Holey Moley! I have to tell you take nothing for granted and try not to reinvent the wheel, but after a stumble I have the new store up and functional.
Man, I love a good drop cap.
BUT, for anyone that’s visited the main site the store was not fully functional and I took waaay too many things for granted until I tried to step through it and was horrified and disappointed…lol…
I always think if I can design something my wife can use I am successful, but when she tried stepping through it she had nothing but issues and questions. Plus, it just looked a mess.
I thought, PSSSH!, and committed the cardinal sin of thinking it was her fault, but I knew the initial design was a mess. I tried to incorporate it into template that really wasn’t meant for e-commerce and trying to smoosh features into it did not make it any better.
So, Lesson #1: DON’T try and reinvent the wheel…
It was easier to set up the subdomain shop.toddyoungonline.com and, ultimately, invest in a template created for the purpose. It was infinitely easier to set up and customize and has the ability to evolve with what I’m envisioning.
Lesson #2: DON’T assume anything…
This one was just too easy for my overly optimistic mind to do. Hey, it looks right, so things should work, right? Step through it and check it out for yourself. Implementing the proper tools to begin with will help, but you still want to make sure your things works like you want it to.
Lesson #3: Do or Do NOT…
More than a bit Yoda-ish, but I’ve built websites in the past that were just hobbies, it didn’t matter if anyone out of the few people they were meant for saw them. This website started out as a journal to collect my 25+ years of work into and be able to share it with a wider audience and hopefully find my place.
Once I came across being able to splash my artwork across merchandise AND make it readily available, hokey smokes. A creative fire lit under me that hasn’t been there for a long time.
Japanese artist Takahashi Murakami had said something that inspired me. He creates the larger pieces for a niche market, but he has the smaller merchandise so anyone can afford a piece of art. Affordability and accessibility are great things especially where art is concerned.
Lesson #4: Do your homework…
As a designer I learned how to design for people, but with opening and e-commerce store I’ve been a bit out of my element. I loved the idea of being able to use something I created to create a passive income.
If you’ve ever looked at something and went…WHY?! Somebody has purchased that and even if it’s small, it’s still an audience, so there’s room for everyone. You just have to find it.
I’m a big proponent of online learning and with the state of education now, on any level, you aren’t going to learn everything you need, so you have to start supplementing your education on your own. There are so many resources to do that and for any subject.
Start with YouTube for free resources ( I’ve recently done that for programming and other subject like Drop Shipping). Linkedin/Lynda.com, Udemy, Stackskills, Skillshare, Domestika, New Masters Academy, Masterclass, etc etc…
Literally anything you want to learn is available and at master levels of knowledge.
As of this writing, I’m just getting started, trying to get the store up and running and stocked with designs and products. I wrote a list of sites to work with then after a little research learned the 3 best for drop shipping are currently Teespring, RedBubble, and Merch by Amazon.
I’d started on Curioos and have to admit it’s fairly easy. One design upload gets put across around 10 items, but you don’t have many options and the BIG drawback is you don’t have any metrics, so you have no idea what’s going on. I easily uploaded 400 designs, but they send out an email once a month if you’ve made any sales, that’s it. So, I stopped and moved on to Redbubble.
Redbubble was a revelation. More merchandise available, more option for your designs, it’s awesome. It take a bit more tweaking with what you want to offer and colors AND it has METRICS. They have a dashboard you can track with, but I opened a Google Analytics account and linked to it, so one stop to see everything that’s going on.
Another things I’ve learned, so far, is to limit the number of items and choices per design. Buyers can get overwhelmed and end up not buying anything at all, so something to keep in mind. Which is hard for me because I’ve loved seeing my stuff on all the different kind of merchandise…lol…
I happened across Printify next and talk about mind overload. They had the most merchandise (you feel a Goldilocks thing goin on here?…lol…) and the images can be layered, which can be a huge thing if you want to put multiple pieces on one item. It is a store, but really meant (I think) to be linked to your website…which took me a minute to sink in.
Using Woocommerce (which I am) or Shopify or a number of other options you can like the Printify store to your site. You create the item on Printify and publish it to your store. Mindblown.
I did that, you then have to be sure to categorize the items and do the details, but it makes setting up a store so much easier, especially if you’re going to be doing drop shipping. I am extremely excited to have my items available in one spot on my own space. That is pretty darned cool.
And it doesn’t preclude you from also having them on the other sites. I did learn that Redbubble and Amazon will help advertise your items, but Teespring you have to sell a couple before they start advertising your merchandise. Which brings us to…
Lesson #5: Advertising and Marketing!
I wanted this to be easy. I wanted to have the ‘If you build it they will come” attitude, and it might but the internet is too big and this is going to be part of the Lesson #3 as well, if you’re going to do this, commit and do what it takes to be successful. Which could be argued should be a daily mantra for our lives.
But, I was originally just using my personal social media accounts, I have close to 1k followers on Twitter and around 250 on Instagram, that’s a lot right? They’ll see my stuff and do more than just like?
In my case, I’ve gotten more attention on Instagram, but traffic was still low. I am still learning the digital marketing and how to convert traffic to purchases. I’m still creating and uploading designs and trying to research ‘stuff’ in general.
I did see where it said when you just start out not to pay for advertising, but I didn;t listen to that. I’ve been boosting posts on Facebook now that I have things to show. I started a Google Ads campaign (make sure to do several ads..not campaigns…ads…and add your logo and some pics, keep updating the pics because you only get 6 I think.) I’ve been getting a lot of impressions and traffic has increased, but purchases have not.
Facebook has increased some of my visibility and the ads aren’t all that expensive to do. I’ve been boosting posts for a few days and it’ll cost a few dollars. Google Ads can be a bit more expensive, I have a limit of like $300/month, but I’ve got it on my credit card so it’s not depleting my cash funds.
I found today, through Woocommerce I’m able to set up, through Google Ads, on the Google Marketplace. It’ll draw directly from my products and list them for sale, so we will see how that goes. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Lesson #6: Be Patient
I don’t want to be patient. I want this to take off like a rocket to show myself I was right all along!…lol…
Some people have made sales in their first week, some have taken longer, but keep at it (I’m saying this as much for you as for me.) Believe in what you’re doing and know the investment of time, energy, and money is going to pay off in the end.
Just keep creating and uploading. Take the one design and splash it across the 3+ sites, it doesn’t cost you anything but some time. Make sure you’re then posting to your social media channels and using hashtags to get it in front of people. Be consistent with posts.
Ive found scheduling them keeps you in front of people and new stuff keeps them looking and coming back. Duh, I guess?…lol…
This whole endeavor is new, but exciting. If you’ve read all of this, thank you, I appreciate it. Hopefully, you’ve found some of it educational and entertaining.
I’m only about a month into all of this, so check in every once in a while and see how things are going…
Check out the site and the store, give me your feedback.
- todd