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Do you create awesome lesson plans, engaging activities, or stunning classroom materials that colleagues constantly ask for? Have you ever considered sharing your talents and turning them into an extra income stream? Yeah, me too!
Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) has been a game-changer for educators looking to sell their teacher resources and earn extra cash. It has played a vital role in turning teachers into teacherpreneurs. But did you know other online marketplaces want to do the same?
Are you ready to explore new horizons and diversify your income streams? The good news is a whole world of online marketplaces is waiting to welcome your creativity and expertise!
Why Venture Beyond TpT?
While TpT is a fantastic platform, expanding your horizons exposes your resources to a larger audience. Let’s explore some compelling reasons to diversify your teacher resource marketplaces:
- Reach: TpT caters primarily to teachers. However, by listing on other platforms, you can connect with diverse learners- homeschooling families, tutors, librarians, parents seeking enrichment activities, and even international educators, broadening your impact and influence.
- Income Potential: While commission structures and fees can vary across marketplaces, exploring different options can significantly boost your profit margins. This opens up new avenues for financial growth, ultimately maximizing your potential earnings potential. Which is what we want, right?
- Niche Focus: While some marketplaces offer a variety of teacher resources, others specialize in specific subjects or teaching philosophies. For instance, Acorn might focus on STEM-focused materials, while Etsy caters to crafters who design Montessori materials. This targeted approach can be ideal if your teacher resources cater to a particular niche, allowing you to connect directly with educators searching for those specific materials.
Ready to Explore? Here are the Top Marketplaces for Teacher Resources:
Guess what, teacherpreneurs? There is a whole world of online marketplaces waiting to connect you with teachers searching for high-quality teacher resources. Become a teacher who sells! Share your passion and expertise with a wider audience by selling your creations on these platforms.
- Etsy: Don’t be fooled by the crafts! Etsy allows selling digital downloads like printables, lesson plans, and activity templates. It boasts a massive user base and robust marketing options to reach a wider audience. Etsy has higher fees than other marketplaces, but it also has a higher traffic volume, runs ads, and promotes your products for you.
- Classful offers a platform for the education community, allowing educators to buy and sell digital teacher resources. Beyond the marketplace, it fosters connections among educators, professors, students, and parents, creating a supportive and interactive community.
- Boom Learning specializes in interactive, self-grading digital task cards, known as Boom Cards, which are famous for their engaging format and ease of use in the classroom. All items listed on other marketplaces or sites must also be listed on the Boom Learning site.
- Made By Teachers is a digital marketplace that provides teacher-authors, artists, and digital content creators with a platform to collaborate and sell original educational products and teacher resources. All products are digital downloads created and maintained by independent sellers (that’s you). Made By Teachers has great royalties on sales.
- Your Website: Building your website gives you complete control over branding, pricing, and customer interactions. However, it requires more marketing and traffic-driving effort ( SEO optimization and social media promotion). I know it can seem daunting but creating your own website is highly recommended!
Broaden your View
Don’t limit yourself to just local educators – some marketplaces like TES let you reach teachers worldwide, expanding your customer base and potential earnings.
- Teacha! is an international online marketplace tailored for teachers. It offers curriculum-aligned resources like worksheets, exam papers, and summaries to aid student success. In addition to these resources, Teacha! provides SACE-accredited professional development courses, webinars, discussions, articles, and vibrant communities of educators, supporting both teaching excellence and professional growth.
- TES (Times Educational Supplement) is a comprehensive platform that offers teacher resources, jobs, news, and courses. TES supports educators globally. It has various high-quality teaching materials and can be viewed on the US site or in Great Britain.
- Keener Teacher Inc. was “created out of necessity”, states founder, Jennifer Gauthier. She wanted to create a place for solely Canadian teachers to buy/sell their products. Jennifer found other platforms did not cater to Canadian teachers. On Keener Teacher Inc, teachers can use Canadian spelling and the metric system within their products and filter searches by province/ territory. (Jennifer is a fellow teacherpreneur who started by selling her teacher resources on TpT. )
Teacherpreneur Pro-Tips for Multi-Platform Success:
- Content Consistency: Ensure your teacher resources maintain a consistent, high-quality, visually appealing style across all platforms. Use uniform colors, fonts, and layouts to create a recognizable brand. In addition, consistency not only helps build brand identity but also instills confidence in your buyers about the professionalism and reliability of your products.
- Cross-Promotion Power: Leverage the power of cross-promotion by advertising your teacher resources on each platform and mentioning their availability on others. For instance, if you’re selling on Teachers Pay Teachers and Etsy, let your audience know they can find your products on both platforms. This broadens your reach and helps drive traffic across different sales channels, maximizing your exposure and sales potential.
- Tailor Your Approach: Adapt your product descriptions, titles, and keywords to fit each platform’s unique audience and search algorithms. For example, on Etsy, consider using terms that parents might search for, whereas on Teachers Pay Teachers, focus on educational jargon that teachers and educators are more likely to use. Tailoring your content to match the search behavior of your target audience on each platform can significantly enhance your visibility and attract the right buyers.
- Track and Analyze: Regularly monitor your sales performance on each platform to identify where you’re gaining the most traction. Utilize analytics tools the platforms provide to track metrics such as views, clicks, and conversion rates. Analyzing this data will help you understand which strategies are working and which need adjustment. You can optimize your efforts and boost your overall sales by continually refining your approach based on performance insights.
Remember:
Building a successful presence on multiple platforms takes time and effort. Stay calm as you learn to navigate different marketplaces. To start, list your best-selling teacher resources on a complementary platform, then gradually expand based on your results. As a certified coach, I would love to help you navigate this process with a free coaching call.
Look beyond TpT! Expand your income, reach new educators globally, and become a sought-after resource. Sharpen your plans, share your magic – it’s teacher-time to shine!
