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Do You Shop Or Sell Products Online? A Must-read
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Do You Shop Or Sell Products Online? A Must-read

By: Rick London

I'm constantly quizzed as to why I have so many web sites and sell so many of my Londons Times Cartoon products. "Why not just be a cartoonist," many ask. That's a good question, though, at the risk of sounding cynical, the mortgage must be paid. So I start with something with which they can identify.

I wish I could just say, "that's my income" and that would answer it. But a lot of people don't understand that cartooning is a business and it does not just mean, ink on pad sent to newspapers anymore. In fact, publishing does not hold a candle to the licensing of products. Even though I know from looking at competition, we price our products fairly, we sell a lot of different products, and, by pricing low and selling a lot, like Wal-mart, though admittedly not as big, we make more money than if we marked items way up. Word gets around if one carries quality products at reasonable prices...and fast.

Humor domination of the world wide web is a good start. Ok, a little joke, but that does not mean it cannot be a goal. I know it is arrogant but it is so, and why lie? I am told that in any given year there are approximately 10,000 cartoons on the Internet and out of those 10k cartoons only about 5 or so last longer than a year. This is our tenth year and to be honest, we didn't even start to monetize the site with stores until 14 months ago; and even think about Google Adwords until a few years ago? Why? Because we really looked at the entire thing as a hobby and my creative team was entirely voluntary. Then we started selling. Then manufacturing came. Then we were suddenly a business. It all took a life of its own.

Our main site, Londons Times Cartoons remains free. We want to always keep it that way; as, with 8500 original cartoons, mostly in color, we look at it as a cyber-museum of sorts, and to make it a membership site, as we once thought about doing, to us, would dampen the spirit of the whole idea of it. Why pay for the opportunity to have a good laugh (we hope, anyway).

It was not easy deciding as to which type products to sell. So we started with about a hundred different items and narrowed it down to the top-50 or so.

Reliable items that move rapidly include day planners, tank tops coasters, sweats, hoodies, aprons, clocks, infant wear, thongs, maternity dresses (yes, really), men's women's and kids tops and baseball jerseys, tote bags and even key chains and tote bags.

Testing the market on the Internet is a little different than testing it in real life. In the blink of an eye, a popular blog may recommend something or trash it and you never know if your store is included in the inferno. Best to have several just in case.

Why do we do it that way instead of packing everything into one store? A number of reasons. A lot of people don't want to go to a large department store, for instance, for one or two items that for which they are looking.

Some shoppers for instance, know they want a funny but romantic holiday gift for their soulmate so they are more likely to visit our thong store, AThongInMyHeart.Com, rather than RickLondonCollection.com or Ricklondonwear.com simply because they don't have to wade through other items and can find exactly what they want click, buy, and have it at their door within a few days, and not too many days longer overseas.

Whether it be aprons, greeting cards, or coffee mugs and other such online shopping store items in which we have narrowed it down to niche marketing, they know they can find it at one or all of our stores. We do not charge any more for products that are in those stores, that are also in our larger stores, we simply offer an alternative quicker convenient buying method for those who do not want to spend a lot of time on the net shopping.

Just because we do it this way, does not mean it is "the way" to do it. There are so many other ways to sell oneFs wares on the Internet, and money need not be the only motivator.

We get a kick out of watching the stastics from sites that measure rankings and such and see how each site is doing. Generally they remain popular and gain in popularity as the days go by (thanks to you) and it keeps us motivated to keep our creative juices flowing.

If you are an Internet shopper, and enjoy it (as I do) because it is so nice to find items that are difficult if not impossible to find in real shopping malls, you may enjoy comparison shopping channels like Shop.com, Bizrate, Shopzilla, etc. I enjoy using those for home entertainment, computer equipment etc. But they really are not made for the niche shopper looking for that one-of-a-kind product that can only be bought in one store (and its affiliate stores) all at the same price.

I visit Ebay, Amazon.com, etc. daily to see ifa particular online store has items featured there. I check their rankings on Ebay particularly if they are. For instance, 3drose, our manufacturer, sells our products on Ebay, Shop.com, Amazon.com and various other shopping channels. I check their ratings. We are fortunate with 3drose. They have a 99.4% positive feedback rating with almost 12,000 transactions, being one of Ebay's oldest and largest power-sellers. This helps us, of course, as we want the quality of our products to be the best.

Article Source: http://articlenexus.com

Cartoonist/Entrepreneur Rick London started as a cartoonist and it was "only a hobby. Now he has 9 e-stores of funny gifts including the award-winning Rick London Collection Rated Funniest Cartoon Gifts & T Shirts On The Net Rick London Collection

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