by Paula Atwell

Created on: June 22, 2009   Last Updated: July 01, 2009

Zazzle is a print-on-demand company which means that you can create or upload designs that you already have to the site, and they will print your designs on their blank products when an order comes through. There is no fee for creating your designs nor uploading to the site. You can have a gallery as large as you like or several galleries for that matter.

Zazzle currently has clothing for people and dogs, paper products like greeting cards and prints, postage stamps, and some other odds and ends like skateboards. They have been slowly adding to their selection of items.

Once a customer orders a product, Zazzle will print the item, then ship it directly to the customer. You do not have to do anything except for create the product designs. When you create your products, you set up the percentage of commission you will earn from each item, so you have total control over what you earn.

Sounds fairly easy, doesn't it? Well, it really is, but just like anything else, there is a catch. The catch in this instance is that you need to actively promote your gallery. This is not a big catch, but you will have much better results if you promote than if you don't.

How can you promote your Zazzle gallery?

Promoting your gallery is not difficult. Here are some steps to get you started:

-Create an RSS (really simple syndication) feed from your gallery, and send your feed to your Twitter account. This means that your twitter account will automatically tweet out every new item you create.

-Create a Squidoo lens about your Zazzle gallery. Squidoo has a Zazzle module to sell your products or you can link directly to your gallery.

-Write in your blog about your Zazzle gallery or about how you create your designs. Link back to the gallery so people can see the end results.

-Send out an email blast to your customers to let them know that you have a gallery on Zazzle or when you create a special item.

-Write articles about your design techniques, and submit them to various article directories on-line. Put your Zazzle gallery address in your profile.

This type of promotion has a viral effect. You can promote your blog on Twitter, Squidoo, or in articles. You can promote your Squidoo lens on your blog, in your gallery, or on Twitter. You can blog about your lens, or tweet your articles. It all will increase the visits to your gallery which in turn will increase your sales. As you grow your list of followers on each site, they will also promote the gallery if they like it, or items that are their favorites.

Other ways to promote your gallery are available offline.

-Create business cards that have your Zazzle gallery address and hand them out to people.

-Tell people that they can find your designs on Zazzle.

-Include your Zazzle gallery address on all of your receipts.

-Wear your Zazzle products.

Once you start, you will think of all kinds of ways that you can promote your gallery. So what are you waiting for?

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