Hi! This article is GREAT and VERY helpful to relatively new shopowners. I agree wholeheartedly, especially with the point about fitting images effectively to the products. I've seen clocks with a rectangular image just plopped in the center and they look awful! When I set up my clocks I took the extra care needed to bleed my fine art images off the edges. This was a little tricky since I had to make sure the clock mechanism in the center didn't cover up any vital parts of the paintings, thus destroying the messages in the work. It WAS a challenge, but I got great results. Everyone who has seen the clocks is really jazzed by them and sales have been pretty good! So besides thanking you for this article, I'd like to urge other shopkeepers to take the time to make their products as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
Thanks, Salena Mason, fine artist at shopsalena

Ericsgifts,

Yes, it's unfortunately true that having a cafepress shop can turn some people off. This comes from people believing that the quality of the products is not on par with screen printed tees and other things. I think this goes back to when CP started and some of the quality of one off stuff wasn't really that great. Things are different now, but unfortunately there isn't anything you can do about getting rid of the cafepress.com in your shop's url. Not really a way around that. You can however set up an external site (like I have) and then forward that site to your shop. In the end though, you are going to have to let people know that your shop is a CP shop.

Jaha,

I've tried Google's adwords which is what you are talking about I believe. For me it was a waste of money. I do know that some people do have success with it though, I think it just depends on how wisely you use it and how niche'y your designs are. I won't go back to adwords anytime soon, but that doesn't mean it CAN'T work for other people. Mostly though I think it's important that you research it and know what you are doing before you invest in it because there is a fairly precise art to setting up your ads so that they are effective.

quote:

Originally posted by jaha reggae:
Thank You

what if i have other products to sell
should i just have a link to my cafepress site

hard to figure this out
how about ebay and yahoo


www.cafepress.com/jahareggae

I have my primary website - www.42FordGPW.com where I have a ton of "free" information about my favorite subject. Then I have multiple links to things that I market. I, of course, sell thru Cafepress, BrandL, Amazon. I also take advantage of a niche I have built on a forum of the subject I like best. And I take advantage of affiliate status with ebay, commission junction, Amazon, etc. Oh, and Google with their AdSense program.

You can earn a "lot" without even trying. Mine more than buys for the websites and the cost of my ad in a magazine, if I include all revenue generating avenues (outside of Cafe). It's easy to do and requires little effort. But you have to have your own website and something to drive visitors to your site.

Now if I could just figure out how to generate enough clicks and sales to quit my day job!

thanks

Thank you!! Very helpful info!!

http://www.cafepress.com/lawgear

Help! I have been a shop owner for about 3 months without one sale. The people in this forum who have reviewed my designs and site have been great - most with really positive feedback ... what am I doing wrong?

TattooT

Your designs are great. Have you added a stat counter to your site to see if you are getting traffic? Some things that I have done to increase traffic to my site is to have a MySpace page withlinks back to my shop and every so often I post a bulletin highlighting one of my designs with a link back to my shop. Other things that work to drive traffic are posting in forums that relate to your topic and have your shop url in your signature.
I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

Sheryl

Thanks so Much! I'm having a hard time with setting things up and navigation --it's very confusing

--Paula

how do you add links to the forum? like how to find me and stuff?

Dear Sheryl,

Thanks for the feedback - love your ideas too, and will get cracking with them ASAP!

Cheers,
Jodie
PS. LOVE YOUR STUFF!!!!

Thanks Jodie,
Best of luck to you!
Sheryl

thanks

Hi Zap'
Your advice and usefull information inspires CP shopkeepers to stay sharp minded ... good work! valizi t-shirts

I took the advice by getting my own domain name, sarcasticdisorder.com on namebargain.com, but I am having trouble understanding exactly how to link my newly purchased domain name with my cafepress storefront. The directions on namebargain.com are confusing and difficult for a novice person such as myself to understand...Please help!!!