I HAVE ZAZZLE KEYCHAINS! YES!

I hereby take back any and all bad thoughts or ill-wishings directed at Zazzle. My keychains have arrived at last.

I ordered them before Christmas and ... well, they didn't turn up. End of January, I got rather worried about this and doublechecked my order, to find that I'd somehow left the suburb out. (I did have the road, and the postcode, which are actually specific enough to locate my suburb easily, but NZ Post is not that capable).

I *headdesk* a bit, then send a note to Zazzle saying basically, that I screwed up the order, is there anyway to find out if it was returned?

They sent me a new order. By signed courier/airmail/something expensive. To New Zealand.
I got it the next week (actually, I didn't, cause I had to play tag with the courier for a few days, but it actually did reach my house the next week. Three times!)

And they are shiny. And about twice as big as I expected!

See all my Zazzle Keychains

The colours are very good, the back is just a shiny silver disc, which is a little weird, they're quite thin (and light), and the chain itself can be removed with a bit of fiddling (it slots into the actual disc part). And they are very much worth the (admittedly, discounted for Christmas) price I paid (N.B. I still maintain that the overseas domains are a rip-off, but ordering from the main US site is reasonable. And they're so shiny!).

I got my cat to model them, for size.

Amazon Associate Update: Early January

Well, I just found out (at 1.30am, I wish Amazon updated on Pacific time!) that I made it into the 6% tier on Amazon (it's th 9th of January here, but I'm a day ahead, so actual time period here is 31st-7th Jan.)

At last, you can
quit your day job

I am both relieved and analytical - I barely scraped into the 'seven items sold' tier in Oct and Nov (my first two months)... and I do mean 'barely'. I actually made my final sale(s) on the very last day of both months! December was huge because of Christmas - but it also mucked up my stats/idea of the effectiveness of how well I was doing.

January is the test month. Do I have enough links, that are being seen by enough people? Are they being seen by the right people? Am I getting high traffic? Or high conversions? (They can even out, although for ego's sake I'd prefer a higher conversion rate). Am I actually recommending the right products? Is a separate associate account the right direction, or should I go back to concentrating on Squidoo modules alone, and abandon the flexibility? (no point if I can't get it to work!)

Will I see my cheque sometime before 2013?

On current evidence I'd say YES.

As I mentioned, I've made it into the second tier - the measure of success, in my opinion, as it means I'll be getting slightly more than from the Squidoo modules (differences of which are mostly covered in my review of whether it's time for you to try a separate Amazon Associate account or not). It's still very close, though. And I won't be quitting my real job any time soon!

Also, interestingly - I've had 245 clicks in the last week, but I see that the vast majority are looking at all the various Tangled related items on the Mother Gothel lens, most of which are either sold out (e.g. Art of Tangled), not yet available (e.g. the film itself) or more along the lines of research than ordering (e.g. possible costume/Disney villain stuff). Whether people come back later or not, or are just happy browsing and don't ever plan to buy, I guess I'll find out. 

Finally - about 80% of my orders since Christmas are items I am actually promoting, and sales are mostly of single items. This is in comparison to the roughly 50% overall 'recommended' sales in December, and the bulk orders of presents! (Sometimes one item I recommended plus extras, sometimes nothing to do with the items I linked to at all). The topics are all over the place, though.

My sales, so far as I can tell (not having bothered with tracking/different referral code stuff yet), are coming about equally from Squidoo and Best Reviewer. I also made about the same number of sales through Squidoo's own modules (eight Amazon and three eBay, to be exact).

 I love my Squidoo lenses and the former has a lot more content - but the latter is really good for extremely niche 'top ten' type lists of items. Some just become background internet noise, but others are in the first couple of results for certain searches. And the more niche you get, the lower the traffic - and the higher the conversion rate if you are recommending the right products. The more niche you get? The less leeway for the 'wrong' recommendations. So do the research, (how many reviews would YOU read through before you decided this item was okay to buy? Use that to judge when you feel secure in adding it to your list, and to decide what you'll say about it) or write on stuff you know about.

If people are interested... or heck, if I feel like it! I'll keep some kind of running update on how Amazon is working for a semi-amateur internet person. And if you found this post relevant to your interests, then you may also be interested in these posts:

How I Make Money Online: Overview of the various sites and programs I use, and their effectiveness
Is It Better To Use Your Own Amazon Associate Account On Squidoo? : A comparison of whether it's worth signing up as an Amazon Associate or just using Squidoo's modules, and my earnings immediately after signing up.

Cat and Mouse and Tui T-Shirts

I was talking to my mother about Zazzle recently and explaining that things don't always sell the way you expect, - for example, the t-shirt my dad and brother both liked so much that I had to buy them each one had never sold anything.

At which point I realised I'd never put it on a t-shirt on Zazzle, only RedBubble for my own buying needs (I am not paying to ship from the US, thank you). I had it on a few other designs - mousepads (ha!), greeting cards and stuff, but not a t-shirt.

Cat & Mouse by Flynn_the_Cat

Browse Cat and mouse T-Shirts

So here we are - the little cat, playing with her mouse, that was the second design I ever did in ArtRage 3. I didn't take it seriously until my family started requesting it.

Green Cat & Mouse Cat & Mouse

by Flynn_the_Cat

Browse Cat and mouse T-Shirts

The brighter green one is slightly nicer, I think, but works less well on different backgrounds, while the paler one looks really nice on light grey and works on various colours a bit better (picky artist!).

Cause Zazzle is customizable, things like size and alignment should be easy to change - that's a real pain actually with RedBubble, because if the cat is too small or in the wrong place, I have to redesign and reupload the entire file. Changing designs on Zazzle is easy.

I know the quality's good because it's the same image, and the same type of t-shirt (American Apparel) that both my dad and my brother were wearing last week (Teh brother had a sweatshirt and dad got a t-shirt, both in pale greys).

Funnily, I'd categorised both this design and the Tui one as 'girly' - but both get the most interest from guys (at Armageddon for the latter, the majority of people who asked after it was male. Might be the oriental look appealing to the number of anime fans, though!) ...seriously? I didn't make the Tui one a t-shirt on Zazzle either? I guess that shows where my priorities are! *promptly goes to rectify situation*

Oh that's right - I had a problem with the metallics turning out transparent when printed. Right. I know I fixed that, because I ordered some Tui t-shirts too. AHA, found the file. Right, one t-shirt coming up...

NOOOOO. IT BROKED THE INTERNET. I dare not save this post now! Stupid giant print quality art files.

*one restarted computer and forty minutes later*

Tui Bird and Cherry Blossom by Flynn_the_Cat

See other Tui T-Shirts

I will say it's nice to actually know for certain sure how something turns out - my keychains still haven't arrived, sadly (%&*#&$* NZ post, I suspect).

Zazzle: Today's Best Awards

The Random Quote: Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. DUNE

Today's Best Awards - or TBAs - are picked from the products submitted on Zazzle each day. They're not common, but they aren't exactly rare, either.
Still, it's always lovely to get one!

So far, these have recieved TBAs:

Shadowhaunt by Flynn_the_Cat

Which I was delighted with, as it was one of the first 'real' art posters I submitted, and I had never heard of the TBAs.

Unicorn Postage Stamp

Which amused me - everyone likes unicorns! This is actually the only one I have painted since I started using ArtRage (over a year and a half now) - in fact, for a long time before that.
And the one thing I love most about Zazzle - and grieve the most over it being US-restricted* - are the customisable design your own postage stamps

*Because Zazzle only sells US stamps - anyone can buy them, but they'll only do you good if you're visiting the USA or need to send soemone a present!

Zazzle feed - the most popular products

The Random Quote: To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. SUN TZU - THE ART OF WAR
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create & buy custom products at Zazzle