I haven’t got a chance to explore CafePress deeper, but I know one thing: It can be one of the legitimate ways to establish yourself as an online entrepreneur. Let’s dig deeper into CafePress and see whether it can help you to really making you money.
Is making good money with CafePress really possible?
The word “really” should be emphasised because in online business and making money online arena, there are many tools can be used to make you money, but not many can really make money using such tools. With CafePress, this is also the case.
The idea with CafePress is for you to create a CafePress-hosted store to sell your creations without worrying how your design will be applied on mugs, poster and t-shirts and how to source such materials.
Now, I’m really bad at affiliate marketing, but with CafePress, I can do better because they can help me sell my design. So, the key is my design, and I’m selling my OWN product lines – I will get 10% commission on all products sold. Not much, but remember, you don’t have to invest in the materials, as well as a shop.
As always, the key is marketing, marketing, marketing – and with CafePress, focus your marketing effort on social media marketing above anything else. I don’t really fancy article marketing, so this is good.
When you do this right, you CAN definitely make money with CafePress; in fact, you can make money with everything personalised – funny mugs always interest people, and Facebook and the likes are fertile grounds to sell your mugs, posters, etc.
Getting started
Here are some simple steps to help you getting started with your CafePress business:
1. Tap the pulse
The first and foremost step you need to do is to see what sells in CafePress. Do the seasonal themes (e.g. Christmas-themed t-shirts) sell like hot cakes in a cold winter day? Are catchy sentences doing great? The key in selling personalised gifts and fancy products is your ability in following what’s hot (and what’s not.)
2. Tools to create your products
The second requirement is for you to have these three basic “ingredients”: A computer/laptop, an Internet connection, and a graphics program. To cut costs, you can work in coffee shops offering WiFi connnection (of course, you need to buy the coffee!) or you can work in an Internet cafe. The key here is not to rush into investing your thousands of dollars to buy such assets.
3. CafePress basic or premium?
The third step would be to decide whether you are going to sign up for a basic shop or premium one. A basic shop is free, but a premium shop can give you more flexibility – you can do a 15 day free trial to see whether the $4.99-a-month shop is the right choice for you.
4. Start selling!
The fourth and most important step is: Start selling! “Just build it and they will come” won’t work with selling Cafepress custom t-shirts and other personalised gifts/fancy products.
Of course, you need to have your line of products ready. Your next step would be crucial ones: Sign up with Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites depending on your target market. If you are looking for B2B business, rev-up your LinkedIn account. Here’s one “secret” tip for you: When it comes to selling stuffs, Facebook is THE place.
There you go – I’m ready to put this into action. Are you?
Ivan Widjaya
Custom products rock!