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Making CafePress Work -- and Earn -- for You!

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Bigger Bucks at CafePress

These tips will describe in an ongoing way some of my own new, unusual and creative ways you can make your CafePress shop even more profitable -- and fast!

Good luck -- and I'll see you out there in the Marketplace!

Unique Steps & Tips to Bigger CafePress Profits, Faster than Ever

I've spent the last two years managing and expanding my own CafePress stores (http://www.ParanoidCreative.com and http://www.Dramagoodies.com), so I know what it's like to live in the CafePress trenches.

And I am a diehard believer -- it's a great premise, and a great way to use your ingenuity, that little spark of an idea, to build a side business, or simply something to bring in a few bucks now and then while you show off your creativity. My store at ParanoidCreative.com began as something built for fun -- now it's a serious source of revenue, and I couldn't be happier.

But how to get started? How do you make the most bucks from your CafePress store? I hope the following great tips will help you turn your ideas from something fun, to something profitable.

Getting Started Tips & Tricks

Monetizing Your Enthusiasms, Passions, Sense of Humor

1. Find your Niche

CafePress is about harnessing those "watercooler" items, the things you find yourself having an opinion about, and discussing with your friends. What do YOU want to see on a bumper sticker or T-shirt? Those are the things that'll bring you success.

2. Get Comfortable with a Graphics Program. And arm yourself with Clipart, Fonts, More!

You're going to need to be moderately comfortable with a good graphics program, and one that can output to PNG graphics format. I personally use CorelDraw for graphics design and Adobe Photoshop for image manipulation -- I've used both for years, and love them. CorelDraw is a godsend for CafePress purposes -- it's fairly easy to use for the starter stuff, but also offers a lot of power for more advanced users. And I like the clean, vivid, professional stuff it's capable of.

You'll also need some good fonts (Fonts.com is a good resource), and will need at least a rudimentary arsenal of clipart images to work with, and that you have license to use on your materials. My personal favorite is Clipart.com, which offers a huge array of images at a pretty affordable rate (measured in weeks, months, etc.).

And here's a tip: Clipart.com memberships are time-based. You can buy access for a day, week, month(s), etc. So if you're willing to sit and download as many clips as you can in a limited time, it's really cost-effective!

For other clipart options, you also get a full disc of clipart and photos if you purchase a high-end graphics program like CorelDraw.

3. Go Premium

At $6.95 per month, and an unlimited number of designs to post and create in a Premium shop, it's less than the price of your average lunch at McDonald's. Go for it.

4. Draw Your Excitement -- and Put your Watercooler into Your Designs!

What does this mean? Put simply, put your most exciting designs or slogans up first! What are you most excited about? What makes you laugh? Which shows do you love? Or which celebs do you wish you could save? (Keep in mind that you can't use full names OR celebrity images without permission -- but most people will get the hint anyway.)

More Tips & Tricks for Success...

Using Tags -- and Making Your Designs Pop

5. Use Those Tags

In your Image Bin on CafePress, you'll notice that the first thing you're asked upon upload is to provide a list of up to 20 tags. Use this! It's a great way to get your designs searched -- and found -- in the CafePress marketplace. And use those tags wisely. If you were seeking something like YOUR design, what would you type in? What words would you use to search?

6. Fit the Design to the Product -- and Don't Forget Full Bleed!

Not everything you design is going to look great on every single product. So keep in mind that the cool slogan on your T-shirt will need to be recreated in a more horizontal format if you want it to look good on a bumper sticker. And it probably won't always look great on a clock, for instance. But in other instances, a wonderful clock or journal cover won't make a great T-shirt. The more you design, the more you'll learn what works.

Full Bleed items do really well -- they're bright, cool and they look especially great on a button. They take a little extra effort, but if you use the specs provided by CafePress (and they're awesome, and cover literally every product you'd want to create), it's pretty easy to create full bleed items that look great and fit well.

Part 7: Pretty it Up!

Make your site look as good as it can look -- your customers will thank you (and so will your sales)

The little extras are what make a store look fly, so invest in a little time and elbow grease, and do what you can to customize your store using CafePress's easy templates. You can change colors, layouts, fonts, etc., at a few mouse clicks.

But there's even more you can do -- things that really make the difference to those shopping your store.

First off, don't just leave your main design as your intro to your design section -- instead, show people how great it looks on a shirt, mug, or button! Each time you create a new line of designs and products, right-click your design in a new window, and right-click the resulting larger image, choosing Save As and then naming the JPG (I name everything for my section fronts with the notation of FRONT, for instance with "MiscDesign," as MiscDesignFRONT.jpg, for instance). Not only can you use these "Front" images at the front of each design section, but you can also (with a little practice from PhotoShop or similar programs) layer those graphics, including a crowd of different items to introduce your section.

By taking a little time to make your site look good, and to showcase your products right up front, you'll quickly learn how to make your shop cute and competitive. And don't be afraid to browse CafePress itself to get inspired -- there are hundreds of amazing shops at CafePress, created by hardworking people who know how to combine creativity and sales to make an impression.

Part 9: Markets and Mirrors

How strong marketing and PR can work with a creative mirror URL to bring you more sales

Once you've got some designs created, a fabulous store that you're proud to promote, then first off, do some press releases to get the word out! If you have the budget, you can even submit to search engines (there are free and paid options to do this for all major engines, luckily) "officially," to start getting your products and keywords showing up in the major searches.

One thing I learned that quickly became invaluable -- the value of a quick URL purchase. If you have a niche product, then go over to GoDaddy or somewhere similar and do some searches.

One of my niches, for instance, is theatre stuff (I'm a total proud theatre and drama geek going wayyy back, and love creating for others in the theatre), and I quickly named my store's Theatre section "DramaGoodies." I purchased the URL for www.DramaGoodies.com and now that URL goes straight to my Theatre section -- with no need to build a separate store! I can promote that section independently on my own, easy as pie.

So how about you? Can you distill what you offer in a word or phrase that fits as a dot-com? For instance, let's say you sell Patriotic Shirts -- then check to see if PatrioticShirts.com is available. Or ProudUSAShirts.com, etc. With a little creativity, you can find something memorable that you love. The next step? Once you've purchased that cheap URL (it should cost you under $10), with just a few mouse clicks, you can "mirror" or "forward" that site straight to your CafePress shop URL! It's fun and easy and a great way to market yourself. Again, GoDaddy especially makes this really easy, and I love their quick Search function so that you can find out whether or not the domain name you want is available, and within seconds.

Step 9: Price Boldly

Yes, you. Just do it. You'll thank me.

The single best piece of advice I ever got about CafePress involved my agonizing over the prices. I worried people wouldn't be happy, I worried I would charge too much, etc. As a result, in my first month, I made several sales with a profit of a single dollar or less. Hey, I was thrilled.

Then I began to think about all those missed dollars. At just a dollar or two markup (on an item that was still cool and affordable), I began to see that I was missing an opportunity.

So I took the incredible advice I'd been given, marked my items up to "High," and never looked back. My sales over the next two weeks were three times the commissions I'd made in the first two. So trust your designs. You're selling an impulse item, something fun and cool and quirky. Believe in it. And mark your prices at a level that will earn you some significant money on each sale. And keep in mind -- this still means you're selling an affordable button, or an affordable T-shirt. Do it and don't look back.

Step 10 (Yay!): Describe, Describe, Describe

Words are what tag your images, what customers enter to search, what defines what people are looking for. Use them well.

The descriptions of your products are every bit as important as those image tags we talked about earlier. So describe your stuff with vibrant, strong adjectives while also using "tag-friendly" descriptions. If your product assortments include home goods as well as shirts, say so. Talk about how wonderful the shirts are, how vibrant and cool the buttons are, how your clocks or pillows make great gifts!

By implementing just a few of these tips, you'll see even more success for your cool designs, and for that fabulous CafePress shop of yours! Good luck -- now START SELLING!

Here's my site -- Paranoid Creative (Cool Shirts, Buttons, Gifts for TV/Pop Culture Fans)

Cool shirts, buttons, stickers and more for the TV lover, pop culture enthusiast, and gamer in all of us -- from Buffy, to Boomer!

Your choice for gifts, apparel, and other cool stuff for the pop culture, TV, and scifi/fantasy enthusiast! And don't miss our Backstage section, with loads of great products especially for performers and theatre pros. We offer everything from buttons and magnets, to tees and caps, bumper stickers, products for the home, and much more. If you've got a personality and a point of view, we want you to tell the world!

Making CafePress Work -- and Earn -- for You!

Bigger Bucks at CafePress

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Unique Steps & Tips to Bigger CafePress Profits, Faster than Ever

Getting Started Tips & Tricks

Monetizing Your Enthusiasms, Passions, Sense of Humor

More Tips & Tricks for Success...

Using Tags -- and Making Your Designs Pop

Part 7: Pretty it Up!

Make your site look as good as it can look -- your customers will thank you (and so will your sales)

Part 9: Markets and Mirrors

How strong marketing and PR can work with a creative mirror URL to bring you more sales

Step 9: Price Boldly

Yes, you. Just do it. You'll thank me.

Step 10 (Yay!): Describe, Describe, Describe

Words are what tag your images, what customers enter to search, what defines what people are looking for. Use them well.

Here's my site -- Paranoid Creative (Cool Shirts, Buttons, Gifts for TV/Pop Culture Fans)

Cool shirts, buttons, stickers and more for the TV lover, pop culture enthusiast, and gamer in all of us -- from Buffy, to Boomer!

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