Wordans Website Re-Design

Speaking of website re-design (see previous post), Wordans.com has gone through its own renovations and unveiled a new look. It's much more easier to navigate and has a clean and organized look. They've also introduced a new affiliate program. In addition, store owners or boutiques as they call them, have much more flexibility in customizing the appearance of their online shops.

As is the case with T-Shirt Monster, Wordans is a Canadian website. It is based in Montreal.

I actually opened a store at Wordans quite a few months ago but I haven't really done anything with it. Something that prevents me from doing more with the site is the fact that Wordans requires exclusivity when you post your designs to its site. In other words, if you upload any of your original designs on Wordans, you cannot have those designs posted simultaneously at another online t-shirt site. That kind of turns me off to the site.

However, if you are just looking to do some shopping of their large marketplace, feel free to click on the banners to check out the enormous selection of t-shirt designs.


 

Ordering T-Shirts: Then and Now

In this video, you will see how ordering a custom t-shirt used to be done. You'll see a frustrated customer who is trying to get the t-shirt store owner to give him the proper t-shirt he ordered. Confusion, delays and shoddy service only add fuel to the fire as the customer grows more irate, not to mention that he probably took time out of his busy schedule to make the commute to the store. Observe.



Notice how the customer ends up having gone there for nothing because his t-shirt won't be ready 'til "Thursday"? That's enough to make any talking, green piece of felt's blood boil. It's not easy being green when you're seeing red, huh Kermit?

That was then, this is now. Can you tell me how to get...how to get to Zazzle.com?



Zazzle is just one of the many print-on-demand (POD) service providers that has popped up on the internet in the last ten years or so. It seems like a new online t-shirt retailer is popping up everyday, adding to the burgeoning, world wide web, POD industry.

It has revolutionized the way people shop. Imagine creating, customizing and buying (or selling) your own t-shirt within a few minutes, all without leaving the comfort of your own home. No waiting in line. Just the fact that you can avoid the holiday season-shopping crowds is enough to consider it. Not only that but you'll save yourself a trip and gas expenses.

Another well known POD company and perhaps the most established, is Cafepress.



Some of the others are Printfection, Spreadshirt, Red Bubble, MySoti and T-Shirt Monster.

How to design your own t-shirts

If you've been reading this blog the last few weeks, you know that T-Shirt Monster is a new Canadian, online POD service provider, allowing you to design, buy and sell your own t-shirts.

The screenshot to the right is the Design Lab at T-Shirt Monster, where you can experiment with your ideas like a mad scientist with all the beakers and bunson burners in the world at his/her disposal.

If you are new to this type of online service, I have put together a bare bones tutorial just to get you started in the right direction.

The first thing you would do is click on Create Custom T-Shirts! Once there , you would follow these four basic steps to add text and clip art.

1. Click on "Add Your Design"
2. Click on "New Text". In the "Add Text" box that pops up, type in the text you want and then click on the check mark. You'll then be able to choose the size, colour and type of font you would like.
3. Click on "New Clip Art". In the "Add Clip Art" window that pops up, click on the "choose a category" drop menu to select the clip art image you would like. When you have chosen one, click on it and it will be automatically added to your t-shirt. Note that you can add as many clip art images to one t-shirt as you want. You can then move, rotate or resize the image if you wish.
   
4. If you are serious about you design and not just experimenting and are planning to buy or sell your t-shirt, then you must register first, then you can click on "Exhibit". There, you would title your shirt, give it a description, add tags, choose a category and set the markup price. That's it, you're all done.

I' ve also created a new lens for My T-Shirt Monster Gallery on Squidoo, so if you want to know a little more about T-Shirt Monster, go to Caza Creations @ T-Shirt Monster.

New POD Shop and Contest

I have two exciting new things to talk about today and they are both related. The first one is something I have been waiting a long time for and that is the start-up of a Canadian POD service website. The new service is T-Shirt Monster.

I had been doing Google searches for the last couple years, looking to find a Canadian based POD similar to what Cafepress and Zazzle offer. Up until last week, I had searched with no luck. Then two days ago, by sheer luck, I stumbled across a Google ad for T-Shirt Monster. Where did I see this ad, you ask? Why on the very blog you're reading right now. This would not have been the case if I had not decided to revamp my blog with a different template, new content and inserting Google ads that are relevant to the subjects and area from which my blog is based. After having the ads up for only one day, I happened to be typing a new post and when I checked the final published version, I noticed the ad for T-Shirt Monster. I couldn't believe my good fortune. The ad was like other POD site ads I had seen before. It advertised the ability to create custom t-shirts with no minimum order. What caught my eye however were the two little letters after the dot in the URL. The letters were .ca and I knew right then that I had finally found a Canadian POD service. But were they any good? It took me all of 5 minutes browsing their site to know that this was a great fit for me. I signed up almost immediately. I love their product designer, which they call the Design Lab. It is very user friendly, probably the second best I have ever used right behind Zazzle's.They only offer T-shirts right now but consider the fact they are still new. The galleries are free to open and are fairly customizable. You can set your own markup prices and I noticed a link that indicates that they will be starting up an affiliate program where you can earn 15% on referral sales.

But my favourite thing that T-Shirt Monster has are contest that I am eligible to win. Being Canadian, I have never been allowed to win any contests at all the American PODs I belong to since rules prohibit it. This was always a source of frustration especially when you consider the large cash prizes that were being offered and sometimes design software or drawing tablets. I wanted badly to find a place where I would finally be a participant and not just a spectator. Now I have found that place.

So now let me tell you about my very first contest entry in which I am eligible to win at T-Shirt Monster. A brewing company called James Ready, based in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, has partnered with T-Shirt Monster to create a design contest to advertise their various brands of beer which they sell for a dollar per bottle. James Ready has even provided some of their own high resolution logos and graphics as clip art files so contestants may use them in their design entries if they wish. Unfortunately for me, the contest ends June 30th and having only found out about the website two days ago, it didn't leave me a lot of time to come up with a design and generate any kind of buzz or votes for that matter. However with 4 days left in the contest, I came up with a decent idea, under the circumstances, and submitted it to be in the contest exhibit and the Monster Gallery. My entry is titled Lion Tamer and features the JR lion from its beer label taking a swig from a bottle of James Ready 5.5 with a slogan reading, "Get Ready For A Lion Taming Taste! The winner receives $1500 in cash and prizes so i am keeping my finger crossed. Wish me luck!

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