Hello everyone, aren't you glad its Friday? :) This morning after I had made myself some tea, I sat down to do my daily social media and checking my shops routine.
As I was looking at my redbubble shop, I noticed I have quite a few views on my work. It seems to be much more than my zazzle shop, and I have only had this shop for two weeks. I use the same tags and descriptions for all my designs, and the designs look pretty much the same. The only thing that is done differently is the redbubble "groups", which I have utilized for every single one of my designs. But then again, there is also the "show me" forum on zazzle, which I use frequently.
Then I realized that the reason why it seems like a lot of views is that redbubble groups views are sorted by design rather than individual projects. Unless I were to add google analytics to every single one of my categories in zazzle, or added up views on items in each category individually, it would be really hard to tell how many views I have gotten on that one design.
... So I manually added up views for my zazzle "Owls" collection, cause, you know, I was curious. XD
Redbubble Owls: 103 Views
Zazzle Owls: 70 Views
So, in the two weeks I have had my redbubble account, it has somehow gotten more traffic with less social media exposure and less time put in.
Browsing in redbubble is quite easy, and my products show up in great spots in the search results. For example, my most viewed collection is my "Beautiful and Colourful Carnations" (Yes... that name... XD). I searched one of my tags "Mothers Day Flower", and if I refine it to "digital art" I show up on page 3 of the "best sellers" and page 1, first row of recently added. Even my tag "beautiful Carnations" shows up really easily. To get my carnations to show up on the "newest" or "popular search on zazzle with the same tags, I have to narrow it down quite a bit, for example products "for her", and then I chose "accessories" (which has my products and least amount of items), where my carnations still show up in newest. If I wanted to see my design on the first page of popular in this section, I have to get really super specific, and choose "luggage tags". Then my designs show up on the first page.
Now I still prefer Zazzle for creation and fun purposes. But if I am getting more traffic to my redbubble account, why not utilize it too? Maybe I am filling some sort of niche there that is just already overdone in zazzle. This is quite encouraging. I have been putting off setting up a society6 and designbyhumans store, but after seeing the results of my redbubble account after two weeks I will aim to build those ones up next, maybe in February I will launch designbyhumans and in March society6. I am just curious to see what will happen on those ones.
Right now, my focus isn't sales, because I don't really expect any yet. I just really want to gain some good exposure, encourage myself to keep designing, and to find out what designs work and which don't. See, this is my inner nerdy librarian coming out. :) I can't just post stuff and wait to see what happens, I need to research it extensively and then when it works or doesn't work I need to know WHY. XD
I hope that my curious ramblings provide useful insight to others trying to learn the POD world like I am! :)
Showing posts with label POD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label POD. Show all posts
Friday, 9 January 2015
Sunday, 4 January 2015
Redbubble VS Zazzle
When I was thinking of joining a print on demand website, I searched for comparisons to find out which to start with, and settled with Zazzle. I later joined Redbubble, and I am glad that I did. Today I am going to share some of the things I have liked and disliked about both these websites thus far, mainly their usability but also how artist friendly they are. I hope my experiences can help you decide where you will start your POD journey. :)
Now before I joined Zazzle, I was quite skeptical about the whole POD selling style. The user agreement, royalty rates and usability were things that I was concerned about. I knew for sure that I wanted to maintain the rights to my own images, to set my own royalty rates and to be able to put my designs on products hassle free.
1. Artist Rights: Do the Terms and Conditions allow you to retain the rights to your work?
The good thing about both Zazzle and Redbubble is that you maintain the rights to your images. The main thing is that you are not giving them exclusive rights to your artwork - you can still sell and use your artwork anywhere else, while also selling it at Redbubble and Zazzle. When you sign up for these websites you grant them the right to print your images on their products, and to use your designs in advertisements if applicable. When you remove your designs from these websites, that terminates the user agreement and Zazzle and Redbubble will not be able to use your designs anymore.
I recommend reading the terms and conditions for any Print on Demand website you sign up for. You always want to make sure you are comfortable with, and know what you are signing up for.
2. What is the default Royalty Rate at Zazzle & Redbubble?
Redbubble and Zazzle both allow you to set your own royalty rates, which is good. Redbubble recommends the default royalty rate of 20% although you can raise and lower the rate accordingly. I opted to do different default prices for different products, depending on what I would personally purchase something in a retail store. On Zazzle you can set your royalty rate anywhere from 5% to 99%, though they recommend that you set your royalty rates to 5% - 14.9%. I've always thought that their recommended rates are rather low, considering they have 40% off sales rather often (which lowers the amount of royalties you get). The important thing is that you can choose your rates, so you can set them to whatever you are comfortable with. Keep in mind that your designs are unique - so if someone really really likes it, they will buy it, regardless of what so-and-so's item is priced at!
3. Usability & Customization
As for usability, both are relatively easy to use, although Zazzle is definitely more tricky than Redbubble. I actually found Redbubble very easy to start up... I am not sure if it is because I tried it after I had learned Zazzle.
Zazzle has a more in depth customization system, and more things to consider when designing. You can either add items individually or you can use quick create. Since quick create often "breaks" and does not give you the full range of products, most people add each item individually. Both of these options allow you to adjust your artwork to your liking, change your background colour, add text, etc. You can even use Templates at Zazzle that allows customers to easily change the text or add their own pictures to products you design. This is especially useful when making invitations, greetings cards and photo gifts.
It did take me quite a long time to get zazzle's customization system figured out, and I am still learning new tricks as time goes by. Zazzle is considerably more time consuming than Redbubble, because of the care it takes in making each product customizable for customers, and because of how in depth you can go in personalizing each product. Not to mention the hundreds of products they have available to design and sell!
Redbubble on the other hand does not allow customers to customize the products, and since there is less you can do with your artwork on a product it takes less time to add your work. The great thing about Redbubble is that you add your artwork first, and it then loads on all of the products available. Here you can resize it, choose placement for each product type by dragging it around on a template, and there is even a tiling option on most products. I do like how easy it is to add things here, and that they group similar products together for an easier creation experience. The products look eye-catching and professional in the preview, which is a nice bonus.
The Verdict
As of today I still prefer zazzle, even though it takes me a lot longer to upload products there.
What I like about Zazzle that Redbubble lacks is the customization. I like that I can pair different design elements and template fonts together to create unique designs that people can customize themselves.
Another thing I like about Zazzle is their product selection. They literally have hundreds of products, so you can design on almost anything, from luggage tags to wedding invitations. Redbubble has been adding to their product line, but I do not think they will ever go this crazy in products. On the other hand, Redbubble is simple, easy to market, and clean. Its more art focused, whereas Zazzle is more product focused.
One thing I mentioned previously is that I love the tiling ability Zazzle had on its products. Redbubble now offers this on their products as well, so its a tie in this regard! I love to pattern my illustrations. This is great because if you are creating patterns you can add a single pattern tile (which looks great in product previews) and repeat it to fill the entire space on a product using Zazzle & Redbubbles design tools. This is also helpful because it means you can save smaller files, instead of tiling it yourself and taking up massive amounts of space on your computer with huge patterns.
Right now this is still a hobby with potential for me, so my decision is partially based on how much fun I have creating on each website, and Zazzle wins out in that regard. :) There are things I have been noticing about Redbubble that makes me feel like I will have more success there, but that is something for another post.
Maybe in the future I will add another POD site to the mix, who knows? (I am open to suggestions!)
Do you have any questions about Zazzle or Redbubble? Feel free to ask in the comments below, and to share your Redbubble or Zazzle shop! :)
Updated September 25, 2017 to add new information.
Now before I joined Zazzle, I was quite skeptical about the whole POD selling style. The user agreement, royalty rates and usability were things that I was concerned about. I knew for sure that I wanted to maintain the rights to my own images, to set my own royalty rates and to be able to put my designs on products hassle free.
1. Artist Rights: Do the Terms and Conditions allow you to retain the rights to your work?
The good thing about both Zazzle and Redbubble is that you maintain the rights to your images. The main thing is that you are not giving them exclusive rights to your artwork - you can still sell and use your artwork anywhere else, while also selling it at Redbubble and Zazzle. When you sign up for these websites you grant them the right to print your images on their products, and to use your designs in advertisements if applicable. When you remove your designs from these websites, that terminates the user agreement and Zazzle and Redbubble will not be able to use your designs anymore.
I recommend reading the terms and conditions for any Print on Demand website you sign up for. You always want to make sure you are comfortable with, and know what you are signing up for.
2. What is the default Royalty Rate at Zazzle & Redbubble?
Redbubble and Zazzle both allow you to set your own royalty rates, which is good. Redbubble recommends the default royalty rate of 20% although you can raise and lower the rate accordingly. I opted to do different default prices for different products, depending on what I would personally purchase something in a retail store. On Zazzle you can set your royalty rate anywhere from 5% to 99%, though they recommend that you set your royalty rates to 5% - 14.9%. I've always thought that their recommended rates are rather low, considering they have 40% off sales rather often (which lowers the amount of royalties you get). The important thing is that you can choose your rates, so you can set them to whatever you are comfortable with. Keep in mind that your designs are unique - so if someone really really likes it, they will buy it, regardless of what so-and-so's item is priced at!
3. Usability & Customization
As for usability, both are relatively easy to use, although Zazzle is definitely more tricky than Redbubble. I actually found Redbubble very easy to start up... I am not sure if it is because I tried it after I had learned Zazzle.
Zazzle has a more in depth customization system, and more things to consider when designing. You can either add items individually or you can use quick create. Since quick create often "breaks" and does not give you the full range of products, most people add each item individually. Both of these options allow you to adjust your artwork to your liking, change your background colour, add text, etc. You can even use Templates at Zazzle that allows customers to easily change the text or add their own pictures to products you design. This is especially useful when making invitations, greetings cards and photo gifts.
It did take me quite a long time to get zazzle's customization system figured out, and I am still learning new tricks as time goes by. Zazzle is considerably more time consuming than Redbubble, because of the care it takes in making each product customizable for customers, and because of how in depth you can go in personalizing each product. Not to mention the hundreds of products they have available to design and sell!
Redbubble on the other hand does not allow customers to customize the products, and since there is less you can do with your artwork on a product it takes less time to add your work. The great thing about Redbubble is that you add your artwork first, and it then loads on all of the products available. Here you can resize it, choose placement for each product type by dragging it around on a template, and there is even a tiling option on most products. I do like how easy it is to add things here, and that they group similar products together for an easier creation experience. The products look eye-catching and professional in the preview, which is a nice bonus.
The Verdict
As of today I still prefer zazzle, even though it takes me a lot longer to upload products there.
What I like about Zazzle that Redbubble lacks is the customization. I like that I can pair different design elements and template fonts together to create unique designs that people can customize themselves.
Another thing I like about Zazzle is their product selection. They literally have hundreds of products, so you can design on almost anything, from luggage tags to wedding invitations. Redbubble has been adding to their product line, but I do not think they will ever go this crazy in products. On the other hand, Redbubble is simple, easy to market, and clean. Its more art focused, whereas Zazzle is more product focused.
One thing I mentioned previously is that I love the tiling ability Zazzle had on its products. Redbubble now offers this on their products as well, so its a tie in this regard! I love to pattern my illustrations. This is great because if you are creating patterns you can add a single pattern tile (which looks great in product previews) and repeat it to fill the entire space on a product using Zazzle & Redbubbles design tools. This is also helpful because it means you can save smaller files, instead of tiling it yourself and taking up massive amounts of space on your computer with huge patterns.
Right now this is still a hobby with potential for me, so my decision is partially based on how much fun I have creating on each website, and Zazzle wins out in that regard. :) There are things I have been noticing about Redbubble that makes me feel like I will have more success there, but that is something for another post.
Maybe in the future I will add another POD site to the mix, who knows? (I am open to suggestions!)
Do you have any questions about Zazzle or Redbubble? Feel free to ask in the comments below, and to share your Redbubble or Zazzle shop! :)
Updated September 25, 2017 to add new information.
Saturday, 3 January 2015
Redbubble shop open!
Hi guys! A couple of days ago I opened up a redbubble account, and would like to share some of the stuff on it with you! It seems they have a pretty wide variety of items. My fave so far is the option for duvet covers and stickers. What I don't particularly like about redbubble is that they do not have the option to "tile" your image... so if you have a repeatable pattern, you literally have to tile it in photoshop or illustrator, save a HUGE file and then you can fit it on everything. My computer is older and can't handle giant files like that, so when I make duvet covers the design really only fits on a twin or queen, not a king. Which is okay by me, because my designs are aimed more at children rather than adults.
Here are some of the products though, let me know what you think!
Here are some of the products though, let me know what you think!
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| Here is my sheep and hearts pattern in a twin size duvet cover! I think it is pretty cute. I would make more duvet covers if the option to tile the picture was there! |
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| One of the things I like about redbubble is their stickers. The stickers are cutout which is nice! |
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| Penguins in Scarves Pattern... looks great on a blue background, but you can change the background to be any colour! |
One thing I just found out... sharing from redbubble to blogger is rather hard. I had to screenshot my products and then manually link them. I guess I will have to get used to it :P
Does anyone else use both redbubble and zazzle? Which one do you prefer and why?
Tanya
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