Uploading your design and tagging

I created my designs for Mitchendise last time.  I have it saved as a .png file, and am ready to upload it into my media basket on my CafePress shop.

I go to CafePress and log in using my email address and password. (The sign in link is at the top of the page)

One of the tabs at the top is Media Basket.  Click it.  You will now see any images you have uploaded already that you put in the main folder. 

I usually create subfolders for my designs so I can find the quickly in my media basket.  So for this group I am going to click the “Edit folders” link and then create a new folder called “Website Designs”.  All the designs I make that have my logo’s on them I will upload to this folder.  When you clicked “Edit Folders” you will see the “Add New Folder” in the bottom right.  Type in a name, click Add.

Now with your new folder listed, click the name of it (it should look like a link).  You will see all the images you have loaded into that folder (it is probably blank right now).

Click the “Upload new image” button you see in the top right of the image basket area.

I can upload up to 5 images at a time. Of course I have only created 1, so I click the browse button on #1 and navigate to where you saved it on your computer.

I choose my design and click Open.  The path shows in the white box next to the button.

I now check the box that says I agree to the terms (there are a bunch of rules on what is appropriate content to put on your shirts.  Some are listed to the right, but the full rules are in their terms sheet).     Then I click “Upload”.

This opens a little box that stays while it uploads, then it brings be to a spot that has my design along with a blank box for me to type in “tags”.  I could also change the name of the design if I wanted to save it as something else within my image basket.  Changing the name is up to you, I usually leave it the same and just make sure I named it well when I created it.

TAGS:

I click in the white box for the tags, and start typing in keyword descriptions of the design.  If someone was looking for this design, what types of keywords would be most relevant?  I input of course the actual words on the shirt, along with some keywords:

mitchendise,mitch,its not merchandise its mitchendise,merchandise, fps2008

That last word fps2008 is a little trick I picked up in the forums.  Basically I am putting in a special word that really nobody is going to know or search for and then if I ever want to search for any of my products in the CafePress marketplace then I can just type that special word in and I get all of my designs.  (Note: I did not actually use fps2008 since the forums said use something that nobody else knows, so just in case there are some jokers out there that see my special word and use it for their own, I didn’t want to pull up their designs.  So fps2008 probably won’t bring up any items in the marketplace.)    The forums say it could take a while for the marketplace to pick up your newly created design, so give it a couple of days.  I loaded a design last week and although the tags were picked up immediately, the design didn’t actually show up until about 3 days later.   

Now, every time I load a new design I am going to put my special word in the tag and as I get a lot more designs I can pull them all up just by typing in that special word.

You can also pick a category that your design fits into.  There is a drop-down list, simply choose the best fit. 

On the left under the design you will see 3 little boxes a clear, a white, and a black.  Those are for you to choose which background color you would like to be the default.  Since we are only starting and only building for white shirts, choose the clear if you followed the instructions and actually have a transparent background. 

For now, lets end there, and next time I will show you how to put your image onto products and then create sections.

TAGGING NOTES:

• Tagging is one of the most important things you can do.  Tags are used by the CafePress Marketplace (MP) as MP keywords.  If some user is searching the MP then only designs tagged with the search term they enter will come up.  The search engine can not read your design, so describe it. 
• Make sure you put COMMAs between the words and not spaces.
• There is debate on whether or not Google, Yahoo, and other search engines can pick up on those tags.  People have tested their theories, but at the end of the day some still disagree with each other.  My experience is that Google is smart.  I have had designs show up in google searches when I searched for “____ shirt”.  The CafePress MP was one of the results, and one of my designs that was not even on a shirt was listed.  My feeling is that Google pretty much knows that shirts live at CafePress so I don’t bother including the tag “shirt” or “shirts”, etc.  Whether or not you do is up to you.  For the most part, the keywords you use as tags are also going to be the keywords you would want Google to find you with, so that shouldn’t change your decisions too much.
• Don’t Tag SPAM!!  People who are searching for a specific product will only get irritated if your design comes up in their search.  So only load tags that are relevant to your design.
• There are a lot of ideas about tagging, get in the habit of doing it as you load your designs.  If you don’t tag, don’t ask why you aren’t showing in the CafePress Marketplace.

Next time I will post on how to apply your design to products.

There is a lot more information in the forums about tagging & keywords.  Check them out.

Having any problems?  Need ideas for keywords for your design?  Let me know, maybe I can help.

Slippy