Zazzle is one of the Print-on-demand companies out there that allows people to design & sell their own creations. I love Zazzle's ease of use, friendly staff, and the fact that I can make money on my art. Here are my Top 8 Tips to have a profitable Zazzle Gallery.
Be Creative with Your Gallery & Organize, Organize, Organize!
There is nothing worse then a boring unorganized gallery. Upload your own logo and color coordinate your page with you logo.
Organize your products by theme (Baby, Wedding, Photography). Don't put all of your work into one catagory. It makes it really hard to search for products. Also use subcatagories (Aprons, Buttons, T-Shirts).
Feature a Product line. You can have 5 Featured lines.
Tip # 2
Open an Associate Account
An Associate Account will allow you to earn an additional 7% when you link customers to Zazzle through your website, blog, MySpace, Squidoo, etc.
An Associate Account can be a powerful tool. Always put your Associate Basic Panel on you website. I love this thing. It rotates 3 of your products on a neat panel and adds color and action to a website.
To find the Basic Panel Set-up go to myZazzle, Associate Account, Basic Panel (botton left under Link Builder) I also like the Flash Panel but the Basic Panel looks really classy on a website.
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Tip # 3
Choosing your Content
Are you an artist, photographer, painter, graphic designer or all 5? On Zazzle you can be everything.
When I first started doing Zazzle I only did my digital art. Then I realized that I could display my photography and graphics too. Don't limit yourself with one genre. A lot on galleries do focus on one theme which is fine but you can combine themes as long as you stay organized (See Tip # 1)
Most of your business will come from people searching for key words like dog, fractal art or wedding. Once they find your product an see your organized gallery they can search for other items the want. More is better!
Tip # 4
More is Better! Quantity = More Profits!
Zazzle is a numbers game. If you have 10 items you might sell something now and then. But if you have 10,000 itmes you are going to sell a lot. This is not to say that you should sacrifice quality for quanitity, you need both.
The bottom line is the more product you have, the more you will sell so get moving!
Tip # 5
Know what designs to put on what products!
Zazzle offer a lot of differant products. From Aprons to T-Shirts. The key is knowing what to put on each product. A T-Shirt that says "Super Mom" works, but putting that design on a tie looks stupid.
I have started putting art on a product only to realize that the size is not quite right. A round design on a square mouse pad might not look to cool.
Also think like a consumer. If you do a line of wedding cards also include the design on postage, postcards and stickers so that they can buy your design as a set. People love matching products.
Tip # 6
Read & Learn
Zazzle offers a really comprehensive and easy to read web site. Read up on how to maximize your gallery. myZazzle has a ton of useful information and tips. Also use the "Help" section to answer basic questions.
Read the Zazzle Blog, Zazzle Tech Blog and Zazzle Contest Blog (See Feeds below) to stay current on the latest Zazzle news.
Tip # 7
Join in!
Zazzle is an amazing community or artists and Zazzle promotes this community really well. Click on the Contributor link to see the lastest comments made on gallery walls and products. See who the busiest contributors are, whos's featured and who has the biggest fan club. It's a great place to meet your fellow Zazzlers and show off your products!
Check out the Pulse too. This is Zazzle's live real-time forum of what's cool and happening on Zazzle. See your newly created dseighns on the top of the screen.
Tip # 8
Advertise
Now that you have an awesome gallery you need to advertise it. Below are some great links to advertise your New Zazzle Gallery on.
Digg is all about user powered content. Everything is submitted and voted on by the Digg community. Share, discover, bookmark, and promote stuff that's important to you!
Art - community of artists and those devoted to art. Digital art, skin art, themes, wallpaper art, traditional art, photography, poetry / prose. Art prints.
FineArtAmerica.com is the premier internet marketplace for artists, fine art galleries, and fine art collectors! Artists and galleries are able to promote their latest releases and upcoming events. Collectors are able to view our comprehensive art directory and request bids from local galleries.
Gather is a place to connect with people who share your passions. Let your unique voice shine through the articles, images, reviews, or audio you publish. We'll even compensate you with Gather PointsTM. Rewarded for something you'd do for free -- now that's a pretty good deal.
Launchtags lets you create mini-pages about your expertise, interests, know-how, hobbies, ideas or just about anything bright and shiny. Use text, pictures, videos, links and RSS feeds to build your page. Share 50% of the advertising revenue brought in by the traffic to your great page. Launchtags.com is simple, free and fun!
Art - community of artists and those devoted to art. Digital art, skin art, themes, wallpaper art, traditional art, photography, poetry / prose. Art prints.
I'm a Digital Artist & Writer from Cleveland, a self-proclaimed Girl Geek & Star Wars Fan. I'm in the Giant Squids Top 100 Club. I love Squidoo because I am a pop culture fanatic and Squidoo gives me an outlet for these obsessions! Visit my lensography Who is bdkz? or my blog Queen of the Girl Geeks for more information!