T-Shirts, Mugs, and Mouse Pads...Oh My?

Okay, it's unlikely you'd get rich off of this, but I'd still like to know what others think.

I ran across this website http://www.cafepress.com while looking for something totally unrelated (isn't that always the way of it?). It says that you get an "online store" with them for free, but it works more like an affiliate program. The unique thing is that you really put your own spin on the products. You upload you original artwork which they will then put on the products such as t-shirts and mugs.

One possible use for this is to create and sell stuff that compliments your existing business/website. For example, the logo for Seeds of Wisdom could be put on mugs and mousepads and then sold from this site. :)

Others are just trying to create just stores with only their designs and these products. From reading the message boards at this site I get the impression that most aren't making any money. But I also got the impression that most of them don't know anything about marketing or internet marketing either.

I guess I'm seeing this as kind of a challenge. I can understand how you can make money selling info products and such on the net. But when it comes to products like clothing and other tangible goods I wonder how it could be made at least somewhat successful.

I guess it comes down to In Your Face Marketing. For example, I have a site that sells drag racing apparel. Several different things are being used to bring people to the site, besides search engines. One of them being the logo, a brief description and the url of the site on coffee mugs. On the other side of the mug there is a liscensed image of a favorite drag racer (the buying stimulant). However long it takes a person to drink a cup or two of coffee (or in my case 3 or 4) is the amount of time the url will have a chance to be seen.

Sunglasses are also used. The url is put onto the arms of the sunglasses.

Ever since these tactics have been used, along with good search engine placement, the site hits and sales have been on the increase. I guess there is also one other thing in favor - clothing and apparel are the most searched for items on the internet.

Good luck with it if you do it.

Dennis


Save Time and Money with professionally designed Mini Site Templates

Sharon,

I wrote an article about cafepress.com lately. You pay more for the service than doing more of the work yourself, but that's the key.

They do everything for you, no start up costs and you can have your own online store with a dozen personalized products in "minutes."

That's pretty hard to beat.

It's great to testing because there is no risk or up front cost.

Ron


The Business Fastlane-Reporting Who Is Really Making Money and How They Are Doing It!

Ron,

Please email me at [email protected]

I would like to speak with you about Fastlane.

Dave

> Okay, it's unlikely you'd get rich off of
> this, but I'd still like to know what others
> think.

> I ran across this website
> http://www.cafepress.com while looking for
> something totally unrelated (isn't that
> always the way of it?). It says that you get
> an "online store" with them for
> free, but it works more like an affiliate
> program. The unique thing is that you really
> put your own spin on the products. You
> upload you original artwork which they will
> then put on the products such as t-shirts
> and mugs.

> One possible use for this is to create and
> sell stuff that compliments your existing
> business/website. For example, the logo for
> Seeds of Wisdom could be put on mugs and
> mousepads and then sold from this site. :)

> Others are just trying to create just stores
> with only their designs and these products.
> From reading the message boards at this site
> I get the impression that most aren't making
> any money. But I also got the impression
> that most of them don't know anything about
> marketing or internet marketing either.

> I guess I'm seeing this as kind of a
> challenge. I can understand how you can make
> money selling info products and such on the
> net. But when it comes to products like
> clothing and other tangible goods I wonder
> how it could be made at least somewhat
> successful.

Ron,
I'm not sure what you meant by this? Could you explain it?

> You pay more for the service than
> doing more of the work yourself, but that's
> the key.

Also, is the article you wrote on cafepress.com something that was only for Business Fastlane members? If not could you provide a link to it? :)

Sharon
P.S. Thank you for having given your input.

Sharon,

What I met was that you don't earn as much when you sell an item through Cafepress.com as you would if you were to purchase the mugs yourself in quantity at wholesale cost, have them screened to personalize them, take the order yourself, ship it etc.

However if you add up the investment in time and money involved in doing all of the work yourself, going through Cafepress.com looks pretty attractive, especally to test selling something you are sure will work.

Does that make sense?

> Also, is the article you wrote on
> cafepress.com something that was only for
> Business Fastlane members? If not could you
> provide a link to it? :)

Sorry the article was part of my paid newsletter.

I hope this helps,

Ron

Yes, that makes more sense to me now. Thanks for responding. :)

Sharon