Products/Items personalized for a community

Sunchild · Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 7

I was thinking of ideas to generate income through a community site. I know that there are tons of affilate programs and programs like Google Adsense available, but I wanted to come up with something a little different.

I know that some communities are rather close-knit. They form their little web-families that they are quite fond of. What do you think about offering community personalized products in these types of communities? Something with the community logo or a favorite phrase could easily be used with a program like Cafepress.com, which doesn't require any investment or keeping inventory on my part. It seems that it would be very simple, but would it generate any real income? Is this something people would be interested in?

Your thoughts and opinions appreciated!

burfi · Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 1

What you are trying to suggest sound very promising and nice but I would to hear about it in a context of a website. Are you referring to a community website such as www.orkut.com. Please reply with a real-time exmaple. Thanks in advance.

ThumperFive · Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 199

it depends, as any commerce problem, on the price and the quality of the product. If I have to wait two months and pay more than if I went to my local Walmart, I probably wouldn't be interested. But make it a deal, a good deal and something that I can use then it'll probably sell.

Wink

adikobih · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Madison, WI USA

Sunchild, great ideas! But need to find quality products with minimum cost. Is there any out there Question

I use AdlandPro community extensively, and all Adlanders are very close knit too! No one ever try to sell this kind of idea in that community. Worth a try.

Good luck!! Very Happy

_________________
"Learning is a never ending journey of life"

Best regards,
Noradlina

ghostryter · Joined: 02 May 2006 Posts: 5 Location: Central Florida

Hi Sunchild

Your idea I believe is to sell for example t-shirts or caps for a comunity called --- say " Pet Lovers Forum"

Well I believe unless there is a huge following of community members, like a few thousand at least, then why would they want to advertise they belong to this forum, who other then other members would know what their shirt or cap is stating they are proud of being!
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GhostRyter
"Pecking keys 24/7"

Roane · Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 10:54 pm Post subject:

I just had to jump in on this topic since I've been in communities that have done this.

Personalized products can sell successfully if the community has that "family feeling," like ghostryter said. The items I've seen sold best utilized words/images unique to that forum. That suggests, of course, that people like to buy things that give physical reality to their virtual ties. (After all, the internet seems to be the new reality of the 21st century!) It's like a memento of all those hours you've logged online -- and the carpal tunnel that is surely impending. Wink

So I think that given the right tone, forum admin could make money with personalized products. I have never seen it generate obscene amounts, though. As much as people love their net pals, they don't seem willing to shell out more thna $15 or $20. (And posters in this thread -- adikobih and ThumperFive -- have shared that sentiment.) It's a nick-nack niche market, but it could definitely provide some pocket change for a motivated admin.

CJ · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 6

I agree it might be a hard sell for some communities. Although it would be worth trying because its free to find out!
Very Happy

Cally

starbuckscoffee · Joined: 25 May 2008 Posts: 6

Excellent Idea!!! I love cafe press and think that your plan would work very well. I would totally purchase merchandise from my favorite forums, etc.

swbcanning · Joined: 31 May 2008 Posts: 10

This is something I would definitely be interested in. Any details you have? i always feel communities like to feel as if they belong - so owning branded goods can capatalise on that need.

Thanks.