Kristen
Hey there I am so excited that you’re joining me for this special episode of the Savvy Teacher Seller. Today we are doing something fun and a little bit different.
Today I am doing a podcast swap and what that means is that I am sharing with you an episode from a TPT seller’s podcast that I love to listen to, so that you can learn from that podcast as well and maybe introduce you to a podcast you haven’t been listening to in the past.
Kristen
So today’s special episode, is from Erin Water’s podcast called School of Sellers. It is a store audit that she did and I cannot wait for you to listen to this store audit. She and I use to do store audits together, back in the days off Clubhouse.
Kristen
We use to do live store audits on Clubhouse and it was so much fun to take a look at people’s stores and give them some feedback. And really just help to make sure that people are creating stores that are representative of the thing you want to be known for and how you want to be recognized.
Kristen
Erin is doing some store audits like that on her podcast and that is the episode we chose for this podcast swap.
Kristen
Erin and her guest Jennifer are talking about how Jennifer made decisions on her designing to update her products. They are talking about how color combinations can really make an impact on your store listings, how to choose the right fonts, and some good ways to stand out from the competition on TPT.
Kristen
So, I think this is going to be a great episode you’re going to get alot out of. Let’s get right to it.
Erin
Welcome to the School of Sellers podcast, a teacher business show that is short on time but big on action, full time, part time or just getting started. No matter where you are in your teacher seller journey, there’s something here for everyone, making your online teacher business feel doable every step of the way. Here’s your host, Erin Waters.
Erin
Hello there and welcome to school of Sellers, which is a podcast for TPT sellers just like you. My name is Erin Waters, and I am your host today as we dive in to something rather new here on the show, which is a live store audit. And for today’s audit, I am so happy to welcome Jennifer Darrell whose TPT store is La Profesora Inspiradora.
Erin
Jennifer is here with us today to dive into her store and kind of pick through and see what we think based on her current journey through rebranding her business. So we are taking a look at the befores and afters.
We are taking a look at her colors and her fonts and all of the changes that she has made, which she will walk us through. So without further ado, welcome, Jennifer to the show.
Jennifer
Thanks so much for having me here. Erin. I’m so excited for this.
Erin
I’m so excited. So you may or may not know that the live audits are relatively new to the podcast. So you’re actually our second guinea pig, I think, for doing live audit. So we’re gonna do our best to talk about what we see. But also I might try to explain to the listeners what I’m seeing at the same time, just because obviously store audits tend to be pretty visual.
Erin
But we will also put the video on our YouTube channel. So if you are interested in going back and checking out the onscreen action that will be there for you as well.
Erin
So Jennifer, I know that you and I have chatted a little bit about what you’ve been working on lately. And you have said that you are going through and slowly updating some of your products. So why don’t you tell us just so we have like some background information. Tell us what you’ve been up to with your store?
Jennifer
Yeah, well, over the last year, I’ve been working really hard on the branding of my store. Because before that I realized it was somewhat of a mess. Like there was no consistency. If you looked at products I had made in 2017 versus products I’ve made in 2019. They were all over the place. There was nothing that said, this is Le Professoria instead of Laura.
Jennifer
So I’ve been working with Steph Goucher from Working Dog Resources, she’s been helping me create my brand identity. So she designed that logo for me and then helped me come up with the colors and the fonts but then also kind of going beyond that, like who am I what am I about what’s my mission? And how can I translate that to all of the aspects? The visual aspects of my covers and then take it into the products themselves?
Jennifer
So I’ve been going through and updating covers and thumbnails and previews as well as trying to work on the products themselves to bring all of the styling of the products up to date, see what value I can add to them.
So it’s been kind of a massive project. But I’m really thrilled with how it’s coming out. But it still feels like there’s so much more to do. So just really excited to get your thoughts about where I am and where I can go next.
Erin
Absolutely. Well, I love that you said that. There’s just so much more to branding than just obviously the colors and the fonts. And trying to capture that all it’s a long process. So I am really excited to look through it all. I know that this is probably something that all sellers can relate to, especially when you go through like the rebranding and redoing everything. So I think this is going to be a really helpful walkthrough for a lot of sellers.
Jennifer
Excellent. I hope so.
Erin
So let’s just start, I’m on your store page right now. And right off the bat, I definitely see the cohesive nature of everything that you were going for. I love your logo, I think the light bulb with the graduation cap is so cute and such a cool symbol that you can tie in to have your brand be recognizable. So I love that. And I think the colors work really well together you’ve chosen looks like a palette of red, yellow, greens, blues, and they just they work really well together.
Erin
So I can definitely see that you’ve been trying to make sure everything is tied together nicely. I have a question for you, I’ve noticed the different colors. So one of the things I love that you do is you have a border around all of your cover thumbnails. And I have played with both ways myself. And I think that the border really helps it stand out. When it’s among all of the other listings, do you have a rhyme or reason to the colors that you are using?
Jennifer
I’m still kind of working on that a little bit. Because there were some product lines I had were like the product line, each cover would have a particular style. But then if I did it for different topics, each topic would be its own color. And then other times it was like the entire product line looked exactly the same. So I’ve been kind of playing with that a little bit. So we’re not quite to the rhyme or reason yet, but we’re working on it.
Jennifer
So like the one that’s up in the Featured Products, they’re called Laurel BA, the Spanish clothing, vocabulary cards, that’s going to be the new look for this full product line. And I’m not done with all of the revisions of that product line. But I’m going to make all of those with like the yellow border, and the picture will look like that.
Erin
That’s cool. I mean, I don’t think either way is right or wrong. I was curious, mostly, just from a design standpoint, if there was something that I should be looking for, like a cohesive theme. I think that color coding can be really great. But it’s definitely not a must do.
Jennifer
My hope is limited enough that if someone’s looking for me, it’ll still jump out is like, this is definitely from La Professora Laura, and then they’ll have enough clues with hopefully the words in the presentation on the covers that they’ll still be able to tell what it actually is.
Erin
Absolutely. And I think this is a good example to have when you are choosing your branding, sometimes it can be tempting to put like all of your brand colors on every single thing. So I think you’ve done a nice job of mixing it up. So that way, like you said, whether it’s a red outline, or green outline, or red font or green font, they all look like they’re part of the same store.
Erin
So I think it’s, I think it’s you’re off to a really good start. Literally the only thing that I was going to say as far as your colors are concerned would be maybe the light green font is a little harder to read than the other ones. I noticed that you used a darker green up top in your featured. That one is way easier to read for me rather than something like this. But again, it’s not a deal breaker. This is like a very minor thing. You can still read it. In fact, I love the font that you chose because I was going through your products earlier. And even at its super teeny tiny size, it’s really easy to read.
Jennifer
That’s what I was hoping because some of the font I mean, I went through a phase right like I think we all do. I’ve got so many like 1000s of fonts downloaded on my computer. And so it was always used to like this one’s fun and this one’s fun. And then I realized my own students would be asked me like, what’s this word? And I was like, oh, there’s a problem. If I got so obsessed with the cutesy fonts, they literally can’t read what it says. So I tried to go for like, very, very legible, easy to understand, because it matters so much more how functional the products are than how cute they are. Right?
Erin
Right. It’s so hard though. Because like when you first start your TPT business, you’re discovering fonts and all of the things and it’s like, wait, I’m supposed to just pick one of these that is not happening.
Jennifer
But I’ll tell you, it certainly makes me more efficient when I don’t have to go through and like choose a new font every time I want to make an like, oh, bam, that’s what I go to.
Erin
Right. And I will tell you I’ve said this before, but I think if you are feeling bored by your brand, you’re probably doing it right, because it’s supposed to be recognizable. And I think it’s totally normal for us as the creators to get bored with it, and be like, Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I’m using the same font on every single cover. And it feels redundant, but it’s not, it’s quite the opposite.
That’s exactly why we do this. So if you’re someone who feels bored with your brand, it’s fine. There’s probably not anything wrong with it. But it’s definitely a common way to feel. So I think that you did a really nice job choosing all the pieces are alike.
Jennifer
As of right now my brand is growing. I mean, like I said, I was working with Steph. So she made some some initial suggestions to me, she was when he found those fonts. And we actually got the color palette on there inspired by these spanish mosaic tile designs called LZ Laos, so we pulled the colors from there, so it would kind of tie into the same theme.
Jennifer
And at first, like these aren’t the colors that I gravitate to in my normal life, like my office walls are this like turquoisey color. Everything in my life is that color for personal reasons. But for the branding, it didn’t make sense for what I was doing.
Jennifer
So you know, at first I was like, Okay, well, I can see why this palette makes sense. And the more I use it, like I’m actually falling in love with my own color palette, like it gives off this warped and this energy. And I was like, that’s what I’m going for amazing.And really exciting to see how the branding can create an attitude and an energy and like a real feeling to it
Erin
Well it gives your business personality. And that’s something that’s just one of the things we can do to stand out amongst all of the other competitors in this space. So I think our first instinct is to choose colors that we personally like. But I have found that when I do that, I get really sick of my brand after a while because it’s the same colors that I’m seeing everywhere else in my life. So it’s kind of nice sometimes to have like that divide as tempting as it may be.
Erin
Okay, TPT sellers. Quick note for all of my friends out there who love to geek out over their TPT business with other sellers, I would love to personally invite you to join spool of sellers Ignite, a work club that is open to any and all TPT sellers. Ignite is the first membership of its kind designed to not only deliver monthly challenges with prizes, but also provides space and resources to work alongside other sellers.
One of our main goals is to give you the community and accountability that’s missing from your business life. We will have power hour work sessions prizes for challenges, and so much more joined today at full of sellers.com/ignite.
Erin
So you have I’m looking up at your store. So I haven’t sorted by most recent. How have you been deciding what to update next? Like what does that process look like?
Jennifer
Well, I’ll say jumpstart was actually super helpful for this. And then doing all the Ignite, you can see there’s a lot of new mini bundles there. That was from the Ignite challenge in January. So it’s been helpful to kind of sketch out my plans for the year. And even if I’m not exactly on track of where I thought I’d be by now at least I know kind of the big picture of where I want to go.
Jennifer
So I’ve been working through these vocabulary lines, three product lines that do vocabulary in different ways. And so those were the three lines, I was like I want to completely redesign them, and then add more sets for each of them. And so I’m kind of in the weeds on that right now. I’ve got the redesign finished for the first of the product lines. But I’ve only like done it to one of the sets, right, so now I have like 10 other sets that I need to go apply it to.
Jennifer
I’m thrilled with how it came out. I’m so excited. I can’t wait to get the updates applied to all of them. But I’m kind of like Alright, do I do the updates first? Or do I do the new products first, you know, just to keep some products building in my store and get the energy out there.
Jennifer
And then I’ve got the two more product lines to also go through an update. And so I kind of feel like I should finish the first one before I go start on the second one. So it’s not like half done, but I’m trying to decide whether to make new sets whether to go revise the old sets.
Jennifer
And in the meantime, it’s actually going to work out perfectly for the March Ignite challenge because I have a different product line where the previews were just like dreadful and desperately needed to be updated.
Jennifer
So that’s actually what I’ve been working on over the last week or so it’s creating a new Preview Template. And I’ve at least got it to all of the bundles, and then some of the individual products, but I still have to run that through all of the individual products.
Erin
It is a long process , but I was I was thinking that as you were explaining all this, I was like, this is perfect for the optimization challenge that we’re doing this month, because it’s aligns perfectly. So I think it can be tricky to decide if we spend more of our time optimizing what we already have versus creating new. And again, it’s a very much a personal business by business situation, I think.
Erin
I would say, for just on the surface of things, you have over 100 products, which is great. I think the most important time to really focus on the new product creation and churning out new products is when you’re first starting out, not just to get yourself seen and out there.
But also just to obviously feel more comfortable with the product creation, I feel like you’re at a good point where you could probably spend it now it depends on how much extra like how much time you’d have in your schedule to do TPT.
Erin
Ideally, you would, I would recommend spending half your time on optimizing that you have and then the other half on creating the new products. But if and this goes for you, and anyone who’s listening, if you are someone who is like super pressed for time, and you are looking to make an impact with like with the little time that you’re given, I would say that optimization is probably going to result in changes faster for you.
Erin
Because when you think about it, this feels heavy right now to have to go through and update everything. But at the same time when you’re creating new stuff, it’s just adding to that load. Obviously, you’re making the new stuff with the new branding. But it’s just more now more inventory that you have in your store. Do you feel like you could devote maybe like 50/50 to both of those or what?
Jennifer
I think so. And I think lately, I’ve actually been swinging more towards the optimization end, just because at least it’s there. And I can do it. And it’s not doesn’t require as much of the brainpower to come up with all the new stuff. Since we’re right smack dab in the middle of our semester.
Jennifer
Finding the time is not always as easy as one would hope. I was thinking maybe like, for some of the products, at least this one that I’ve got redone, I might create one new set, because I thought I should have like a freebie of that set in the store. To show people the products and then link it to all the rest of them be like, Oh, didn’t you love this? Don’t you want the rest of them?
Erin
Yes, you’re like reading my mind, I was going to say if we’re talking about expanding an existing product line, then that could be killing two birds with one stone, you could use those new pieces to optimize your existing listings. So I love the idea of the freebie leading back to other parts of the product line.
Erin
So I think if you’re creating new products with that optimization in mind that you could easily work on both at the same time. And I love what you said about like, it’s already there.
Erin
And one of the things I love about optimizing versus creating new is that a lot of the tasks involved in optimizing like updating a cover updating title that can be done with like small pockets of time, and it’s not something you have to have a whole day cleared out to work on. And as someone who’s in the classroom, I can imagine having those small tasks you can tackle is probably really helpful.
Jennifer
It definitely helps us most of my TPT time was like before seven.
Erin
Yeah. No, I think that you could get away with doing both, but I definitely wouldn’t stop that the updating in lieu of creating brand new, if that makes sense.
Jennifer
Yeah, it definitely does. And I feel like now it’s like, I want people to see this, this updated design. But then they’re gonna go look at all the other ones in the line and be like, Oh, but they look different. And I don’t know, I don’t want to can’t do the covers and like the rest of the thumbnails in the preview until I get the product update finished.
Jennifer
Because otherwise it’ll be a lie, because it won’t look like that. And I don’t have all of the components. So it feels like I need to kick it into gear to get some of these other updated.
Erin
Yeah, and that can be hard because like you don’t want to totally put it on hold while you fix everything. Because I feel like we’re always in flux with TPT creation. Like, there’s always something that still needs to be done. But we can’t do it until this happens.
Erin
So I wouldn’t worry too much about this stuff looking different. I think people are probably pretty used to seeing old and new versions of covers, but I think you’re right, if you can time it up so that you do have the current set done before you drive traffic to any new product. That would obviously be ideal.
Jennifer
Yeah, that’s kind of what I’ve been leaning towards.
Erin
So let’s say you have about 100 products, what percentage would you say is, are they all selling? Or do you think you have like a certain cluster that’s like your older products and don’t get as much action? Do you feel like the current products in your store are representative of what you want to be known for?
Jennifer
I think, the more especially the more recent products in my store, I’ve been trying to be more intentional about only creating things that like, I stand behind that. I mean, and not that I don’t like I don’t feel products were bad, but they’re just more random, right?
Jennifer
They feel like, Hey, I have this thing on my computer, let me put it on TPT, and I tried to go through I’ve deactivated several that were just so old. And so beyond where I want to be that I just took them down. So I would say, we’re moving towards having my store be like fully representative of what I want to be known for what I want out there.
Erin
Then I would say that’s another vote for going ahead with the optimization. Because I would say if you were in a position where you were kind of like transitioning like half your store.
Erin
I was at this point one time where like, half my store is like old products that I never really wanted to like, push any longer. And then I was also feeling the pull to like, continue creating, like the new types of products that I had on my store.
Erin
But I feel like in this was the impression that I got, I feel like you have a solid foundation of products and you could afford to focus more of your time on optimization pieces, rather than creating brand new, but I know it’s hard because optimization doesn’t exactly like fulfill that creative urge that the creation does.
Jennifer
Yeah, that’s probably the the right way for me to go right now. I’ve got the one product line that conversation prompts that’s that I had already optimized over the summer, and I only had one set in the past. So I kind of brought that up to date. And then I’ve made new sets. But now every time I’m making them, it’s like all the templates are set up with the new branding.
And it’s like, super easy ready to go. So that might be like if I want to get a new product out there and be like, I will make one new set of these, whereas already set up the right way. And then spending some time going back.
Erin
That’s a good way to think about it, doing the creation for the things that are going to be less time intensive for now. And then you can tackle the more because you know you always have projects that are way more involved than others. So I don’t think it would make sense to like start this super involved new product set right now if you’re focused on optimizing, but I think that’s a good compromise doing something like that.
Erin
I wanted to point out about your covers to that I love the way that you have used numbers to call out. Like, for example, your conversation prompts has 72 questions and the way that you have put that 72 questions, text all by itself on the white background really makes it pop.
Erin
And usually I’m opposed to like inserting extra text. But this really works in this situation. And I noticed you did it in a couple other products as well. So it’s more conversational. So I think that is really effective. I love that.
Erin
Yeah, there’s really not much else I would change about maybe some of the covers, sticking just to one photo or two photos and enlarging them a little bit.
Erin
But, again, you have a good use of whitespace on your covers as well, so it doesn’t feel too cluttered to me, I think you’ve done a nice job with the balance. And again, I feel like I gave this piece of feedback in our last audit, but you have also done a nice job of using your logo.
Erin
A lot of times we’ll recommend that putting our logo on the covers because it kind of takes up space where something else could go but in your case, I think your logo is so recognizable. And even at a smaller size like I could see that and be like oh I know whose stuff that is.
Erin
So I think that works as well. I really think you are on a great track for your hovers. I’m going to click through to one of these products which one would you like to click through and just take a peek at?
Jennifer
Any of the ones up along the top actually. Okay, the featured ones because those all should be done. That’s the one that I just redesigned the whole thing.
Erin
Perfect. Oh, yeah. I love your thumbnails. So for those listening, Jennifer has created thumbnails that design wise match her cover image, you’re using the outline, which is awesome. And the same fonts and colors. Everything looks super cohesive and really clean, which is awesome.
Erin
Let’s see here. I would say maybe a little text heavy but not too heavy. I like that you’ve included a call to action on your last thumbnail to see the preview for more info. I think that’s really important in the path that a buyer is going to take from seeing these to further looking into your product.
Erin
But I think that you so for example, on this thumbnail right here, I love your heading, you said 81 words included, the product we’re looking at is vocabulary cards for Spanish clothing.
Erin
So words for clothing in the Spanish language, correct?
Jennifer
Yes.
Erin
Okay, so I love your heading at the top of this thumbnail 81 words included, I would say you could probably get rid of that top paragraph for you explain that it covers the topic of clothing.
Erin
Because what I would really want to see as a buyer is that bullet list of features were covered, you could blow up that paper largers that you could see and then also make the list a little larger on the side. And I think that would pack a really good punch.
Erin
I try to stay away from like, any paragraphs on these thumbnails, because I think people just block it out for the most part. You obviously have buyers who are going to go through everything with a fine tooth comb. So you will definitely have people that will appreciate this information.
Erin
So it’s definitely not like something you should get rid of right away. But I would consider anywhere you have like blocks of text, like, right here, only because everything else on the card is I would want to see bigger and more front and center.
And then if you do have stuff that you get rid of, for example, blocks of text, that would be a really good thing then to put into your preview.
Erin
I like to think of previews as like things that didn’t make the cut of your thumbnails, but that you still want people to see. Because I know you want to tell them everything about everything. Let’s take a look at this preview. Okay, I love your images. I think that the way you use shadows on these mock ups really helps the certain pieces to pop. And it doesn’t feel like a collage. It feels like an actual photo of
Erin
Yeah, and I love love this preview, I love how you reiterated the categories that are featured. I think that including the testimonials, always an amazing thing to do in a preview. Yeah, I wouldn’t change anything about this. This is like what I was saying like the larger blocks of text, I think this is perfect place for that.
Erin
So you could probably get rid of the blocks of text in your thumbnails and not even put them in here. It looks like you’ve already probably included most of that information. But again, it’s not something I would like run and do right away. I think this is so good as it is. So just something to consider for any future updates or any thing that you may want to do.
Jennifer
And that takes about two seconds to do that. So that way, it’s not terrible.
Erin
But yeah, I mean, overall, I think this looks awesome. And I think it’s so cool that you have put so much thought into your brand and your updates. And it’s just, it’s not something that is easy or quick, but it’s so worth it.
Erin
Once you figure out, you know, what has been your favorite thing about this process? Like do you feel like it’s had a positive impact on the way that you’re running your business by like, revisiting what you want your brand to look like?
Jennifer
I think completely it’s gotten me so much more focused, like as I’m thinking about what do I want to create next? Or what do we want to go back and change about my products, like, I know what, like who I am what I’m about and I feel like it makes it easier to communicate that to my audience.
Jennifer
And I’m not trying to create everything for everybody like, it just feels like it’s giving me so much more focus and it gives me energy because I really like what I’m doing, you know and what I’m doing so it’s just fun.
Erin
That’s awesome. Do you have any other questions that I haven’t answered during this process?
Jennifer
Thanks. Not at the moment, I even made a branded cover for my jumpstart planner.
Erin
I feel like I did you post them in the group. I feel like I remember seeing that. Okay, I love that. Oh my gosh, I I don’t know what it is about light bulbs but they’re like one of my favorite like icons for stuff for like symbol.
Jennifer
I just love what stuff came up with for that was like the graduation cat like it’s just, it’s exactly because it’s got the fun and the inspiration but then also the graduation cap is that like nod towards like actually have expertise you know, I have a PhD in my field.
So that can be a differentiator and it kind of subtly speaks towards that but then it’s such a cute little icon like I use it as bullet points. Sometimes if I’m doing like a post on Instagram that has a list or something I use little light bulb as my bullet points.
Erin
I love that color. Yeah, you could use that across I mean, so much potential for just that one piece of your brand. I love that.
Jennifer
I want to see it in that hand out there like I’ve been moving towards just a really simple border on my products. And you can see right up in the upper left corner of that. Yeah. So if you look at the handout, it’s just that a plane line for a border, but up on the upper, that’s actually the black and white version of light bulb.
Erin
I love that.
Jennifer
The tiny element that loves that students, like anyone who has that list is gonna say, Oh, I know where this came from.
Erin
I mean, what a powerful way to connect those resources, especially since like, nobody really I mean, again, I’m not necessarily my ICA all the time. But who’s actually reading the little copyright info at the bottom of the pages? And how often does that get cut off? And to have that subtle nod to your brand on things like that, I think is so smart.
Jennifer
Yeah, I’m just loving how everything’s coming out. And it just, it feels, everything looks simple and clean, and much more modern and fresh and better for a secondary audience to you know, like, that’s my market and all of the cutesy fonts and frilly borders and stuff, it looks a lot younger.
Erin
I just noticed that too.
Jennifer
It’s targeted towards my market. And, yeah, I just feel so much more cohesive. And it’s so nice to sit down and do things and like, actually know what I’m going to do when I sit down at my computer, you know?
Erin
Well, and that’s a good point, too, about the secondary seller designing process, because I don’t have numbers to back it up. But I feel like there, it’s so Elementary, heavy on TPT.
Erin
So again, a nice way to get your products to stand out when they don’t have the cutesy borders and clipart. It’s automatically Oh, this is for older kids. And that’s what secondary teachers need when they’re scrolling through TPT.
Jennifer
That’s my hope!
Erin
Well, you’ve done an amazing job. Thank you for letting us go through your store. And I know it’s kind of a vulnerable situation. But this has been really cool to see.
Jennifer
Awesome. So thank you so much for your time and your thoughts and all of that.
Erin
Oh, I appreciate your time. I thank you so much for sitting down to do this with me.
Kristen
Wasn’t that such a great episode? I know I enjoyed listening to it and got some ideas and some tips and tricks. If you enjoyed this episode, definitely follow Erin’s podcast, School of Sellers on your favorite podcast app, and go check out school of sellers on Instagram and Tiktok.
Kristen
On Instagram, it’s @School.of.sellers and on TikTok it’s just @ schoolofsellers. They are doing some super fun things especially over on tick tock so go check those out for sure. Have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you soon.
Kristen
I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you did, please share it with another teacher seller who would also find it helpful. For more resources on Growing Your TPT business. Head to Kristendoyle.co/TPT. Talk to you soon.
