How To Make Money With Print On Demand
When I first researched all my options of starting a business online, I found this awesome idea of print-on-demand. My eyes were opened to a massive world of opportunity that I never knew existed.
Print-on-demand, as the name suggests, is when you make a design and have it printed on an item for sale. There are many websites today that handle the business side of things for you, while you earn the profit of each item sold. The products, printing and cost are all taken care of by your drop-shipping company of choice.
I will run you through a few steps with which you can start your own print-on-demand store and start making money today!
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Which websites are free to sign up with
If you are wondering how you should or could start a business with print on demand, then you are at the right place. Many people would suggest that you need money to start a business in any field. It is partly true, but online there are many options that you can try either completely free or with a minimal cost. The free sites are Cafepress, Createspace or Redbubble. Sign up with one of them. All these sites will print, ship and advertise your designs free, and you will get the profit. You can use free software like Canva to make your custom designs for your t-shirts, mugs, cloth-tot bags and much more.
Making an account is free and easy. Now if you are acquainted with the art of graphic design, then the world is the limit, but for people like myself, Canva is my favourite place.
Here is a quick list of free print-on-demand sites:
- Redbubble: My favourite site because they advertise your products, they have a free mock-up for each design you make, and they have many products to choose for printing onto.
- Cafepress: Great website and easy to navigate.
- Teespring: great website but you have to advertise your products. You can make your store and direct your social media followers here.
- Createspace: by Amazon but your profit is very low because they do all the advertising.
Why You Do Not Need Graphic Design Skills
Some of the top-selling t-shirts online only have a simple text written on them. You can use any short funny phrase for your design.
At Canva you can use many different fonts for your t-shirt designs. Another website that I use is Teespring. Because they have an option of fonts on the website. The only issue with Teespring is that they do not advertise your merch.
With free graphic design websites, you can use designs, templates, elements and much, much more. Do not be daunted by the idea that you cannot create great designs because half the work is done for you.
For ideas and inspiration, you can visit websites like Placeit. The site is great for mock-ups, but sadly most of their designs are at a premium fee. I use the free version for ideas and freebies. You can too!
How to find trending topics that are up to date
To make money successfully, you will need to find keywords or search for Google Trends. Finding words and phrases that are frequently searched in search engines will give you an edge in the online market.
For keywords here are the best websites you can use free, Keywords Everywhere, Pinterest and Google Trends.
Here is how you should do it for Pinterest. Go to your Pinterest search bar. Type in the topic you want to make designs about and see the suggestions Pinterest comes up with. Make a note of the topics relevant to your niche and copy-paste them to your clipboard. For some countries, Pinterest has a new feature called Pinterest Trends. This is a keyword tool for Pinterest, and it is free.
Keywords Everywhere is easy to use and understand there is a paid version that you can use, all you have to do is add it as a Chrome or Firefox extension.
Google Trends is an awesome place to find trending topics, and the countries they are popular in. For success, you should not overlook Google Trends because they have the data of the biggest search engine in the world. If they say something is trending, then it is trending.
Here is a video for you to understand how to use Google Trends.
You have to be picky about keyword tools because many come at a premium fee without the data to support their suggestions. So always use Google for two reasons, they have the data and they are free!
Find A Niche
Find a niche for whatever you want to design. You can find trending niches on a trend search engine for chrome or use Pinterest to find trending topics. Find a niche that you are already interested in because therein is your success.
Once you have decided on your niche, then start your designing. In the Pinterest search, many, many top trending recommendations are hugely ignored. Make use of all these because not only are they free assets they are useful. Make your Pinterest account in sync with your print on demand products so that you can advertise your items too.
When you decide to make your designs about a topic, do not niche down too much. Try to make your niche about a dog breed and then design t-shirts or leggings with two different breeds of dogs. In this way, you can assess your customer preferences at the end of the year. If they bought one dog breed shirt more than another, you can focus on that specific breed and then try another breed.
Some people make shirts with only Corgis on them for Corgi lovers, but as a marketer, you can choose whatever you want. Do not be too general, like making your store about animals. Try to make a niche, so that prospective customers know what your store is about.
Get Your Designs Advertised Free
If you are on any other social media like Pinterest and Instagram, then advertise your merch there. Once you have made a few items, and are confident that your designs are what someone will purchase gather a little courage and ask a notoriously candid person to review your designs. Preferably a trusted friend or family member could point out flaws and improvement ideas. No one is perfect, and we often overlook the most apparent blunders, so have faith in yourself.
Another great way in which you can showcase your t-shirts et cetera is with Placeit. With this wonderful software, you can upload your designs on top of models, and then download the entire image to put up on your website or social media accounts. Placeit is similar to Canva, but unlike Canva, it has fewer free tools for you to use.
Would you be prompted to buy a shirt advertised like this?
Or does this look better?
A simple tool like Placeit can bring your print-on-demand creations to life!
Be Original
Dare to be different! Do not be a copycat not only for the reasons that it is lousy marketing, but originality will be an asset always. Be original wisely though because you should choose items that people would purchase repeatedly. For example, you would spend money on leggings and t-shirts often, whereas you would not buy a mug as often. So make mugs a side gig, not your leading print on demand item.
Remember you cannot use copyright images or names like Batman or The Mandalorian, but phrases cannot be copyrighted. A phrase can be trademarked so if you want to use a particular phrase, then check if it is already trademarked at this official website Search Trademark Database USPTO. This website will show you if your phrase is already trademarked in the U.S. If you are not living in the states then make a Google search of “trademark search your ‘country name'” into Google search.
Use Print-on-demand Design Tools Free
For designing any graphic image Canva is fantastic, but the most annoying thing about their free subscription is that you cannot use the transparent background tool. For great designs, a transparent background is critical, so here is another free tool for transparent backgrounds. It is called the onlinepngtool; here you can choose exactly how much of your background you want to be transparent for the astronomical cost of free.
Here is a list of websites you can use for free:
- Canva: The holy land for free designs.
- Placeit: A great place for free designs and mock-ups.
- Smartmockups: Here, you can use free mockups for face masks and more.
- Lunapick: a website for transparent backgrounds, free.
- Online Png Tool: A free tool by Google for transparent backgrounds.
- Image Resize: Sometimes, Lunapick will reduce the size of your design, and you can resize it here for the extreme cost of free.
How To Avoid Analysis Paralysis
The most commonly sold t-shirts on Amazon are black. Furthermore, statistics have shown darker coloured shirts sell better than lighter shirts. So choose dark colours for your designs.
To avoid analysis, paralysis in your customers do not make your design available in every colour! When people are given too much choice, they usually buy nothing. Odd but true. Moreover, your design will not look fantastic in every colour, so select the best-looking colours and put those in your store.
Your design should have a maximum of four colours and a minimum of three colours each.
How to find ready made designs for free
Images in the public domain are free for everyone to use.
The public domain consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired,[1] been forfeited,[2] expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.[3] Wikipedia.
If you find the Monalisa by Leonardo Da Vinci in the public domain then you can use it as a ready-made print for your products.
Imagine shower curtains with the Andromeda galaxy printed on it…
Fiverr is another great place to either sell your created designs or purchase your own designs.
Final thoughts
You have ample opportunity to make money online, so take full advantage of all the free resources you can use. Do not be afraid of making mistakes because that is how you will learn and grow.
We all spend an unbelievable amount of time online, why not monetise your time online?