Hey guys,

Do you remember the article “Selling Art On eBay : A True Story of Why It Sucked” by Allegra Ashley?

In it, she was telling the story of her struggles with eBay and why she decided to move to Redbubble instead.

And today I wanted to share with you some tips on how you can also get started selling art on the platform to start making those $$$ 😉

Why Redbubble?

Redbubble is a perfect platform for selling your artwork on merchandise, in my opinion.

Passive Income

Wouldn’t everybody want to get some passive income in their life?

Meaning, you don’t do anything but the money just keeps coming to you?

Well, Redbubble is partially passive!

You do all of the work upfront without getting paid for it. But once all is set in place you receive random commission pay here and there. Even in your sleep!

Free Advertising

Redbubble gets lots of organic searches from Google. And if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry. Pretty much, you get people searching for “Monsters t-shirt” every day, and if your products is popular – Google sends them straight to your page!

And you didn’t have to pay a dime for advertising! Pretty awesome, right?

Also, they constantly feature best-selling work on their site. And if yours gets on top of the list you will be getting some good sales in no time!

Control Your Commission

You choose exactly how much money you will be getting when a product is sold.

Experience

At the end of the day whether you make Redbubble your part-time job or not – you will get out the most important thing from it: Experience.

Selling your own stuff can seem like a scary task sometimes, especially if you are trying to do everything on you own: design, marketing, manufacturing, delivery, payment.

But all you have to worry about with this platform is design and a little bit of marketing.

So it will give you a basic understanding of how the sales process works.

Most importantly, you never know who will purchase your product next. And you can begin building your base of clients – true fans who will want to get your new work as soon as it comes out!

Excited yet?

Let me share with you the 10 Tips you should do to succeed:

10 Redbubble Tips

Tip #1 – Celebrate

There are many tips floating around the mighty Internet on how to do things.

And most of them are really helpful! But almost nobody gives away this important nugget of information – create Holiday based merchandise.

Yup, you heard me right.

And no, I’m not telling you to ONLY create art based on what holidays are coming up. Create art on any topics that are always relevant ( also called “evergreen” ).

But make sure to have a bunch of artworks that are relevant and searched for during holidays.

Let me show you why:

Research

Let me first define what I mean when I say “keywords”:

A keyword is a word(s) that a person writes in Google (or other) search engine to find what they are looking for.

We do that every day!

For example, when you write “Facebook” in Google’s search to Log In to your page, that counts as 1 search where “Facebook” is your keyword.

And do you know how many people type “Facebook” in Google search every month?

2,060,000,000/month (at the time of writing this article).

That’s a lot of people!!

And where do they all go? To the actual Facebook website because Google shows it as #1 in the results.

I hope I didn’t lose you here with all of the tech stuff.

So why am I explaining all this?

I used a keyword research tool called “Keywords Everywhere” to see what people around the globe are searching for during Holidays.

“Christmas t shirts” keyword is searched on average 60,500 times per month! That means people want to buy Christmas t-shirts. And you can make them!

So, of course, if we look at Redbubble:

Did you notice the number at the top? Over 107 thousand+ results!! Insane!

That’s how you know that this topic is trending and is really popular. That’s a great sign! Competition is simply wonderful. You only have to start worrying about a topic if there is NO competition.

But let’s be honest here for a second.

If it’s your first time creating a shop at Redbubble – will your t-shirt show up as a top result? Probably not yet.

Eventually, when your authority within the platform grows you will be able to make it to the top. But for now, we need to dig deeper.

“Women’s Funny Christmas shirts” is searched on average 590 times a month. That’s really not bad at all!

Let’s look at Redbubble again:

And the amount of search results is cut more than in two! That’s great!

Even though it’s still a big number, some of these are not necessarily funny, and so people will continue scrolling though pages until they find what they are looking for. So your work will definitely have more chances to be seen.

I used Christmas and t-shirts as an example, but there are so many more examples that can be looked at:

“Halloween t shirt” – 1,560 searches per month

“Valentine’s day greeting card” – 2,900/month

“Fathers day card” – 74,000/month

You can keep searching and searching.

But the main idea is – create Holiday Products!

Tip #2 – Title Your Work

Sounds like a simple tip everybody does anyway, right?

No. Because the truth is – if you title your work “Something Cool” how are people going to find it through a search engine or on Redbubble itself? They won’t!

So you need to think, “What will somebody be typing if they want to find my product?”

And then name it correspondingly to that. Example “Spooky Halloween Ghost T Shirt”. Okay, maybe that’s not the best name. But you get the idea, and with it, you will be able to create better titles that actually serve a purpose!

Tip #3 – Add Lot’s of Merchandise

Did you know that you can use 1 artwork for MANY different products on Redbubble? It’s pretty easy, really.

If someone loves your work but they don’t want it on a t-shirt, instead they want a sticker. What then?

Well, it is your responsibility to make sure they can also get it on a sticker! And a sweater! And a phone case!

You know what I mean. Give them a choice.

Tip #4 – Research

I covered why research is so important in depth above. But how do you actually do it?

• Make sure people are searching for things (using free keyword tools)
• Check your competition
• Create something awesome
• Help people find it (title, description, sharing on social media)

Tip #5 – Make Things For Yourself

Even though you have to do research to see what people are already looking for to buy – you need to keep in mind that you are an artist! Not a production machine.

So create stunning work that YOU would want to buy! Not just something you “think” other people will want to buy.

Because chances are, if you would buy it – there are many other people out there who would too.

Tip #6 – Bump Up Your Commission

Remember how I mentioned that this is one of the reasons why I think Redbubble is awesome?

Now I just want to explain to you exactly how it works:

• Base Price.

Every product has their own price already. This is the price Redbubble charges your customers (since at the end of the day, they are the ones who make the physical product and send it out without you lifting a finger)

• Your Margin.

This is how much money YOU as the creator of work make. The default is set to 20% of the base price. But you can always control it in your settings.

• Retail Price.

This is the actual price the customer will pay.

So it goes like this:

Base Price + Artist’s Price = Retail Price.

For example, a small pouch’s base price is 10$ USD

Your commission is therefore 2$

And the customer pays 12$

But what this tip is about is to really adjust your commission margins! If somebody really likes your work, do you think it would make such a big difference to them to pay 12$ or 14$?

I don’t think so. But you just made an extra 2$. And when 10 people buy it – it’s extra 20$. Do you see how this compiles over time?

Obviously don’t go too crazy though. Look around the site, see what other people are selling their work for and then base your pricing on that.

Tip #7 – Brand Yourself

What does that even mean? Let’s think about all of the famous brands, they all have things in common: consistent design, brand colors, brand type, etc.

And if you want this to make you money – you need to make a brand out of yourself too.

Use consistent style and make your page look damn nice!

Your brand can also be that you have a unique style and unique colors in each of your artworks if that’s what you want. But I suggest really making a commitment to one or the other.

Overtime, people need to be able to see a product and right away know that it belongs to you.

Tip #8 – Share With The World

You can do the research, create a brand, upload all of your work and title them properly. And then what? Just sit and wait?

Sure, you can do that. Or you can start sharing your work with your social media followers, friends and any other place you see fit.

Build an awareness about your products. Get people talking!

I know it might seem scary at first, and you might think that people will laugh at you. But trust me, they have better things to do!

You are trying to build a business here. And no business owner will sit and wait until “things work out” to tell the world about it. They will YELL OUT about their new project – and that’s what will help things work out faster!

Tip #9 – Start NOW

The best time to get selling on Redbubble was yesterday!

Guess what the second best time is?

Today!

Tip #10 – Don’t Give Up

Redbubble, just like any other platform, needs time. For some people, it takes a month, for some a year to really see things moving. And the more products you create and upload – the sooner things will begin moving for you too.

So, give yourself at least 6 months to see the results. And really set your mind up for SUCCESS.

Because those who expect failure are 99% right all of the time.

And those who expect success are 99% right all of the time too.

How To Get Started?

1. Create a Redbubble Shop

2. Customize Your Profile

• cover photo
• avatar
• bio
• links to social media

3. Upload your existing work (keep branding in mind)

4. Share on social media!

5. Create more work!

Get Inspired

Don’t know where to start with the creation of your product?

Get inspired by some of the most successful items on their list!

Here are some that are truly awesome for different holidays, and make me want to buy them myself:

Cute Dachshund Puppy with Valentine Hearts Women’s T-Shirt – $25.00
from: Redbubble

Halloween Jack-o-Lantern, Watercolor Pumpkin, Happy Halloween, Spooky Pumpkin Sticker – $2.78
from: Redbubble

Best Mom Sticker – $2.27
from: Redbubble

Christmas car tradition Tote Bag – $20.00
from: Redbubble

And you are all set!!

If you have a success story to share, be sure to contact me by email at anna@yourartpath.com

Hope this article helps, and keep creating!

– Anna

**I was compensated for this post. This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.