URL Building

There is SO much to learn!

On my TpT journey, it started with creating products (lessons).
Then came the creation of a blog, facebook page, twitter account, instagram, pinterest . . . and so on!
These often seem like a time consuming exercises, but as driving viewers (potential customers) to your TpT store is the goal, it is a necessary exercise.

My latest learning curve includes the creation of URL and UTM codes.  Have I lost you yet?  I'm getting there!  Tomorrow night is the TpT Webinar about UTM codes, so I've poured myself into it for the last week to get a better understanding of it, and so I would be part of the conversation.  I am also taking a UDEMY digital marketing course, and I have certainly gained some valuable insight about how to do many new things. More to come on that topic when I'm done the course.

So, the URL is the web address of your product, blog, site, etc.  This is pretty straight forward, and often very long!  For example:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Interactive-Puzzles-Hummingbird-3070919  There are URL shorteners, such as Bitly.com and Goo.gl which will shorten your URL, for example, bitly.com created http://bit.ly/2nuHzHA, and goo.gl created https://goo.gl/rc7sws.  Both links will direct you to the TpT website, where hopefully someone will want to buy it for classroom or personal use.  That is part one.

If you go back to the bitly.com page, you will see statistics - how many clicks and where they came from.  They more bitly URL codes, the more data you will receive.

The easiest QR Reader app I have found is this one.  I use it on my iPhone and iPad, and it works like a charm.

From the goo.gl page, you will also see statistics - clicks, browsers, platforms and countries.  It will also create a QR code for the link:

 

The easiest QR Reader app I have found is this one.  I use it on my iPhone and iPad, and it works like a charm. So far so good?  If you have it, try the QR Code above and see what happens.    

Now comes the TpT URL code builder. Start here. This will explain what it is all about. Once you've done that, go here.   

I created a spreadsheet to keep track of all the various codes, as there will be a different one for Pinterest (no shortened codes work here),Twitter, Facebook, BlogSpot, and so on.  It looks something like this:  

This takes me the better part of the evening to complete and then post to each site.  Tonight, this blog is taking up the most time, but I feel it important to share what I am learning, as many TpT authors have been very generous with me.  

When I go to my TpT Dashboard, and view Traffic, I can see where the clicks came from, very specifically, such as Pinterest, facebook, etc.  My digital marketing course is telling me that this information is very valuable.  It will tell me where I need to spend the most time with promotion as the traffic is driven from very specific places.  

I often go to http://tpt.naujok.com to see my own TpT growth.  Check out your own TpT store here.  I have personal goals of where I want to be with my store, and the growth curve keeps me motivated.  I am coming up to my second anniversary as a TpT seller and am very happy with how things are going.  

What I am learning will be useful for the TpT marketing, but also for the two web-sites I manage for others.  It has been worth my time and trouble and I hope I have laid this out for others to follow and understand.  Please feel free to share a link to this blog if you think it was useful.  

Thanks,

Doris