Nichola Lacey (nwilkin) is one of our gold tier authors who has given advice on using Tes tools at the authors train authors live events in October 2018 and January 2019. Here we revisit some of her guidanceÌýin the recording of ourÌýlive webinar from May 2019.Ìý
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Searching for a specific piece of advice? Find a breakdown of the topics covered in theÌýwebinarÌýbelow:Ìý
1:00 -ÌýIntroductionÌýÌý
2:15 - Pricing resources (+ extra comments on pricing at 9:00)Ìý
4:48 - Free resourcesÌýÌý
6:35 - Creating effective titles for resourcesÌýÌý
9:50 - Targeting specific marketsÌý
10:44 - Creating effective resource descriptionsÌýÌý
13:10 - Cover and preview images:ÌýÌý
What's the difference?ÌýÌý
Best practice
How to add
Video previewsÌýÌý
21:38 - BundlesÌýÌý
What are they?ÌýÌý
±Ê°ù¾±³¦¾±²Ô²µÌýÌý
How to createÌýÌý
25:05 - Discounts & sales.ÌýÌý
26:44 - Q&AÌýÌý
Topics coveredÌýin Q&A:ÌýÌý
27:26 -ÌýReviewsÌýÌý
28:22 -ÌýAddingÌýterms and conditionsÌýto your resources/licensesÌýÌý
29:52 -ÌýSourcing imagesÌýfor your resourcesÌýÌý
30:45 -ÌýDownloads vs purchasesÌýÌý
31:30 -ÌýShould you start offÌýby sharingÌýjust freeÌýresources?ÌýÌý
33:10 -ÌýExpanding to a US storeÌýÌý
34:45 -ÌýSeasonal resourcesÌýÌý
35:53 -Ìý51ºÚÁÏÌý
39:08 -ÌýSelling a niche subjectÌýÌý
40:52 -ÌýBenefit of video previewsÌý
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Written summary
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Free vs Premium Resources
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Make sure a portion of your shop offers free resources, 10-25% of your resources is a sensible amount. This gives buyers a taster of your style and quality so that they can make an informed decision to purchaseÌýyour resources. If you give away substantial resources and a range of different types, buyers are more likely to spend more on your products.
Pricing
- High priced resources do sell, especially when buyers have had a free taster and when resources provide entire modules of content for certain exam boards. Don’t be afraid to charge what a resource is worth.
Bundles
- Group resources together if they are on a similar topic and serve a similar purpose (for example starters or homeworks). Make sure the price you charge is an attractive saving over the combined price of the individual items.
- Resources can go in more than one bundle. Bundling bundles together for further savings can create substantial good value packages.
- Make resources specifically with bundles in mind and use fresh cover images for the bundle packages.
Raising your place in the page rankings
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Titles – keep titles short and focus on the most important words that people will search for. Avoid punctuation and don’t repeat words – this isn’t how people search for terms!
- Descriptions – Use good spelling and grammar, again think about the search terms people might be using. Give a clear outline of what your resource contains and give contents lists if there’s multiple items.
Converting views to sales
- Branding is important and it's worth thinking like a salesperson -Ìýthink about how your cover image could be more attractive and informative. All it need to do is make a person click andÌýthen they’ll read your description.
- Make your preview images clear andÌýinformativeÌýto help show off your resource.
- Tagging your resource appropriately will help buyers to itÌýwhen browsing the site.
Promoting on Tes
- Creating discount sales is a good way to push particular resources. The sale doesn’t need to includeÌýall your items, it just needs to be a select few.
- 'Hashtag sales' are a good way to advertise. This means adding a unique hashtag to each of your sale items’ descriptions and then performing a search on Tes for this hashtag. ThenÌýwhen you create advertising you can use the hashtag and hyperlink itÌýto theÌýTes search pageÌýon social media to let people know about your sale!
This is just a taster of the advice our experienced authors have to offer at the Authors Train Authors events. If you found this useful, keep an eye out for details of upcoming events inÌýyour monthly Author Handbook email.
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Quick Links
We intend to host more webinars following our future live events. Keep an eye on our announcements pageÌýand your fortnightly roundup emailÌýfor news on upcoming live events and webinars in our authors train authors series.