube, static content, podcasts, things that are going to be out there, that are going to be discoverable for people to find long-term. Another way that you can do this is even by fostering and developing Facebook groups where people can join. They can find your Facebook group, they can become a part of your community and you foster that community and grow it in a way that's natural and in a way that's not super stressful for you.
Speaker 1:So this is one of the ways that I have chosen to grow my TPT seller business. As you know, you're either listening via podcast right now or you're watching on YouTube, and this is how I get a lot of people to join my email list when I have a freebie, or how I get people to build that know, like and trust factor where they trust me, so that they join my membership. Attend a summit, whatever it is. It's all long-term marketing. So you might find my social media handle, but you're not going to find me active on social media for my TPT seller audience because it's not something that is part of my long term growth plan. What is part of my long term growth plan is something that feels really sustainable for me and that is creating one video a week or one podcast a week where people can find my podcast or find my YouTube video at a later date and they can get and access that information, access that content, find it even when I'm not advertising it, because it is evergreen on YouTube or on a podcast, and this helps me build my audience, grow my audience and establish my reputation without having to constantly turn out content.
Speaker 1:My audience, grow my audience and establish my reputation without having to constantly turn out content. And it also allows me to take breaks and everything be okay. Right, because it's expected that people are going to take breaks on a podcast, that a podcast is going to break and it's going to come back for next season, and that is totally normal. It's the same way with blogging. I could then take these YouTube videos and one of these days I'm going to do it, one of these days I'm about to bullet and do it. I could take all of these YouTube videos and turn them into a long form blog where anyone could access those blogs, find them via Google search engine and get access to content and information that's going to help them grow their business and help me grow my audience. So you really want to think about ways that you can grow your business without having to constantly churn out content and you can grow your email list or drive traffic to your TPT store without having to actively market every single day.
Speaker 1:So non-negotiable number three is developing a long-term marketing strategy plan so that you are not having to constantly churn out content. It may not look like blogging, youtube or any of those things. It may even look like I'm going to run Facebook ads on a regular basis to bring new people into my audience, bring new people into my world, and I'm going to nurture them on social media. Or I'm going to nurture them on my email list, and that's how I'm going to build a relationship with them, and that's great. You just need to have a plan.
Speaker 1:If this feels super overwhelming to you, then here's what I just want you to start to think about. I want you to make a list of all the different ways that you can market your TPT business, and from that list, I want you to immediately cross off the ones that do not seem appealing to you at all. If you're like, yeah, no way do I want to show up on Instagram stories every day, no way do I want to be making TikToks, I have zero interest in doing a podcast, whatever that is, then mark them all off and then see what you're left with. And from what you're left with, ask yourself what would this look like on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis in my life or business to make this a reality, and is this something I'm okay with? Is this something I want to do? If the answer to that is yes, then the next question would be when do I start? And once you pick that start date, then you start to develop a plan for how you're going to execute that marketing efficiently and effectively within your business. So take it one step at a time. You don't have to have all of the answers to all of the questions right now. Just start with what are all of the ways that I can do this? Which ones do I absolutely not want to do? And then, from what's left, let's pick one, number four I would absolutely never, ever, ever, ever skip out on learning opportunities.
Speaker 1:Now, this is one that's kind of tough, because we're all in different phases of our business at different times, and there are some phases in your business where you are consuming a lot of information because you're needing to learn very quickly. So, for example, whenever I was starting my personal lifestyle social media account, I was consuming a large amount of content very, very quickly to try to learn as much as I could, as fast as I could, and then I kind of slowed down. Now, am I where I need to be? No, like, that's not what I'm saying, I'm not. You do in the beginning is you pick one area where you really want to grow, you double down on that area, you learn as much as you can, as fast as you can, and then at a certain point it doesn't really make sense to consume tons and tons of content, because you're spending a lot of your time executing what you've learned. So this doesn't mean that we are constantly consuming content, because overconsumption can be very dangerous.
Speaker 1:If you find that you are struggling to execute what you already know, listening to five, six, seven different podcasts a week to try to keep up with and learn new information may not be the best thing for your mental health. However, we don't ever want to stop learning, we don't ever want to stop getting curious and stop getting inspired and stop getting ideas, and I think a lot of times, things that keep us going and keep us feeling fresh, so to speak, in the TPT world and not burnt out, can be listening to other people who have had experiences or who are running the kind of businesses that we one day want to have. Listening to them gaining ideas, gaining inspiration and getting kind of a renewed sense of yes, this is what I wanna do, and kind of feeling reinvigorated. So you wanna make sure that you're doing this very strategically.
Speaker 1:Personally, this is one of the reasons why I love Teacher Seller Summit is because and this is a shameless plug, by the way, for this online TPT Seller Summit that I co-host with my business partner, but it's amazing. It's one of the reasons why I love it is that you can go, you can attend, you can learn from different people, you can learn from new skills. It's a one-time summit. It's not like you're going to be constantly consuming and taking in tons of new information. You can really take your time listening through the sessions or picking and choosing the sessions that are right for you and where you're at in your business, and there are so many to choose from.
Speaker 1:This year in particular, for June of 2025, we have over 40 presenters who are presenting on a wide range of topics that are geared toward helping you establish, grow and expand your TPT business and beyond. It's absolutely incredible. You'll learn how to make more money with your TPT resources by turning them into workbooks, by selling them direct to districts and by optimizing the listings that you already have, and so so much more. So, if you want to learn more about that, we actually have a free ticket this year. I'm super excited where you can attend. We have, I think, 19 mini masterclasses you can attend, meet and greets and meet other sellers, learn and grow from them, establish relationships with other TPT sellers and walk away super inspired, plus with the tools that you need to grow your TPT business.
Speaker 1:So make sure that you check out the link inside of the description because you wanna sign up for the Teacher Seller Summit. Like, go get your free ticket right now because you don't wanna forget about it, and then it'd be over. I'd be like wait a second, what are you doing this again? Because it won't be until next year, but you want to make sure that you continue to grow, and this is a great way to do it, because you can come for free if you want to, you can upgrade your ticket if you want, but there are so many incredible learning opportunities and opportunities to connect with other TPT sellers, and this is why learning and continued learning is non-negotiable.
Speaker 1:Number four because sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and I feel like we can kind of get into a TPT seller rut where we're constantly doing the same things over and over and over again and we may be forgetting about something super basic that we used to do, but we don't do it anymore because we just forgot and we've been implementing so many other new things. Or it could be something very small that you learn from another seller that catapults your business growth, because you just didn't know to do that, and so you don't wanna miss out on those kinds of learning opportunities. Number five, and this is a really big one you really don't wanna skimp on SEO If you are putting up your resources and you are just hoping for the best picking keywords that you think are going to work, just naming the thing and getting it up there and planning to do something about it later, or you're not going back on a regular basis to look at resources that you uploaded years ago or months ago and you're not ever going to see like, are these things actually performing? Did I actually pick keywords that are helping me get views? You need to be doing that.
Speaker 1:Search engine optimization is one of the simplest I mean I say simplest, but it also is a little bit complex but it's one of the easiest ways to help boost your revenue on TPT, because if you are not search engine optimizing your resources, you are leaving so much money on the table. The number one complaint that new TPT sellers have is that they aren't getting enough views, and search engine optimization, coupled with market research, can fix that problem and help you get to where you want to be. So, kicking it back to Teacher Seller Summit, I am going to be presenting, both in a mini masterclass and in a full-length session, how to search engine optimize your listings in a way that's very simple, user-friendly, and I'm going to give you some tips and tools that are going to help you do that effectively. So you want to make sure that you attend that summit. You can also find more videos on my channel about search engine optimization, both for myself and through an interview with Kristen Doyle, and both of them are super, super helpful, so you want to check those out, okay? So let's recap five non-negotiables as a TPT seller who wants to grow their business.
Speaker 1:Number one you don't need to skip creation. You don't need to skip out on creation. Creation is something that you should never, ever quit. For the vast majority of people, you want to continue to create new resources, to grow your library and to expand. A good example of this is that I have some products in my TPT store that need a complete overhaul and, to be honest with you, it's going to take me longer to overhaul those products than it is for me to create brand new products, and even then, because of the subject matter and the content, they just don't sell as well as they used to. It was a really big trend and now it's time to create a new trend. So some things that were trendy may not be trendy anymore and you might really struggle to bring them back. Or something that used to be not very saturated or not very popular may now be super saturated and popular and it might be really hard to bring that product back.
Speaker 1:Creating resources is sort of the backbone of the majority of TPT businesses and you need to make sure you continue to create resources. Number two you want to make sure that you are doing that market research so that you are really optimizing your time and making the most out of the work that you are doing. Number three you wanna make sure that you have a long-term marketing strategy that's going to work for you and your business and bring in organic traffic to your TPT store, whether through growing your audience or directly leading them to TPT. Number four make sure that you do not skip out on learning, so don't decide. You know what. I'm just gonna take a break from all of it because it's too much noise. You can take a break periodically and I think that's perfectly great, but you need to have a few times throughout the year where you're dedicating time to learning new skills, to keeping up with trends and to getting inspired from other sellers and from other business owners. And finally, number five you need to make sure that you are utilizing SEO to the best of your ability and consistently search engine optimizing your products to bring more traffic and sales to your TPT business.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for tuning in to the podcast this week. We have so many more incredible episodes to come, as we are up for Teacher Seller Summit which, by the way, make sure you are grabbing your free ticket through the link down inside of the description. I cannot wait to see you there, super excited. We already have, I think, over 600 TPT sellers registered and we still have two months to go. At the time of this recording, we still have two months until TSS starts, so I'm super excited to see you guys there, come, meet a lot of other TPT sellers, connect with them, learn from them, and you can do it all for free. So grab your link down inside of the description. I'm gonna see you right back here next week.