Make Money Online by Selling Your Own Product
If your blog or web site is popular, or even if it is only somewhat popular, you can make money online by selling real products related to it! All sorts of people are willing to buy merchandise that expresses what they believe in, be it political, environmental or just for fun! Basically, if someone believes strongly in something, they will buy merchandise to let people know what they believe in.
Your merchandise doesn’t have to be plastered with your blog or website’s logos, though that isn’t a bad idea. You can just sell things that are relevant to your blog’s topic or the topics you discuss on a regular basis. You do not have to create merchandise that is branded to your blog, you can sell things that are relevant to your blog’s topic and relate to the content of your entries. Or, if your blog is popular (or if you want to increase name recognition) you can also plaster your logo and branding all over your merchandise. The most important thing to remember is to make merchandise that will entice your customers and enhance your reputation.
What is it and how do I?
This sounds like it would create an endless stream of headaches and nightmares, but it doesn’t have to be that hard. The internet has opened a huge number of opportunities that will remove the stress and trouble of selling actual products online. There are several websites that allow you to create your own merchandise, or at least that allow you to design mugs, shirts, mouse pads, and many other things that you can customize to fit your blog. If, for example, you blog about your book club, you could create several designs that relate to your books’ authors, characters, and clever quotes. You could be big with your Edgar Alan Poe themed writing pad. Just imagine the envy that all the other members of your book club would have!
All you have to do is to find a website that will handle payments, orders, and even the shipping for you. There are several out there, but here are my top three for helping you get that going.
Cafepress.com
This website is extremely popular! You can create your own merchandise from a huge variety of items to sell. You can make your own designs, or you can use their templates, all of which are very classy. There are two options when you sign up with Cafepress.com: Basic Shops and Premium Shops. If you think your business idea can really take off, then you might want to explore that option, but for the rest of us, I would recommend the basic shop, since it is free. Once you sign up, you can create your merchandise, and determine the profit margin you want off of it. Cafepress will host, handle payments, orders and shipping.
Printfection.com
Printfection is a rather recent site and is very much like Cafepress. The only problem is tha they don’t have as much merchandise as Cafepress (mostly different shirt styles). Then again, the store that they offer is a lot like the Premium Shops over at Cafepres.com, so you will want to take that into account when figuring all of this out. They have a great selection of high quality prints and many different colors. If you are only going to be selling branded shirts, then this is certainly the way to go.
Zazzle.com
Zazzle is geared more toward individuals as opposed to people trying to sell their stuff online. They are a print-on-demand company and their payments differs form Cafepress and Printfection. You will earn a fixed percentage from Zazzle sales, though it is important to note that the prices here are higher than at Cafepress and Printfection.
Once you have decided which one of these you want to use (and you may want to take some time and play around with each of these to get the best idea) you’ll want to sign up, start designing, and then create your online store. If you’re tech savvy, or have friends who are, they can also integrate your online store with your blog or your existing website! What a great way to grow your internet business and make money online!
