Louisville, Kentucky-based online retailer of stock and user-customized on demand products CafePress has launched PressIt, a simple and effective way for bloggers or small businesses to monetize their original images and other content, by making it simple to put them on products like t-shirts, mugs and tote bags.
PressIt is a free, downloadable script that can be added to any Web page whose content a blogger or business owner believes may generate unique e-commerce product revenue (images, graphics, logos, text), which synchronizes that page’s content with CafePress products. Visitors simply need to press a button where the content is displayed, and that content can be put on fully customizable print-on-demand merchandise through CafePress, which currently numbers around 500 base products. If an order is completed and approved, the content owner earns an affiliate commission from CafePress.
This means a blogger or small business owner can totally do away with having to design merchandise and manage inventory, while adding an additional revenue stream without significant hassle. Content owners will earn a lot less than if they sold the product directly to a customer, but this way there’s no need for design costs or sunken capital into inventory that may not move.
“PressIt is a logical extension of our brand strategy – the intersection of customization and technology,” says CafePress CEO Bob Marino. “It’s a simple yet powerful tool that broadens access to our platform and allows anyone with original content – bloggers, artists, photographers – to engage with their audiences in a new way.”
“We can’t think of an easier way for content owners to realize added value from their original work by creating an additional revenue stream that keeps their sites clean and free of advertising,” adds Jason Falls, Vice President, Digital Strategy for CafePress. “If it’s tweet-worthy, it might be tee-worthy as well. Why just share it when you can wear it?”
