I am now well into my fourth year as a Zazzle designer. One thing I know for sure (and I don' t know a lot) is that having a wide range products on Zazzle is important. The more variety you have, the more likely you are to make sales and increase your designer income.
The beginning of March was slow but thanks to the affiliates who are promoting my products it turned into my best non-Christmas month to date. THANK YOU to my Zazzle affiliates, I couldn't do it without you! Invitations are still making up the bulk of my sales, status quo from my last two reports in September and October. License plates frames, ping pong paddles, and paper plates were my next big sellers. This is a big change from my last report where I was selling more favor boxes, photo cards, and magnets. This lack of a trend shows that different products will help build and stabilize your income over time. I am not making a living at Zazzle, it's still a hobby for me. A fun one!
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I received some wonderful feedback this month on my Pink Camo Hunting Phone Case Design. I'm so happy that this customer loved this personalized phone case.
To see this product on Zazzle's website, click on the above review.
It's very rare that I receive Zazzle product reviews from my customers. I have been busy at work and I haven't had time to dedicate to Zazzle or any personal emails. I received a review on Sept 28th and I just noticed it this morning, Nov 12th. It made me so happy to know how much my design meant to their father's 80th birthday party. It's also good to know that the printing quality turned out well.
I always wonder about the people who buy my designs, it's great to finally receive feedback. October 2017 was my best month of the year to date. My sales were 53% higher than October 2016 and 27% higher than the previous month, September 2017.
This was a successful month because I sold a lot of invitations and photo cards. The pie chart below shows the product type I sold the most of (read the chart labels from left to right). Thank you to all of my customers for shopping in my Zazzle store and thank you to all of the affiliates who are promoting my designs. September sales started strong, started to wane in the middle and picked up at end, making it a pretty good month. When I analyze my sales data at the end of every month I look for two things. 1. Did I see growth from the following year? 2. Did I see growth from the following month? At the end of this month I can happily say yes to both of these questions. September 2017 had a 44% increase in sales from September 2016. September sales were 14% higher than last month. Positive growth is what like to see. Below is a chart of September's top selling product types. This changes on a monthly basis. The chart is a bit jumbled, but you get the idea. Invitations made up 37% of my sales Favor Boxes - 18% Cards - 15% (This is new for me, I hardly ever sell cards) Photo Cards - 12% (Wedding Thank Yous) Stickers - 8% (Also new for me, I never sell stickers) Ping Pong - 3% I think it's great to have a wide range of Zazzle products in order to see consistent growth in sales. Invitations are new to me, I just started working on them in the last six months. I'm very glad I did it has helped to increase sales. I didn't make any referrals this month but hoping to make more during the Christmas selling season. My product creation is on hold for now due to long hours working on the farm and studying for chemistry. Ok, yes, I'm a nerd. I'm perfecting my math skills for the fun of it. I hope the Zazzle prep I did for Christmas over the summer will see an increase in sales this year. I have goals to reach! Good luck Zazzle designers!
Notebooks have endless uses. I have three notebooks on the go right now. One, I use for organizing things that need to be done at work. My work is fast paced and it comes with a lot of responsibilities. Forgetting things can mean lost time and money. I write everything down to avoid this. Note Taking is a habit of successful people, it's a good habit to have. I also have a notebook to track my workouts. If I have a weightlifting routine I log the number of sets, reps, and amount of weight. It's good to track your progress. The third notebook I have is for my personal thoughts. The older I get, the harder time I have remembering things. I write down creative ideas for my Zazzle store. I have a 45 minute drive to work every day. I often think of ideas on the way to work. If I don't write them down, they will be lost forever. These notebooks are a great addition to the Zazzle product lineup. I can't believe August is over, for me this means vacation is over and back to long hours of work. I took two weeks of vacation this August and it was great. I went back to Cuba for a second time. This time choosing to go back to our favourite spot in Varadero. The weather was perfect. The second week, I spent at home doing house work and of course working on creating products on Zazzle. I also took some time to update my store. I deleted some products, organized my collections, and promoted products. It was great, I loved working from my home office that week. The weather wasn't the best for summer activities it was chilly and windy. Now let's talk Zazzle sales. How were sales this month? August 2017 was my 5th top earning month since I began "Zazzling" in August of 2014. If I take out Christmas months, November and December, August 2017 is my second highest earning month. That's exciting! My sales are growing and not declining. In August 2017, sales were 34% higher than August 2016, and sales exceeded July 2017 by 29.4%. These numbers are promising. I'm still not a huge earner on Zazzle but I like the upward trend of my sales. I work really hard on Zazzle, you get what you put into it. If I see another 20-40% increase again next year that would be wonderful. I have been happy with my Zazzle sales in August 2017. Sales are up from last year. There are four days left in the month and even four days in the life of Zazzle can make or break a few records. I know my sales are peanuts compared to other Pro Designers but I thought it wouldn't hurt to report what I've been selling and look for any trends. This week I have seen the sale of birthday invitations and even a few Christmas themed items (yes, people are starting to shop for Christmas). This has also been a good week for selling wedding themed thank you rubber stamps. Product sales this week include: 4 rubber stamps 4 pairs of leggings 1 welcome mat 2 can coolers 67 birthday invitations 1 stone coaster It's a great product roundup this week. On to next week! Finally, it happened. My zRank went back up to a six! Earlier this year, my zRank dropped from a 6 to a 5. I thought it had to do with the addition of so many new products. The products I have added this year have sold well. Hopefully, this has helped my zRank. I am slowly weeding out designs from when I first started "Zazzling". I also have started to create birthday, bridal shower, baby shower, and wedding invitations. Many of my birthday invitations have taken off and sold. The only other things I have done that might have influenced my zRank is the addition of a website, I made two direct sales, and I have started to promote more products. Promoting more products means directing more traffic to Zazzle's site. Does this affect zRank? It's hard to say. Experienced Zazzlers know that the algorithm for zRank is still a bit of an enigma. Personally, I don't make store and product creation/deletion decisions with zRank in mind. I do think a higher rank helps with product views. If I knew what I know about having a Zazzle store when I first started there are things I would have done differently. Here is a list of things I wish I could change about how I Zazzle: 1. I would have multiple stores for different themed items. When I first started creating products I created a wide range of items with different themes trying to figure out what would sell. By the time I figured it out. It was too late. I wish I had of put more thought into product planning before creating. For example, I have been really successful at selling ping pong paddles. If I had of known I was going to be the top designer in this area, I would have created a new store and brand for this product type. Unfortunately, Zazzle doesn't have a way to create new stores and move your products between them. I wish they did, it would be a great branding opportunity. I do like having only one store with all of my products. It is easier to manage and promote then having to worry about multiple brands. 2. I would have created a better store name When I first learned about Zazzle's designer program, I wanted to create fitness themed workout shirts. That was my sole purpose of creating a store. I created my store name in a hurry, knowing nothing about Zazzle. I didn't even think that I should have been creating a brand. I didn't even think this project would amount to anything. What a mistake! My store name is stuck at theshirtbox. How uncreative! It's not at all representative of what defines my Zazzle store today. I am still holding out hope that Zazzle will implement a way to change this. Here are a few tips to improve your zRank:
Fellow Zazzle designers, what do you think about zRank? What things do you wish you could change about how you started "Zazzling"? Leave your comments below. |
JamieI am a Bronze level Zazzle Pro Designer trying to offer you ideas for unique gift ideas, home decor items, and wedding favors and invitations. Archives
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