I started off 2021 by doing something that intimidated me as an artist: opening a Redbubble shop to sell my original photography, drawings, and designs. Even though the idea of making my work purchasable online made me nervous at first, I was determined to spin this for-fun venture into something I could genuinely be proud of. All I can say is… I’m glad I went outside of my comfort zone. From January to February, I made over 130 sales, sold over $500 worth of products, and had buyers from every corner of the US— I’ve even had some all the way from Australia, the Netherlands, and Germany! You might be wondering, how did I possibly manage to do this in just a month and a half? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered; below is a list of my top tips & tricks for new Redbubble sellers. Let’s dive in!
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Get Familiar With the Platform
The first thing I did when I opened my shop was familiarize myself with Redbubble’s ins and outs. By doing so, I uncovered that the platform has some pretty amazing features for sellers to take advantage of. For example, I otherwise would have never known that your analytics dashboard shows you exactly how much monthly traffic you get to your page, which is an incredibly helpful business tool. Digging around helps you to understand Redbubble’s website, which in turn helps you maximize your productivity.
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Create, Create, Create
When I opened my shop in January, I vowed to upload at least 5 designs per day. This felt ambitious at the time, but once I started creating, the uploading process became almost muscle memory! It’s an artistically stimulating hobby, and even if not every single thing I create is an instant best seller, it all serves as valuable practice. The bottom line is: the more you create, the more exposure you get, and the more people will possibly see your work.
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Find a Niche… or Several
The best way to sabotage your designs is by making them too general. For example, searching “sunflower” on Redbubble yields almost 150,000 results, and “zodiac” yields almost 175,000! If you try to upload in either of these already incredibly saturated categories, chances are your designs will get lost in the mix. In order to stand out, you need to find specific niches and cater to those instead. Find things that have less than 5,000 Redbubble search results (musical artists, TV shows, books, etc), and create products related to them. Chances are, they have incredibly devoted fanbases just waiting for high quality merchandise, and you can be the one to make it!
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Social Media Marketing is a MUST
In 2018, Lil Nas X posted memes on social media as promotion for his single “Old Town Road”. By doing so, he managed to break Mariah Carey’s record for most consecutive weeks at number one… all while spending nothing on ads. This just goes to show that marketing doesn’t have to break the bank to be effective! I upload my products to Pinterest, Tiktok, and niche Reddit forums to gain exposure. When I first started this, I was immediately seeing more traffic to my shop, without paying a dime on ads! Social media is crucial to get people interested in your designs.
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Hashtags are Your Best Friends
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, boosts the visibility of your Redbubble products like hashtags. They are seriously a lifesaver. First, you should definitely use this hashtag generator to your advantage: just put in one word, and it’ll give you dozens of related terms to maximize your exposure. Also, go to the best selling item under a search result and copy and paste their hashtags onto your own listing. If it worked for them, it’ll definitely help your products as well!
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Make What YOU Would Want to Buy
One day before I had created my Redbubble shop, I was searching for laptop stickers and was just not excited about what I was seeing. I was tired of seeing designs that didn’t fully resonate with me, and I figured that others had to feel the same way. So, I promised myself that I would upload and create designs that were true to my style, humor, and interests. If you like what you are making, it’ll show in the quality of your work, and others will like it too.
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But Wait… What Do I Need to Start my Redbubble?
Having high quality programs, gadgets, and tools at your disposal is the best way to set your Redbubble shop up for success. However, there’s a misconception that “high quality” is just another term for “newest, most expensive, and hardest to use”. News flash: you don’t need thousands of dollars worth of complex materials to be successful.
For my gadgets, I use a refurbished iPad ($100) and a basic, yet sturdy, stylus pen ($12). My programs include Phonto (free), Superimpose ($1.99), and Procreate ($9.99). Lastly, I use 1001Fonts, DaFont, and FontSpace to find fonts that are free for commercial use in my text designs. Good luck!