Custom t-shirts & merchandise in your eShop without shipping hassles

Sometimes I have a genius t-shirt idea that just has to be produced right then. Whether it’s because I want one for myself or I think it will be the next great marketing scheme for my website.

Regardless, there are many great ways to do this without shipping products around the country and world or having to order in bulk… because that my friends is my worst nightmare.

Not only do I not have any time to make, buy, take orders, and ship out product, but I also feel like making things easiest for customers interested in buying products.

Therefore, I introduce to you the best ways to sell t-shirts, mugs, stickers, apparel, and other merchandise on your site eShop without having to ship or really lift a finger more than what it takes to design the product. 

How to sell affiliate links and merchandise “natively” on your site shop

Choose a distributor (or two… or three…)

Personally, I have used Merch by Amazon, Spreadshirt, and Zazzle the most. However, I also link to my fellow bloggers’ products, e-courses, and digital goods in my site shop and other distributors as well.

Choose what works for you!

Find my tutorials on how to use Merch by Amazon and Zazzle Design Store to use with this method!

Utilize WooCommerce

I know some don’t like the platform, but I LOVE it. There is so much flexibility and it integrates so nicely onto my site to create a beautiful and custom website shop.

Once you “Add Product” through WooCommerce on your site store, you’re going to go in and choose an option for how people can buy it… which is kind of important since you’re obviously not the one in charge of delivering the product (whether digital or tangible merchandise).

You can see how in the image below. It’s a dropdown that declares it’s an external or affiliate product.

Then you’re going to define how you want it to look. So for me, I like to say something like “Get it on Amazon” or “Find it on Zazzle” so that they know it will take them off my site now that they know more about the product I am recommending.

You also input price (and of course don’t forget the affiliate or external link!). And then check out your site shop and how it looks. Make sure it’s exactly how you want it.

Create the listing and optimize for SEO

You can obviously do this before ever publishing, but for the sake of how this tutorial flowed, I am kind of backtracking.

One of the perks of using a native site shop is that people are staying on your page as long as possible. So you can show them your own products, gather some extra page views (which for me turns into more sponsored work and also higher ad revenue), and have a very beautiful showcase of products.

The other big perk is really working google for everything you can get out of it. While I have made products and just thrown them online for the sake of getting them there, I do try to go back and optimize when possible. This goes for anything whether tangible or digital and it’s a great way to market what you’re selling and make it easier to find online.

Record your income!

It’s that simple. And it’s effective. Plus if you’re selling your own tangible products through affiliate links or linking to them on another platform for whatever reason, it streamlines the process to help your followers know what to expect and have a beautiful storefront for them to choose from all the great things you recommend!

More on selling products in your site’s shop and eStore