A Smile in the Making

I didnt write a lot about Zazzle But I ended up putting up a shop there. A Planet Named Janet

I found it fairly easy to set up -- especially after having roamed around Cafepress for a while. Opening up another window into someone else's shop while you are setting one up helps you understand what settings, etc to use. Just easier to flip back and forth instead of going to the Help section for alot of things.

Another reason for choosing Zazzle was that it is free. Cafepress has a free shop available, but if you want to put different images on the same product, you have to pay. Tho apparently you can get around that by opening up several different shops with one design each. Just thought that would be too much work. Plus the profit margin would probably amount to the same after fees -- tho you can set your own price on Cafepress. Zazzle sets the price and pays a percentage.

Once you get your image uploaded, you can do some editing in Zazzle -- such as add text. I also liked that the product page had better image quality than what I had on Cafepress -- tho I am told that sometimes that is just a glitch for certain products.

The other challenge again is to generate traffic. While your shop may show up on a random search or certain keywords that you can apply to your page, you really cant count on it to be your only source of getting your name out there.

There are blog exchange sites. I dont know how much they really work. But commenting on other blogs/sites will generate traffic. Some that I like to comment on are Dr.John's Fortress and The Sartorialist and The Foo Logs. I check comments on my other blog, A Planet Named Janet. I will take a look at your site and leave a comment. At minimum "Thanks for stopping by my blog". Generally those I leave comments on will reciprocate.

I also post on message boards like WetCanvas -- tho you cant come right out and advertise, but you can talk about what you are doing with your site. Most will let you put links to your sites in your signature.

I have yet to utilize Craigslist . There are rules about what you can and cannot post, but most of the time that is left up to other posters moderating -- ie, they can flag you (ie, send a notice to the board moderators) and your post will either be removed or if you do it ALOT -- then you get banned. It is one of those online communities that can be a bit "brutal" and "raw", so you might want to develop a bit of a thick skin -- or at least think really carefully about your post.

So off to find some more places to comment.