Sharing your materials with other tutors is not only a great way to make passive income, but also a great contribution to the tutoring community. Obviously, you want your material to reach as many potential buyers as possible, but how do you make sure that your material is getting all the attention that it deserves? Reviewing some of the materials on our website, I’ve noticed a couple of common mistakes some of our users make when uploading their materials that may prevent potential buyers from purchasing their materials. Take a look at the list below and avoid these errors!

1. Not including a cover image

This one is fairly straightforward – the cover image is the face of the product, it is the first thing a potential buyer is going to see, so you want to make sure they have a basic idea of what they are clicking into before they access the material! A good cover image will help buyers determine whether your material is what they are looking for and encourage them to click on the product, view the preview photos and read the description, whereas the lack of a cover image may simply cause the buyer to scroll onwards and look for a different material.

2. Not including a title and/or subtitle

This one’s easy – not including a title WILL deter potential users from purchasing a material. Make sure to include a title for every single material you post – a good title should reflect what the material is while a good subtitle should be a short description of what the material is about. Having an accurate title and descriptive subtitle gives potential buyers a good idea of what to expect of the material and is conducive to them clicking into the material and, who knows, maybe even making a purchase. Don’t worry if you accidentally upload a material and forget to include a title or subtitle – you can always go back to your My Materials tab and make any necessary edits.

3. Not tagging the product

While adding tags to your product is optional, it certainly helps users find your material faster. Our filter system allows tutors to quickly narrow down their search to the material type they are looking for. Therefore, if your material is pdf exercise for learners aged 8-12, it might just be helpful to include the tags ‘Homeworks and Solutions’, ‘Exercises and Worksheets’, ‘PDF’, and ‘Kids’. That way, buyers searching for materials that match any of these particular categories via the filter system will be shown your material in their top options. Orrr, you can not include tags and miss out on your next 5 buyers. Just saying, it’s your call!

4. Not having preview files.

Strangely enough, many users underestimate the importance of having preview files attached to their materials. While having a cover image is sufficient to captivate the interest of a buyer and prompt them to click into your product, the preview files are most often the single most important factor in helping them decide whether they will make the purchase. Including a snapshot of what your material looks like provides a lot of insight into whether your product is what the tutor is looking for their own lessons. Potential buyers feel more comfortable purchasing the material because there is less risk of purchasing something that doesn’t meet their expectations. Think about it, would you purchase a dress or a pair of shoes online if there was only one image, from one angle, attached to the product? I thought not.

5. Being lazy with the product description

While it’s ok to have a short description (especially if your material is fairly simple and straightforward to use), you want to make sure that your description doesn't lack detail – don’t worry, this doesn’t mean writing mean writing an essay on how a buyer should approach teaching the imperfect to a group of 15 year olds. However, it does mean that your description should give the buyer an idea of what the material covers and maybe an example of how it can be used in a lesson. Avoid repeating information that the buyer can already see elsewhere. For example, there’s no need to mention that the material is a PPT for teenage B2 learners – that will be visible from your tags (which you can select on the right of the page when uploading your material). Rather, a more helpful product description would be “This is a Christmas-themed powerpoint for teen learners. The product includes four pages of reading followed by reading comprehension questions and a multiple choice quiz. Answers included in a jpg accompanying the material.”

Now that you know what to avoid when uploading a material, you can go ahead and make any edits to your previous materials to ensure that they look their best to potential buyers (e.g. add some extra tags if you haven’t done so already. Think about the information you’re looking for when purchasing someone else’s material – apart from the basic information such as price and language, you’d want to know the material type, theme, and whether it’s implementable in your lesson. So you know exactly what your buyers want on the other end. At the end of the day, the one rule is that more description is better than less!