Feeling like your getting less visibility on Zazzle?

[tjohnshoy]

I'm wondering if I'm alone in feeling like my store and products are getting less visibility on the Zazzle marketplace? I recently had several of my editor picks removed from my store and I haven't had any of my products featured or promoted in quite awhile. It seems as though Zazzle has taken a different approach to marketing their designers and it doesn't seem to favor the lower level (bronze or basic pro) stores. I'm feeling quite discouraged by this, especially because I have recently have had several of my designs replicated by these higher level stores. Their designs seem to be showing up higher in the search already, even though they are new to the marketplace and mine have been selling for months. 

Can anyone relate to this? I'm wondering it's best to just walk away from the platform at this point. 

[DM]

I agree with you completely, except it would take a great deal of improvement for me to get up to just "discouraged". If you rely on Zazzle's marketplace alone for sales, you will be very disappointed. Their search engine is... less than ideal. If you want to do well here, you need to be one of about a half dozen greeting card sellers. Zazzle convinced itself that greeting cards are the way forward a few years ago, and designers whose shops had cards as a focus benefitted from that. Even their shirts with card designs on them rank higher. It's the way their algorithm works.

It's always a good idea to have your eggs in multiple baskets. My designs perform much better at other sites than here. If any POD is giving you an emotion other than happiness, then step back for a while and focus your efforts elsewhere.

[CatsEyeViewGift]

I don't know.  I do a lot of greeting cards and I've never had an Editor's pick.  The only cards that come up high in searches are ones that are purchased in high quantities like the Christmas card I have with the alligators and christmas tree.  So I'm not sure that having a store with a lot of greeting cards gives me any advantage. 

[WBartworks]

I started with getting a sale or two every month or two and was happy to get more in December.  However, it's been more than two months now since I got even one sale. I've been on Zazzle since July 2020 which I think is a long time for not getting regular sells.  DM mentioned that Zazzle focuses their attention on greeting cards which doesn't help me because I have few to sell.  I think creating attractive cards takes a lot of time and then you get little in return.  Therefore, I am not willing to put in the effort.  And then again, maybe what I have to sell isn't something many people are interested in.

[jamies]

Just my advice (and I'm no pro), evaluate all of your designs and see if there is a way to add more ability for the customer to personalize the items for gifts. Focus on gifting if you haven't already. Really focus on getting rid of products that are hidden and updating tags and descriptions. Every little thing helps. 
I feel like my sales have slowed but things were really good when the pandemic started and for me personally it's slowed down.

[WBartworks]

I have spent so much time on this site already  updating and deleting discontinued product, updating tags and descriptions (I don't have any hidden product).  I'm no longer willing to spend more time on that since it brought me little return.  Luckily I don't have to rely on Zazzle to make a living.

[waterart]

My sales have been declining over the past couple of years. I still haven't made a single sale this month.

[LMGildersleeve]

Do you have a Redbubble shop Liz?

[waterart]

Yes I have a redbubble shop it's  studioart.redbubble.com  (not sure if a competitor's link is allowed.) Thank you for your wonderful suggestions about my bird art, it was staring me in the face and I didn't even pick up on it. Guess I don't have much of a creative mind when it comes to the business side of things.

[LMGildersleeve]

Sometimes we all need a stranger to look at the situation to give us some inspiration. 😁

[CarolC]

Greetings and Happy New Year!

Would you be "my" stranger and look at my shop please?  I noticed that all of my collections do not show up? Not sure what is going on here. Also, I am going back to revise some of my mugs/cups so they are showing forward.  I would greatly appreciate it if you would take a look and provide feedback?  Thanks so much, Carol Cross

https://www.zazzle.com/mbr/238833248177902904

[Artsiren]

Yes, it can be a bit disheartening, but I think a lot of stuff over the last two years has been kinda weird. During 2020, with "coofie" everybody was bored at home and my KDP book sales went through the roof, for me at least, from anywhere in the 2-figures per month up to well into the high 3- and even 4-figures per month. Now normality is more or less back, I'm back down to 2 figure months. I can only imagine Zazzle will have been similar, and we also have the January effect, with everybody "spent out" after Christmas. Apart from bargain hunters, I never expect much in January. Maybe things will pick up a little this month.

If you've done your keyword research, last I read it takes about 8 months to rank in Google, so that's your lead time I guess, to start seeing more traffic from search. (Being on the Zazzle domain might accelerate things a little bit.) In the meantime, you have to hammer social media (hopefully without annoying the heck out of everybody!)

With my new store, I see fairly low competition for the kinds of designs I've been doing, but a Google keyword analysis shows zero searches per month. So I might have picked duds. Low competition because nobody's looking for those designs! We'll see in 8 months, I guess. In the meantime, I'm still just learning how to use Inkscape, so it's all kind of experimental at this stage for me.

In any case (IMO), I don't think I'd be "unhiding" products that have been hidden unless you can make a really good case for it. In one of my other stores I got to about 2000 products (I think). Now it's down to about 200 and the rest hidden due to lack of interest. They don't sell or even get views, so leave 'em - find the ones that do sell, and make other designs similar to them. Maybe that's a little better in terms of return on time invested.

But anyway, I hope things improve for everyone here. Mine's slow as well, but I'm in the building phase ATM so only time will tell, once I've honed my new software skills and dug out some doozy niches!

[WBartworks]

What are KDP books?

[Caprice]

I think...Kindle Direct Publishing??  Not sure.

[Windy]

Wait, what? @Artsiren have you tested this idea that our products eventually come up in a Google search? How do you do it? This is in response to your comment that " last I read it takes about 8 months to rank in Google". 

I have tested this and not found my products ranking in Google. Except for one card, that never sells. I have been here since 2005. Therefore I have quite a few products older than eight months. Much older. 

[Artsiren]

I haven't tested it with Zazzle products. Just seen the 8 month guideline mentioned quite a lot on affiliate tutorial videos and blogs - and mainly talking about ranking blogposts for their primary keywords. To be fair, I've almost never seen Zazzle products on Google search results (although i haven't used Google for my own searches for years); more usual to see the Redbubble or Amazon merch stuff on there. But when I deliberately search for specifically Zazzle products, I can find them sometimes. Usually, they are Google results pointing to Zazzle search result pages, not single product pages, so you want to be in REALLY low competition niches; otherwise your prods just get bumped down amongst all the other Creators' offerings.

I'm guessing now that the better way would be to rank your own blog pages on Google, and have those blog pages point to Zazzle products. You can then at least get some extra longtail keywords into your blog to rank on G - and point perhaps to several Zazzle products and hope visitors pick one rather than just getting a Yes/No choice to buy a single product.

Yes, I've been here since 2008 myself. I seem to remember back in the day there were LOADS of Zazzle results in G, but then big change when they all disappeared. I guess a lot of the multiple-contributor domains lost out with the Panda/Penguin Updates (I seem to recall same happening with Hubpages). Probably why Zazzle reduced the number of tags allowed and became zero-tolerance on tag-spamming. If it hurts them in Google, it hurts all of us.

It's a tough old game, these days - I still remember the days of setting up a 5-post blog, getting its main keyword to number one in Google search in under a month and then cash-milking until somebody else came along with a 6-post blog targeting the same keyword. Funny days. Easy days!! Although I can't say I miss the insane work of setting up 6 to 10 new blogs at a time.

[Marcia]

I've had a number of "editor's picks" that I received last year removed from my products as well. I thought once you got an "editor's pick", it never went away & was thinking maybe it was just my store for some reason. So although I'm sorry to hear that about you, "tjohnshoy", I'm glad that it's not just me. Has anyone else had that experience?

[Malissa]

There was a thread in the old forum that said editors picks were all erased after a certain time frame ( I think 6 months) and that is the way it was always supposed to have been, but not enforced. 

[Marcia]

Thanks, Malissa. I never saw that thread. <sigh> That's too bad. I didn't have very many to begin with & now I'm down to a whole lot less!

[tjohnshoy]

That is really good to know, I guess I missed that! Thanks!

[shellifitz]

I can't agree with the 8 month time period to rank with Google.  I had a brand new niche store that was less than a few months old and I was (and still am) able to find some of my products from that store in Google shopping pages up near the top when I do an incognito Google search.   I also have to tell you that Zazzle does advertise with Google. You can confirm it by checking your tracking codes on some of your 3rd party sales, the long chaotic letter sequence codes are Google ads.  While they may not advertise our exact specific products, we get sales from people who come to Zazzle clicking on those paid advertisment searches and they have the ad campaign referral tracking code attached to them. 

[Windy]

I have checked here and do see six of your items coming up in search. For me, it's one.

I put this into the google search bar. Can't seem to make the link work here, though. 

site:zazzle.com inurl:gigabytz

[shellifitz]

@Windy That is very good news for me especially since that is a different niche store than the one I was talking about!   Thanks for letting me know!  

[Windy]

@shellifitz I got your twitter message finally and responded there. I had not checked in there in AGES. Thanks for your note!

[Jeff_Foliage]

I just had a 3rd party sale yesterday morning (a mug) and a couple of cards last week. but Zazzle had fallen off my radar while I have been focusing on other things and after their Photoshop plugin failed I didn't come back till last week... So that is on me. I did notice when I first started my shop I was uploading and creating and sales were coming in fast and furious but when I took my eye off it, the sales dropped off...
So to me, sales relate to my activity and to my social media... 
I would love to know more about what Zaz does but I know they track us and show us ads and I assume they do the same to others who show an interest... 

[mylittleeden]

I am close to gold but never get anything either!

I have been working away at Zazzle for over 10 years! If you feel discouraged now spare a thought for me!!!

I do all my own artwork too.... but that is life.... There are a lot of designers on here and yes many of the same ones get the lion share of the opportunities, but they have worked very hard to get to that position and often are much better than me at marketing and pushing. Most importantly they know what sells!

Sadly you have to keep pushing all the time non stop and do some of your own promotion, work out what the customer needs and just keep working at it.  Come up with new ideas and hope other s don't follow too quickly so you get a good seller in the mix. That is the most frustrating thing, particularly when you thought of something good and a top seller get the promo on their version of your idea. But again that is life!

Being an artist it comes with the territory unfortunately. Keep posting on the forums, social media, tell your friends, wear your art etc. Everyday do something. Look at your products update refresh and delete if need be regularly. Keep posting new items and new ideas and new designs as often as you can I do at least try to post at least one item everyday. Keep discovering all the wonderful other promoters out there, help them to promote you, no one has the time to find the items they need unless you assist them. The promoters and affiliates do amazing work getting us third party sales and I can not thank them enough. I have a few I am friends with and that has helped no end they know me now and have me on their radar well did until this new forum so it is a good chance for newer members to get in there amongst us long haulers.

But most of all you have to believe in yourself! I am still here still trying to get seen and I will never give up ever! Love zazzling too much!

Question is have you got what it takes? Will you keep going? I hope so the more the merrier. 

Good luck whatever you decide ♥️

Artist and graphic designer My Little Eden | My Little Eden Weddings | Namesense 

[CatsEyeViewGift]

You've said this all wonderfully!!!

(PS - and I agree, I've been at this 11 years (though, part time and sometimes went a while without any work due to high anxiety career) -- I haven't even made silver yet - forget gold - I don't even hold a glimmer of hope of getting there.  I am not good at marketing - if you don't do this - you're probably in it like me - mostly for the creative outlet and a chance to support my card habit!  LOL. 

[LMGildersleeve]

💜Yup, you said everything that needs to be said.
Two other things I want to mention; stop comparing yourself to others peoples successes and niche, niche, niche!

[TShirtfort]

All I ever do on zazzle is try to optimize my products whatever that even means. I don't care how many times they hide it if it's a great design I spent hours on it's staying. 

[mylittleeden]

Agree, and it can be even better when optimizing finally leads to that sale to then keep it in the marketplace. It only takes one sale, it often isn't the design but but getting the luck, where the right person gets to sees just what they what.

[emmasuebowtique]

I know this thread is old, but I was looking to see if other peoples sales have declined lately. I get regular sales daily but just lower than usual. However I looked through some of the shops of people saying they aren't getting sales in this thread. I hate to say it but it is the quality of the designs you are selling. They are very generic and the designs alone are not the best. Make sure to be putting quality items into your store. Quality over quantity. Research your product before listing it, search pinterest, search Zazzle even. Look at your design compared to top sellers designs and you will see the difference. Make designs in photoshop or illustrator and not just in the design tool software Zazzle provides. I think that is the difference between successful shops and shops that don't see many sales. Also make sure you utilize your tags and titles to the fullest. If your item isn't selling, look at items that are selling and check out the tags that shop is using in that design. You can see tags at the bottom of the listing and then update your tags. Strengthening your designs skills will get you very far. The more creative the better. 

[WBartworks]

A good sales person can sell almost anything. So I think promoting is even more important than creating "top notch" designs.  You can create the most beautiful product ever but if no one gets to see it, it won't sell.

[emmasuebowtique]

That isn't true when selling on a marketplace unfortunately. If the design is dated or shows lack of design skills, you can promote it all you want but nobody will buy something that isn't visually appealing or within current trends. Zazzle isn't about being a sales person, it's a marketplace where you already have the buyers. It's about knowing how algorithms work, learning about SEO and having great designs, AND lots of great designs. The more you have in your store, the more you will sell. I have been successful because my designs are what people want to buy, I have a huge variety & because I know how SEO works. Online sales is not the same as being a salesperson, a photo of your item is the first thing they see in search results, they don't get a sales pitch. If the item doesn't measure up to the competition they will keep scrolling. 

[WBartworks]

I have seen things sold here on Zazzle that I would never buy but I realize people have different opinions on what looks good or not.  I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that in order for something to be bought, it has to be seen first.   

[CreativeLeahG]

Higher level, best-selling designers get copied by the day by hundreds of designers because people want to copy what they believe is trending and popular re sales.  It will happen in reverse a lot less, simply because 'why?' so even if you believe it is happening it may not be the case but it will be the case moreso as you climb the ranks and become more visible. It is also the case there are trends with invites and so many replicate the same themes over and over, buy their graphics from the same place and so on. The only way to ensure uniqueness is to create your own art. It is also the case people do consciously or unconsciously draw inspiration from what they see here and generally across the web.

There are hundreds of thousand designers on Zazzle so yes being featured, highlighted is something 'rare'. I can't remember when I last was. But it doesn't affect my sales. I work very hard to drive my own sales and perhaps an area you could work on, so you are also less reliant on marketplace for results.

[emmasuebowtique]

Yes that is very true. I see my designs copied all the time, Especially on invites. Being unique is very important, but ultimately that unique design will get replicated by some degree.   I do drive my own sales though, my Pinterest has over 650k monthly viewers where a large majority of my traffic comes from.  I just started focusing on my zazzle store the last year and a half though. I signed up a few years back but never got around to designing much of an inventory since Logo design is my main focus.  From my experience with my own website & on other marketplaces I sell on, I know how important SEO is & sharing products on social media. 

[Windy]

Would you say sharing products on social media is useful for Zazzlers with pretty much no following on social media? Some of us would like to get more eyes on our socials, but have no idea how to do this.

[emmasuebowtique]

If you don’t have much of a following, you can gain more followers by doing giveaways. For example, In my private group on my business page, I would giveaway a free custom digital invitation design or a free shirt. I would then tell people to like & share the post, add 5 friends to the group & then comment on the post when done. They would then be entered into a raffle for the free item. I would then do a live & draw the name of the winner but would also interact with my followers. Letting them see your quirky self & showing them that your human grabs their attention. I would even have my 4 year old do the drawing sometimes, that really helped sell my followers bc they fell in love with her cute little face lol!  Do it every 2 weeks or monthly & pretty soon you’ll have a great following. I also believe Pinterest is the best source of marketing. I get 60% of my business on my own website from Pinterest alone, make sure you do a business account so you can check analytics & see what post are popular & are driving your viewers. Pinterest also releases a current trends list so you know what buyers are searching for & can stay up to date on popular party themes or popular items that are being searched most on the platform. Pinterest is also in beta mode for monetization, so if all goes well they will start paying businesses for directing traffic to their site.  With Pinterest you can even pin top sellers on dazzles items & gain referral income from it. Hope this helps 🙂  

[Windy]

Extremely helpful @emmasuebowtique ! Thank you!

[Malissa]

Be careful when doing giveaways and such to entice people to follow your social media accounts.  Lots of people may follow you just to get entered and then unfollow you.  And what is worse than just a simple unfollow, are the ones that stick around, but are not interested in your account and do not interact.  Having a high number of followers, but super low engagement ratios can actually hurt your accounts.  Your account will grow organically with consistent posting and genuine interactions.  Follow people in similar niches as you or accounts that you truly like interacting with and like and comment on their posts. Make sure when someone comments on yours that you take the time to at least like their comment and comment back to all the ones that you can.  I only have very small social media accounts, but every time I post daily and interact with the people I follow, my account grows a little each day.  My biggest problem is I take super long breaks of 2 or 3 months at a time and lose traction and the boost in the algorithm. 

Pinterest is definitely the best place to actually get traffic to your Z store.  Once again, consistency is key, but it all just takes so much time.  I have ignored all of it since early September and feel the effects.