It’s time to get to know your Graphics Creator better (this is all about making you an outstanding graphics maker)!
Let’s start here. Do you know about these simple graphics-making design tools INSIDE the Graphics Creator?
Text Styles:Create a solid background to your text (jump to 3:31 when watching if you’d like) as you write… and change the color of just one word in a string of text! Perfect for helping text on an image stand out (look for “Text Styles” in the Text Menu)
Circle Text Generator:Design curved text like this– Add a text circle to your logo design or advertisement (find under “Insert” menu)
Photos & Videos: Add them right from inside the software- No need to leave your design… just drag and drop your selected image onto the canvas. These make social media creation fast and easy (click on the Photos/Videos menu and pop a keyword into the search box)!
Rule of Thirds Grid: Line up text and images perfectly- Stop messing around with trying to manually line up images and text (click directly on the canvas and use the check box to your left)!
Shapes:Choose your desired shape to use as an overlay (watch at 4:00 minutes)- This gives your design a professional look and helps your message stand out. Make sure to use the “opacity” slider to get the right level of transparency for your design (find it under the Insert Menu).
Have you used all of these?! Log into your Graphics Creator account or open your desktop Creator… take a look at what you can do to simplify your design life.
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Cute or Scary? What’s your design style?!
Take a look at these ALL NEW 100% uniqueHalloween graphic backgrounds to use in any of your designs… in any software (they’re high-quality PNGs).
*****
Here’s another way to get more attention AND make your day easier: Drag and drop motion graphics backgrounds into your designs.
When making graphic t-shirts, pricing can be highly dependent on different factors. You’ll need to consider the type of graphics to be created, how much time you will need to create them, the cost of purchasing other materials, and the quantity and quality of t-shirts to be made before quoting a price based on those calculations.
However, for uniform pricing, it’s possible to quickly figure out how much it costs to make a t-shirt.
It costs about $30 to make a graphic t-shirt. This number is the average cost of all the expenses involved, including the price of the t-shirt, graphics to be printed, payment for time spent, and any other extra cost that might come up.
Keep reading to find out all you need to know about making graphic t-shirts, how much they cost, and the best online sites that ease the process of making your graphic t-shirt.
The Price of Making Graphic T-Shirts
The average price for making graphic t-shirts is $30. However, this price applies best to a “Do-It-Yourself” method of graphic design. The price includes purchasing a plain t-shirt, imprinting the intended graphic design on the shirt, adding other elements, and paying for labor, if you plan to sell the t-shirt with a bit of profit.
However, there are few fixed costs in creating and printing graphics, so the price of making a shirt can be highly relative. The cost of making your graphic t-shirt depends on these factors:
The type of graphic t-shirt.
The number of shirts to be designed.
The design method you’ll be using to create the t-shirt.
The quality of graphics to be printed on your t-shirt.
The general cost of materials.
An ongoing cost of making a graphic t-shirt is buying the shirts!
These factors are essential in determining the total price for making your graphic t-shirts. Your choice for each option can either increase or decrease your expenses.
For example, consulting a professional graphic designer for your t-shirt designs is bound to cost more than a DIY graphic design printed on a t-shirt by heat-press printing or transfer.
Also, it may cost more to print a graphic design illustrating a character on a t-shirt than a simple logo since you’ll need more ink and spend more time getting the design right.
How Much Does It Cost To Start a Graphic T-Shirt Business?
Are you thinking about starting a graphic t-shirt business without breaking the bank? I’ve got you!
It costs about $1,000 to start a graphic t-shirt business with a heat press. This price covers the cost of a quality heat press machine, a printer, iron-on transfer paper, vinyl, and other minor expenses.
If you plan to work from home, the best type of graphic t-shirt design method to opt for would be the heat press or heat transfer method. This printing method comes at a relatively low price compared to other types of graphic t-shirt production like embroidery, direct-to-garment, or fabric printing.
With a heat press and the right equipment, you can begin to print your graphic t-shirts whenever in no time and at a minimal cost!
How To Save Money When Printing Graphic T-Shirts
If you need to cut costs further in your graphic t-shirt business, you can use these cost-saving methods to save money while making unique designs.
Make your graphic design from an online visual creator like The Graphics Creator.
You should sell graphic t-shirts for a fixed price of $20 to $30. This price should include an hourly rate of about $10 for labor and the costs of other materials needed.
When pricing your graphic t-shirts, you must consider the time, materials, and labor spent creating such a design. You should also factor in operational costs like shipping and printing and your projected profit.
With all of this information, you can determine the best price to sell your graphic t-shirt. An ideal price should be high enough to offer you a sizable profit for your efforts yet affordable enough to attract customers.
You may need to increase the price of some custom-made t-shirts if the content and style of the graphic design in question prove to be way more detailed and time-consuming. Overall, the best way to become an expert at costing is through experience.
After completing several graphic t-shirts to sell to your target market, it will become easier to know how time-consuming designs will be and how much you should charge for making your t-shirts.
How To Make a Graphic T-Shirt
Making a graphic t-shirt yourself can be super fun if you do it right. There are diverse ways to make a graphic t-shirt. Examples of these design-printing methods are:
Here, I’ll discuss how to make a graphic t-shirt through the heat-press method from the comfort of your home.
Get a t-shirt. You’ll need to buy a plain cotton t-shirt to print your desired graphic on. Cotton t-shirts have better resistance to heat than other materials. Blank t-shirts cost about $1-$5, varying based on quality and brands. You can opt for whatever type of plain t-shirt suits your design needs.
Create your graphic. You also have to create the graphics you want to print on the t-shirt. The graphic design could be absolutely anything – a logo, character illustration, picture, or even random words. You can also create a design by using an easy, straightforward tool like Laughingbird Software’s Graphics Creator.
Print your graphic. Print out your created design using an inkjet or laser printer. You must print the design on iron-on heat transfer paper.
Apply polymer. Apply polymer to the printed graphic with a heat press machine. The polymer ensures the graphic is properly ready to be transferred to your t-shirt.
Position the graphic on the t-shirt. It’s important to carefully place your completed image on your t-shirt on the exact spot you want it imprinted upon and set it under a heat press machine.
Finish with a heat press. Heat press the graphic on the t-shirt for about half a minute. This time might be lesser depending on the quality of the t-shirt you’re using. Heat press about three times until you see your graphic fully pressed onto your t-shirt.
Leave the shirt to dry. After heat-pressing the t-shirt to your satisfaction, leave it to dry for a little while. The drying period gives the heat enough time to seep into your shirt and ensure your graphic is permanently affixed to your t-shirt. After this, your t-shirt is ready to wear!
Conclusion
There are diverse methods of making graphic t-shirts, all of which have different prices. These prices also vary based on various factors like the materials and labor you use in producing your graphic t-shirts.
Including material costs like blank t-shirts, heat-press machines, iron-on transfer paper or vinyl, and a laser or inkjet printer, finding a balanced price for your graphic t-shirt may seem overwhelming. However, making your graphic designs yourself can make creating your graphic tees much easier. This DIY method also ensures you profit maximally from every sale you get.
I’ve been writing for a new niche blog that I’m really excited about. I can’t wait to share it with you (I’ll give you the details soon)!
Now that I’m more focused than ever on writing, I’m digging deep into the world of blogging and learning a ton during my journey. Along with visual content, keyworded content is also essential to blogging!
That’s why this newsletter offers up a free tool that’ll help you make more of an impact with your writing, whether it’s for blogging, creating ads, or website copywriting. And, be sure to watch Marc’s video to find out how to create and use visual content on social media!
– Lisa
CREATORPRENEUR TOOLS & RESOURCES
The tool for this week is super simple to use and completely free! It’s an absolute must for marketers, writers, bloggers, and copywriters… IF you want to get found on the search engines!
You work hard to create content for your article or website. So, it’s essential that you make an effort to use the right keywords… ones that are actually being searched for on Google (stop guessing)!
Don’t just assume that potential customers are looking for the “best business tools”. Instead, throw that keyword phrase in Google Trends and put in a few alternative keywords to compare to.
As you can see in the image below, “best business apps” (in red) actually gets searched for more than, “best business tools”. Who would’ve guessed?!
That’s my point… don’t guess!
Notice that this chart is looking at “Worldwide” keyword searches… just toggle to “United States” or your specific country if those are your customers. Plus, you can change dates and categories as well.
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In the above video, Marc shows you how to easily create amazing graphics to go along with your content.
When you download your graphics, remember to include your main keyword as the title, as well as use additional keywords in other images.
CREATE GREAT CONTENT WITH THESE!
This is one of my favorite image sets to go with written content… the templates are perfect for blog graphics or for getting noticed on social media!
Use a template like the one below for a featured graphic on your blog or a thumbnail for videos…
Just add other elements from The Graphics Creator & modify the text to make the designs your own!
CREATORPRENEUR TIP: REPURPOSING CONTENT
It’s not necessary to constantly invent great content. Get creative and use what you have! Just re-work your article or blog content to provide a new perspective.
Here are ways to repurpose your content:
Turn your video into a blog article (or your blog article into a video)
Take an idea or two from old content and build on it to create more detailed content about that topic
Mix up the title and intro of a piece of content to send to a new group of prospective customers
Turn a heavily worded article into a simple “list post”(just number important points and leave out any “fluff”)
Gone are the days when you could only sell art offline. However, making money selling your graphics online is a new experience for many artists, which often begs the question: “How do you do it?”.
Here’s how to make money selling graphics online:
Sell your graphics on online marketplaces.
Sell through a blog or YouTube channel.
Sell on Instagram.
Sell directly through email.
Sell using a freelance account.
As you grow and develop your craft, you need to know the best places and methods to market and sell your work. This article will discuss everything you need to know about making money online from selling your art by expanding on the points above.
1. Sell Your Graphics on Online Marketplaces
Create graphics and sell them online!
There’s no shortage of online marketplaces where you can sell your designs. There is a space for you no matter what you specialize in, be it 3D work, printing on T-shirts, or creating graphic templates. These platforms showcase your products to millions of users, saving you time and money.
Using these marketplaces, there’s no limit to how much passive income you can earn from monetizing your skill. YOu can create a piece of digital art once and continue to resell it without any additional design work. However, keep in mind that you do need to have a certain level of skill to utilize most of these platforms.
Not all designs make it onto the marketplace. Most platforms have a team that reviews all submissions and decides if they are good enough to sell on their platforms.
Some of these platforms include:
Creative Market
Many designers enjoy selling their work on Creative Market. It’s a fantastic platform for selling fonts, print templates, 3D work, and so on. The platform has over five million users, lets you set your rates, and gives you 70% off every sale.
TurboSquid
TurboSquid is the place to go if you have 3D assets for sale. The platform specializes in selling 3D models for numerous mediums such as the filmmaking, architecture, and video game industries.
Stock models are quickly becoming the best way to create 3D content, which is why the market needs high-quality 3D assets. So, if you have top-notch products to sell, TurboSquid is the way to go. The platform features categories such as cars, anatomy, architecture, and anything else you can think of.
Design Cuts
Design Cuts is a platform for designers made by designers. It is a community platform where you can sell high-grade assets for excellent prices. These assets include graphics, brushes, and patterns, among others.
However, not everyone can work with them as they claim to work exclusively with the best. If you’re up for it, you can reach out to them and possibly get featured on the website.
Big Cartel
Big Cartel is one of the best-known websites that allow you to sell graphics online. The platform lets you build and customize your store to fit your aesthetic, which is a feature most sites do not have.
Big Cartel also provides you with tools such as social networking and tracking to aid with market research. This means you can choose and decide how to promote and sell your work. The cost for using this platform ranges from $0 to $19.99 monthly, depending on the features you require and the number of products you want to sell.
2. Start a Blog or Create a YouTube Channel
The best thing about starting a blog or creating a YouTube channel is that there are two ways to make money from it.
Having a blog with high traffic or a YouTube channel with numerous subscribers means you have many people watching you. Therefore, when you post content relating to your work, chances are quite a few of them will be interested in purchasing your products.
While these are excellent channels to sell your art, you need to generate enough traffic first, which could take a while. In my experience, this can take several months to more than a year, depending on your niche and content consistency. Therefore, you need to be patient and ensure you consistently create good-quality content.
The second way to make money from these channels is to monetize them. You’re not directly selling your work here, but you’re making money nonetheless. You can join an affiliate program when you start your blog or channel.
By joining a program, you can promote designs from an online store. Each time someone purchases an asset (including yours) through your link, you make passive income.
Again, you won’t make money right off the bat. You need to take time to accumulate enough traffic to generate revenue.
How To Start a Blog
This isn’t as daunting as it might seem. Starting a blog has lots of benefits, even if you start out slowly. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:
Pick your blog name.
Register your blog.
Get your blog hosting.
Add WordPress to your blog.
Pick a theme and customize your blog.
Add plugins to track stats and find your readers.
Create engaging content.
Promote your blog.
The hardest part is consistently creating content and promoting it. Just get started writing… I spent about 6 months writing for one blog before I was even worried about promoting it. You need content first!
Confirm your account details and create your channel.
Promote your channel.
Naturally, creating videos and promoting them take quite a bit more work. Take a look at the methods I have used to get E-Biking Today started or watch how Marc does it on Laughingbird’s YouTube channel!
3. Sell on Instagram
About six years ago, nobody bothered buying or selling on Instagram. It was simply a platform for sharing pictures. However, things have changed significantly. Instagram, the world’s second-biggest social network, has become a vital marketing tool. Luckily, this is a tool you can take advantage of.
Two incredible qualities about Instagram are its simple interface and its focus on visuals (which is great for you). Therefore, Instagram is a platform you can use to make money selling your graphics. Post examples of your design work and add some hashtags representing the topic.
Adjusting your Instagram account to use it for business purposes is relatively easy. Just follow these tips to make the most of your account.
Set Up an Instagram Business Account
First, you need to switch your personal Instagram account to a business one. You don’t necessarily need to use Instagram Shopping to promote your work. However, you do need a business account to market your products.
Besides being a prerequisite for using Instagram Shopping, you need a business account to run ads, add your contact details, and access performance insights.
Here’s how to switch to a business account:
Go to the menu in the app.
Tap on “Settings.” You will find it at the bottom right.
Tap on “Account”
Tap on “Switch to Professional Profile”
Use Instagram Shopping
After creating a business account, the next step is to set up Instagram Shopping. Now, you don’t have to do this, and this step is mainly for designers who sell physical products like printed t-shirts or canvas art.
Here’s how to set up Instagram Shopping:
Generate a product catalog via Facebook Catalog Manager (you can find this feature in Business Manager).
Enable product tagging – this is easier if you already own a digital store on platforms like Shopify.
However, if you don’t already own a digital store, the process becomes a bit more tedious because you need to manually input the products’ details. For each product, you need a price, description, at least one image, and a link to the product on your website. Afterward, you submit and wait for approval, which can take several days.
Utilize Product Tags and Stickers
Once you have set up Instagram Shopping, you can use it to tag products in your stories and posts, and your users will be able to see the names and prices of your products. Moreover, through a single tap or click, they’ll be redirected to your website, generating traffic and increasing sales.
Increase Engagement
Customers love to browse designs on Instagram… this could be your profile!
Now that your account is ready, you need customers to find you. You should try and boost engagement on your page because Instagram usually displays posts with positive responses to users.
Additionally, although you are out to sell a visual asset, you need to consider your captions. Your captions should be engaging and help express your graphics and their stories.
Hashtags and mention tags also help keep your posts relevant. Try to use general hashtags that most people use and specific ones related to your work. Keep in mind that Instagram tends to show posts to users based on their interests.
Maintain an Aesthetic
You should ensure that all your posts follow a similar style and tone. Think about how your bits of content will look when compared, or, more importantly, how they’ll all match together on an Instagram-style grid. As mentioned, the platform is highly focused on visuals, so it’s essential to maintain an attractive aesthetic.
Run Ads
Running ads can help the right consumers find you. Boosting engagements is great, but it is often not enough. Instagram has become a platform where people who don’t follow you are less likely to see your organic content. So, you should consider running paid ads to reach a larger audience.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money to reach your clients effectively. You can promote your posts on Instagram or opt for Facebook Ad Manager.
They are both effective, but you might prefer to go for the latter. It offers more customization and can help you reach the right demographic without wasting money. Furthermore, you can set your ads to run on only Instagram.
Consider adding product tags to your ads because it gives users an idea of your product and its price before they even view your page or website.
4. Sell Directly Through Email
You do not always have to put your art out there for the world to see. Yes, some people go to marketplaces and purchase templates and other graphics. Instead, however, you can focus on one brand or person and sell to them.
Sending cold emails is a classic but effective technique that works for all kinds of professionals. A cold email is an email you send to a recipient (you do not know) in order to transact with them. This could be to ask for a favor, present an opportunity, or in your case, sell your work.
Cold emailing can be challenging because you don’t know who you’re emailing and how they would react; therefore, you cannot change your approach based on their reaction. This is why a lot of cold emails fail. However, you can make it work with the right tools and tricks. Many before you have built careers using cold emails, so you can do it too.
5. Sell Using a Freelance Account
Freelancing is another great way to make money doing what you love. As a freelancer, you can set your hours, find a niche for yourself, and promote your services. There are some great platforms to choose from, two of the most popular include:
Upwork
Upwork is one of the best and most prominent sites for most freelance graphic designers. Regardless of your expertise level, you’re likely to find plenty of job opportunities and clients. However, as a new freelancer, you might find it hard to make ends meet. You might even need to take on jobs that pay below your rates just to build your reputation. However, the experience is worth it once you do.
When you get paid on Upwork, the platform takes 20% of your earnings. However, as you earn more from a particular client, their fees reduce to 10%, and eventually 5%.
Fiverr
Fiverr is another well-known freelancing platform. It connects sellers to buyers so they can transact. Some time ago, the lowest you could make on Fiverr was $5, which is where the platform gets its name from. However, that has changed, and sellers can now set lower, and higher, prices.
The platform lets you sell your services at any rate you desire. After you create a gig, buyers will be able to find it, and if they like your offer, they can buy your product or service. Keep in mind that Fiverr also takes 20% of your earnings, and this fee does not reduce with time.
Conclusion
Now that you know some of the best ways to make money from your art, it’s time to put those skills to good use. Remember that as a creator, it is up to you to decide how much your work is worth. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise because, after all, you poured your heart and soul into what you made.
Moreover, remember that these are just a few suggestions. There are numerous other methods you can try to make money selling graphics online. All you have to do is be willing to explore creative new ideas.
No matter what online business you have, there’s no way to avoid publishing blog content. Offering helpful and/or timely information to prospective buyers and current customers is just part of running a successful business… one focused on pleasing customers.
But when you need to spend most of your time creating products and services, fitting in blogging seems near impossible. Not to mention that throwing up a few words doesn’t cut it if you want to get noticed on Google’s search engines.
Yep, it can all be a bit too much!
In this blog content guide, I’m going to show you how to get the help you need to get started as a content blogger or to grow your small blog.
Take a look below at the list of resources below.
Then check out the “Posting a blog article” Creatorpreneurs Tip at the end of the newsletter!
When publishing new content consistently (whether it’s once a day or once a week), there’s no shame in getting help!
When I first started my ebikingtoday.com blog, I wrote ALL of my articles slowly but steadily (2 articles per week). But as the blog grew, and so did my ideas for great content, I knew I needed help if I wanted to grow faster.
However, it was a challenge to find writers that could help me with my somewhat technical blog content (and write articles the way I wanted them to!). Thankfully, I’ve found some help!
Here are a couple of writing resources I use to get the help I need:
I can always count on top-notch blog writing from these highly-trained writers.
But you’re not getting a high-quality, SEO-optimized article from one writer alone. Each article has its own editor for quality control, which means you get an article that’s been reviewed by someone else and has excellent grammar.
Plus, you get unlimited revisions, just in case (I’ve asked for small revisions, and they’ve done them, no problem)!
Check out WeWriteBlogPosts and make sure to use my special code to get a 10% discount!
*The more words you order at one time, the more money you save per word.
You’ve heard us talk about Fiverr before… Laughingbird has certainly used many contractors from here, some good, some bad.
When it comes to blog writing, there are a ton of writers that aren’t very good. But, with a little research you can find a gem… and save money on article writing!
To find a good writer, always ask to see examples of their writing… and look for several good reviews. Then it’s just a matter of seeing if that writer can give you the style of writing you want, understands your niche content, and can write very well (or better) in English.
Otherwise, you’ll be spending a lot of time correcting their grammar.
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Naturally, with any great blog content, you need great graphics and images as well. To help you get creative and design the perfect blog graphics, Laughingbird has a simple menu for all of our product collections right on the home page.
This is how we’re organizing our graphics to make it easy for you to find something unique.
Of course, you can always click on the little looking glass on the top right of the page to search for “design elements”, “logo”, “motion”, “Pinterest”, “YouTube”, “characters”, etc.
Read it once through: I like to make sure it makes sense and is giving the information I requested.
Check it for plagiarism: I’ve never had a problem with this, but I still make certain every article has 100% unique content. Just search for “plagiarism checker” and you can get a free report.
Post it in WordPress: Fix all the headers and spacing.
Add Links: Add links to my other articles or products and double-check links added by the writer (make sure they don’t lead straight to a competitor instead of one of my own articles).
Create & Add images: I use The Graphics Creator to make a featured graphic or other helpful graphics in each article and add photos where needed. Then I import them into my article.
Personalize the content: This is very important. I always add any personalized content that makes sense by adding sentences, paragraphs, or new sections, if I feel I can make it an even better article!
Remember, this is YOUR content, so give it your touch even if you didn’t write the main article.
And here’s one more tip:
There are plenty of topics to outsource to content writers… Save the ones you can write better for yourself!
