Tips for Print on Demand - Creating, Managing and Selling
This site covers a wide variety of topics useful for success in getting started in using a print on demand (POD) service to sell products with designs you create. I will be using my sites as examples.
Start with the Basics
Image Size
Image Colors
Designing and Selling
Examples
Html Hints and Tips
Custom Shop Tips
Affiliate Information
Other Resources
Video Demonstrations
Useful Guidebooks
Start with the Basics
Open a Basic Cafe Press Shop - Quick start to opening a CafePress basic shop.
Learning Checklist - what do you have to know to succeed?
Giving Up? - Have you given it a fair chance? Is this the right business for you?
Image Size
Image Colors
Designing and Selling
Html Hints and Tips
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Creating a Text Link - if you have never written any HTML you might not know how to create a link.
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Creating an Image Link - The process for creating an image link is very similar to creating a text link.
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Redirecting the Customer - if you want to send your customer from one web page directly to another on your POD site, you can usually use one of these techniques.
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Pointing Your Custom Domain Name to Your Shop - OK I've done this so much I'm sure I left part of the explanation out. So write me with your questions so I can make this explanation better.
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Creating a Coupon Box in an iFrame - you can create a box to make your coupon information stand out, without using a table.This shows you the code you need to write. You can copy the code any place you can use HTML.The second step is that instead of manually having up update the coupon everyplace you can create one coupon file, then create an "iframe" to show that one file on many web pages. That will mean you only have to update the coupon in one place, and the update will show everywhere.
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Creating HTML from a text list - nothing fancy here. If you have a plain list of links to images you want to display as the actual images, or a list of links to web pages that you want to make clickable, here is a way to start.
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Creating HTML from a Spreadsheet. - if you have a spreadsheet from a Froogle/Google Base feed generator, or otherwise have a spreadsheet with product URLs and image URLs you can create HTML to show them easily. The explanation is a little daunting, but just try it. Once you get it you will use it for all kinds of things.
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Creating a Spreadsheet from an HTML table - You can copy the text of your reports to a spreadsheet to save and manipulate the data.
- How to Save Images From Your Shop - You can't get back the full size images, but anything you see on screen can be saved to your local computer. So if you want to use product images to create a montage, or whatever, this is one way of getting them.
Custom Shop Tips
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Putting Content in Your CafePress® Sidebar - if you have never written any HTML you might not know how to create a link. These instructions (and video) explain how to write a link, and how to place it in the sidebar of your CafePress® Premium Shop. Also explains how to suppress the sidebar on a particular page and why you might have two sidebars.
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How to Backup the HTML - Don't be afraid to experiment. Nothing you can do on the Custom HTML page will delete your products or images. The worst that will happen is you might have to start over with the custom HTML you entered. You can save yourself some work by backing up the code before making changes.
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How to Experiment with Your CafePress® Premium Shop - Part of the code in your premium shop is necessary for inserting your sections or products, tracking codes and other items. So the editing area is broken down into sections. That can add to the challenge of making design changes. You can test out your ideas by making a local copy of your front page.
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How to DeBug Tables - You decided to make a quick edit and you forgot to back up your code and now the front page of your shop looks all funky. Chances are the problem is that you did something to the tables codes. If you don't want to reset here is how you can track down where the problem lies.
- Shop Organization and Mangement Tips - Learn to create product section templates for consistent pricing, product organization, image placement and image sizing. Lean how to deal with old designs, those that fit in more than one section, as well as the affects of moving, importing, deleting and editing images, products and sections.
Affiliate Information
Other Resources
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CafePress Resources -official learning center, tips and tutorials from other shopkeepers etc., groups to join for mentoring, information and more.
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Graphics Resources - tips on general technique and specific graphics applications e.g. Photoshop, GIMP, PaintShop Pro etc. Covers both raster and vector image creation tools, free and commercial.
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HTML and Scripts Tutorials and Resources - scripts to bring your products into your own web site, show "hot sellers" in an animated changing image box, html basics tutorials, hosted forms sites to support customers contacting you spam free, finding templates and more.
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Trademark, Copyright, and other Legal Issues.
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Additional Resources for POD Shopkeepers
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Shop Marketing Cautions - charity contributions and contests are just two marketing techniques that can be very effective but may be too legally risky to be worth using. Before proceeding make sure you learn enough to at least know the risks.
- Taxes - sales tax, business licenses, income tax, estimated quarterly payments are all things to understand and look into.
Video Demonstrations
Useful Guidebooks
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Success With CafePress
