A place for Cafe Press Shopkeepers to Find Tools and Information
Because running a successful Cafe Press shop is hard work. This a is list resources as I become aware of them to help make promotion and shop management easier.
After all you probably got into this because you wanted to share your artwork, ideas and opinion, not spend endless hours trying to get Google to love you.
I'll be honest promotion, SEO and time are my problems. I'm really collecting these resources to help me, but I'm sharing them in the spirit of what good for one is good for all.
I make no excuses or apologies for sites left off or included. I add them as I become aware of them unless I find them irritating to deal with. Things that irritate me are generally left off my resources list.
What is Café Press?
Café Press is an Internet based print on demand (POD) service that features; apparel -such as t-shirt, sweatshirts and hats- stickers, mugs, buttons, framed prints, greeting cards and much more. In fact every time I turn around they've added something new.
The shopkeepers run the gamete from of political, religious, humor and non profit organizations. You name it someone is there selling it.
There are two kinds of shops basic and premium. Basic are free but very limited. Example: Project Dentist Premium shops run about $60.00 a year and are much more versatile. The layout can be customized and you can multiple products and sections. Example: the Keltic Kat
The shopkeepers run the gamete from of political, religious, humor and non profit organizations. You name it someone is there selling it.
There are two kinds of shops basic and premium. Basic are free but very limited. Example: Project Dentist Premium shops run about $60.00 a year and are much more versatile. The layout can be customized and you can multiple products and sections. Example: the Keltic Kat
What is Here
You Are Here
- Useful Links Inside Cafe Press
- Cafe Wish
- Google Base Feeds Smoogle Base Feeds
- Useful Webtools... Maybe
- Cafe Press Shop Management
- Places to Advertise
- Places to be Active and Visible
- Useful Programs
- Website Tools
- Tutorials and Help
- Business Sites of Interest
- Cafe Press Affiliate Info
- Comments, Suggestions, Tips, Tricks, Spam, Hate Mail or Say "HI"
Useful Links Inside Cafe Press
Some of these are hard to find for some reason.
I know I always forget where the product templates are and the API key, and I know I'm not the only one. I'll save us all some time and pain by posting the links here.
- CafePress Community Forums - Powered by eve community
- Enables individuals and companies to sell a wide variety of products online with zero upfront costs.
Note: I HIGHLY recommend reading through the forums if you have questions. I can't tell you how many times I've been about to bang my head on a wall and found just the answer I needed on the forum. - CafePress.com : Product Templates
- These are templates of all the products. You can download the one you need or the whole package.
- CafePress News & Announcements
- News and Announcements good to keep track of whats going on.
- Your API Key
- You need it for all sorts of things like generating Google Base feeds.
- Cafe Press: All Products
- Blank images of all products. It's helpful to see them all there sometimes. It is also handy for getting the product number.
Cafe Wish
The Amazing Scripts of Jim
Café Wish is like a magic genie, helping you do all sorts of awesome things that are beyond the skill-set of the average person. There is enough wonder in this one site that I really think it deserves its own classification on my resource list. (Hey, it's my list can do that if I chose.) It is my opinion that most of these utilities are things CP should be doing anyway, but I know they are busy and so Jim has stepped up and helped out the less programically inclined among us.
WishAds generates ads for you website, based on key words you chose. So if you have a special tag on all your designs then you can pull any designs to that ad feed. Cost "Free-ish" There is an affiliate ID attached to about 1 in 10 links.
Like Always is a bit of script you install in your Premium Café Press Shop to show what other products are available with a particular design, or in a particular section. This is a free script, though donations are welcome. It is also (last I knew) still in testing, and it does take some playing to get it just the way you want it.
/www.cafewish.com/cwscript/login.asp?login=true">Categories Script is a nifty set of services that makes the lives of shopkeepers easier. Most of services for this one aren't free. It is based on an annual subscription.
* Up to 1,000 products - Free
* Up to 10,000 products - $19.99 annual
* Up to 25,000 products - $39.99 annual
* Up to 50,000 products - $59.99 annual
* Plus accounts are an additional $10.00
For that subscription price you get:
* Organize your shop into a categorized layout
* Display "Front/Back Design" on 2-sided products where there are 2 sides.
* Use the "Product P.I." to find out which sections are missing new products!
* Add a "Browse by Category" link on your site to view all products in a category (such as all Men's Shirts)
* Customize your layout with CSS
* Plus Accounts can create their own categories and product order, hide categories, and rearrange categories within sections!
*PLUS ACCOUNT BONUS- Also currently in testing is a Web-Based Google Base Feed Generator
It is not completely automated. You do have to add the script manually to each section. It can be a big task when you first start. And you do have to remember to update your store listing and cache when you add a new section but once you get in the habit it's not so hard.
If you have problems Jim is always helpful, even when you turn out to be off your rocker.
WishAds generates ads for you website, based on key words you chose. So if you have a special tag on all your designs then you can pull any designs to that ad feed. Cost "Free-ish" There is an affiliate ID attached to about 1 in 10 links.
Like Always is a bit of script you install in your Premium Café Press Shop to show what other products are available with a particular design, or in a particular section. This is a free script, though donations are welcome. It is also (last I knew) still in testing, and it does take some playing to get it just the way you want it.
/www.cafewish.com/cwscript/login.asp?login=true">Categories Script is a nifty set of services that makes the lives of shopkeepers easier. Most of services for this one aren't free. It is based on an annual subscription.
* Up to 1,000 products - Free
* Up to 10,000 products - $19.99 annual
* Up to 25,000 products - $39.99 annual
* Up to 50,000 products - $59.99 annual
* Plus accounts are an additional $10.00
For that subscription price you get:
* Organize your shop into a categorized layout
* Display "Front/Back Design" on 2-sided products where there are 2 sides.
* Use the "Product P.I." to find out which sections are missing new products!
* Add a "Browse by Category" link on your site to view all products in a category (such as all Men's Shirts)
* Customize your layout with CSS
* Plus Accounts can create their own categories and product order, hide categories, and rearrange categories within sections!
*PLUS ACCOUNT BONUS- Also currently in testing is a Web-Based Google Base Feed Generator
It is not completely automated. You do have to add the script manually to each section. It can be a big task when you first start. And you do have to remember to update your store listing and cache when you add a new section but once you get in the habit it's not so hard.
If you have problems Jim is always helpful, even when you turn out to be off your rocker.
Google Base Feeds Smoogle Base Feeds
Because Search Engines Are Your Friends... Sometimes
Until something changes drastically about the interweb, if you want traffic for your website you must play Google's game.
Love 'em or hate 'em either way you has to learn to play da game their way!
Love 'em or hate 'em either way you has to learn to play da game their way!
- cafeToolbox
- Google Base Feed Generator!
Free and easy. Web-based so you can run it from any computer. This is the one I use, primarily because it was the first one I could figure out.
Note: Unfortunately this feed generator has been down for several weeks and I'm not certain it's coming back up. - Instant Cafe Feeder
- Instant Niche Stores From Over 80 Million Products
This is a free download. It has to be installed so you can't run it from any old computer.
I have not been able to get this one to work. Others have had better luck and swear by it. - Cafeoogle
- The Depressed Dyslexic Liberal
This is a free download. It has to be installed so you can't run it from any old computer.
I have not been able to get this one to work, either. I admit it could be me. - Cafe Grabber
- Automatically generate Google Base and Froogle feeds from your CafePress Store.
This is also a download, but it's not free. There is supposed to be a free trial for this one, but I've never been able to get it too work, so i don't know whether the feed generator works or not.
Useful Webtools... Maybe
Use at your own risk....
I've tried to pick tools that work, but I could be wrong so take the info with a grain of salt.
- Welcome to Webmaster Tools
- Welcome to Webmaster Tools Improve your site's visibility in Google search results.
Jo Note: Again if you want traffic you play Google's game. Here's some tools to help. - Google:Webmaster Tools: When was my site last crawled?
- Use this step-by-step process to learn more about your site's status in the Google index.
Cafe Press Shop Management
Streamlining the product management process
- Cafe Press Coupons
- A coupon feed for current Cafe Press Promotions.
- CafePress Coupon Feed - Coupons & Codes
- CafePress Coupon Feed - Coupon code and coupons - CP Coupon & discounts
- JGoodeDesigns: AP Link Builder
- This tool will enable you to easily generate the html link code you need to promote both individual products and individual sections of a CafePress store.
This is pretty nifty once you add the tool to your links toolbar, you can get a nice pre-formatted link to add to anything you can HTML to. - JGoode Designs: Affiliate Resources
- This tell you how to add script that displays latest products based on keyword.
Places to Advertise
Places to run classified ads
- craigslist classifieds
- craigslist provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, personals, services, local community, and events
Note: After following so discussion on the Cafe Press community boards and a suggestion in my guest book I'm giving this another look. - craigslist classifieds
- craigslist provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, personals, services, local community, and events
Note: After following so discussion on the Cafe Press community boards and a suggestion in my guest book I'm giving this another look. - Kaboodle - have fun shopping with friends, share and discover new products.
- Kaboodle is a fun shopping community where people recommend and discover new things.
Note: Recommend yourself! - Kaboodle - have fun shopping with friends, share and discover new products.
- Kaboodle is a fun shopping community where people recommend and discover new things.
Note: Recommend yourself!
Places to be Active and Visible
but not necessarily to advertise...
Some places it is good to be seen and have a presence but actually advertising there can be a no no. Social networking sites can be great for passive advertising, but as a rule just being there to advertise will get you banned, or ignored.
The trick is to make your presence interesting and make it be known that you do sell something, but not get to in people faces with your product. Some people are really good at this and some of us aren't.
If you can find you niche with social networking it can be a great marketing tool.
The trick is to make your presence interesting and make it be known that you do sell something, but not get to in people faces with your product. Some people are really good at this and some of us aren't.
If you can find you niche with social networking it can be a great marketing tool.
Useful Programs
After a while you come to realize that you need organizational help and better graphics control.
- The Font Thing - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com
- Come to CNET Download.com for free and safe The Font Thing downloads. Browse and manipulate fonts on your PC.
Once you start have dozens, hundreds or even thousands of fonts you need something to keep track of them. - GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program
- This is the official GIMP web site. It contains information about downloading, installing, using, and enhancing it. This site also serves as a distribution point for the latest releases. We try to provide as much information about the GIMP community and related projects as possible. Hopefully you will find what you need here. Grab a properly chilled beverage and enjoy.
GIMP is a little hard to figure out sometimes but it's free, free is good when you are starting out.
Website Tools
SEO, Site Anilization and what not.
These are hit or miss. Some of the web-based free tools are helpful some are harmful. It's up to you to decide what helps you.
- Wufoo Free Form Builder
- Wufoo is the easiest way to collect information online. Our innovative HTML form builder helps anyone create beautiful forms, online surveys and invitations without writing a single line of code.
Note: I use this for "my contact" me system. It avoids plunking an email address directly on my site for spam crawlers to get.
Tutorials and Help
- Tutor Tanith: Tips for Print on Demand - Creating, Managing and Selling
- Site Map
Tips for Print on Demand - Creating, Managing and Selling
Print on demand providers create a "product" only after receiving an order. It may be a book or CD, or designs applied to products such as t-shirts, hats, mugs, stickers, etc. There are a number of "print on de
Business Sites of Interest
- Vista Print
- Business cards, stationary, brochures and other promotional stuff.
Note: They do kind of overload the inbox with promotional ads.
Cafe Press Affiliate Info
Commission Junction
I don't pretend to understand this very well.
- Publisher Sign Up
- The CafePress Affiliate Program powered by Commission Junction.
Comments, Suggestions, Tips, Tricks, Spam, Hate Mail or Say "HI"
at least I know someone has been here!
I like "hi" saying "hi" is good :)
Saying hello makes me think I've done a good deed, and my karma will increase so I will eventually succeed at something.
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MamaKay
Since I am now a "work at home" mother, I have been keeping brain alive by starting a Cafe Press shop. Too Long Dog Posted August 18, 2008 |
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MamaKay
Since I am now a "work at home" mother, I have been keeping brain alive by starting a Cafe Press shop. Too Long Dog Posted August 18, 2008 |
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Dynomoose
Hi! I've tried using craigslist but my cafe press listings always get pulled. Posted July 01, 2008 |
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trevty180
Nice set up. I would add using craigslist locally to help get more local hits. Posted March 28, 2008 |
