justlurking
Newbie
- Feb 25, 2014
- 21
- 7
Greetings. To preface, I've got very little experience/success in IM. What I DO have is full access to a screen printing shop with all of the equipment (and I know how to use it all). What would you guys do?
What would you guys do?
- Thread starter justlurking
- Start date
sashablack
Elite Member
- Jan 8, 2010
- 3,686
- 2,095
hmmm ... what about starting your own clothing brand? Whats the cost of screen printing? not including the shirt etc...
-Sasha
-Sasha
planetsupernova
Newbie
- Mar 17, 2015
- 25
- 4
lol that's more like a marketing question, but I would go with tees printing, i guess.
justlurking
Newbie
- Feb 25, 2014
- 21
- 7
Since the main cost would be my time, it's fairly cheap where I'm located. I could probably get pretty creative and get costs down to around $4-$5 dollars per shirt. It leaves plenty of room for profit. If I ordered supplies in bulk and was smart about it, I could get the costs even lower.
justlurking
Newbie
- Feb 25, 2014
- 21
- 7
You're probably right there. I was just curious to see what you guys would come up with. People here do a much better job of thinking outside the box than I do.
myopic1
Regular Member
- Mar 24, 2014
- 408
- 409
Just a suggestion here but I believe SEO has the ability to make or break almost any business. If you're prepared to put in the work to learn SEO and you have a real printing business there's a lot you can do. Aside from ranking for printing etc in your local area, one idea that springs to mind is using SEO to rank say a t-shirt or poster printing page for the latest movie/memes/trends. Now these trends/memes etc wont have search numbers because they're so new but ranking for them has the potential to be quite lucrative for something like a T-shirt printer.
The truth is the above idea is an end goal for when you can actually do SEO effectively, there's a lot of learning and material to cover before you get there. My alternate advice would be to find someone who does SEO effectively, pay them and stick to what you do best. Unfortunately finding someone who is affordable/effective at SEO is like finding a diamond in a sea of zirconia (which you've probably figured out from reading some of the posts on this forum).
Mimissor
Registered Member
- May 5, 2014
- 54
- 28
I can't remember the name of the thread, but in the Journey section there was a guy who showed how he ran teespring campaigns each month for a pretty good profit. You could do something similar but cut out the middleman (teespring) and do limited run screen-printed tees.
He used Facebook advertising, but with their latest/upcoming changes I'm not sure that's still viable. Still, I'm sure that you could easily generate interest with a mix of facebook/twitter ads depending on how good you are at targeting your audience.
He used Facebook advertising, but with their latest/upcoming changes I'm not sure that's still viable. Still, I'm sure that you could easily generate interest with a mix of facebook/twitter ads depending on how good you are at targeting your audience.
justlurking
Newbie
- Feb 25, 2014
- 21
- 7
To xjapan
I agree, this would work really well if I owned the print shop, but I don't. The owner has given me full access to the equipment though.
I agree, this would work really well if I owned the print shop, but I don't. The owner has given me full access to the equipment though.
justlurking
Newbie
- Feb 25, 2014
- 21
- 7
Thanks for the input. These are the sorts of ideas that I'm looking into now. Basically coming up with a design and doing some sort of a pre-order similar to TeeSpring. I do a bit of web design so that's right up my alley.
As far as SEO, I agree. I hadn't thought of targeting people searching for the latest movie/memes/trends though. I was able to get the print shop's website on the front page for a few searches relative to what they do (I know a bit about SEO as well). Maybe come up with a teespring type of pre-order for designs based on movies/memes/trends and rank it locally? Target something like 'movie showtimes in city, state'? I think I know enough to rank for that. Thanks for the ideas.
As far as SEO, I agree. I hadn't thought of targeting people searching for the latest movie/memes/trends though. I was able to get the print shop's website on the front page for a few searches relative to what they do (I know a bit about SEO as well). Maybe come up with a teespring type of pre-order for designs based on movies/memes/trends and rank it locally? Target something like 'movie showtimes in city, state'? I think I know enough to rank for that. Thanks for the ideas.
Mimissor
Registered Member
- May 5, 2014
- 54
- 28
Honestly, if you're going the TeeSpring preorder type route and are going to stick to local traffic then your best source of traffic may be the print shop itself. Meaning, print out a stack of flyers, give a couple of people ten bucks each to stand somewhere for an hour and hand them out. Find some facebook groups for your city/town and target their users for facebook ads.
SEO is more long term, which will be great if you want to rank your website but if you're trying to get traffic to our order page then you'll probably want something a little more immediate.
Just my opinion. I haven't done this myself, this is just based on what I've read of other people's efforts in similar areas.
EDIT: Just realized it sounds like I'm saying SEO isn't important. Do the SEO, it is important and ranking your website will be great long term. I was just meaning for more immediate results.
Also, look in to local events and see about making shirts related to those things. Are there any local bands that play at the bars regularly? Maybe they'd be interested in buying some of your shirts to sell. Think about where people are gathering in your town and target them with a design made specifically with them in mind.
SEO is more long term, which will be great if you want to rank your website but if you're trying to get traffic to our order page then you'll probably want something a little more immediate.
Just my opinion. I haven't done this myself, this is just based on what I've read of other people's efforts in similar areas.
EDIT: Just realized it sounds like I'm saying SEO isn't important. Do the SEO, it is important and ranking your website will be great long term. I was just meaning for more immediate results.
Also, look in to local events and see about making shirts related to those things. Are there any local bands that play at the bars regularly? Maybe they'd be interested in buying some of your shirts to sell. Think about where people are gathering in your town and target them with a design made specifically with them in mind.
Last edited:
lagger
Power Member
- May 10, 2011
- 511
- 184
Go into drop shipping until you learn how to seo. Let other people sell your crap and make money.
Terrylee5151
Newbie
- Mar 24, 2015
- 7
- 1
My Daughter has a friend that prints shirts for School teams. The parents buy them and wear them to the games they attend.
justlurking
Newbie
- Feb 25, 2014
- 21
- 7
Good call on the flyers. I could see that getting some immediate results. Thanks.
justlurking
Newbie
- Feb 25, 2014
- 21
- 7
Drop shipping is a very attractive method for me at this stage. I'd much rather just print and ship shirts than deal with SEO and direct sales. Thanks.
Good idea. I started coming up with a list of schools in my area and athetic directors. If I could work out deals with the schools themselves, I could print in bulk and not deal with distribution or sales. Thanks.