Creating a T-shirt web site can provide a solid source of additional revenue for an existing retail store. A T-shirt web site also allows designers and retailers to open a store without the traditional overhead associated with a physical retail establishment. By incorporating a few basic web site principles and using a dynamic blogging platform to build your e-commerce site, you can launch your T-shirt web site with minimal costs and headaches.
Instructions
- 1
Gather all the content you will need to publish your T-shirt web site. Include images of your products on models, graphics of your T-shirt artwork, copy or text describing your business and products and logos or graphics that are associated with your business. While you can produce these elements yourself, hiring a professional designer and photographer will render the most professional representation of your business to the public.
2Purchase a personalized URL that reflects the business name and product. As of April 2010, a unique URL address will cost approximately $10 per year, depending on your service provider, and does not include the monthly hosting of your website. Your URL should include your product type, if possible, and be short and easy to remember. For example, "www.sarastshirts.com" is an easy name to remember as opposed to "www.sarasellsgreatshirtscheap.com".
3Select a monthly web hosting service that provides a "one-touch" install of a blogging platform, such as Wordpress, Typepad or Movable-Type. As of April 2010, the service should run approximately $10 a month and should provide multiple or unlimited email addresses, large quantities of server space for your site and an easy bandwidth upgrade if your site begins to garner large quantities of visitors. Increased bandwidth is necessary when large numbers of people are accessing your site at once, but should not be a concern during the initial stages of your business.
4Follow your service provider's instructions and access your administration panel. These instructions will be emailed to you during the setup phase. Be sure to place them in a safe place or print them out for easy reference and archiving while building your site.
5Go to your "one-touch" install function and install your blogging platform. This will vary based on the service you purchased and the blogging platform you select. Be sure to research your blogging platform prior to installation and be sure that the themes are easy to use and that you have a static option if you would like your site to function more as a digital brochure as opposed to a dynamic e-commerce site with changing content.
6Access your blogging platform's administration panel according to the instructions sent to you upon installation and log-in. Enter your Contact and About Us information in the proper page categories and go to the general settings panel and enter the necessary functionality issues, such as language, comment options and time/date options.
7Go to the Theme section of your panel and begin searching through the appropriate themes to make your store attractive and draw customers into the site. An e-commerce site should have a simple-to-identify logo and your products should be easily identifiable. Choose a theme that displays an image at a large size above the "fold" so the visitor does not need to scroll to see the main product image. The best model image of your T-shirts should be placed here.
8Select the appropriate theme and test your site to be sure the theme "skin" looks as you envisioned it. The "skin" is the outer appearance of your site and can be changed by simply returning to the theme section and selecting a different theme or installing a custom theme on your server in the appropriate location. Be sure you have entered some content, text and images, using the "new post" option as some themes will not function properly until content is entered.
Many customized themes can be purchased and are recommended for e-commerce sites. These themes are built specifically for businesses and allow you to easily enter your products, their prices and add shopping cart functions. Many of these themes are available for a one-time fee, usually $100 or less, and might need minimal programming by a professional designer.
Continue adding your information regarding your T-shirt company and upload all the products and their pricing information. This process might take some time. Understanding the category functions of your theme will help in the designing process. Categories and their identification numbers tell the theme where to place your content, so understanding how categories work in your theme selection is vital to setting up your site.
10Begin marketing your web site with social media networking, email marketing campaigns and traditional advertising methods. Create several promotional T-shirts with your site URL and a fun logo and wear them around town. Hand them out to friends along with business cards and start an "in-person" advertising campaign using word of mouth and your T-shirts as walking billboards. Be creative and enjoy the business process of launching your T-shirt web site.
