1.) 8:00 AM: REGISTER A DOMAIN NAME. This takes up to 24 hours, so start by getting a graphic t-shirt domain name on target. One that’s available right now: RadGraphicTees.com. It includes one of the most searched keywords in terms of graphic t-shirts – graphic t-shirts and it is quite easy to remember.

2.) 8:30 AM: HOST YOUR DOMAIN. Find cheap hosting for around $9 per month with minimal bandwidth to start with. You can update later once there is more demand for your graphic tees. Make sure you have MySql and php capabilities and at least 5 Gb of space.

3.) 9:00 AM: BUILD YOUR GRAPHIC T-SHIRT WEBSITE. I hope you know some html and/or php – MySql. (If you don’t, you have many options, which I’ll discuss later.) Start simple with your graphic t-shirt site design. Keep it minimal and use large images. Take a cue from leaders in good design like Threadless or Indie Shirts. Avoid unnecessary use of Flash and keep your code clean. Include strong calls to action: “buy”, “buy”, “buy”. Remember your goal: you want visitors to not only like your website, but also buy your graphic tees. First layout the design in Photoshop, then code it. When it comes to creating the eCommerce functionality, you may need to rely on a web developer if you only have basic skills. If not, there are solutions through WordPress and Joomla extensions, Paypal, and countless online services to help you with this. Good luck. This is most likely the most stressful part of your endeavor. This is a different type of website for graphic t-shirts, but it will still work. Just be sure to eventually customize its look and feel and add your eCommerce functionality later when you learn how. At first, you can simply try to build a buzz around your t-shirts and sell them later.

4.) 9:00 PM: DESIGN YOUR GRAPHIC T-SHIRTS. To have a line of t-shirts, you only need one t-shirt. To get started, come up with an idea. Check out my how-to guide if you need help. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are a great place to start. Browse free vector images if you want to add something besides text to your graphic tees. Your t-shirts need to convey a message and look great at the same time. Also, try to make them original so that your particular website stands out as a place to look for great graphic t-shirts.

5.) 12:00 PM: PHOTOSHOP YOUR DESIGN ON BLANK T-SHIRTS. Until you’ve printed graphic tees, simply take your designs and Photoshop them on blank t-shirts. One color of each design will do, with other colors available. Place your cool graphic tees on a background that is plain, so they are easy to see, or that says “urban.” You can start printing a limited number of t-shirts immediately after the launch of your website and on demand. Crop them to the correct size and upload them to your graphic t-shirt website.

6.) 5:00 AM: ANNOUNCE YOUR NEW GRAPHIC T-SHIRT WEBSITE. Use an online press release agency, go to every graphic t-shirt blog you know of, or find through Technorati, and post information about why your new graphic t-shirt website is the best. Once your site is live, be sure to use StumbleUpon to drive traffic to this new content. Dig a blog post about your website if you create a blog (it’s a good idea).

7.) 8:00 AM: (if you are still awake) LIE DOWN. YOU HAVE JUST CREATED AN ONLINE STORE OF GRAPHIC T-SHIRTS.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *