Get yourself some couch cash – Learn how to sell printables online so you can get more out of your couch time than random pennies and old goldfish crackers.
Here’s a little secret/not secret about me:
In my previous life, pre-working from home online, I was (still am?) a graphic designer.
Four-year degree and all.
Here’s another secret: By the time I was in my junior year at college, I knew I didn’t want to be doing graphic design anymore.
I wasn’t really sure why, there was just something in my gut telling me I didn’t want to go get a job and be someone’s computer monkey all day until the day I retired.
At that point, it was too late though. I was almost done with my bachelor’s degree and I wasn’t about to waste more time and money changing professions at that point. I also didn’t know what I would rather be doing, so ahead I trudged.
I did the job thing – different companies, different industries – all pretty much the same. All pretty much the same level of hatred.
It wasn’t until after I had my son that I started to seriously look for a way to make money from home. I knew I had some experience that I could use to make money online, but I just didn’t know how.
I didn’t want to get into freelance clients or working with companies because I was quite frankly exhausted (colic baby and all), and I didn’t know when or if I would be available. I had short spurts of time in between sitting on the couch with a baby on my chest sleeping or puking all over me.
I starting looking around online and found out about the wonderful world of printables. I knew I could use my graphic design skills and really make a go out of this side hustle idea.
What are printables you ask and how can I make money with them, from my couch, in whatever state of undress I choose?
I’ll hopefully purge some of what I know so you can also learn how to sell printables online and make a good little bit of side hustle income.
This post may contain affiliate links. This means I could earn a commission if you purchase through my links, however, there is no cost to you. Rest assured, I only promote products that I use or think are great. Thanks for reading!!
Let’s Learn How to Sell Printables Online
What Are Printables and Why Should You Care?
Before we jump into the nitty-gritty of selling printables online, let’s make sure we’re on the same page. What are printables, and why should you even care? Well, printables are digital files that customers can download and print themselves. They can be anything from art prints and calendars to planner pages and educational resources.
Why should you care? Because printables are low-cost, easy to create, and the demand is skyrocketing. With minimal effort and investment, you can transform your artistic skills or organizational expertise into a thriving online business.
The 1-2-3 on How to Sell Printables Online
All of the above sound hunky-dory, right? So, now let’s figure out exactly how to go about all of this.
Here we go:
The Niche/Category
This niche thing shows up a lot, doesn’t it? A niche is important because it helps you figure out who you’re ultimately selling to and what your digital products can do for them. A lot of people look into the home school/education, home/life organization and planners, or wall art arenas. This is all fine and well, but I personally would make sure you have at least a little bit of an interest in the niche you choose since you will be spending a bit of time on it. It will also make your life easier since you will already know something about it and where your audience is coming from.
Design/Create
Now it’s time to get cracking. Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, and Canva are what most people use, but there are also other free tools you can use online to design your printables. I know people have even used Word or PowerPoint. You will want to stand out from the online masses, so take some time and mess around on your computer so you get a feel for what rings your bell.
Set Up Shop
Now that you have a good-sized number of digital products set to go, it’s time to set up shop. The two most popular platforms for selling printables online are Etsy and Shopify.
Etsy
Etsy is the most popular and the easiest to get started. Sign up for an account, follow the prompts and you can be up and running in an hour. The other great thing about Etsy is they do the marketing for you and they attract thousands of visitors a day so you don’t have to. The downside is that Etsy has fees and rules to help pay for all this marketing you get. Lots of fees and rules that will most likely continue to rise. Figure out how much you are willing to spend before you start making sales because Etsy will charge you for each listing.
Shopify
Shopify is equally popular for selling printables. Using Shopify is essentially setting up your own online store to sell your printables. They make it super easy (as easy as setting up a website can be) to set up shop and get going. The upside to a Shopify store is that you are in complete control. You can create your own rules and your own prices without having to worry about what Etsy says. You also don’t have to worry about one bad (and usually not justified) review tanking your new shop. The downside is that you will have to market your shop yourself to get visitors to start buying.
I always recommend doing both. That way you aren’t putting all of your chocolate covered bon-bons (you know, because you’re sitting on your couch eating bon-bons all day now) in one box.
(Check out my post: Make the Dream Real: How to Start Your Own Online Store for more information on starting an online store.)
The Price is Right
Setting your prices is kind of like a game show. Not too low and not too high. Search the innerweb and see where other shops have their prices set. You don’t want your prices so low that it looks like your products are not worth anything, but you don’t want them too high or you’re price yourself right out of circus tent.
Also keep in mind those fees we talked about earlier, or any other operating costs you have. You don’t want to end up in a negative situation here.
Marketing at It’s Finest
Marketing can be fun, or it can be your worst nightmare.
You’ll obviously want to use the usuals: social media (Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc…), email marketing, content marketing (starting a blog), SEO (search engine optimization), and even paid ads (Google Shopping, Facebook ads, etc…) if you can afford it.
For more info on starting a blog, read my post Believe the Hype: How to Start a Blog and Make Money.
For email marketing, I use ConvertKit and for managing my social media, I use Tailwind.
Check Your Progress and Improve
Wherever you sell, or whatever social media platform you use, you’ll have access to lots of data once your shop starts getting visitors. Look at where your sales are coming from, what trends are emerging and where you can optimize this info and make your products better so you can get more sales.
Let’s Boost Your Printable Sales
Along the way, I’ve picked up a couple of nuggets that have helped to bolster my sales and just plain make things better:
Get the Hang of SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a pretty basic thing these days. It basically means figuring out a keyword or string of words that describe your listing the best and that people may be searching for in Google. You then want to use those keywords in your product descriptions, titles for blog posts, website behind the scenes, etc…
In this way, these keywords will get you found easier in Google and that will get people to your listings. There are nuances and programs that you can buy to help with this, but for the beginning, I would recommend just using logical terms where you can.
Bundles, Discounts, Sales
Everyone loves to save money and get a deal. I know I do. Bundle a bunch of your printable designs together in one product listing and take a little money off. Run a sale around a holiday. Or, think of a catchy discount code and market that to get people to shop with you.
Ride the Trend Wave
Sometimes it’s beneficial to ride a trend and get a bump in sales in the process. If there is a popular show or event going on, you can tailor your printables to coincide with that and maybe get visitors you usually wouldn’t.
Read Your Reviews
It is probably inevitable that you’ll get a less than stellar review at some point in time. If you do, or if a buyer ever reaches out with a problem, learn what the issue is and see if you can make it better and improve your overall shop.
Resources to Check Out:
If you want a more sure-fire way to make money selling printables online, I recommend checking out Julie and Cody’s E-Printables Course. They have a step-by-step (and then some) system to helping you get a printables business off the ground. They focus on making money too, which is what we’re all here for.
If you want to start selling your printables on your own online store, I always recommend Shopify. They are the main player in the online store game and have the biggest support system out there.
If you just want to start with a website, I use and recommend Bluehost for a domain name and website hosting.
You are going to want to get an email marketing campaign going so you can start to market to a list. I use and recommend ConvertKit.
You are also going to want to market on social media. I use Tailwind to manage everything. Not a necessity, but it would make my life so much harder without it.
You Can Now Sell Printables Online
I personally sell printables online and I have made a nice little side hustle out of it.
I cannot live off of this money, but it sure does help to have a thousand or two coming in every month, mostly passively now.
I also know that there are others out there who do make a full-time living off of their printable universes.
If you have any artistic, organization or computer skills at all, I urge you to give this one a try.
It really does give you a bit of a warm fuzzy when you see someone actually putting your designs up on their wall or utilizing your organization binder.
You do not have to work extremely hard to sell printables online, you just have to start and then keep going.
You do not even have to get uncomfortable to do it. You can stay right on your couch and keep Netflix on in the background while you are building your printable empire.
