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In a previous post, I mentioned the 5 Roadblocks I Conquered While Opening My TpT Store. I told you I would address the solutions to some of the issues that arose. So here you go...
I did a lot of research and learning before I really started digging in and creating content, because I quickly realized the rules really change when you are creating things to sell. Fonts matter, logos matter, images matter, and you can get in really big trouble if you don't do it right. I wanted to make sure I didn't have to go back and change things to comply appropriately, so I tried to study up on the front end. And honestly, that did help a lot, but I still ran into things that slowed me down.
Now, I'm using Google Apps to create most of the content for my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, and come to find out, there's a bit of a learning curve with that. When I really started to dig into and paying attention to successful content creators out there, I noticed that most used Microsoft Power Point to create. Well, that wasn't an option for me. I have a Mac and a Chromebook, I taught using the Google Apps, and all of the Google "stuff" was FREE, so I wasn't going to budge. While I was pretty proficient in all things Google Apps, and yes I did a Google Certified Educator course but did not take the final test for personal issues with certifications like that (another post topic entirely), I found myself stumbling around a bit in a few categories.
One of those categories was FONTS.
Now there are these awesome creators out there creating all kinds of super cool fonts. But...they all cost money (yes, you can find some cool freebies out there), and I needed fonts that were easy to add to my Google Slides, Google Docs & Google Drawings options because those were really the tools I was using the most.
And here's the kicker...
When you are creating things to sell, you need to make sure that the fonts you are using in your product are able to be used for "Commercial Use." That is NOT always the case. It is super important you are certain that you can use certain fonts in your products and that you are also abiding by the the "Terms of Use" for those particular fonts. So...
Here's where Google Fonts is Awesome...
Google Fonts are FREE
Google Fonts are FREE for Commercial Use as well
That means...
I could use any Google Fonts I wanted in my products, and I could turn around and sell those products with no licensing issues.
Google Fonts for the Win!
You now know that Google Fonts are FREE & that Google Fonts can be used for "Commercial Use." But...do you know how to get them? Where they are? How to add them to your Google Apps? Well, here's a quick tutorial on that...
Google Fonts has somewhere over like 900 font families or something like that. So, I'm certain there are fonts out there that you could find and fall in love with. Here's what you do....
Go to Fonts.Google.Com
Spend endless hours scrolling through these awesome fonts and picking out fonts that you really like. Keep track of the fonts you really like somewhere like Google Keep or in a Google Doc that you can easily access. You can see a cool way to save your fonts in Google Docs in this post from Ladybug's Teacher Files. Brilliant!
Once you have your fonts all picked out, open up the Google App you want to use (I'm going to use Google Slides) and I'll show you how to add those fonts. Now I'm going to assume you have a very basic working knowledge of Google Apps here. So, when you have a text box highlighted, you will see all the options to change the text. One of those options is the font. Right now the font is "Arial" and I want it to be something way cooler.
So, you've already gone through all of my Google Fonts and picked out fonts that you love. You want to add a font to your Google Slides font library so that there is an option for that font when you're creating. When you click the arrow to get the drop down box with normal default fonts, check out the option for "More Fonts."
When you click on "More Fonts," you will get a menu of fonts to choose from, but also with a search bar that you can easily type your desired fonts into. Remember that list of fonts you saved? You can use that here. You can choose to scroll through those fonts and check them out, selecting the one you want, or you can use the "search" option as well. Once you choose a font, and click "Ok," it will then be added to your font library.
You can then see your new font in your font library and choose it for your text.
It really is as simple as that.
Google Fonts for the Win!
Check out my VIDEO TUTORIAL on Google Fonts too!
Enjoy checking out all of the cool Google Font options. If you have some favorite Google Fonts you'd like to share, let us know in the comments...