I'm shelving this blog, at least for the time being. Zazzle has been on the back burner while I've been working on other projects, such as moving my Triond articles over to Wizzley. I'm planning on getting back to Zazzle in the next couple of days. I'm looking forward to adding more products. I also plan on playing around with photo editing software to remove the backgrounds from some of my photos and other such fun stuff.
I haven't been doing any research as far as altering images for CafePress, nor do I see myself doing so in the near future. That's because I'm enamored of Zazzle at the moment. And I haven't had any problems with image sizing on their site - it's incredibly easy to use, and I don't feel like I have anything to share here that would be helpful to anyone. It really is that easy.
Between the two, it's pretty obvious which one I prefer. I know that's not what this blog was supposed to be about, but I tend to have so many different projects to work on at once that it's easy for me to lose interest in one or more at a time.
If you are already using one or both, I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment. If you don't have an account with either but were thinking about signing up, I would suggest starting out on Zazzle. Unless, of course, you are a master at resizing and editing digital images. If that's the case, you may actually prefer CafePress.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Pixels & DPI, oh my!
I don't mind doing research for my Squidoo lenses or Wizzley articles. I mostly write about what I know, but the information I have to go looking for is usually subject matter that deeply interests me. What I absolutely do mind doing research for is stuff that I couldn't possibly care less about. For instance, if my computer starts acting up, I don't want to take the time to try to figure out what's wrong with it. I don't care how it works, I just want it to work.
It's the same thing with adding my images and designs to CafePress products. I don't enjoy figuring out how to resize my photographs and change the DPI for different types of products. I just want to upload my photos and have them fit perfectly onto any product I choose. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. The photos need to be manipulated to fit each product.
One of the few useful pieces of information I got directly from the CP site is that there is sort of a standard image size that will fit nicely onto many of the most popular products they offer. That knowledge made my experience less of a hassle, but I still wanted to put my images on such items as duvet covers, shower curtains, stadium blankets, etc. With a couple of images, I managed to accidentally get them to fit, but I have no idea how that happened.
In very small doses, I've been reading tutorials on how to fit your designs onto CP products. It's about as interesting to me as watching snails race. I'm not going to try to give you a crash course on this stuff here in my blog, because I'm not sure I grasp it well enough to explain it in a way that any other carbon based life form could understand. However, I can offer a few links which I found to be helpful. Sifting through all the information out there can be time consuming.
This is comprehensive and helpful, especially if you don't even know what DPI and pixels are all about: Tutor Tanith
If you want to start off looking at something less technical, this was somewhat useful to me: A CafePress Resource
I also thought this was worth bookmarking: How to Run a Successful CafePress Shop
On another note, I decided to see if Zazzle is any easier to use, so I opened up a shop, Inspired_by_Nature, a few days ago. (Here I go again, jumping right in without having much of a clue, but it's free, so there's nothing to lose). My first impression is favorable - I'm temporarily caught up in it and have put CP on hold, at least temporarily. One thing I love about Zazzle is that they offer so many more products than CafePress does. Also, I have not had to use photo editing software to resize my images. Other than quickly making some very minor adjustments right there on Zazzle, I have not had to do anything at all with my images. It's super easy, and that's the best part! And the photos look good on the products.
The only thing I don't like is that you have to add a product description for each product, whereas on CP you can add many products to each section you create and then write one product description for the section. Every product in the section will then be assigned that description. There doesn't seem to be a way to do that on Zazzle - you can create templates, but it's just as time consuming as creating each product separately. The ease of use in applying images more than makes up for it, at least as far as I'm concerned.
If you're interested, this tutorial is helpful as far as designing a Quick Create template. I just don't find the process to be at all quick. How to Make and Use Your Own Zazzle Quick Create Template is an informative lens.
Just like CafePress, Zazzle offers the option to apply text to your image, but it's simpler than CP. For instance there aren't as many font choices available, and you do not have the option to tilt the text. That's the only thing I foresee myself using my photo editing software for as far as Zazzle goes. I'll just apply the text to the images prior to uploading them to the site. That way, the text will look exactly the way I want it to.
The next thing I want to do is start playing around with text. I also want to get better at removing the background from photos (something I didn't mind learning; it's a very handy trick).
It's the same thing with adding my images and designs to CafePress products. I don't enjoy figuring out how to resize my photographs and change the DPI for different types of products. I just want to upload my photos and have them fit perfectly onto any product I choose. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. The photos need to be manipulated to fit each product.
One of the few useful pieces of information I got directly from the CP site is that there is sort of a standard image size that will fit nicely onto many of the most popular products they offer. That knowledge made my experience less of a hassle, but I still wanted to put my images on such items as duvet covers, shower curtains, stadium blankets, etc. With a couple of images, I managed to accidentally get them to fit, but I have no idea how that happened.
In very small doses, I've been reading tutorials on how to fit your designs onto CP products. It's about as interesting to me as watching snails race. I'm not going to try to give you a crash course on this stuff here in my blog, because I'm not sure I grasp it well enough to explain it in a way that any other carbon based life form could understand. However, I can offer a few links which I found to be helpful. Sifting through all the information out there can be time consuming.
This is comprehensive and helpful, especially if you don't even know what DPI and pixels are all about: Tutor Tanith
If you want to start off looking at something less technical, this was somewhat useful to me: A CafePress Resource
I also thought this was worth bookmarking: How to Run a Successful CafePress Shop
On another note, I decided to see if Zazzle is any easier to use, so I opened up a shop, Inspired_by_Nature, a few days ago. (Here I go again, jumping right in without having much of a clue, but it's free, so there's nothing to lose). My first impression is favorable - I'm temporarily caught up in it and have put CP on hold, at least temporarily. One thing I love about Zazzle is that they offer so many more products than CafePress does. Also, I have not had to use photo editing software to resize my images. Other than quickly making some very minor adjustments right there on Zazzle, I have not had to do anything at all with my images. It's super easy, and that's the best part! And the photos look good on the products.
The only thing I don't like is that you have to add a product description for each product, whereas on CP you can add many products to each section you create and then write one product description for the section. Every product in the section will then be assigned that description. There doesn't seem to be a way to do that on Zazzle - you can create templates, but it's just as time consuming as creating each product separately. The ease of use in applying images more than makes up for it, at least as far as I'm concerned.
If you're interested, this tutorial is helpful as far as designing a Quick Create template. I just don't find the process to be at all quick. How to Make and Use Your Own Zazzle Quick Create Template is an informative lens.
Just like CafePress, Zazzle offers the option to apply text to your image, but it's simpler than CP. For instance there aren't as many font choices available, and you do not have the option to tilt the text. That's the only thing I foresee myself using my photo editing software for as far as Zazzle goes. I'll just apply the text to the images prior to uploading them to the site. That way, the text will look exactly the way I want it to.
The next thing I want to do is start playing around with text. I also want to get better at removing the background from photos (something I didn't mind learning; it's a very handy trick).
Friday, April 6, 2012
Research
I tend to jump into things head first, without doing any research. Gathering information is my least favorite part of any project. I'd rather feel my way around and figure things out for myself. Unfortunately, that's not always the best way to learn. When you dive right into something without knowing what you are doing, it can take eons before you start to make any progress. I found that out the hard way.
Flashback to when I first discovered e-bay. After finding an item I needed (at a ridiculously low price), I decided to use e-bay again. My second shopping experience was equally positive. And it was fun! So, I decided to get rid of some stuff that was just sitting around the house collecting dust. I had a blast selling things I no longer needed, and I made a little bit of extra money to play around with. I was having so much fun, I decided it would be a good idea to open my own e-bay store. Without doing much research at all, I bought about $300 worth of merchandise from a reputable wholesaler (small, relatively weightless items that would allow for reasonable shipping costs), and I set up a basic store. My items weren't selling, because hundreds of other sellers (all of whom had a better idea of what they were doing than I did) were promoting the same merchandise.
In brief, I sold some merchandise, and I bought more from wholesalers, but I never sold enough to make it worth my while - I barely earned back what I spent on inventory. Postage fees and e-bay fees kept rising, and I was no longer having fun, so I liquidated what I could and closed my store. Lesson learned, right? Well... not exactly.
Shortly after closing my store, I quit my job to move out of state. In my new surroundings, I found a few odd jobs here and there, but no stable employment. Looking for a constructive way to fill my time, I turned to the internet again. I decided to try writing product reviews on SharedReviews, and that earned me a little bit of money. It wasn't a steady source of income, but it was a free way to make a little bit of spending cash. As my reviews started to progress from dull and monotonous to informative and helpful, I started publishing articles on the same site. Granted they were not stellar pieces of work, but I was eager to write more, and I began looking for other ways to express myself.
That's when I came across Squidoo. When I first created an account with them, I felt a little intimidated, as it was an entirely different format than what I had gotten used to. I didn't publish anything for over a year. Finally, I decided on a topic for my first lens and went to work on it.
I was more concerned with self expression, but making money was always in the back of my mind. However, I did not do any research regarding how to make money creating lenses. Gradually, I added more content and, eventually, I started to wonder why my lenses were not making money. That's when I finally did some research, and I wound up having to make major amendments to my content, titles, tags, etc. That's still a work in progress but, last month, I got my first payout. (A very, very small one, but it's a start).
At some point during the height of my lens building, I decided to set up a free shop in CafePress. Thinking that some of my landscape photos would look stunning on calendars and postcards, I added a few products to my shop. And promptly forgot all about CafePress to work on my publishing.
Very recently, I logged back into my shop, noticed I had made a minuscule amount of money and wondered how I could build on that. Adding more products seemed like a good start, so that's what I set out to do. Which quickly reminded me why I gave up on CafePress in the first place. I had no idea what I was doing, I was having trouble putting my photos on the products, and I was put off by taking the time to read up on it and learn how to do it.
To make it seem less overwhelming, I decided to do the research in small doses, rather than give myself a crash course and forget most of what I learned before I had a chance to try it out. I'll be posting my progress here, and if anyone has any info or tips they'd like to share, feel free to post a comment.
Flashback to when I first discovered e-bay. After finding an item I needed (at a ridiculously low price), I decided to use e-bay again. My second shopping experience was equally positive. And it was fun! So, I decided to get rid of some stuff that was just sitting around the house collecting dust. I had a blast selling things I no longer needed, and I made a little bit of extra money to play around with. I was having so much fun, I decided it would be a good idea to open my own e-bay store. Without doing much research at all, I bought about $300 worth of merchandise from a reputable wholesaler (small, relatively weightless items that would allow for reasonable shipping costs), and I set up a basic store. My items weren't selling, because hundreds of other sellers (all of whom had a better idea of what they were doing than I did) were promoting the same merchandise.
In brief, I sold some merchandise, and I bought more from wholesalers, but I never sold enough to make it worth my while - I barely earned back what I spent on inventory. Postage fees and e-bay fees kept rising, and I was no longer having fun, so I liquidated what I could and closed my store. Lesson learned, right? Well... not exactly.
Shortly after closing my store, I quit my job to move out of state. In my new surroundings, I found a few odd jobs here and there, but no stable employment. Looking for a constructive way to fill my time, I turned to the internet again. I decided to try writing product reviews on SharedReviews, and that earned me a little bit of money. It wasn't a steady source of income, but it was a free way to make a little bit of spending cash. As my reviews started to progress from dull and monotonous to informative and helpful, I started publishing articles on the same site. Granted they were not stellar pieces of work, but I was eager to write more, and I began looking for other ways to express myself.
That's when I came across Squidoo. When I first created an account with them, I felt a little intimidated, as it was an entirely different format than what I had gotten used to. I didn't publish anything for over a year. Finally, I decided on a topic for my first lens and went to work on it.
I was more concerned with self expression, but making money was always in the back of my mind. However, I did not do any research regarding how to make money creating lenses. Gradually, I added more content and, eventually, I started to wonder why my lenses were not making money. That's when I finally did some research, and I wound up having to make major amendments to my content, titles, tags, etc. That's still a work in progress but, last month, I got my first payout. (A very, very small one, but it's a start).
At some point during the height of my lens building, I decided to set up a free shop in CafePress. Thinking that some of my landscape photos would look stunning on calendars and postcards, I added a few products to my shop. And promptly forgot all about CafePress to work on my publishing.
Very recently, I logged back into my shop, noticed I had made a minuscule amount of money and wondered how I could build on that. Adding more products seemed like a good start, so that's what I set out to do. Which quickly reminded me why I gave up on CafePress in the first place. I had no idea what I was doing, I was having trouble putting my photos on the products, and I was put off by taking the time to read up on it and learn how to do it.
To make it seem less overwhelming, I decided to do the research in small doses, rather than give myself a crash course and forget most of what I learned before I had a chance to try it out. I'll be posting my progress here, and if anyone has any info or tips they'd like to share, feel free to post a comment.
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