Amazon FBA, Merch By Amazon..

[cubanref]

Dope!!!

Question? So do you guys pay for any advertisement on IG and Facebook?

$5-$10 a month, is what someone told me...

Just curious.

A little bit long but some good advice I have learned lately.

Spoiler

I would stay away from paying for ads on FB or IG. Especially FB since they can get really expensive really fast if you don't know what you are doing. For FB be prepared to spend at least $5 a day just to test out your ads. There's a lot of free information online if you are interested. Just search youtube or send me a PM and I'll send you a link to a few sites with great free info on how to get started. If you do have experience or are prepared to spend some money this is one of the best ways to get sales.

Depending on the niche you're in I would recommend trying to find free ways to get traffic to your designs first. For example, if you are in the crypto niche I would join a bunch of groups on FB and just interact with people and post some relevant content for a few days or a week and then send a message to an admin and ask if you could share your design in the group. Always do your research if you go this route because some groups have been made in order to sell a product and they will just ban you if you start spamming their group. You could also implement this by posting on Reddit but its a bit more tricky there.

Another route you could take is to create your own FB/IG page in your niche and then invite all of your friends to it and post relevant stuff regarding your niche and hope they share it with others. Both of these methods are free and do take some time but if you're just starting out and don't want to spend money they're a good way to get some free traffic to your designs. You could also buy FB likes through FB ads from cheap countries just to boost your FB page and make it look more reputable. I recommend targeting tier 3 countries and with about $20-$50 you could get yourself a few thousand likes in a few days.

If you do have some cash to spare I would recommend IG influencers. Go to IG and search relevant hashtags in your niche and find pages that have good engagement. The pages don't have to be huge but just look at the number of likes/comments a post has and read through to see if the account is real. For example, if a page has 10k followers they should have between 700-1k likes and about 30+ comments per post. A good engagement rate is around 7-10 percent per post. If you think you've found a good page than just send them a DM and ask them what their rates for a sponsored post are. I wouldn't spend more than $20-$30 unless its a large page with 50k-100k+ following. If you decide to pay for a post make sure they leave the post up for at least 24hrs and to put it in their story plus your link in their bio.

One more for those that are semi-serious and have some extra cash to spend is to buy an IG page or have one made for you in your desired niche. You can buy a page for around $30-$100+ depending on the niche and amount of followers they have but you have to do your research when buying a page. This is a good option because if you buy a decent page you can also make some extra money on the side selling shoutouts as well.

If you want to make your own IG page I would invest in a bot and target specific pages and have it follow their followers until you get the desired amount of followers you want. A good bot will cost anywhere from $20-$100 a month but you will have full control of who you choose to target. The thing with this method is that you need to be engaged with your followers and build some trust and rapport but you also have to be patient. If you have a good page and bring value to your followers they will buy your shirt/product and share it to their followers as well.

Anyways if anyone has any questions feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll help you out the best I can.

 

[Grine]

You dropped some jewels! Thanks!

 

[turbospartan]

A little bit long but some good advice I have learned lately.

You wrote that, or pulled it from somewhere else?

 

[cubanref]

You wrote that, or pulled it from somewhere else?

Yes, I wrote it. Just some stuff I've learned over the past few months and figured I'd share and maybe help a few people out.

 

[maldonado]

A little bit long but some good advice I have learned lately.

Spoiler

I would stay away from paying for ads on FB or IG. Especially FB since they can get really expensive really fast if you don't know what you are doing. For FB be prepared to spend at least $5 a day just to test out your ads. There's a lot of free information online if you are interested. Just search youtube or send me a PM and I'll send you a link to a few sites with great free info on how to get started. If you do have experience or are prepared to spend some money this is one of the best ways to get sales.

Depending on the niche you're in I would recommend trying to find free ways to get traffic to your designs first. For example, if you are in the crypto niche I would join a bunch of groups on FB and just interact with people and post some relevant content for a few days or a week and then send a message to an admin and ask if you could share your design in the group. Always do your research if you go this route because some groups have been made in order to sell a product and they will just ban you if you start spamming their group. You could also implement this by posting on Reddit but its a bit more tricky there.

Another route you could take is to create your own FB/IG page in your niche and then invite all of your friends to it and post relevant stuff regarding your niche and hope they share it with others. Both of these methods are free and do take some time but if you're just starting out and don't want to spend money they're a good way to get some free traffic to your designs. You could also buy FB likes through FB ads from cheap countries just to boost your FB page and make it look more reputable. I recommend targeting tier 3 countries and with about $20-$50 you could get yourself a few thousand likes in a few days.

If you do have some cash to spare I would recommend IG influencers. Go to IG and search relevant hashtags in your niche and find pages that have good engagement. The pages don't have to be huge but just look at the number of likes/comments a post has and read through to see if the account is real. For example, if a page has 10k followers they should have between 700-1k likes and about 30+ comments per post. A good engagement rate is around 7-10 percent per post. If you think you've found a good page than just send them a DM and ask them what their rates for a sponsored post are. I wouldn't spend more than $20-$30 unless its a large page with 50k-100k+ following. If you decide to pay for a post make sure they leave the post up for at least 24hrs and to put it in their story plus your link in their bio.

One more for those that are semi-serious and have some extra cash to spend is to buy an IG page or have one made for you in your desired niche. You can buy a page for around $30-$100+ depending on the niche and amount of followers they have but you have to do your research when buying a page. This is a good option because if you buy a decent page you can also make some extra money on the side selling shoutouts as well.

If you want to make your own IG page I would invest in a bot and target specific pages and have it follow their followers until you get the desired amount of followers you want. A good bot will cost anywhere from $20-$100 a month but you will have full control of who you choose to target. The thing with this method is that you need to be engaged with your followers and build some trust and rapport but you also have to be patient. If you have a good page and bring value to your followers they will buy your shirt/product and share it to their followers as well.

Anyways if anyone has any questions feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll help you out the best I can.

great advice brother!

Let me ask you, are you doing Merch by Amazon or you do got another hustle poppin?

As far as FB ads go, I haven't ventured there yet but I have been building out a couple IG pages. Another slept on avenue but highly valuable is Pinterest. Over time you can build out pages that pertain to certain niches and really enhance the whole operation.

I have done strictly Amazon AMS ads thus far. Amazon offers 3 ad types, but I've only messed with Sponsored Products up to this point.
When you do a search and you see the first 2 or 3 shirts that say Sponsored on em, those are Sponsored Product ads. Basically get top shelf placement for immediate viewing, on people searching for those terms. I'm still learning but have seen increased sales and also learned what keywords were popping based in the impressions I'm getting.

IMO, AMS ads are the next hustle to conquer for 2018 and I will share more info as I get into a bit more. I'm telling ya'll, don't sleep. They give you $50 in ad dollars to get your feet wet. I'm still in that $50, have yet to spend a penny of my money yet. But I am bout to, gonna go super hard here with the ads now that I see the light.

Just uploaded 10 St Patricks Day designs before the cut off for the day., and now just re-upped on my next 10 uploads, 2 minutes ago, for the next day. ha. Bout to go in again.

 

[cubanref]

great advice brother!

Let me ask you, are you doing Merch by Amazon or you do got another hustle poppin?

As far as FB ads go, I haven't ventured there yet but I have been building out a couple IG pages. Another slept on avenue but highly valuable is Pinterest. Over time you can build out pages that pertain to certain niches and really enhance the whole operation.

I have done strictly Amazon AMS ads thus far. Amazon offers 3 ad types, but I've only messed with Sponsored Products up to this point.
When you do a search and you see the first 2 or 3 shirts that say Sponsored on em, those are Sponsored Product ads. Basically get top shelf placement for immediate viewing, on people searching for those terms. I'm still learning but have seen increased sales and also learned what keywords were popping based in the impressions I'm getting.

IMO, AMS ads are the next hustle to conquer for 2018 and I will share more info as I get into a bit more. I'm telling ya'll, don't sleep. They give you $50 in ad dollars to get your feet wet. I'm still in that $50, have yet to spend a penny of my money yet. But I am bout to, gonna go super hard here with the ads now that I see the light.

Just uploaded 10 St Patricks Day designs before the cut off for the day., and now just re-upped on my next 10 uploads, 2 minutes ago, for the next day. ha. Bout to go in again.

I know a little bit about Pinterest but haven't done enough with it but I do know that it is a very valuable asset to any IM marketplace.

I just got approved to merch about a week ago so I'm just getting a few designs ready and will upload them in the next few days. I haven't heard about the Amazon AMS ads but I will definitely look into them. I'm sure they will be big with merch since Amazon will want us to spend money to get our designs to the top.

 

[maldonado]

I know a little bit about Pinterest but haven't done enough with it but I do know that it is a very valuable asset to any IM marketplace.

I just got approved to merch about a week ago so I'm just getting a few designs ready and will upload them in the next few days. I haven't heard about the Amazon AMS ads but I will definitely look into them. I'm sure they will be big with merch since Amazon will want us to spend money to get our designs to the top.

Dope, glad you've been approved and are on the platform. So much potential and really the entire operation is in its infancy with nowhere to grow but up.

Look forward to seeing where we all evolve these accounts to.

 

[dankenstien88]

Anyone getting any sales lately? I haven't sold a single shirt in like 4-5 days now. T100, 50 designs up - some of which I have 20+ sales on each.

January is typically the slowest month in any business.

 

[maldonado]

January is typically the slowest month in any business.

THIS.

Long year ahead bro. Don't focus on the slow January month. Disregard completely, suspend expectations and focus on the lucrative stuff on deck, St Patricks Day in particular. Im 30 designs deep for the holiday already. Gonna throw another 40 or 50 up for St Pattys Day by Friday too

 

[Grine]

So I paid this “graphic designer” on fiverr to come up with something for St. Patrick’s Day. They basically cut and paste all the attachementa together that I sent them. Literraly, cut and paste - just added the words I wanted.

Who out here is a graphic designer. I can’t see my idea being this difficult, I basically drew it out.

 

[2 RAWW]

maldonado what's your strategy for st pattys day? Are you only uploading designs with fewer than 3 or 4 pages of the same design or are you just creating similar designs to what is selling, regardless of number of variants? Now that I am in t500 it is getting way too time consuming just finding and uploading designs that are newer niches.

 

[iamdef]

So I paid this “graphic designer” on fiverr to come up with something for St. Patrick’s Day. They basically cut and paste all the attachementa together that I sent them. Literraly, cut and paste - just added the words I wanted.

Who out here is a graphic designer. I can’t see my idea being this difficult, I basically drew it out.

I'm not great or anything but I can try to put something together

 

[maldonado]

So I paid this “graphic designer” on fiverr to come up with something for St. Patrick’s Day. They basically cut and paste all the attachementa together that I sent them. Literraly, cut and paste - just added the words I wanted.

Who out here is a graphic designer. I can’t see my idea being this difficult, I basically drew it out.

lol I didnt have any luck on Fiverr. I did up Upwork though. Still have to sift thru the crap, but look for designers with great 5 star feedback, as well going through their portfolio.

Not Upwork related, and will cost more than $5 but one of my favorites is Adam Guballa. If you use him, tell him Joseph Gallegos sent you..
https://www.tshirtfella.com/

Also, anybody that wants to really really build out their account and find a designer full-time, essentially as an employee of yours, check out https://www.onlinejobs.ph/

Look specifically for an Illustrator (vs graphic designer).

I know MANY people that have found great designers on that site, and they eventually just pay them a monthly salary. Get as many designs as they can complete in a month.

As soon as I scale to T1000 I will be adding a designer from this site to my arsenal as I wont be able to make and upload 20 designs a day. And it only gets crazier as you continue to tier up.

I know somebody in T14000. They're daily uploads are something like 260 a day. And they meet that 90% of the time... I dont know how they do it.

maldonado what's your strategy for st pattys day? Are you only uploading designs with fewer than 3 or 4 pages of the same design or are you just creating similar designs to what is selling, regardless of number of variants? Now that I am in t500 it is getting way too time consuming just finding and uploading designs that are newer niches.

So I am doing a couple things.

There are a couple phrases I found that only have 2-3 pages and 90% of the designs up are below average in my opinion, so I have used those word for word, and just tried to make a great design.

I am also hitting Instagram St Pattys Day hashtags and looking for phrases. I have found a couple that werent on Amazon at all. I listed designs for those phrases.

I've also came up with my own unique phrases.

I am using a couple different shamrock vectors, and a beer mug vector, and am just scaling them by changing phrasing, colors, etc. Heard the only time Merch ran out of a shirt color was green, last years for St Pattys Day. Because of that, every design Ive made I am also listing it on Standard, Premium, and for some, Sweatshirts. Havent resized for hoodies yet..

Yesterday I came up with 2 phrases and used 2 phrases I found in IG. thats 4 phrases, but across three product types thats 12 slots filled.

Then from that today, I thought of some more stuff, so I just keep building off the same shamrock vectors. lol

I have drinking themed shirts, specific city themed shirts, phrases for kids (from IG), etc.
First few designs I spent a lot of time trying to find niches or phrases that werent heavily comped. Now I am just going for unique or, if I think of something, scaling it out. The overall St Patricks Day niche is flooded. At this point, its ALWAYS about quailty but really going for quantity. I want to have 100 designs out there, minimum. Which really isnt a lot, when you think of people in the 8k/10k/12k tiers. they have daily uploads in the hundreds, and are meeting those..... every damn day.

Looking at whats selling, its any and everything. Even just a distressed shamrock with no wording are selling great.

I havent done anything that basic, but I think its such a lucrative holiday that I want to have as much stuff up as possible.

Also, 10 pages of the same designs dont matter so much when you're at the top of page 1 due to running AMS ads, which is my secret weapon... lol

A great stand out design, even in a flooded niche, can do numbers if its placed at the top of the search

 

[maldonado]

for those that have hoodie access and need something quick to resize existing designs:
http://merchride.com/

havent used it myself. somebody said it downgrades the dpi from 300 to 80 or something. When I finally check it out I'll report back.

 

[2 RAWW]

Fam you just put the battery in my back again with that post. Thank you. I have like 10 ideas just from searching IG. I needed that hit of motivation. maldonado

 

[maldonado]

Fam you just put the battery in my back again with that post. Thank you. I have like 10 ideas just from searching IG. I needed that hit of motivation. maldonado

Happy to hear that bro!

Glad I could help and it's great to see folks are out here progressing. We can all come up and evolve this into something beyond our wildest dreams, I truly believe that. Seeing the numbers other people are putting up after being in it 1-2 years has me convinced.

keep grinding my brotha!

 

[daruma]

Amazon product ASIN B079J9N547
finally got approved today. didn't know "VS EVERYBODY" was trademarked.

 

[maldonado]

Amazon product ASIN B079J9N547
finally got approved today. didn't know "VS EVERYBODY" was trademarked.

Dope!

lol yeah, for quick trademark checks: http://tmhunt.com/

to be 100% certain: http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4804:q9j7rn.1.1

 

[maldonado]

Dope new podcast interview from the Jersey guys, speaking to Michael Essany. I have a Q&A with Michael in my FB group too. He's sold over 20,000 shirts and is full of insight. He also drops a really dope Strategy Guide every Monday for $9.99/month. I've sub'd since day 1 and, outside of Merch Informer, is probably the best Merch resource Ive come across yet.

http://jerseymerch.com/jersey-shake...cc396595c0925e1066a44b8ca9d4e6c594e72ba500c39

 

[Grine]

Amazon product ASIN B079J9N547
finally got approved today. didn't know "VS EVERYBODY" was trademarked.

Yeah, my homey is the creator of the original shirt.

 

[Grine]

Question! Have anybody tried taping into the marijuana shirt market?

I noticed on the merchresarch.com 90% of their shirts selling.

I tried to do it but I keep getting denied. I emailed them and they said:

Amazon provides our customers with a family-friendly shopping environment. Your product description contains vulgarity, profanity, explicit material, or otherwise violates our policy regarding offensive content. Please review our FAQs and Content Policy to make sure that all of your designs comply with our policies. Thank you.


Nothing in my shirt have a plant or the word- dope, weed, marijuana or cannibas. Not even in the description. Only the tagging detail - “weed” “cannabis” “marijuana”.

Just like other shirts...see below:

Why am I being denied? I see nothing but weed shirts with weed in the detail, title and descriptions.

 

[maldonado]

No weed shirts unfortunately bro.

There are some up from when the platform first started hittin but they dont allow any mj shirts anymore, as they categorize them as "drug" related designs. Im in Colorado so Im like.... what drug? Lol

Check the TOS, it goes more into it.

I had a 'Kush And Cosmos' shirt that got denied when I first started.

The keywords more than anything ,will get you tied up in rejections. Thry have bots that scan for trademarked stuff and things against the TOS

 

[maldonado]

What I do on Merchresearch, re: gray area stuff, is search for what I'm looking for and then filter by Newest.

Check the upload date. If nothings been uploaded real recently there may be an issue .

 

[Grine]

No weed shirts unfortunately bro.

There are some up from when the platform first started hittin but they dont allow any mj shirts anymore, as they categorize them as "drug" related designs. Im in Colorado so Im like.... what drug? Lol

Check the TOS, it goes more into it.

I had a 'Kush And Cosmos' shirt that got denied when I first started.

The keywords more than anything ,will get you tied up in rejections. Thry have bots that scan for trademarked stuff and things against the TOS

Right. Atleast I got away with this

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079KCMPYY

 

[turbospartan]

Yeah, my homey is the creator of the original shirt.

Which one? Wasn't Detroit vs Everybody the first one?