Archives for June 2017

How to Get Started With Amazon Merch

Learn how to get started with Amazon Merch and incorporate this revenue stream into your blog’s income. Included are steps to take you from setup all the way up to the promotion.

How to Get Started with Amazon Merch

Amazon Merch (and other print-on-demand services) has been around for years, however, many bloggers are just incorporating it into our online income strategy. While we have resources available to us unavailable to those who pioneered the service, there is hefty competition.

Your goal with print-on-demand (POD) services could be to make your blog content available for purchase (taglines, reader attributes, etc.). Or, you could have a plan to branch out and include other niches and pop culture.

No matter your goal for Amazon Merch earnings, attack this just like you would any other product – be prepared for promotion.

This first half of how to get started with Amazon Merch is the easy part.

Sign Up and What to Read While Waiting

Sign up for Amazon Merch and wait for approval. Sometimes it takes days, sometimes months to actually get started with Amazon Merch. Each week, check your dashboard to see if you were approved (not everyone receives an email).

Read through the best practices by Amazon Merch and the Merch content policy – both are quick reads.

You can have 2 submissions a day when you first begin and up to 10 active shirt designs, so if you’re waiting on approval, download the template and start designing. While you’re waiting for approval (or once you’re in), read the Amazon Merch SEO Guide.

Once You’re Approved for Amazon Merch

Fill out your business and tax information. You.Want.To.Get.Paid.
Join one or more of the Amazon Facebook groups (listed below). There is a LOT of education and advice provided for free in the big groups, but they can get overwhelming.
Get familiar with the template and test where to place your design (I use the Photoshop template but if you don’t have that, Amazon provides other options). If you’d like, you can even get started with Amazon Merch by creating an 8×10 canvas in PicMonkey or Canva.

Note: if you use something other than a template, consider using this site to resize your design for the best output.

Fonts and Imagery

If you do not have a system already, consider creating a commercial-use fonts file of all those which allow for commercial or complete use. This is no joke – you don’t want a report through Amazon. Check out this free listing of free fonts and resources to get free and quality, low-priced commercial-use fonts.

Be very careful and use only commercially-licensed or original images or clipart in your designs. Amazon seeks to avoid ALL issues, so they will remove your design and terminate your account without warning if someone even hints at infringement.

I prefer to work from my laptop, but there are apps you can use when designing shirts. Per Merch Entrepreneur, there are apps you can download (like OVER and WordSwag).

Before You Upload

Be sure to check for trademark issues at Trademarkia or USPTO (both are free). And just to warn you, this is a huge, ugly, slippery slope. Amazon will reject what they see fit if they believe it violates any trademark.
Check for copyright issues with the copyright office (United States). Again, this can be a fast downward slide into a pool of confusion, so ask your fellow Merch bloggers for help or clarification. We can often point you in the right direction to resolve your issue.
Do not submit designs with curse words or use them in your listing (more on them below). Amazon will likely reject your design. If you’re really set on making a shirt with them, try another print-on-demand service like Zazzle or Redbubble.
Do keyword research for your title and listing (there are third-party tools or you can use Amazon as a search engine for your terms).

Create Your Listing

Be sure to position your design carefully – where it gets placed is exactly how it will print.
Some of the t-shirts run small after a wash and you can indicate this or not. Per feedback from other Merch sellers, don’t put that information in the listing.
Dark color shirts sell better.
Select your cost and royalty (for each shirt, not once for all shirts).
Do not incorporate a website address in your listing even if it is on your shirt (blog-related, for example).
Just like your blog, do not keyword stuff your listing. Make sure you use your two bullet points wisely, however, try to make them a cohesive sentence. Write it with the reader (and your potential customer) in mind.
Within the listing, avoid stating any proceeds would be donated or that your shirt will ‘support a particular organization.’ Those are against the Merch terms (here is a great resource for general questions about Merch).

After Your Listing Is Approved

After you submit your shirt design and listing, you might need to wait a bit (anywhere from 1 – 4 days). Once you have approval, you’ll likely receive an email.

If you adjust the shirt in any way after approval, it will go back to approval and you’ll need to check your dashboard to find out when it’s been approved.

Now it’s time to get started on your Amazon Merch marketing plan for t-shirts.

A Nice Chrome Extension for Amazon Merch

I have tinkered around with a few Chrome extensions to support my Merch sideline business and wanted to update this article with a decent one.

Pretty Merch is a free extension which adds a button to your browser (alerting you to sales). It also, however, adds a tab inside your Merch account and this is the part I really like.

In it, you’ll get all this and at the bottom, it displays your top-selling shirts and your top-royalty earnings shirts. #handy

“Good To Know” About Amazon Merch Listings

If a shirt doesn’t sell for 90 days, it will be removed. You can delete your own shirts if they aren’t selling and you want to use your slot for another design. Amazon, however, will only delete those which do not sell after 90 days or those which violate their terms.
There have been times in which Amazon was not accepting new designs, no matter the tier structure. They have cited a desire to keep up with the demand.
Another limit they put on for the same reason, was the availability of colors.
And yet another restriction they have placed in the past is a limitation of orders AND reduced visibility in search. That sucks but there is nothing you can do about it but force traffic to the listing yourself.

The moral of the story is to keep track of them, that’s all. If you are unable to offer a design, it is most likely for a limited time. It can result in lost sales, however, there is no recovery from Amazon Merch.

Additional Reading and Research

Read this (mentioned above) to help you get started with Amazon Merch (SEO for Merch Guide).
Consider following the resource for general questions about Merch
One of the most well-known and successful Merch entrepreneurs and website (and training).

Facebook Groups for Merch

In order to get started with Amazon Merch properly, consider the following groups as your tribe. The search function within these groups will likely be your best friend for a while – they really are amazing resources when starting.

Up Next

Stay tuned for a detailed look at marketing Amazon Merch products. Right now, I’m testing a few methods and gathering data from clients. I’m a geek, I know, but I’m super excited to share it with you soon!

Have you already started with Amazon Merch or another print-on-demand service? Can you please pin this to your blogging income board to help others increase their earnings?

How to Recover from an Amazon Affiliate Earnings Decrease

By Sarah Nenni Daher 2 Comments

When Amazon Affiliate earnings decrease, it’s a smart move to take action. If you’ve been affected by the rate changes from Amazon, here are steps to take to replace your affiliate income.

The Dreaded Amazon Affiliate Earnings Decrease

Has it hit you yet? As predicted when Amazon announced the rate changes, many bloggers have begun seeing the Amazon earnings losses.

Some of my clients in the beauty and fashion sector are earning more than they were this time last year. But with generic lifestyle sites, educational or parenting sites, or Amazon feeder websites, ouch. Just ouch.

Read on and craft a recovery plan with these tips for when Amazon affiliate earnings decrease.

1. Broaden Your Focus

Using the program itself, there are at least 4 ways to increase Amazon affiliate payouts. Don’t discount the program completely without investigating and implementing these changes, especially if you’re part of the new Amazon Influencer program.

Read that article – it really is step 1.

Having said that, I can’t think of an affiliate program whose cookies are shorter than Amazon, so let’s take a breath from our Amazon affiliate earnings dropping and move onto other things.

There are just so many ways to diversify your Amazon affiliate income! Here are my favorites.

2. Go Direct

I am amazed at how many people do NOT contact companies directly about affiliate programs (tips on how to do that below). Do not make this same mistake!

When you have a consistently selling product (anywhere), go directly to the company. Tell them how much product you’re selling (you can even give them statistics) and ask for an ambassadorship or at least, ask them if is any direct influencer work with their brand.

There are many companies who would love to see influencers promoting their products directly and will even offer click campaigns in addition to the affiliate sale.

3. Blog Niches are Goldmines

Sell products from other bloggers in your niche. I’m in a number of niche groups on Facebook because of my different sites and every one of them has a group document for blogger products.

Get out there and seek out your “competition’s” products. Test them and take the steps to properly onboard a new affiliate program to your readers.

4. Create Your Own Product

One of the easiest(ish) ways to combat decreasing Amazon affiliate income is to create your own product (eBook, PDF, guide, or course) and launch an affiliate program for yourself.

You can create a digital product and sell it on sites like Gumroad or SendOwl to offset an Amazon affiliate earnings decrease. You can also incorporate plugins like WP Affiliate and sell them on your own site.

There are also other course delivery options to the big guys (Teachable, for instance). You can even host a course right on your own site using plugins or gated (password protected) pages.

5. Pitch It, Pitch It Real Good

If you sang that, we’re gonna be the best of friends.

Increase your pitching focus and narrowly target brands to work with. The biggest fear many of my clients have might be the same one holding you back: fear.

If you’re afraid of getting a ‘No” or you just don’t know how to pitch or position yourself, get Pitching Perfection. Templates, tips, and a whole lot of extras will have you sending with confidence.

6. Influencer Networks

Conversely, if you don’t want to pitch brands directly, you can join ALL.THE.NETWORKS! There is less money for you than if targeting the brands directly but the opportunities might come easier, depending on your profile and statistics.

Remember, statistics really matter with influencer networks unless you’re in a very narrow niche. Keep that in mind and fill out your profile as completely as you can to improve your chances of being selected for a campaign.

Additional Reading: The International Bloggers’ Association’s List of Preferred Affiliates

Bonus: POD or Serviced Income Streams

Just like your first financial advisor after college told you, “Diversify!” Developing multiple income streams is smarter than relying only on one.

Explore new revenue streams like designing print-on-demand t-shirts on Amazon Merch. You will not need to source the designs yourself or hold inventory under the Merch system. There is a delay in approvals so go sign up now. And read this post on Amazon Merch to make the most of that waiting time.

Another print-on-demand service you can try to offset Amazon affiliate earnings decreases are sites like Redbubble, Society 6, or Zazzle. They offer more than t-shirts which allow you to really target your audience!

Let’s say you’re pretty good with the camera… Sell stock images on niche sites (like food images sites or those which focus on diversity). Or, go broader and sell them on Creative Market Images or Deposit Photos (two of my favorites for blog stock photography).

Summary

If you’ve seen your Amazon affiliate earnings decrease in recent months, consider incorporating these tips to replace that income. Diversifying affiliate and blog income sources is just ‘good business.’

4 Ways (and a Warning) to Increase Amazon Affiliate Earnings

By Sarah Nenni Daher 9 Comments

With the recent rate changes, many bloggers are seeking to increase Amazon Affiliate earnings. Here are tips to make more from your blog’s affiliate marketing efforts.

Increase Amazon Affiliate Earnings

It’s no secret I make money through affiliate linking on various sites. Each audience has a very different purchasing profile and keeping current with it takes work.

In early 2017, Amazon changed the rate tables and quite a few bloggers were hit hard. Over the past few months, however, I’ve gone back to the basics and worked hard to increase Amazon Affiliate earnings for two of my sites (the hardest hit).

Below are a list of general tips to help you increase Amazon Affiliate earnings this year.

Diversify

In this article written to combat an Amazon affiliate earnings decrease, there are actionable tips to diversify your income OFF Amazon. We all know relying heavily on a single source of anything (earnings, traffic, referrals, etc.) is never a good strategy.

But before we go off-site, let’s focus on how you can use the Amazon Associate’s affiliate program itself to make more money from your blog.

After all, most shoppers are starting their shopping searches on Amazon. That alone should make us want to optimize this platform while it lasts.

Focus Closer on Amazon (With a Strong Caveat)

Before we dive deeper into the Amazon program to increase our blog’s affiliate earnings, let me provide a caveat.

Let’s call a spade a spade: it’s a warning.

For years, I’ve been saying those sites which are built as Amazon feeders are a bad idea. If you have one (or 5) of those sites, I urge you to diversify HEAVILY.

That being said, if you’re not part of the Amazon Influencer program, apply and see if it will work for your audience. For more on this approval-required program, watch this short training I did.

Bounties and Promotions

If your product groups were earning a good chunk of change and you’re now earning pennies, go for the bounties if you haven’t yet.

Bounties often pay more, so focusing on them might make up for lost earnings AND reduce your workload with less in-post linking and Native Ad creation.

If you’re an Amazon Associates affiliate, you know there is no shortage of promotions. Recently, Amazon has been paying out higher commissions on specific native ads (November 2016 and April 2017, to note). They also pay higher commissions on their products and services (do you promote the home services, games, or channels?).

To increase your Amazon Affiliate payouts, read through the associate emails Amazon sends, check into the forums weekly, and begin to promote those products and services which Amazon wants to put front and center.

Dig Into the Data

Within your Amazon reports, you can see a good bit of data to help you narrow your focus. Ask yourself: what products are people clicking versus what people are buying.

You could have a best-selling affiliate product hidden in your reporting. A quick adjustment in your on-site promotions could drastically increase your click-through rate!

I had no idea a good portion of one audience was interested in Mad Libs. Go figure, but they are getting quite a few sales these days. With that knowledge, I created a native ad targeting them as a search to draw in more clicks.

Gift Guide Optimization

Create gift guides outside of holidays and more around themes. You can stay with Amazon as your source or investigate programs directly with brands, move to smaller companies with Etsy, or even try to earn with Ebay.

Nearly every blogger who has been in this for longer than a year usually shares a gift guide for “some trait” during the holidays. The biggest problem there is that there is a time limit on that article.

Instead, write a gift guide addressing a searchable term. Create guides built around the best mermaid gifts, the most amazing accessories for the pool, or uncommon gifts for the bacon lover in your life. All of those terms are searchable and will be all year round.

Summary

If you’ve been affected by recent rate changes, use these tips to dig deeper into the program to increase Amazon Affiliate earnings and recover your blog’s income.

The Realistic, Helpful List of Blog Tasks to Outsource to Teens

By Sarah Nenni Daher 6 Comments

This realistic, helpful list of blog tasks to outsource to teens will help new and seasoned bloggers alike get the most bang for their buck!

Blog Tasks to Outsource to Teens

Summer is on its way and with that comes the curiosity of what your teen can help do for your blog. Whether you are seeking for ways you can pay your teen to do work or trying to prepare your teen for adulthood, this list of realistic blog tasks to outsource to teens is a great starting point.

Another bonus that comes with hiring your teen to help with blog tasks is that you can write off their payments, up to a specific cap. A tax deduction, more time for you, and teaching your teen a skill?

Win-win!

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Chore Threads

This is the easiest task you can assign a teen. Chore threads are Facebook groups where a community of bloggers post links that they want to have shared over social media or get comments on. If you allow them access to your social media accounts, a teen can easily do Twitter or Pinterest threads.

It might be a good idea to keep comment threads to yourself unless you trust the teen implicitly. This is your business, after all, and a silly slip-up could do damage to valuable blog relationships.

Edit Blog Content

Perhaps you are overloaded when it comes to blog content writing and you need someone to finish each post. A teen can certainly help with editing blog content, uploading photos and assigning the proper publication date to save you time.

Schedule Social Shares

Have your teen help with the scheduling out social shares. Most bloggers utilize some automation when it comes to sharing content on their Twitter, Facebook and even Pinterest accounts. Teach a teen how to follow your social media calendar and schedule out content. This can be a huge time-saver for any blogger.

Update SEO on Posts

Have you neglected SEO on the blog or need to update older posts to better rank? Your teen can easily do keyword research or rewrite content for identified keywords. This is the perfect summer vacation project for your teen because they can do this during downtime and it may take most of their summer to get it done one hour at a time.

Summary

Hiring your teen to help with your blog is all about knowing what your teen wants to learn, can handle, and is ready to do. Knowing realistic blog tasks to outsource to teens can also teach them the important aspects of content marketing.

Gorgeous, Free Commercial Use Script Fonts and Pairings

By Sarah Nenni Daher 11 Comments

Free commercial use script fonts and pairings keep bloggers and entrepreneurs OUT of hot water. Get these script, brush, calligraphy, and handwritten fonts and pairings.

When designing shirts for Amazon Merch or creating your own products or printables, hunting down fonts can be time-consuming! And if you didn’t know you couldn’t use ALL THE FONTS, this is me telling you: designers are allowed to call you out when their work is being used improperly.

Here are 14 free commercial use script fonts for entrepreneurs and bloggers. Note: I have 3 free guides with additional fonts, tips, and commercial use font sources. Sign up below and get it all.

There are affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy.

Want ALL the Free Font Goodies?

If you’re too busy to read this now or want access to all the free, commercial-use font guides, sign up below. It’s quick, easy, and your guide with all of these links will be waiting in your inbox.

Free Commercial Use Script Fonts and Pairings

Click on the style listed below (each “Entrepreneur” links to a different font). Mix and match, find your style, or create a font pairings document of your own.

Note: if you’re looking to use these fonts in your Cricut or Silhouette machines, follow the tutorials below:

Commercial Script Fonts, Group 1

These are some of my favorite fonts for female entrepreneurs. They are well-drawn and error free.

1 Adventurous and pair, Entrepreneurs

2 Sophisticated and pair, Entrepreneurs Update: the creator of the first font, “Sophisticated,” removed all free versions (DMCA here) and now the font is available here.

3 Heart-Centered and pair, Entrepreneurs

4 Trendsetting & Chic and pair, Entrepreneurs

Commercial Script Fonts, Group 2

Always check the symbols you’re likely to use in your work, as some could free fonts could be incomplete (often it’s the ampersand and other common glyphs which are left out).

5 Risk Taker and pair, Entrepreneurs

6 Brave & Bold and pair, Entrepreneurs

7 Heart-Centered and pair, Entrepreneurs

8 Confident & Creative and pair, Entrepreneurs

9 Supportive & Kind and pair, Entrepreneurs

Commercial Script Fonts, Group 3

Script fonts, brush fonts, and any handwritten font can be paired with either a bold or light serif or sans serif. For those, you have a great resource in Google Fonts (more on that below) in addition to those I’m sharing here.

10 A Bit Crazy and pair, Entrepreneurs

11 Plan-Obsessed and pair, Entrepreneurs

12 Proud Millenial and pair, Entrepreneurs

13 Modern & Focused and pair, Entrepreneurs

14 Innovative and pair, Entrepreneurs

Summary

Bloggers and entrepreneurs can make use of the free commercial use script fonts and pairings here, but don’t stop seeking new resources! Add a reminder on your calendar to check the sources listed in the guide.