Selling t-shirts online can be a profitable venture. What’s more, the online market for tees is steadily growing, which provides a steady stream of potential buyers for your products. All you need is a reliable method of payment and a convenient way to ship the items.
Set Up Shop
The first step in making money off t-shirts is setting up a shop on the website Teespring. You can use the platform itself to find customers willing to pay for your products. Every month, the team at Teespring releases a curated list of new t-shirt designs for you to choose from. You can also use their built-in tools to set the price of your shirts and put them into stock. Setting up a shop on Teespring is free.
You can also create a store of your very own on Shopify, using their commerce platform. With Shopify, you can set the prices for your products independently and efficiently, create a watch list to keep an eye on your sales, and much more. With its robust features and simple user interface, getting started with Shopify is quite easy. Plus, they offer a free 14-day trial so you can test out their services without risk.
Sell Your Design
Once you’ve set up shop on one of the aforementioned platforms, you can start selling your designs. The best way to attract potential customers to your store is by offering high-quality, affordable prints on t-shirts. Make sure you research popular logos, slogans, and emblems to find the perfect match for your brand. You can use the tools available on your commerce platform to analyze the competition and see what designs are popular and which ones are bound to make you stand out.
Selling quality tees is crucial to your financial success, so take the time to find a good shirt manufacturer that offers quality at a great price. Avoid anything that has a low quality print or embroidery on the shirt. You should also look for designs that will resonate with your target audience. If you’re not familiar with customer conversion research, you can use tools like Google Analytics to track the demographics and behavior of your current customers to gain better insights into what will make them buy from you instead of your competitors. Better quality shirts generally sell for $20 to $25, depending on the size.
Build A Brand
When you have a brand identity, you have the ability to market your products more effectively. You can use your logo, color palette, and typeface to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. If you’re looking for a platform to build a brand, consider using a service like Brandmarker, which can help you develop a brand strategy and execute against it. With a brand, you can create consistent messaging across all communication channels—from your website to social media to in-store signage. Developing a brand takes time, but it’s a fundamental part of growing a business.
Monetize With Affiliate Marketing
An affiliate marketing program is a way to make money off others’ sales. When a customer purchases an item on your website because of an affiliate link, you earn a commission. The commission is usually a flat rate or a percentage of the sale, depending on the type of affiliate program you participate in.
There are many affiliate marketing programs to choose from, but to be successful, you have to find one that suits your industry and services your audience.
Consider These Factors When Choosing A Domain Name
A unique and memorable domain name is key to establishing a brand identity and gaining customers. Ideally, you want to find a memorable keyword that’s not already taken by another website. Ideally, the name should be fairly short and easy to remember. If you put the emphasis on the wrong place, you could lose a lot of potential customers. For example, if you look for ‘seattle shirt’, you’ll find hundreds of websites with that exact name already. If you search for ‘seattle’ or ‘shirt’ individually, you’ll find many more sites that you could tap into. This is why it’s crucial to do your research before choosing a domain name.
Promote Your Store On Social Media
The number of people using social media channels like Twitter and Instagram to discover products and services is rising each year. If you have a sizable audience on one of these platforms, you have the ability to easily promote your store and gain sales. You can create highly efficient tweet and Instagram campaigns to draw in customers.
For example, say you have a store called BlueAndWhite. On your Twitter account, you can create a tweet that reads: “Hey @BlueAndWhite, Check out this awesome new site! They have everything you need to create the perfect Instagram photos.” With just a few simple clicks, you’ve got a tweet that’s hopefully gone viral with your target audience, leading them to your store.
If you want to take this approach, you’ll need to create at least three to five high-quality, sharable content pieces to engage with your audience on social media.
Even if you don’t have a big social media following, you can use other platforms like Facebook to reach the nearly two billion users on this popular social media platform. You can use a service like Facebook Marketing to drive traffic to your store.
Take Advantage Of Cross-Industry Trends
Selling t-shirts is only one part of the overall business. You can take advantage of popular trends and fads that cross over from other industries to increase your sales. For example, athleisure is the perfect hybrid between sport and casual wear, and it’s a trend that’s heavily driven by social media. If you have a sizable audience on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, you can take advantage of trends like athleisure to engage with your customers.
Find the key influencers in your industry and utilize their platforms to your advantage. Follow them, identify with them, and when the opportunity to promote your product comes up, you’ll be prepared to take it.
Build A Team
You’ll need people to help you manufacture your products, promote your store, and handle customer orders. If you have a full-time marketer on staff, they can help you set up a landing page and build a brand around your products. You can also hire freelancers to help you reach your goals.
As you grow your business, you may want to consider expanding into other industries. For example, say you sell baseball equipment and want to branch into softball equipment. You can use your base of customers to find the best manufacturers and suppliers in your industry and establish yourself as an industry expert. Make sure to consult with the right people to make sure you get the best advice possible. With experience, you’ll learn what questions to ask and what to avoid.
The Bottom Line
Making money off t-shirts isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme by any means. You’ll need to put in the time and energy to learn the ins and outs of the industry. You’ll also need to find a good niche and build a brand. Once you’ve done that, it’s relatively easy to start making money off t-shirts. You’ll need to learn how to sell quality products at a decent price point. The key is finding a profitable niche and establishing yourself as an expert in your industry. If you keep all of this in mind, you’re sure to succeed in your endeavors.