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TeacherMama
Forums Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 5
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#1 · Posted: 16 Sep 2010 07:56
Hello, I am a teacher and have decided to take a leave from the classroom this year in order to have more time for my family. I'm looking for ways to make some extra cash and I think I have a really good idea. I have several Smart Board lessons created and even more ideas for new ones. I considered selling them on Teachers Pay Teachers, but after browsing around this forum I think my own website might be more profitable. However, I have no idea about going about this. There are many ways to download free lessons. Is it realistic to assume I could get teachers to pay for them? Is there a way to get paid for everyone that is downloaded? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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mountainmom5
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 3093
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#2 · Posted: 17 Sep 2010 06:30 · Edited by: mountainmom5
You have to do first things first.... and welcome by the way. 
Before you can really tell if teachers will download your stuff or not, you need to build a website that gets enough traffic so you can test it out.
A good friend of mine has a free Teachers resource website and has been considering placing ads on her website for a small fee. She gets a ton of traffic every day. You can check it out at extraworksheets dot com ( I can't give a clickable link in here )
She and I meet every Wed for coffee and to brainstorm for our websites and I know she has been thinking of letting others add buttons to her website advertising teacher stuff.
Good luck.
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TeacherMama
Forums Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 5
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#3 · Posted: 17 Sep 2010 07:27
Hi, thanks for the reply!  Your friend's site is great! I'm one of those teachers who can spend hours browsing around such sites! So, is having a free site profitable? I'm sorry I am so clueless when it comes to this...
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talfighel
Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 1169
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#4 · Posted: 17 Sep 2010 07:49
mountainmom5: A good friend of mine has a free Teachers resource website and has been considering placing ads on her website for a small fee. She gets a ton of traffic every day. You can check it out at extraworksheets dot com ( I can't give a clickable link in here )
This is a great idea in my view.
By the way, welcome to the forum.
Tal
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mountainmom5
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 3093
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#5 · Posted: 17 Sep 2010 07:50
That's okay we ALL started somewhere!
Most of her income comes from the adsense ads. Her whole goal is to have a free resource site so it is a little harder to monetize it. Which is why she is considering running a few ads on it.
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Matt Zenittini
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 477
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#6 · Posted: 17 Sep 2010 12:06
TeacherMama: Is it realistic to assume I could get teachers to pay for them
I think you might know that answer a little better than us =].
Websites are not hard to set up.. But maybe start selling your things on teachers pay teachers to see if they sell.
Then create a website in your spare time.
When your website is done start adding links to your website from your items on teachers pay teachers. Don't put everything on teachers pay teachers.. Just some things.
Then when they want more they will come to your site =].
Of course I would advertise the site other ways as well.
There is LOTS to learn.
Matt
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TeacherMama
Forums Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 5
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#7 · Posted: 17 Sep 2010 12:13
I guess I'm on the right track because I was thinking of doing just that. This is all very helpful. Thanks for the good advice and thanks to everyone for making me feel welcome.
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Matt Zenittini
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 477
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#8 · Posted: 17 Sep 2010 12:20 · Edited by: Matt Zenittini
I guess so =].
If you have any other specific questions I'm sure everyone here is happy to help!
Matt
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Matt Zenittini
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 477
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#9 · Posted: 17 Sep 2010 12:22
TeacherMama: Is there a way to get paid for everyone that is downloaded?
Yes there is.
Sorry I missed that question!
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danman
Forums Member
Joined: 14 Sep 2010
Posts: 10
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#10 · Posted: 18 Sep 2010 14:30
Teacher Mama,
Hi. I'm a 2nd grade teacher (also into Internet marketing) and I've been using a smartboard for several years now. I have lots of lessons saved too.
I have given this some thought as well and am pursuing this idea. I couldn't believe my eyes when you posted this.
This past summer, I have spent a great deal of time learning how to set up a website and run a web business so I can do this. My suggestion is to learn how to go about creating your first website first. Investing the time now, can pay dividends later.
As you may know, teachers are always short on time land looking for help on reaching students, especially when using technology in the classroom.
Let me know if you need help with starting your first website.
Good Luck.
Your fellow teacher,
-Dan
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Matt Zenittini
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 477
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#11 · Posted: 18 Sep 2010 23:48
Joint Venture anyone  ?
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yahia
Forums Member
Joined: 8 Oct 2006
Posts: 223
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#12 · Posted: 19 Sep 2010 04:22
Yes Matt is right!
If you spend time on learning how to build a website and then on how to market that website, your year off will be gone before you finish. We didn't talk about having a merchant account, setting up a shopping cart, getting and paying a lot for your SSL certificate ... a lot of work to do.
The shortest cut is to joint venture with someone who's already doing this kind of business.
If you are ready with the material and Dan is ready with the rest of the stuff, why don't you two IM each other and take it from there?
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easiestbiz
Forums Member
Joined: 21 Sep 2010
Posts: 5
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#13 · Posted: 21 Sep 2010 18:53
The easiest way you can set up a website is through wordpress. You can have a website with a fully customized theme set up in about half an hour if you are savvy - over a weekend if you are just learning. There's tons of free wordpress videos out there, and its a very easy thing to link to your lessons and a paypal account and just set up a small sales page. The best way to do this is provide as much free information and valuable resources to your target audience as you can so you can start to build a reputation.
I usually suggest spending some time about a month or two building out lots of good content for your audience then begin adding your lessons for sale. Remember why people come to the Internet - to find information to solve a problem. You solve their problems with free or very low cost information, and they are much more likely to buy from you later on. It's called building trust and rapport. A very important thing on the Internet.
Best of luck!
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pedelman19
Forums Member
Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4
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#14 · Posted: 22 Sep 2010 11:52
Hi,
I am actually the founder of TeachersPayTeachers and think Matt's advice is spot on. Do both. Post some products on TpT and see how they do. If you start selling well, then build your own website and cross market between your site and your store on TpT.
Lots of teachers are doing this to good effect. Building traffic to your own site is the hardest part. That's why TpT is handy -- we have nearly 300,000 registered users who come to our site to shop for teaching materials, and teacher-authors have earned well over $1,000,000 so far on the site, most of that in the past year as we've grew quite a bit during the 2009/2010 school year . If you have any specific questions you can email me at info@teacherspayteachers.com.
Good luck!
Paul Edelman
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Matt Zenittini
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 477
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#15 · Posted: 23 Sep 2010 03:29 · Edited by: Matt Zenittini
Hey Paul,
Just wondering,
What search term found you this thread?
I'm always curious to know =].
Matt
Edit: It's good to know you support people branching out to expand themselves.
That's a good leadership trait =].
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pedelman19
Forums Member
Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4
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#16 · Posted: 23 Sep 2010 03:42
i have google alerts set up to inform me when there's a new mention of tpt on the web
a great free service they offer.
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Matt Zenittini
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 477
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#17 · Posted: 23 Sep 2010 03:48
pedelman19: i have google alerts set up to inform me when there's a new mention of tpt on the web a great free service they offer.
Haha, now that's staying up on business =].
Kudos to you sir.
I'm going to go check that out.
I was just looking on TPT and didn't notice it.. It might be there I just might not have seen. I know other websites feature how much money has been paid out to the users.
I don't know if teachers on there would be offended or upset if people saw their earnings. I would think it would be a good status symbol as well as encourage new teachers to join.
Just a thought.
Matt
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pedelman19
Forums Member
Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4
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#18 · Posted: 23 Sep 2010 04:40
yes, we are considering it... it does make sense to show off a bit
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TeacherMama
Forums Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 5
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#19 · Posted: 23 Sep 2010 06:14
pedelman19
Thanks for the advice! I have to tell you that I've spent many hours browsing teacher websites and TPT is by far the best out there. I see what you mean by starting small and building up, I used to only search the "free" list on TPT but not anymore! On behalf of teachers everywhere, thank you!
-Jen
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pedelman19
Forums Member
Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4
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#20 · Posted: 23 Sep 2010 11:55
thanks teachermama! of course, i love to hear testimonials like yours! makes all the time and effort feel like time well spent... if you post a nice free item to tpt, let me know and i will see if i can get it on the 10 Free Donwloads newsletter which usually leads to good things.
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