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How to Promote My Online T-Shirt Business?

by EFt
35 replies
I have so far developed two websites/brands to sell t-shirts. i read here a lot about it's a good idea to create and sell your own products so I thought I should spend more time developing these projects.... They are totally automated with my system besides actually designing the t-shirt designs which I enjoy doing. I use Cafepress along with a 3rd party plugin so I can run the shops from my own domain name and hosting.

Eco Tees
provide eco friendly and planet friendly themed organic only t-shirts with new original designs added recently.

ShockingTShirts.com
just general designs, meant to be ones that have shocking type graphics but I just have a bunch of general designs so far.

I also realize I need to keep creating new designs but I would be a lot more inspired if I got more sales. So far I have sold about 5 shirts over the last year for a profit of around $15 since Cafepress gets most of the money. i have done basically zero marketing or SEO though! I'm happy to use this system for now as it means I don't have to touch anything like printing or sending out orders. it means I can concentrate totally on the designs and marketing.

I have sold a couple of shirts but I would like to know how I can take it to a new level and make it a good income revenue? Please suggest some ideas thanks very much in advance.
#business #eco tshirts #online #organic tshirt #promote #tshirt
  • Profile picture of the author cashtree
    Try a facebook fan page, and really focusing on marketing, blog posting on highly page ranked related blogs(greens still a pretty popular fad) social book marketing, article marketing sites(write unique quality stuff about the environment and have your sites in your resource box) Can try ebay too.
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  • Profile picture of the author NovaAffiliate
    You could always try advertising your website(s) on google or bing. Social networks paid and non-paid advertising are also an easy way to get more traffic. For an example, make a fan page, and put the facebook "like" button on your website(s); that way, their friends also see your website.
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  • Profile picture of the author iyazam
    I think the best way to go is via LinkedIn and try to connect with distributors or at least affiliates. I have been very successful with this in the past. You have either two options via LinkedIn:
    1- Joining relevant groups and posting there
    2- Directly message relevant people on LinkedIn

    In addition - in the LinkedIn search box type stuff in quotes like: "We import" or "we buy" , "I Buy" I purchase" , "we source" etc.... You may get profiles of people who purchase products like yours.

    I hope this helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author Suthan M
    well, i am a tees buyer..

    One thing i look at is buying tees that are cool and popular.. And normally i associate that by seeing how the website look and peeps who are commenting abt the shirt design..

    I also LIKE a number of tees website in my FB, so when new designs comes out, i will see what i like.. I dont usually prefer designs that is in the market for a long time, but fresh ones off the market :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author EFt
    OK I have done a facebook fan page, now I will try another one of these suggestions, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author EFt
    I have never used Google adwords but I have a $100 credit. I was thinking about using it to link to one of the eco tee designs or would I be better to promote the whole website? I also have no idea how to start with adwords, I played around with it a few years ago but spent a load of money by accident as it was on auto. Now I'm very scared and careful how to use it...
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  • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
    Get into the cost per click arena.
    There are a lot of great guides offering support and guidance in cpc arena for beyond what I could offer with a simple post.

    Beyond purchasing paid traffic. I would definitely visit some of the social sites and start interacting with the different visitors surrounding the niche of your choice, which of course would be design and start letting them know about your work and offer.
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  • Profile picture of the author bamstk090
    i suggest you to try offpages SEO method to get higher SERP
    like press release, social bookmark, article directory, etc
    plus add your product to google merchant
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    • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
      Originally Posted by bamstk090 View Post

      i suggest you to try offpages SEO method to get higher SERP
      like press release, social bookmark, article directory, etc
      plus add your product to google merchant
      I would definitely recommend SEO but be creative jump in to an arena where not many are and dominate. This is what I did with document sharing sites.
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      • Profile picture of the author bamstk090
        Originally Posted by Clint Faber View Post

        I would definitely recommend SEO but be creative jump in to an arena where not many are and dominate. This is what I did with document sharing sites.
        if not seo
        facebook ads and google adword is the best to promote product
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        • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
          Originally Posted by bamstk090 View Post

          if not seo
          facebook ads and google adword is the best to promote product
          Is Facebook ads really the best For someone starting out? I've heard a lot of good things from them but the experience Demonstrates otherwise.
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          • Profile picture of the author bamstk090
            Originally Posted by Clint Faber View Post

            Is Facebook ads really the best For someone starting out? I've heard a lot of good things from them but the experience Demonstrates otherwise.
            my first time use facebook ads,, i sell tea and got sold out.
            you can choose your ads display at male/female, children/adult, men/women, etc
            i get potential buyer with that
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  • Profile picture of the author supershoesclub
    All i want to say is you really do so little seo work for your t-shirt store.I think you should do much off page seo work after you set up your on page points ,like website title,keywords, meta description.I saw your site is lack of this.if you don't set this basic seo element in your store, you will not rank well in the following off page work indeed.

    So i think you should resolve the meta problem firstly.You have to set the H1,h2,h3...keywords for site ranking and your store lose the about us,contact us and other information for your store with the top and bottm menu.

    If you finish the on page work, you can do the off page seo for site ranking everyday.The key of the off page seo is to get the high pr quality backlinks naturally.TRy to forum posting, blog commenting,article submission,social bookmarking sites and keep your blog fresh regular.so after one month, you will see the result you want.

    maybe you can post your experience here after that time to share.
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    • Profile picture of the author EFt
      Originally Posted by supershoesclub View Post

      All i want to say is you really do so little seo work for your t-shirt store.I think you should do much off page seo work after you set up your on page points ,like website title,keywords, meta description.I saw your site is lack of this.if you don't set this basic seo element in your store, you will not rank well in the following off page work indeed.

      So i think you should resolve the meta problem firstly.You have to set the H1,h2,h3...keywords for site ranking and your store lose the about us,contact us and other information for your store with the top and bottm menu.

      If you finish the on page work, you can do the off page seo for site ranking everyday.The key of the off page seo is to get the high pr quality backlinks naturally.TRy to forum posting, blog commenting,article submission,social bookmarking sites and keep your blog fresh regular.so after one month, you will see the result you want.

      maybe you can post your experience here after that time to share.
      you are right, I just checked and seen I can improve this. It can be a bit tricky when using 3rd party scripts and software but I have found a few ways I can setup better seo and I have started improving it now and will continue to work on this. thanks a lot for pointing this out.
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  • Profile picture of the author AceOfShirts
    You should also try to build up a mailing list so you can contact people when you release a new design.

    I'm not real familiar with everything that CafePress can do, but an affiliate program is a great way to get more people advertising your sites. Is there any way you can add your website URL to the shirts? Are your shirts available in the Marketplace?

    Is there anyway to make the images bigger? I can't read the small type on the Shark or the Hugs shirts.

    By the numbers you gave in your post you are only making about $3 per shirt. That doesn't leave much of a margin of error with paid advertising so be careful.

    Do you buy your own shirts and wear them around? You should pick your favorite design (hard to say best selling when you've only sold 5 in a year) and maybe get a dozen made and give them to your friends and family to wear. Be sure to get your website address on them.

    Good Luck,
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    • Profile picture of the author Suthan M
      One thing that you can try to do is dominate Google images search result for your keyword..

      Sometimes, with design, i like to search that way, (as i want to find and checkout new design according to my taste and what i have in mind) and normally from there search..

      For example.. I was looking for a tees that says "harvard" the other day..

      I went to Google image and find the one i like.. From there, i followed the image back to the website..

      So, yea.. This is one key area that people dont really focus on that you can do something about :-)
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      • Profile picture of the author EFt
        Originally Posted by Ace Of Shirts View Post

        You should also try to build up a mailing list so you can contact people when you release a new design.

        I'm not real familiar with everything that CafePress can do, but an affiliate program is a great way to get more people advertising your sites. Is there any way you can add your website URL to the shirts? Are your shirts available in the Marketplace?

        Is there anyway to make the images bigger? I can't read the small type on the Shark or the Hugs shirts.

        By the numbers you gave in your post you are only making about $3 per shirt. That doesn't leave much of a margin of error with paid advertising so be careful.

        Do you buy your own shirts and wear them around? You should pick your favorite design (hard to say best selling when you've only sold 5 in a year) and maybe get a dozen made and give them to your friends and family to wear. Be sure to get your website address on them.

        Good Luck,
        some very good ideas there thanks. First I do put my website url on each t-shirt, it is at the bottom of each design and probably the text that you found hard to read, each one will have something like "EcoTees.org - series #014"

        I do have to get some mailing lists going so this is a good idea too and Cafepress do have affiliate programs so I can look at that too or even start my own one but that will be once I have more designs up and I'm ready for that.

        Yes there is not much margin but I can increase the price but then people would find them too expensive. I have to look at it as a bulk thing. It only takes me 30 minutes to create a design and upload it, add it etc. If I could sell 100 shirts of that design then that is $300 and is ongoing. Now if I could sell 1000 designs in total for a month then that would be $3000 and enough to live on. If they became that popular I would probably then print them myself and make much more profit anyway. So this is really just to get the brand and website known, get customers etc and then take it to another level in the future. I also could duplicate the sites and create shops for more niches etc.


        Honestly I have not even purchased one of my own shirts yet. I should do that and I will soon. I'm not a very sociable person in real life anyway so I doubt I would get a lot of customers from this. But what I have thought of doing is taking a couple of my shirts to some local markets and have a stall and sell them there. This would probably not generate a lot of income but it would be fun and a good way to meet people and promote my brand plus who knows I might find someone interested in buying my designs for their shop etc.


        Originally Posted by Suthan M View Post

        One thing that you can try to do is dominate Google images search result for your keyword..
        thanks for the idea, something else to consider....
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  • Profile picture of the author AceOfShirts
    Let me know when you want to get some shirts printed. I can do better pricewise than Cafepress, but I don't offer all the products they do.

    I print for several site owners that resell the shirts on their sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author Toby Couchman
    I don't know if you do this already. But you should try to persuade people who buy your shirts to post pics of themselves wearing the shirts. I really dig how they implemented this at Snorgtees and Jinx.

    I know for myself I am inspired to buy t-shirts online when I see a bunch of people wearing the t-shirts.

    Good Luck dude!
    TC
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  • Profile picture of the author MaxReferrals
    Might wanna build a list by offering a coupon off order. Anything to build your optin list, so you can remarket to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author debbiechamilton
    I would suggest a very concentrated SEO campaign. It will pay off for years after you have set it up. You will be the first ad the Customers see and receive more traffic than you ever dreamed of. You need traffic and exposure.

    E-bay and Craigs List work well, but most of these are looking for discount merchandise.
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  • Profile picture of the author jushuaburnham
    Try to make a facebook fanpage about your product and business and as well try to have a twitter profile and promote your products there.
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  • Profile picture of the author albertosm
    the social networking sites are one of the great ways to sell your products.
    you can post picture of your products there and its free
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  • Profile picture of the author BeeJay
    If you truly want to run a t-shirt company, you might want to give some thought to your brand. I say this because you mentioned you are doing your own designs.

    If your only goal is to be another shirt peddler then you needn't worry about it (nothing wrong with that, btw). But if you do...well, it's pretty cool if in the future you have people googling YOUR tshirts because they love what you do, rather than stumbling over your site and maybe finding something they like.

    It can take some forethought and gumption, but converting the former type of visitor would be so much easier.

    I remember attending a conference once where they had a motivational speaker who started his own tshirt company. He told a story about how he got his brand into retail outlets. The first shop owner he went to said 'why would I stock your shirts, no one is asking for them?' He told them his tshirts were great, and that the only reason no one was asking for them yet because they were brand new and this was his change to get in at ground level. The shop owner refused. Did he give up? Nope...for the next two months this guy had his mates ring up the shop owner and ask for his brand. You can imagine the shop owners response when he came back and asked if he still didn't want to stock his tees.

    I'm not advocating misleading conduct (even if it is gutsy and clever), but with a bit of nouse there are lots of ways to build on your identity and designs that can create a following of buyers hungry for your stuff.

    If you have a style you want to implement in your designs, rather than taking a shotgun approach to tees, then its worth considering.
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  • Profile picture of the author kaivearn
    I would really recommend using social media to get your brand out. Where do cool and hip people hang out online? Social Media. Youths are most likely to buy your tshirts. Where do they hang out? Social Media.

    #1: Start your own Twitter Page and start following people who are very likely to buy your designs. Since T-shirts are so easily and widely consumed, it would be a lot easier to look for followers who are looking for you have to offer. If you are selling amazon affiliate products or water pumps, this would be a different story. Everyone wants to buy new clothes.

    #2: Usual facebook tricks work. From twitter, send people to your facebook page. Once they like your page, thats it. Whatever you post on your page, they WILL see it. Having a nicely designed Iframe and offering people incentives to like your fanpage will easily increase the amount of fans.

    Its all about engaging your audience.
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  • Profile picture of the author goheritage
    SEO and SMO is the best way to promote your business.Apart from that Try to make a facebook fanpage about your product and as wells try make a twitter profile and promote your products there.
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  • Profile picture of the author ukbuddy2
    All that has been said is good

    However, you must do a mix of on-line and physical selling too, so adds not just on the web if you really want to expand.
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    • Profile picture of the author ukbuddy2
      Re: How to Promote My Online T-Shirt Business?
      SEO and SMO is the best way to promote your business.Apart from that Try to make a facebook fanpage about your product and as wells try make a twitter profile and promote your products there.



      good answer
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  • Profile picture of the author obrain
    you can start a seo work for your web site that can promote your site in google.
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  • Profile picture of the author blillard
    I notice a lot of t-shirt companies doing media buys for promotion. Try targeting sites with traffic that would be interested in your type of shirts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ankit Hokage
    Hey, I might not be as experienced as some of the guys here. So take my advice with caution . I visited both of your websites. One of the serious flaws(sorry that I am being blunt) I felt were that the website design looked pretty shaky(means not attractive) and it felt that the site has been abandoned by its owner. My advice is to improve aesthetics of your website. Best of luck
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  • Profile picture of the author Sheila Dunfrey
    You can promote your product in your website. Use Facebook and Twitter. Join forum with your signature link. Do blog commenting. Actually, there are many ways to promote your product. Try the Amazon, Ebay... etc. Name it you can have it!
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  • Profile picture of the author JerrickYeoh
    Before go to SEO and any marketing strategies, i will suggest you to submit your product to Google Product since it is a physical product. So that in Google Product Search will help you get more exposure on there ,and now launching google wallet. I believe conversion rate in the google product search will be higher than the previous.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
    One T-Shirt shop grew quickly by having visitors and customers of their website submit designs that get voted on.

    This was several years ago I read about this, but think about the popular site, Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? that grew from visitor submissions. Probably some ideas there you can apply to your own business.

    Marvin
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