With so many changes in the POD world, here’s how to manage your links
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If you’re an artist who has been selling through Print on Demand sites, it has been a bit tiring the last few weeks watching them all bring in systems that charge the artist.
First Society6 start charging a small amount per sale to cover shipping, with a second announcement that they will be bringing in a subscription setup for accounts later this year.
Then RedBubble told artists they are bringing in three account types, one of which will be charged a commission each month based on how much they sell.
And the latest; an email from TeePublic saying they have two account types, which they’ve always had but are now making transparent. There will be a new reduced commission paid on larger items, with the amount based on which account type you have.
So what do you do if you’re an artist or designer wanting to use the services of a POD, but don’t know if you’ll be staying there long term?
You signed up to RedBubble, but now it’s not worth it and you want to find somewhere that will let you receive a decent payment. You think you’ll try out Threadless, but aren’t sure if you’ll actually like it or stay there…
In the meantime, you want to get business cards printed with links to your shop/s. You have links on all your social media (which is also changing and you don’t know which to promote long-term). Your family and friends are asking where to buy your stuff because Great Aunt Heather’s birthday is coming up, and she always loved your style. And you’ve got an exhibition coming up… you need to let people know where they can find you afterward…
What to do?
Here are a few easy ways to keep your links sharable, no matter what changes happen outside your control.
Link Tree
Link Tree allows you to set up a page of links to wherever you like. You can link to your social media, blog, POD pages, Etsy shop, Webinar signups… anything.
The best part is you can edit the links within your Link Tree whenever you want. So you only have to give out your Link Tree link and if any of the sites you sell on change, you edit them in Link Tree, but the link you give customers doesn’t change at all.
Link Tree has a pretty useful free option, there is also a paid version if you want extra features (changing the background, collecting emails, taking payments etc).
If you want to see a free version action, here’s mine: https://linktr.ee/joyphillipsart
Your own website
It kind of goes without saying, if you have your own website, you’re in control.
Even if you don’t have a blog, shop, or information to share, your website can be a one-page portal to finding you elsewhere on the internet.
Keep your social media, shop links, and offline event details all in one spot, where you can update them and your fans only need one memorable link to go to.
The bonus of having your own website is you are unrestricted on what you can do with it. You can set it up as a simple one-page directory with all your links now, and later add a blog, gallery, newsletter sign-up, or anything you want, in your own time.
Carrd Website
If you find the thought of setting up your own website too daunting, head over to Carrd. It’s a simple one-page website you can direct your domain name to.
There are different templates you can choose on the free plan, or build your own layout, and if you wish to upgrade to get more features (or use for more than one website), the plans are between $9 and $49 per year (which is super cheap!).
If you’d like to see an example, here’s one from the $19 standard plan (which I chose so I could use the form function): https://simplysidehustle.carrd.co/
There are many more options to set up a simple one (or multi) page promotion site for yourself. But whatever you do, if you keep it to one link where you can change your promotions around as needed.
It’s a lot less stressful when you need to change something, and the extra possibilities for short-run promotions are endless!