Tees In A Pod: Shop Keepers

Showing posts with label Shop Keepers. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

POD's Can Run Contests Too... But How?

It may seem impossible for Print On Demand Shop Owners (POD) to run contests and or promotions due to the inability of creating promotional and discount codes, but there may be a way to work around this. How, You may be asking? Get clever! Think of ways to use what you CAN do with Print On Demand Shops, to your advantage. Below is a list to get you started.

Ideas For Shop Keepers To Run Promotions/Contest With Their POD Store:

Limited Time Discount Categories/Sections: Shop Keepers usually organize their store by categories/sections to make it easier for shoppers to locate a specific product(s). An example of this would be, a category listed just for "Humor T-shirts". Why not create a category that allows customers to receive a certain percentage off? Print On Demand Shop Keepers use a "mark-up" on their merchandise in order to receive a percentage of what they sell. By lowering that "mark-up" percentage on a small amount of merchandise for a limited time, and placing them in an easily recognizable category/section, allows the shop keeper to create a discount section in their store. Ex: 5% Off These 5 Items For ONLY 5 days! This makes it easy and efficient to promote and possibly make more sales during the period of the discount.

Run Fun and Engaging Contests: Shop Keepers can usually receive a discount for purchasing their own products. Use this, to run fun, exciting, and engaging contests, and have one of your merchandise be the prize. An example would be, "Come up with the funniest slogan to put on a t-shirt and win that Tee!" The shop keeper pays for the winning prize via their shop keepers money, at a discount price, to give shoppers the ability to win FREE merchandise! Also, use your social media sites to promote and get the word out about your contests and you should see more followers/friends/likers, plus hopefully some sales.

Team Up: Contact other shop keepers and create a fun contest or promotional offering to your shoppers, as a collective team. Promote each others work by offering a free item/promotion from each others shops. A great example of this just happened recently on Twitter, called the #TeeParty. These fellow shop keepers (some non POD's) got together to create an awesome way to promote their work as a team:
@saucewear, @ThrivingInk, @OthelloInd, @Fresh_Dough@crocktees@GritFX @WolvesVsLions @BeAGirl_Today @AngrySpade

To learn more about the #TeeParty visit sauceweartees.com

There you have it, a few ideas to get you started on creating fun and clever contests and promotions via a Print On Demand Store.

Oh and remember, when promoting these contests to use the referral system your Print On Demand site offers to earn even more extra cash!

Let us know by leaving us a comment below, How do you run contests and promotions via your POD shop?

Written by, Amanda Ryan, Creature Creations, Personalized Photo Gifts

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

5 Secret Tips When Using Zazzle

There are many Print On Demand (POD) companies offered online for artists to sell their artwork on products for little to no cost and one of the more popular companies artists are turning to is, Zazzle.com . This article will explore secret tips to getting the most out of using Zazzle, but first lets start off with the basics...

What Is Zazzle?
Zazzle offers many designers, photographers, painters, and other artists a wide variety of products to showcase their work and to sell within their very own online store. Zazzle shop keepers are responsible for creating the designs that will appear on Zazzle's merchandise, while Zazzle itself, will take care of the shipment of such products, customer service, and the actual making of the product (such as magnets, keychains, t-shirts, etc.) within a 24 hour time frame. They also provide customers the option of customizing their products before they buy which allows the customer infinite opportunities in creating one-of-a-kind gift(s).

Letting The Secrets Out...
Psssst.... are you a Zazzle store owner? Are you always looking for ways to get the most out of using Zazzle, your online store, and in making some extra cash? Lets start letting the secret tips out... Some of you may already know, use, and love these tips; while others may be discovering a whole new way of using Zazzle. Most of these tips (not all) can be found some where within Zazzle.com, but not always easily... here is the list we found most informative and helpful when using Zazzle to make more money.

Did you know: Zazzle has a Referral Program? It is a great incentive to help promote your work and the work of other Zazzle shop keepers, while earning extra cash. Zazzle also offers a Volume Bonus, which means, Zazzle will give you a bonus based on a percentage of what you sell! So here is Secret Tip 1: By copying and pasting this URL: http://www.robgreenleaf.com/RFID.html into a new browser, you can then bookmark it and every time you come across a Zazzle item you want to refer, this will automatically create the referral link for you!

Did you know: Zazzle has it's own University? Well, kind of... Secret Tip 2: Zazzle offers a place online called, Zazzle University that provides many different tutorials, examples, and links to help better understand how to use Zazzle to your advantage.

Did you know: Zazzle Offers Product Guidelines? This tip may be one of the tips you already use, especially if you have been using Zazzle for some time now, but for those new to Zazzle, we felt it was important to include. Secret Tip 3: Download the Zazzle Product Image Guideline Files to use in the software of your choice like, PhotoShop, etc. when creating your artistic designs so that they correctly fit on each product you want to sell within your Zazzle store. Be sure to read more about Understanding the Image Guidelines Zazzle provides before you download them.

Did you know: One of the most important parts of your products achieving high search engine rankings is the "Title Tag" you use when creating a product? Secret Tip #4: Be sure to use a relative, descriptive "Title" whenever you are creating a product. Also, don't forget to fill out the "Description" box and "Tags" for your products, for these too are highly important in getting your products found. Stay away from flooding your product information with useless keywords for customers want to land on the page/product they are searching for. At first, thinking that using popular keywords that don't match your product may help in getting your product found, it will not help in getting the product bought, which is the main goal.

Did you know: You can keep track of who, what, and where your store is being mentioned online? When a blog, another online store, twitter, etc. mentions your Zazzle store's name... you can get alerted via email to go and check out what is being said about your store. This can also help in knowing of any bad news that might be floating around and help you quickly correct any issues. Secret Tip #5: All you have to do is set up Google Alerts by entering in your Zazzle store name, email address, and then wait for the emails to roll in.

There you have it... the Top 5 Secret Tips to know and use when wanting to get the most out of your online store with Zazzle. Feel free to let us know if you found this article useful... Any of these tips new to you? Are you using these tips already? Share with us by adding a comment below or on our Facebook Fan Page!

Amanda Ryan, Creature Creations, Personalized Photo Gifts

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Designing For A Cause

When turning on the television, radio, or computer, most of the news you hear is that of either tragedy, despair, or disease. With the increase of natural disasters, poverty, and incurable diseases, to name only a few, it can sometimes be hard to feel nothing but sadness and frustration to say the least. What if there was a way to help those who are not able to help themselves? To stand up for what you think is important and right?
Many shop keepers use their online store as an outlet to become involved with a cause, to make a statement, to help others, and to encourage people to get involved. This act of kindness can make a difference in changing peoples views on worldly topics and in increasing awareness about how change and help is possible. In creating such stores, people are forced to remember those who are needing our help and are able to learn how to make a difference, be it to a country, the world, or another living being. Here are some online stores we felt are worth mentioning for their efforts to change the world with one customer at a time and for bringing awareness to such important topics.

The first store

, Support Fo r Tibet, states on their site that it was created "to spread awareness of the cause of Tibetan refugees forced to leave their country, former political prisoners, and those still living in Tibet under Chinese occupation, whose basic human rights are denied every day." The creator is a volunteer for the Tibetan Exile Community in North India and the proceeds of each sale goes to help those living in McleodGanj, India. Some of their products include, t-shirts, mugs, stickers, and more. To find additional information about this important cause please visit, The Support For Tibet Store.

Another store

we found doing great things is, The Breast Chek Kit. Their main focus is to encourage women to do a breast examination which can help in saving lives through early detection. What they offer is an actual kit that includes items such as a Nylon Spandex Shirt, to keep track of any changes in the breast, instructions on how to do a self-examination, and more. To learn all about how they're making a difference, visit their site and explore.

Hearts For Haiti store is another great example of shop keepers doing amazing things. Their products, are made from a collaboration of many designers who each have their own online store, but came together to design to help those in Haiti. The store offers stickers, buttons, magnets, and keychains, with inspirational designs on them. All proceeds from sales go to Hope For Haiti. To learn more on how to get involved or to see what all they offer, visit their site, Hearts For Haiti on Zazzle.

Another f

ine example of a store making a difference is, Cure Apparel Company. They have dedicated their store in helping to find a cure for Diabetes. Their products include a wide selection of t-shirts with amazing designs, focusing on raising awareness about diabetes and 10% of their sales goes to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). To see more and/or to purchase "clothing for a cause" head on over to their store.

These are only a few wondeful examples of shop keepers who make a difference. Thank you to all the shop owners who not only want to change the world in which we live in, but encourage others to do the same.
Other great causes can also be found within the Zazzle community. See if your cause is there, if not, why not create one. Maybe you already have a store designed for a cause, tell us all about it in the comment box below or on our Facebook Fan Page, Teesinapod!

Created By: Amanda Ryan, Creature Creations, Personalized Photo Gifts