As a Zazzle creator, I’ve noticed a significant decline in product visibility. It seems that the platform’s sitemap may not include all products, and some stores are even being marked as "no index," hindering as I understand it search engine ranking.
I’ve also noticed a decline in Zazzle products featuring organically and via sponsored ads in Google searches.
Additionally, the dominance of Editor’s Picks and as such less effective filtering options further limit organic reach.
To combat these challenges, we need to prioritize our own marketing efforts.
However, sharing products on social media now leads to landing pages featring many other products rather than our own product page, diluting our brand.
Creating a personal website or blog offers more control but requires additional time and resources.
Video marketing is becoming increasingly important for SEO, but it can be time-consuming.
Being highlighted by affiliates is another avenue for increased visibility.
I’m curious to hear your experiences and strategies for overcoming these hurdles.
Have you found any effective solutions to boost your Zazzle visibility beyond what many are already doing?
I’ll tell you what I did, though it’s probably not the answer you’re looking for. Years ago when Z informed us that we would have to do our own advertising without telling us how, I tried doing my own marketing. Facebook, twitter, pinterest, my own websites. All with absolutely zero success. So, I found a POD that still advertises, and I focused on them instead of Z. The other POD understands that it is the designers (not “creators”, DESIGNERS) who make the products, so they use their advertising budget to bring people in. Here, my sales have dropped to laughable amounts. There, I’m still OK. Not great, but OK. I would absolutely love for Zazzle to be my number 1 POD again, or at the very least compete for the top spot. But in my world they stopped caring, so I did too.
@CreativeLeahG From Col I have learned that links coming from my own website skip the landing page where I have to compete with so many other Zazzlers even though I brought the customer. My social media links lead now all to my own website where people than can click through to my product on Zazzle. It’s still a two click event (from my site to Zazzle) but it’s the other way around also two clicks (from the landing page to my product) but it strengtens my brand (I hope - in the long run maybe?). On the other hand it’s quiet sobering to know exactly how few people I actually get from Social Media posts. At least I know that now while linking directly to Zazzle I would have no clue just hoping for the best.
For sure I’m still searching for the best way to do things, sigh.
PS: On a site note if I ever decide to leave Zazzle I still have already an established site which will make moving to an other POD easier. But for now Zazzle it will be because I like it.
I posted a new teapot, I went to the page for it, right below my item they had 60 teapot, then my other collection! They use to have see other products or collections. I post on social media a lot?. I sold a coffee mug yesterday, first thing I have sold since mother’s day, I some have some products on Fourthwall.com but no luck there! there disappeared, has them in collection but error when clicked on! I have a few items on
So if someone clicks your link for a t-shirt for instance, it goes to your website and then from your website, they click again to buy your product on zazzle? Wouldn’t they still see all the other products from other zazzlers before they bought?
I think Zazzle should speed up their account approval, I discovered that this problem have been lingering for quite sometimes. This may put the new creator in a dilemma who wanted to contribute more to Zazzle and at the same time worried about getting payment. Thus, they might put on hold to do marketing and creating more income for Zazzle.
@CreativeLeahG@Cherylb So very true, sigh. And now that you have mentioned videos (again) I wonder if I should add them to my own site too. And I wonder also if it were better to use YouTube (a search engine in it self) or my own server for hosting those product videos. So many questions, never enough time…
About making own site…do you get any traffic from the site to Zazzle?
Websites are a lot of work so trying to figure out where to go from here as far as promotion goes.
I know i can then use Pinterest ..once the site is up. Not sure if that would make a difference either.
I went from at least 10 sales a day to one. Not good. I have about 12k products so going back and adding cover pics makes no sense…and there is no indication that it would make a difference.
I feel discouraged. What is the point on spending endless hours on getting my tags and descriptions right which should be used for better Google search results when my store and products are invisible to Google?
If I want to promote something, paid advertising is the only way to make me more visible as the competition is huge and I cannot use direct links to Zazzle, I have to have my own website which is another expense and time consuming task.
I don’t see a point to be honest, it this remains the case, to create at Zazzle anymore.
@Mistica Oh my gosh - 12k products! I’m in total shock!! No way your own website would make a difference I think. I have as of today 327 products but some (rated ones) are not visible in the market place so I have under 300 public listings right now. Yesterday I had four website visitors - two via Google, one via Facebook and one with unknown referrer. And I sold one item but not coming from my own site because Zazzle said “None” as referrer. Oh boy, I need decades to catch up to you, lol.
Are you saying yes or no to making a zazzle based website? I started one…and then stopped.
Yes…I do work my butt off. Sales lately are not reflecting it at all. I get followers daily so I do think my work is saleable. I “was” doing ok…but then it came to a screeching halt. Something changed. Not sure what. I stopped designing and decided I had better get promoting instead. Even if my work was beyond amazing…it is not being seen.
About getting so much done…too many long days. I do this for “passive” income so that I can have what people call a life
I need to rethink what to do with Zazzle, given the lack of recent results, but I really like creating products and interacting with great people here. Work has been nuts, but I’ll have more time in October so will do more deep thinking then.
I have a website but haven’t had time a lot of time to update it. I find Wix a pain to work with but maybe it’s just me, lol, especially after working a full day. I still post to Pinterest and X fairly regularly, and I still see a lot of saves for Affiliate pins but zero dollars from it. I created videos for many of my recent products – and several before that – but not convinced of their ROI on Zazzle. My sales fell off a cliff here despite rising several weeks ago. I think they did help my Pinterest stats.
Summoning the whine fairy has only resulted in crickets and one sale this month, although I realize there are several economic factors at bay. Maybe I need to set out cookies and milk?
Honestly If I need to put this much effort into selling on zazzle I may as well sell for myself! If it takes that much effort to only take home a royalty why bother! my income has dwindled to less than 1/4 of what I was making that’s with making new products that are selling, I’m not really seeing any point in continuing at this point.
@Mistica I‘m not sure what to tell you. Honestly. I love working on my site and Google has finally started to pick it up. But I still have very little traffic - today I had four so far (like yesterday). But again I made a sale today but it (again) didn’t come from my own site because I didn’t make a referral.
I only work nights on Zazzle and my own site but I‘m thinking during the day how I could improve things. I‘m still amazed that you have created so many products - wow!! It would take me twenty years to catch up to you.
Yes. I will complete that site. Need to find the right plugins which determine visitors etc. etc.
Don’t envy my 12k. It’s about visibility…which right now can definitely be GREATLY improved. Take care of your family and do what you are doing. The rest will definitely come.
I’ve tried a few other PODs, but none of them do nearly as well as Zazzle. And S6 pulled the rug out from under me with their paid “tier” system, which meant that I had to delete all but 10 of my designs.
Currently I am working on a content site focused on the practical use of the collections I’ve created. While the results have been mixed so far, I’m continuing to refine my approach.
Since backlinks are still important for SEO, I’d like to extend an invitation for guest posts. I’m offering a spot on my site for a Friday post each week, where you can share your expertise and include a section that highlights your design solution to the topic at hand, with a do follow link. This offer is intended for a different person taking the spot each week. If you have your own website, I’d be happy to provide a reciprocal guest post for a do-follow link.
If this interests you, please get in touch so we can discuss the range of topics that would be a good fit for the site and work out the details.
For context, KBMD3sings.com currently has a PageRank of 2.6, a Page Authority of 31, and a Domain Authority of 18.
Additionally, I’ve noticed on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest that creators often band together to share and engage with each other’s content, boosting visibility through the algorithm. I’ve been particularly active on Pinterest and would love to form a group with the intent of growing together through mutual support.
