Observable

It’s the start of a new year, and product designers are already launching thousands of new apps, tools, and resources.

In January’s edition of our monthly roundup of the most exciting new downloads for designers and developers, there’s everything from full-blown applications to helpful little side projects. Enjoy!

Observable

Observable lets you explore, analyze, and explain data as a team to uncover insights, and make better decisions. Build fresh data visualizations with drag-and-drop components or JavaScript.

Blocs

Blocs is a no-code website builder based on Bootstrap 5. It has a whole heap of templates, so all you need to do is pick one, customize it, and add your content.

blogstatic

blogstatic is a fantastic no-code blogging platform with a minimal UI that lets you focus on nothing but your content. There’s built-in SEO, plus themes and hosting is included.

Lessmail

Lessmail is an excellent way to clean out your inbox for the new year. Unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters, delete old messages and focus on the mail you want.

Ultimate Side Projects Playbook

Is 2023 the year you’ll launch a web-conquering side project? Give yourself the best chance with the free Ultimate Side Projects Playbook to guide you through the process.

Ashore

Get your web designs, prototypes, and other creative work sign-off fast using Ashore. Upload your files, share them with stakeholders, and track when your designs are approved.

Frase

Frase is an AI tool for researching, writing, and optimizing content with high-quality SEO keywords. Write anything from content briefs to blog posts in a fraction of the usual time.

Uiverse

Uiverse is a collection of UI elements designed by the community that you can use on your site for free or even submit your own designs for others to use.

Rive

Rive is an excellent app for building fast, small, interactive animations and motion graphics for the web. Animations built-in Rive can run on the web or in native apps.

Vuestic UI

Vuestic UI is an excellent UI framework for Vue. All aspects are fully customizable, and Vuestic UI seamlessly integrates with other component libraries for even more options.

Localfonts.xyz

Localfonts.xyz is a simple way to browse the fonts installed on your local machine in your browser. It’s a fast solution for choosing fonts for your designs.

PixelBin

PixelBin is a tool for optimizing and delivering images. It uses AI to transform your assets and allows you to use larger, higher-quality images without bloated load times.

EarlyBird

EarlyBird is a no-code landing page generator perfect for teams launching an early-stage website. You can get your product online fast and start validating it with real users.

RippleUI

RippleUI is a toolkit for UI design that improves on the Tailwind approach by simplifying classes to reduce the amount of code you need. In addition, it includes components and utility classes to speed up your web development.

No Code AI Model Builder

If you want to build your own AI models but you don’t know how to code, you can use No-Code AI Model Builder to generate AI models in minutes.

Templatify

Save hours creating social media templates with Templatify, a collection of 201 templates for Twitter and Instagram. There are dark and light versions, and a full video tutorial shows you how to customize them.

Detangle

Detangle beats small print by using the power of AI to generate human-readable summaries of legal documents so you can understand what you’re signing.

Mesher

CSS Hero’s Mesher creates incredible multicolor gradients that can be customized and exported to CSS for use in your projects.

OldestSearch.com

OldestSearch.com is a fascinating look at the web that was. Enter any search term, and it will return the oldest matching links available on Google Search.

Detect GPT

Detect GPT is a helpful Chrome extension that scans the content of web pages and determines if the content has been auto-generated by AI. It’s very handy for checking the validity of blog posts.

The post Exciting New Tools for Designers, January 2023 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

9 janvier 2023/par Service comm.

Why Web Design Still Matters in 2023

As we move into 2023, there are an increasing number of ways companies can engage with their customers. And as the number of apps, browser extensions, social media feeds, newsletters, vlogs, and podcasts grows, you can be forgiven for thinking that websites are a little less essential than they were in say, 2021.

However, the truth is that websites remain an irreplaceable part of the digital landscape and they will continue to be into 2023 and beyond.

Websites, as the keystone of a centralized, privately run digital experience couldn’t be more relevant. Unlike competing technologies, websites allow almost total control of their source code, and that provides an opportunity for skilled designers and developers to compete against the biggest names in their clients’ industries in a way that simply isn’t possible in tightly governed systems like social media.

Not only does quality web design help businesses increase their traffic, but it can increase the quality of that traffic; an attractive and user-friendly web page will encourage web users to stay on the page longer, and explore more of the content it links to.

Websites vs. Social Media

For many brands, the option they turn to for connecting with customers is social media. Particularly platforms like Facebook and Instagram. While billions of us are happy to while away our free time on social media, it’s not a great platform for informed decision-making or task fulfillment. For any form of productivity, websites are superior:

Flexibility: Websites can be customized to suit a company’s vision and values, whereas social media tends to magnify accounts that reflect its own values.
Ownership: When you publish on your website you own your content, when you post to social media the platform tends to own your content.
Investment: As we’ve seen recently with a certain bird-themed social network, you can spend years investing time in your social media channel only to have it canceled by an individual with his own agenda.
Findability: Websites are discoverable on search engines, and although algorithms govern these search engines, competition across different search engines keeps search algorithms honest. Social media networks each use a single algorithm making them free to skew browsing any way they choose.
Scaleability: Websites can take advantage of the latest technologies to improve user experience, on social media user experience is governed by the network’s decisions.

Websites vs. Apps

When it comes to owning a piece of the internet, a connected app feels like ownership. However, websites have a number of benefits over an app, from a superior user experience to lower development costs. And ultimately, apps are also controlled by 3rd parties.

Accessibility: Websites are universally accessible, while apps are usually limited to certain operating systems or platforms. If you want to distribute to devices, you’ll need to be approved by the store owner who can (and will) change the terms and conditions of store distribution without consulting you.
Flexibility: Websites provide a greater level of flexibility and scalability than apps.
Cost-effective: A simple website can be created and launched in a weekend, they are considerably more cost-effective to develop and maintain than apps.
Findability: Search engines have evolved around website technologies, and it is far easier to create a discoverable website than an app that ranks high in an app store.
Universality: Websites have lower entry costs for users, and there aren’t any downloads or purchases required.
3rd-party features: Websites can integrate 3rd-party content like chatbots, payment gateways, and forms, that generally require licensing to include in an app.

Websites vs. Podcasts and Vlogs

There’s no question that podcasts and vlogs are engaging types of content. However, they are very limited when it comes to different kinds of experience. These tend to be passive, linear experiences. Even if your podcast opens itself up to listener interaction, your customers are still passive consumers.

Cost-effective: Websites can be set up very cheaply, podcasts and vlogs on the other hand require high-production values to compete.
Longevity: Well-written website content can remain relevant for years, the lifespan of a vlog or podcast is often just a few months.
Flexibility: Websites can embed podcasts and vlogs, as well as virtually any other content; podcasts and vlogs can only ever be podcasts and vlogs. Websites will continue to evolve long after podcasts are obsolete.
Simple: There is now a range of no-code options for creating a reliable website, meaning it can be done with little to no skills or experience. Podcasts and vlogs require a great deal of technical knowledge to produce.
Findability: As with other technologies, podcasts and vlogs can’t compete with websites when it comes to search engine optimization.
Faster: A well-designed website is much smaller than a podcast or vlog, making it cheaper and easier to access, especially on a cellular network.

Websites in 2023 and Beyond

In 2023 websites will still be a critical part of a successful business strategy and web designers will continue to be essential members of any team.

Websites continue to offer numerous benefits over other technologies including increased flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and superior search engine opportunities.

Unlike social media platforms that allow you to customize a few assets like avatars and colors, websites can be completely customized to fit the tone and style of a brand. Additionally, websites have a far lower barrier to entry than podcasts, vlogs, or apps. While apps may offer a richer set of features than a website, that is offset by the restrictions on platform and device capabilities that apps impose.

Websites will continue to evolve as the tech landscape changes. New ideas for consuming digital media will appear over time, offering unique new experiences — for example, mass adoption of AR (Augmented Reality) is just around the corner. However, the website is perfectly evolved for the types of simple customer interaction that businesses rely on, and will continue to matter in 2023 and beyond.

Featured image by fullvector on Freepik

The post Why Web Design Still Matters in 2023 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

28 décembre 2022/par Service comm.

Exciting New Tools for Designers, December 2022

Designing a website or app can be a daunting task. But with the right design tools, it can be a lot easier. In this article, we’ll introduce you to some of the best tools, apps, and resources available right now. From client management to AI-powered design tools, there’s tons here to round out the year in style. Enjoy!

WelcomeSpaces

WelcomeSpaces is a collaborative tool for professional designers. Communicate with clients, share files, discuss revisions, and stay on track with an activity feed. Client collaboration has never been so simple.

html.to.design

html.to.design is an excellent plugin for Figma to help you quickly and easily create beautiful designs from existing websites. With just a few clicks, you can import the HTML code for any website and start designing your own version of it.

Squeaky

Squeaky is a privacy-friendly analytics suite that lets you capture up to 60% more data than legacy tools. With Squeaky, you can get insights into your customers’ behavior without compromising their privacy. Use Squeaky to make better decisions for your business.

AI Canvas

AI Canvas is an online collaborative platform that allows users to create and share AI artwork with other community members. Start your artwork with text prompts and watch it grow.

Magician

Magician is an AI-powered plugin for Figma that can create icons, images, and web copy from text prompts. It’s the perfect tool for designers who want to quickly and easily create beautiful designs.

Doughnut

Doughnut is a supportive design and freelancing community designed to help you succeed as a freelance designer. From finding new clients to managing your time, Doughnut has everything you need to make the most of your freelance career.

Deckset

Deckset is a simple way to produce great-looking presentations. Just write your thoughts in your favorite text editor and watch Deckset transform them into beautiful, persuasive presentations.

Vectormaker

With Vectormaker, you can easily convert pixel-based images into colorful vector graphics. Vectormaker uses the Potrace algorithm to trace the edges of your image. You can then choose the colors for your vector path based on the colors in the original.

Wrap

Wrap is a browser extension for capturing and editing product screenshots with ease. With a selection of carefully selected styles to choose from, you can create pixel-perfect designs in seconds—even if you’re not a designer.

Illustration Builder

The Illustration Builder digital designer toolkit is a Figma plugin for creating beautiful illustrations for your business website. You can create any illustration with a wide range of objects, backgrounds, characters, abstractions, and more.

OptiMonk

With OptiMonk, you can create beautiful pop-ups for Shopify, WordPress, MailChimp, and more that will help you increase your marketing reach, increase customer engagement and boost your conversions.

Jot

Jot is a marketing tool that uses OpenAI’s GPT-3 to generate human-like ad copy based on a single product description. With Jot, you can create engaging adverts quickly and easily.

Free Mockup Generator

Pixelied’s free mockup generator allows you to create stunning designs with editable mockups in minutes. With a wide range of customizable templates to choose from, you can design the perfect mockup for your project.

Womp

Womp is a new way to create 3D images. Intuitive and easy to use. With Womp, you can create beautiful 3D designs. Everything you create in Womp is exportable for 3D printing, social media, or directly into a game. It’s a great way to produce 3D icons and illustrations for your website.

Tinkerwell

Tinkerwell is a must-have companion to your favorite IDE. Quickly iterate on PHP code within the context of your web application. There’s no need to waste time opening browsers, creating test URLs, and uploading apps to servers. Use Tinkerwell locally, via SSH, Docker, and even on Laravel Vapor.

Magical

Magical is a tool that helps you speed up the meeting scheduling process. With Magical, you can easily find time slots that work for everyone and create personalized links to those slots. With Magical’s Dynamic Availability feature, you and your attendees can always find the best meeting time.

Explain Code

Explain Code is a great way to understand complicated code. You can see how the code works line by line and learn about programming concepts. Gain in-depth knowledge of how and why code is constructed and fast-track your learning process.

Shuffle Alternatives

Shuffle Alternatives allows you to create multiple site styles with a simple drag-and-drop builder. Create your core design and then choose from different design styles for a site that best fits your brand approach.

Idea Clarity

Get help honing your ideas, perfecting your pitch, and targeting the most profitable directions. Idea Clarity is an app that gives you direct access to experts in your chosen field who will help you revise your rough idea into a concrete plan.

Graphicsly

Graphicsly is an all-in-one graphics assets plugin for WordPress that lets you import directly into your installation. There are 1000+ 3D assets, 3000+ illustrations, and 9000+ icons ready to use today.

The post Exciting New Tools for Designers, December 2022 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

5 décembre 2022/par Service comm.

27 Best Small Business Ideas for Designers

Designers have a wide range of lucrative career options.

This resource puts together some of the best small business ideas to help chart your career path.

It covers the market size, earning potential, estimated startup cost, the target audience, and the value they bring to the table. You’ll also learn how to launch the business, the required training and licenses, and a few companies already killing it in the space for your inspiration.

So, let’s begin.

Table of Contents

Online Course for Designers and Animators

Graphics Design Business Serving Brick-and-Mortar Outlets

Graphics Design and Animation Coach

WordPress Themes and Website Templates

Email and Newsletter Templates Creator

Fonts

Graphics Templates and Marketing Collateral

Presentation Template Designer

Custom T-Shirts and Screen Prints

Comics

Sewing Patterns and Fashion Designs

Wrap Designer

Videographer and Video Editor

Online Freelance Designer

NFT Artist

Event Designers

Extended Reality Designer

Photographer and Photo Editor

Sell Coloring Books

Products and eCommerce Packaging Designer

Publish Books and eBooks

Printing Press

Website Design Services

Graphic Design Academy

Design Teams

Image Credit: Medium

YouTuber

Newspaper, Magazine, and Catalog Design Agency

Online Drawings and Handcrafts Sales

How to Choose the Best Business Ideas as a Designer

1. Online Course for Designers and Animators

The demand for digital designers will grow by 23% until 2031—faster than America’s 5% average occupation growth rate. And the market for online courses will grow at the same speed to reach $198 billion in sales by 2030.

Also, 87% of managers said hiring more UX designers is their organization’s top priority.

Earning potential: $19,500 to $135,000 annually (or $69,900 average).
Top marketplaces: Udemy, Udacity, Skillshare, LinkedIn Learning, Thinkific, Alison, AppSumo, CyberU, PluralSight, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $8,000 to $36,000.

Target Audience and Value

Create and sell online courses based on your transferable design skills. Let’s explore five options:

1. Motion Design Courses

Students pay about $85 to $600 for motion design courses.

And students can recuperate their investment quickly since motion designers earn between $58 to $300 per hour.

2. Product Design Courses

Jaguar C-X16 Design. Creative Commons.

Product design courses are between $85 to over $4,000.

Product designer roles pay about $115,000 annually. And finding employment is easy, as over 70% of hiring managers have increased their designer hires.

3. Graphic Design Courses

Art Director and Graphic Designer Peter Cocking, on utilizing white spaces. Creative Commons.

Top-earning graphics designers earn about $43 an hour or $90,000 a year. So, you can sell this online course for $85 to $15,000 per student.

4. User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Design Courses

Pixabay image

UI/UX online course creators usually take $85 to $2,500 per student. And students who become top earners take home up to $174,000 a year or $84 an hour.

5. Fashion Design Courses

Wikimedia Commons

Fashion designer courses cost $40 to $4,000.

However, top designers earn over $90,000 a year. So your students can get outsized value from their investment.

How to Launch

Launch your online design course in seven steps:

Find a simple course idea
Outline the course
Create the first module
Build your sales page and join marketplaces
Create your thank you page
Write your sales emails
Launch your course

Most people get stuck in the ideas phase. Instead, find a simple course idea based on your skills and launch it.

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Course marketplaces have unique education requirements. So check the publisher requirements of the platform you want to launch the course.

However, most marketplaces do not require special certifications to launch a design course.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Adobe After Effects: Complete Course from Novice to Expert by Louay Zambarakji.

Courses from Motion Design School.

2. Graphics Design Business Serving Brick-and-Mortar Outlets

Graphic design for brick-and-mortar outlets can be a quick way to start your small business for designers. These businesses use graphic design services to create marketing collateral, like flyers, presentations, and brochures, to send brand messages to their audience.

The increasing demand for designers drives consistent global graphic design market growth, currently valued at around $43.4 billion.

Earning potential: $35,000 to $66,000 per year (or $47,921 average)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, SolidGigs, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $2,000 to $10,000.

Target Audience and Value

You can provide graphic design services to countless small businesses, and some of them include:

1. Ice cream shop

Image credit: Fiverr

You can create packaging designs and logos for those planning to own ice cream shops. The top Fiverr designers charge around $25 per project, while some value their services up to $260 per project.

2. Landscaping Business

Image credit: Fiverr

Most landscaping businesses need graphic designers to help with custom 3d Landscape concept design and illustrations for their client’s properties—some designers on Fiverr charge around $180 per project and up to $480 for premium service.

3. Catering Business

Image credit: Fiverr

Catering business logos on Fiverr costs $5 to $100 per project. However, some top designers charge up to $450 for premium services.

4. Food Truck Business

Image credit: Fiverr

Professional food truck and trailer wrap designers on Fiverr charge $25 to over $100 per project. You transform the designs into formats such as AI, JPG, and PDF to provide multiple use options for the business.

5. Pet Sitting

About 70% of U.S. households own a pet. That’s approximately 91 million households, nearly ten million more than the population of Germany, the EU’s largest population, making a pet business lucrative.

You can design logos and marketing materials for pet-sitting and dog-walking businesses. The standard rate on Fiverr is between $5 and $100.

How to Launch

Start your graphic design small business in six steps:

Build your portfolio by offering free designs
Name your graphic design business
Build a basic website
Create social media accounts
Join top graphic design marketplaces
Build your email lists and run ads

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Starting this new business doesn’t need special certifications and licenses. However, pursuing certifications like Adobe Certified Associate and other courses on Udemy and Coursera can advance your credibility.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the small businesses making waves in this space are:

Landor & Fitch.

Polar.

3. Graphics Design and Animation Coach

Graphic design and animation coaching is one of the best small business ideas to start as a designer. Consider this career path if you’re curious about designs and motion graphics and are passionate about teaching.

Employment for professionals in this field will grow by 5% from 2021 to 2031, as fast as the average for all occupations.

Earning potential: $79,153 average compensation per year.
Top marketplaces: Udemy, Coursera, Alison, Fiverr, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $0 to $15,000, depending on whether you run the coaching business from home or the office.

Target Audience and Value

Let’s explore some of the coaching services you can provide:

1. Personal Training and Coaching

Image credit: Iveta Karpathyova Studio

One-on-one graphics and animation coaching via Zoom is in high demand. You can sell your training and coaching service on your website or online marketplaces. Some personal trainers charge about $650 for a three-month-long session.

Most non-marketplace users often charge more. For instance, Iveta Karpathyova, a graphic design personal trainer, takes about $2,000 for eight hours of private one-on-one instruction.

2. Graphic and Animation Coaching for Design Teams

You can use RFPs to find companies who want to train their in-house design teams in 2D or 3D animations. Also, you can target companies that use graphics to boost user engagement, like UX professionals.

Austin Saylor is an example in this space. He earns up to $10,000 from his training program for graphic design teams.

3. Online Courses

Image credit: Udemy

You can create online courses and sell them on marketplaces like Udemy, Coursera, and Alison if you don’t have the resources for one-on-one coaching. For instance, some animation courses on Udemy cost between $20 to $139 for old students or between $14 and $24.99 for new users.

How to Launch

Start your graphic design and animation coaching small business idea in seven steps:

Get professional training
Develop your business plan
Design your coaching courses and certificate of completion
Set your coaching fees
Set up your payment methods and plan your business finances
Choose a coaching business name
Create a logo and your brand identity
Set up your coaching website and social media presence
Design your marketing plan

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Once you possess transferable design and animation skills, you don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to operate a graphic coaching business. However, getting certification training will advance your qualification and give you the confidence to train people.

Some options include:

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some businesses offering graphic design and animation coaching services are:

Austin Saylor

Iveta Karpathyova Studio

Falcon Visuals

4. WordPress Themes and Website Templates

A WordPress theme and website template development business is one of the most lucrative small business ideas for designers.

The WordPress platform controls nearly 65% of the CMS market share and powers 43% of all websites. That’s a staggering 82 million, meaning there are about three times more WordPress websites than the number of web developers worldwide.

Shopify comes a distant second, powering only 3.5% of all websites. However, WordPress has over 11,000 themes. As a theme developer, you can tap into this lucrative market.

Earning potential: $12 t0 $12,000 per theme or template
Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, and Codecanyon.
Estimated start cost: Premium WordPress theme builders costs between $99 to $200

Target Audience and Value

Some of the most successful business ideas or markets to explore in this field are:

1. WordPress Themes Development

Image Credit: Themeforest

Bestselling themes on Themeforest cost $39 to $69, while the most expensive options go for $6,000 to $12,000. Also, Fiverr developers charge up to $1,000 for custom WordPress theme development.

2. Site Templates Development

Best-selling site templates on Themeforest cost between $12 to $49. The high-priced ones go from $200 to $1,000. The price range for popular themes on Creative Market is the same as on Themeforest. However, the most expensive options range from $520 to $5,000.

3. Landing Page Templates Development

Landing page creation is a lucrative business because of its high demand for lead generation. The best-selling landing page templates on Themeforest cost $12 to $39, while the expensive ones go for $59 to $118, making them affordable.

How to Launch

Launch this new business idea with these simple steps:

Pick a niche
Develop your business plan
Set your pricing
Plan your business finances to understand the overhead costs involved
Design your themes and site templates on your computer
Develop the theme with premium theme builders like TemplateToaster or outsource to freelance theme developers.
Create a free version of the theme
Test your theme or site templates
Join a marketplace and sell your theme
Promote your business with paid ads

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to build a successful career as a theme developer. In addition, some theme builders don’t require coding knowledge.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some theme developers on Fiverr and Themeforest are:

Zainshabirdev

Scrn

5. Email and Newsletter Templates Creator

Email template development is another good business idea to explore.

There are over four billion daily email users, sending and receiving more than 306 billion emails daily, making it an effective channel to reach and engage customers. Also, data shows that 37% of brands are increasing their email budget.

As an email and newsletter templates creator, you can design beautiful templates for small and medium-sized businesses that can’t afford an in-house design team, digital marketing services, and marketplaces.

Earning potential: $10 to $150 per project
Top marketplaces: Themeforest, Fiverr, Creative Market, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $0 to $200

Target Audience and Value

You can offer your service on several marketplaces and your website. However, these options provide the most straightforward way to make it big in this field.

1. Themeforest Email Templates

Themeforest’s top-rated email templates cost about $8 to $116. Most of these templates have between 100 and 1,500 sales, indicating high demand for Themeforest email templates. The most expensive option currently costs $117 for the regular license and has sold over 100 copies.

2. Fiverr Email Templates

Demand for Fiverr email template creators is also pretty high. The best-selling professionals take between $10 to $25 per project. However, hand-coded responsive HTML options go as high as $80.

3. Creative Market Email Templates

Creative Market has over 1,500 email templates. The popular designs go for $10 to $39, while the most expensive templates cost between $50 and $150. Most designs are for MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and Constant Contact platforms.

How to Launch

Launch your email and newsletter design business in these few steps:

Pick a niche and develop your business plan
Set your pricing
Design your email and newsletter templates
Test on different devices such as desktop computers, mobile, and iPad
Join marketplaces and sell your templates
Create a logo and business website
Join popular social media and build your online presence
Market your business

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training or licenses to create email and newsletter templates. Instead, strong customer relationships and positive reviews are what you need to thrive in this field.

Example of Businesses in this Space

You can build a profitable business in this field. Let’s see a few of the successful ones for your inspiration.

SendX

Stripe

6. Fonts

Typography is one of the financially rewarding home business ideas for designers.

Custom fonts allow businesses to create unique brand identities to stand out from the crowd. As a result, this space holds limitless opportunities for typographers.

For instance, IBM paid over $1 million annually to use Monotype’s warhorse font Helvetica before developing its IBM Plex typeface.

Other companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and SAP also invested in custom fonts and typefaces to reinforce brand messages and save on licensing fees. So you might want to explore this small business idea. You can also structure it as a consulting business.

Earning potential: $30 to $300,000 for bespoke font
Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative market, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200

Target Audience and Value

The best target audience for this small business idea is brands that want to create a unique identity to differentiate from the competition. Some of the places to sell your service are:

1. Envato

Envato has an extensive library of over 30,000 stunning fonts and types.

Many small business owners and online businesses use the marketplace to find unique fonts. Envato users with an active subscription can download the fonts for any project and marketing campaign.

The individual plan costs $16.5 monthly, while the team plan is available at $10.75 per member. The enterprise plan requires a custom quote.

2. Fiverr

Fiverr is a great place to start a typography business as a beginner. Small business owners and online businesses use it to hire affordable typographers. The platform currently hosts over 2,000 custom font services.

Typographers on the platform charge between $10 to $30 for custom fonts. The top earners take home over $60 for premium services.

3. Corporate Clients

Experienced typographers can explore this option.

Creating bespoke typefaces for corporate clients may cost up to $300,000. First, however, you’ll need to demonstrate your value by building a strong portfolio and understanding how to craft a pitch, an offer, and a closing.

How to Launch

Typographers are in high demand. Start your typography business in five types:

Design your fonts
Build your website and plan your marketing
Join marketplaces and sell your fonts
Build your prospects list
Send custom font design proposals to prospects
Market your business with paid ads and on social media

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Typography is one of the most lucrative home business ideas for designers today. You can start this small business without special certifications and licenses.

However, taking typography courses on Udemy and other learning platforms can help you master your art and design better fonts.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this field are:

Typotheque

Fontfabric

7. Graphics Templates and Marketing Collateral

Marketing collateral is media and graphics materials organizations use to support their sales efforts and advance their brand messages.

It includes anything from brochures, business cards, and posters. These materials give prospects the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.

Creating them as graphic templates lets people customize and use them as they wish, enabling a much larger potential audience size. For example, as a marketing collateral designer, you could also run a consulting business as part of your larger offering.

Earning potential: $10 to $1,300 per project.
Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, Fiverr, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer.

Target Audience and Value

The target audiences for this small business idea are social media managers, cleaning services, brick-and-mortar stores, and dog-walking businesses.

Also, targeting profitable niches like small business owners, personal training businesses, and property managers can lower your customer acquisition and overhead costs.

Let’s examine some graphic templates and marketing collateral you can design for clients.

1. Brochures

Image credit: Envato Elements

Brochures are some of the most widely used marketing collateral.

Creating them as customizable graphic templates and selling them on marketplaces like Envato and Creative Market allows you to attract many users.

You can also offer custom brochure design services on Fiverr. Designers on the platform take between $10 t0 $150 per project.

2. Business cards

Image credit: Envato Elements

Custom business card designers on Fiverr charge between $10 to $640 per project. Some premium services go for as high as $1,300. You can also sell on Envato to earn money from users’ subscription fees.

3. Flyers

Image credit: Fiverr

Flyers are another in-demand marketing collateral. Nearly 50% of surveyed companies said that door drop campaigns are essential to their marketing strategy.

Offering custom flyer design services to these businesses can help you make it big as a designer. Pro-verified designers on Fiverr make between $100 to $495 per project.

Their premium packages cost as much as $1,295.

How to Launch

Launch this small business idea with these six steps:

Get a nice laptop and internet connection
Create an actionable business plan
Define your target market and ideal customers
Build your portfolios
Join marketplace
Create a sales page to attract non-marketplace users
Join social media platforms
Promote your business through paid and organic marketing channels

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You need special training or a license to start this business at home. However, an impressive portfolio will help you land high-paying clients more quickly.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this field are:

Trpeski Design

Brand Design

8. Presentation Template Designer

Creating an entire presentation deck from scratch can be challenging for non-designers.

As a result, 79% of presenters use pre-built templates to find inspiration, streamline their workflow and create stunning presentations in a few minutes. So this is an excellent business idea for designers.

You can explore opportunities in this field to shore up your income and build a flourishing career.

Earning potential: $90 to $6,000
Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, Fiverr, etc.
Estimated start cost: You can start the business with just a computer. It costs between $200 to $1,200 to get a good one.

Target Audience and Value

Businesses in high demand for presentations, like landscaping businesses, property managers, startups, and consultancy businesses, are your targets. Also, executives and busy business people need you too.

Others include personal trainers, social media managers, and cleaning businesses.

Let’s explore some templates you can start with and what each brings to the table.

1. Marketing

Image credit: Envato Elements

Marketing presentation templates do the heavy lifting for salespersons, enabling them to create their presentations and slides quickly. Your presentation design agency can charge between $90 to $6,000 per ten slides.

However, selling on marketplaces enables you to access a ready market with minimal marketing efforts.

2. Pitches

Image credit: Fiverr

A beautifully designed pitch deck helps startup entrepreneurs to make a lasting impression on potential investors. So they often prefer to use templates to create theirs or outsource the project to professionals like you.

You can join marketplaces to reach potential clients more quickly, and there is a lot of money to make from those platforms. For example, pro-verified sellers on Fiverr earn between $100 and $1,500, while premium packages can go for as much as $3,000.

3. Key Notes

Professional keynote presentations from pro-verified designers on Fiverr are between $360 and $650 for the basic package. Non-pro-verified professionals on the platform price their service between $10 to $200.

Presentation design services hourly rate on Upwork ranges from $20 to $95. Some charge as high as $130 per hour.

How to Launch

A presentation template design business is a great business idea to pursue as a designer. You can launch yours with these six steps:

Buy a good computer with enough graphics card
Create a business plan
Define your market and ideal prospects
Build your portfolios
Create your website and join marketplaces
Plan your marketing strategies
Launch your templates

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need any special training, certifications, or licenses for this small business idea. However, an impressive portfolio and many positive customer reviews will do.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Let’s examine some professionals in this space.

24Slides

BrightCarbon

9. Custom T-Shirts and Screen Prints

The high demand for customized wear makes custom T-shirt design a thriving enterprise. Future Market Insights estimated that the market size of global custom T-shirt printing would exceed $3.5 billion in 2022.

Furthermore, they believe it will grow by 9.7% CAGR over the next ten years to reach over $9 billion.

Earning potential: $5 to $1,200 per project and up to $1 million a year.
Top marketplaces: Teespring, Zazzle, CafePress, Redbubble, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: You can start a custom T-shirt design business with $0 from home if you already own a computer and internet connection.

Target Audience and Value

Build your business for these audiences:

1. Custom T-Shirt Design Marketplaces

Image credit: Teespring

Joining and selling your designs on custom t-shirt marketplaces like Teespring (now, Spring), CafePress and Zazzle is your best bet to hit the ground running immediately. T-shirt designs on Teespring can cost as much as $49.99.

2. Fiverr

Pro-verified custom t-shirt designers on Fiverr take home between $125 and $450 per design. Premium packages can go for as high as $1,200—other gigs in the category cost between $5 and $30.

3. eCommerce Store

An eCommerce store for your custom designs lets you control your marketing and the ideal audience you want as customers.

You can also connect the online store to print-on-demand platforms like Printful to run a full-fledged online t-shirt business. There is no limit to how much you can make from this business. Some sellers earn up to $10,000 monthly.

How to Launch

Follow these six steps to launch this business idea:

Find a t-shirt niche
Create your t-shirt design
Join marketplaces to sell your designs
Create an eCommerce to promote your business
Connect your store to print-on-demand software to drop-ship your custom-printed wear

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need any special training to thrive in this space. Getting many positive customer reviews and referrals can help advance your business.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Many designers are in this space, offering custom T-shirt design services to individuals, groups, and local businesses. Some of our top picks for your inspiration are:

Custom Ink

Mandem

10. Comics

Comics are graphic novels. It’s popular among kids and teens. Fortunate Business Insights estimated that the comics market size will reach $12.81 billion in 2028, up from $9.21 billion in 2021. It grew by a staggering 12% in 2020.

Analysts believe it’ll grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2021 to 2028.

Earning potential: $63,167 per year for comic artists and about $210 per project for comic artists and color stylists.
Top marketplaces: ComicConnect, Subzero Comics, and LiveAbout
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer

Target Audience and Value

Comics are lucrative when you build the business around these audiences:

1. Comic Artist

Image credit: Cbr.com

You can try your hands here if you can create attractive graphics and illustrations for comic books. Professionals in this field typically earn over $63,000 a year. But they vary from city to city. For instance, San Francisco, California comic artists take home over $95,000.

2. Comic Book Letterer

Advanced skills in color flattering can also help you get something tangible out of this space. Some professionals in this field earn between $5 to $25 on Fiverr. The verified professionals take between $100 to $210 per project.

3. Color Flatter

Color-flattering services on Fiverr are in high demand. Most color stylists on the marketplace charge between $5 and $40. As a verified professional, you may earn up to $100.

How to Launch

Comics are another successful business idea you can consider as a designer. It’s not expensive to launch, and you can run it 100% from home.

Start your own business in these few simple steps.

Pick a niche and define your market
Develop your business and marketing plan
Set your price
Join marketplaces to sell your service
Create a website to target off-marketplace audiences
Promote your business

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special certification or licenses as a comic artist. However, professional courses on Udemy and other learning platforms can advance your skills.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some professionals in this field are:

Jorge Jiménez

Image credit: Cbr.com

Freyady

11. Sewing Patterns and Fashion Designs

The U.S. 2022 fashion design market size stands at $2.9 billion. Data shows that the market size declined by 1% between 2017 and 2022. However, analysts believe the value will grow at 0.9% in 2022.

Earning potential: Earn up to $130,000 annually.
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, DressX, Replicant, Dribble, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer

Target Audience and Value

Set your sights on these markets to make it big in this field.

1. Fashion Designers

Creating and selling your designs to top-rated designers is one of your best bets to earn big from this small business idea. Most bespoke wears cost several thousand dollars, and many designers won’t mind paying hundreds and thousands of dollars for your designs.

2. Online Marketplaces

Image credit: Fiverr

Joining marketplaces will save you a lot of marketing costs, and there is also money to make from the platforms—top professional stylists on Fiverr earn $100 to $300. You can also sell your designs on Dribble.

3. NFT Fashion Marketplace

Image credit: Replicant

NFT digital fashion marketplaces like Replicant are reimagining fashion designing businesses, allowing anyone to try on a digital garment.

They are a new and growing trend. Jumping in right away lets you secure a space before it gets saturated. And the digital fashion business is financially rewarding.

For instance, the best-selling digital garments on Replicant cost around $35, while the most expensive digital fashion wearables sell for as high as $68.

How to Launch

You can launch this business idea in these steps:

Pick a niche and define your fashion style
Develop your business and marketing plan
Create a physical version of your NFT
Choose and blockchain for your NFT and set up your digital wallet
Select an NFT marketplace
Create a business website to promote your digital fashions
Join social media to improve your online presence

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

The fashion design business doesn’t require any special training, certification, or licenses.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this space are:

Olivia Goodall

Trend Miles

12. Wrap Designer

The wrap design business is one of the most profitable business ideas to start as a designer.

Several organizations and individuals wrap their vehicles for branding and aesthetic purposes.

In addition, a vehicle wrap is cheaper than a painting, driving its demand in the U.S. The global automotive car wrap film market was $4.9 billion in 2021.

Analysts estimated it will grow at a CAGR of 22.2% from 2022 to 2030.

Earning potential: $21 per hour
Top marketplaces: Wrap Stock, Fiverr, Design Hill, Upwork, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200

Target Audience and Value

Wrap design small businesses can target:

1. Auto Shops

Many auto repair shops in the U.S. offer car wrap services. You can create and sell your designs to them. They charge clients between $2,500 and $5,000 to wrap their vehicles, so it’s fair to expect some money from them for your design.

2. Car Owners

Top-rated custom wrap designers on Upwork charge between $30 and $50 hourly rates. Several have earned $10,000 to $60,000 creating and selling bespoke wrap designs on the platform.

3. Marketplaces

Image credit: Wrap Stock

You can upload and sell your designs on marketplaces like Wrap Stock.

Here, you don’t have to worry about marketing or running ads. Instead, the platform handles every aspect of the process, enabling you to focus on creating stunning designs.

How to Launch

Launch this wrap design small business idea in these steps:

Pick a niche
Develop your business plan and sales processes
Create your designs
Turn your designs into templates downloadable in different formats
Join marketplaces to sell your design templates
Create a website to promote your business
Offer custom design services

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This small business idea doesn’t require special training, licenses, or certification. However, building your portfolio and generating positive reviews can advance your credibility.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this space are:

Inflamez Designs

Sean P

13. Videographer and Video Editor

About 87% of businesses use video as a marketing tool.

YouTube, the world’s largest online video-sharing platform, has over 122 million daily users. They watch over one billion hours of content each day. Every minute, creators upload more than 500 hours of videos. These make video editing a lucrative business.

Earning potential: $49,496 average base salary per year
Top marketplaces: Upwork, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $250 to $1,020 for professional video editing software yearly subscription

Target Audience and Value

Let’s explore some ways you can earn money with your skills:

1. Marketplace

Image credit: Fiverr

Most video editors sell their services on Fiverr, Upwork, and other talent marketplaces. They charge between $10 to $40 per gig on Fiverr and an hourly rate of $10 to $25 on Upwork. You can join both marketplaces to maximize your options and reach a wider audience.

2. Portfolio Website

Create a portfolio website to target non-marketplace audiences and sell your service. It lets you take charge of your marketing, build your customer list and manage your customer relationships 100%. The median hourly rate of video editors is $20.

How to Launch

Videography and video editing are profitable business ideas. Launch yours in these simple steps:

Pick a niche and your target audience
Write a business and marketing plan
Buy video editing software
Join marketplaces
Create a website to promote your business
Run ads and market your service

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This small business idea doesn’t require special training and licenses, especially if you want to run it from home. However, getting professional video editing training and certification can help you become a better video editor.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some businesses in this field are:

Tasty Edits

Replayed

14. Online Freelance Designer

The freelance industry currently contributes about $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy. With over 58 million people offering freelancing services in the country, analysts believe it will grow to become the U.S. majority workforce.

A career path as an online freelance designer lets you have a slice of the pie.

Earning potential: $25 to $150 per hour
Top marketplaces: Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200

Target Audience and Value

An online freelance design offers limitless opportunities to designers. The small business idea will stay true to its potential when you build it around these target markets:

1. Marketplaces

Joining a marketplace gives you instant access to ready-to-buy customers—beginners in this space charge between $10 and $80 on Fiverr. Pro-verified experts earn up to $800. Upwork graphic designers take $14 to $95 per hour.

2. Freelance Website

A website lets you create a unique brand identity for your graphic design business.

It also allows you to approach your prospects directly, control your pricing and scale your business over time. The $20 to $150 average industry hourly rate is encouraging, and you can charge more as your business advances.

How to Launch

Action the steps below to launch this small business idea.

Pick a niche and define your ideal clients
Create a marketing and business plan
Build your portfolio
Set your price
Join marketplaces
Create a small business website

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

A freelance graphic designer doesn’t need any special license or training. However, acquiring advanced design and marketing skills improve their odds of having a successful career.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the top professionals in this field are:

Dimi Designs

Gaurav C.

15. NFT Artist

NFT lets owners prove authorship and authenticity, future-proofing digital assets. It’s one of the latest in-thing today and a trend that is not dying off soon.

The value of the global non-fungible token market was $4.6 billion in 2021. Analysts estimated that the market size will grow at a staggering CAGR of 23.9% between 2022 and 2028 to reach nearly $20 billion at the end of the forecasted period.

Earning potential: $96,643 average annual salary (the top 10% earn about $360,000 yearly)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, OpenSea, SuperRare
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a computer with a sound graphics card

Target Audience and Value

Let’s examine some target audiences for your NFT art business.

1. NFT Creators

Create unique NFT art collections and sell them to NFT creators with the metadata. You can sell the service on Fiverr and Upwork. NFT artists on Fiverr charge between $40 and $150 for basic packages, while those on Upwork collect up to $5,000.

2. NFT Marketplaces

Image credit: OpenSea

You can mint your art on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, SuperRare, and others if you’re uncomfortable selling them to third-party NFT creators. The opportunities in this space are limitless. For example, some NFTs on OpenSea sell for as high as 19 ETH floor price.

How to Launch

Launch this NFT art small business idea in these few simple steps:

Define why you’re going into the business
Pick a niche
Join marketplaces to sell your art
Set up an Ethereum wallet If you wish to mint your arts
Find a minting platform that meets your needs
Mint and sell your NFT arts

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need any special training or license. However, you can take online NFT minting courses on Udemy, Coursera, and other learning platforms to master the art.

Also, the business doesn’t have special license requirements.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this field are:

Nyolings

Shallu N

16. Event Designers

Event designers work with planners to help them put details into their decorations. However, unlike planners focusing on event logistics and ensuring everything is on schedule and running smoothly, event designers transform the space and bring clients’ visions to life.

Earning potential: $43,977 median annual salary (the top 25% earns up to $50,000 annually0
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $300 to $3,000 to start the business from home. It’ll require a laptop, project management platforms (for example, ClickUp), and virtual event design software (3D Event Designer).

Target Audience and Value

Segment your audience, targeting these markets:

1. Corporate Organizations

Most organizations and companies hold at least one corporate event, such as annual general meetings, award ceremonies, and product launches. You can work with them to plan out the design and decoration. Payment is usually per project, and it’s encouraging.

2. Event planners

Image credit: Harpers Bazaar

Partnering with event planners is your odds-on-favorite to ensure a steady supply of gigs. So, you don’t need a big marketing budget. Most event planners are already entrenched in the system and can quickly put something on your plate.

3. Catering Services

Catering services are another solid option to explore. Most caterers want to know how to set up their buffet and other items to ensure a seamless workflow. You can create multiple floor layouts of the event space to show them ways to arrange their stuff.

How to Launch

Launch a successful event design small business idea in these six steps:

Define your target audience
Buy project management and virtual event design software
Create virtual event designs to show off your skills
Join marketplaces
Build your websites and create social media accounts
Collaborate with event planners
Market your business to build your clientele

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This small business idea doesn’t require any special training, certification, or license.

However, professional certification and training in project management can make you a better event designer. Also, you’ll need a strong customer relationship, positive reviews, and a referral network to thrive in this space.

You might not need special licenses to run the business from home.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this field are:

Encore Event Design

Mindy Rice Design

17. Extended Reality Designer

Extended Reality (XR) is the catch-all term for all immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR).

Mordor Intelligence predicts the XR market valued at $26.05 billion in 2020, will grow at a staggering CAGR of 62.7% between 2021 and 2026 to reach $463.7 billion. A career as an XR designer can bring a lot to the table.

Earning potential: $106,097 average salary per year.
Top marketplaces: Unity Asset Store, Unreal Engine, Oculus Rift Store.
Estimated start cost: $62 to $23,200.

Target Audience and Value

Who is your target audience in this space? First, let’s examine the top two and what you can gain from them.

1. XR Developers

Image credit: The Academy of International Extended Reality

You can have a lucrative career as an XR designer, working with extended reality developers to create cutting-edge XR applications for forward-thinking businesses.

While designers focus on figuring out the “whys” and ‘what’s” of the projects, developers’ interests rely on transforming them into a reality.

Typical XR designers earn around $106,000 annually. The more experienced hands go home with over $215,000 each year. So you’re getting in early on an industry poised for rapid growth.

2. Marketplace

Selling your XR assets on specialized marketplaces like Unity Asset Store, Unreal Engine, and Oculus Rift store lets you access a ready market, minimizing the efforts you need to put in to build your clientele.

You can also list on Upwork to diversify your income. For example, XR designers on the marketplace earn $20 to $85 per hour. Some designers have earned over $500,000 selling their skills on the platform.

How to Launch

These steps can help you launch this XR design small business idea:

Pick a niche
Write a business plan detailing the market opportunities you wish to exploit
Register your business if you’re renting an office space
Acquire XR hardware and software
Create your marketing plan and launch your website
Join marketplaces to sell your service
Hire and train your staff, including a social media manager and digital marketing professional
Collaborate with XR developers

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This Extended Reality design small business idea doesn’t require any special licenses.

However, you’ll need specialized training and certifications to advance your credibility and credentials. Some of the top-rated in the industry are

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this space are:

Jalaj S.

Or Fleisher

18. Photographer and Photo Editor

The photography business is competitive, and you can build a sustainable career, even while working from home, with the right skills.

The future outlook for the industry looks promising.

Analysts expect the global market size to reach $44.07 billion in 2025 from $32.92 billion in 2020, meaning, in three years, the global photography business value will be more than half the Serbian GDP, a country of over seven million people.

Earning potential: $29,230 to $109,760 per year (the average base annual salary is $60,298)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Pixabay, Shutterstock, Getty Image, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $10,000 to $15,000.

Target Audience and Value

You can work with these people as a photographer and photo editor:

1. Event Planners

Image credit: Expert Photography

Event planners can guarantee you steady gigs. Working with them means you don’t have to worry about prospecting, writing proposals, and closing clients.

Some professional photographers charge between $75 and $300 per image, while experienced ones may earn up to $1,000.

2. Marketplace

Marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork are other excellent options for beginners. For example, photo editors on Upwork take home about $20 to $100 per hour; some have earned over $250,000 since joining the platform.

3. Commercial Photography

Image credit: Expert Photography

Commercial photography is one of the most lucrative options in this field. The professionals here earn between $800 to $5,000 per day. The licensing fees often start from $250 and may get as high as $10,000.

4. Stock Photography

You can start a stock photography website or join already established stock photo websites like Shutterstock to sell your photos. Monthly subscriptions on Shutterstock cost between $49 to $479. The platform has paid over $1 billion to contributors in the last 15 years.

How to Launch

Launch your photography and photo editing business in these steps:

Find your niche and target market
Pick a nice location if you wish to run a brick-and-mortar business
Register your business to legalize it
Open a business bank account and set up accounting for the business
Check with local authorities for the necessary permit
Get photo editing business insurance
Purchase photography equipment, gear, and photo editing software
Create a unique brand identity for the business
Develop your business website and add your business to social media
Build your portfolio
Join marketplaces

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This business model doesn’t require special training, licenses, or certifications.

However, investing in professional courses can help you become better at what you do. Online courses are a great place to start. For example, you can check Udemy and Coursera for top-rated photography courses.

When creating a website for your business, consider taking marketing and customer relationship courses to improve your client acquisition skills.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses for your inspiration are:

Seatown Photo

James Maher Photography

19. Sell Coloring Books

A coloring book is one containing line art for coloring with the crayon. It’s a healthy way to relieve stress, calm the brain and help the body relax.

The adult coloring books market peaked between 2014 and 2017. It sold over 12 million books in 2015, up from one million copies the previous year.

Although on a decline today, exploring options in this field can be lucrative.

Earning potential: $10,000 to $40,000 monthly
Top marketplaces: Amazon, Lulu, Etsy, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a good computer

Target Audience and Value

Create and sell coloring books online. You can begin with some of these marketplaces:

1. Children’s Coloring Books

Children’s coloring books are popular on Amazon. A quick search shows over 80,000 results—the top-rated books on the marketplace cost between $5.99 and $12.

2. Adult Coloring Books

Lulu is an online self-publishing book company. Creating and selling coloring books on the platform lets you reach over one million monthly visitors. They also handle inventory and fulfillment. A paperback coloring book on Lulu sells for up to $16.

3. Teenagers

Teenagers use coloring books, and you can target teen themes that attract that audience. These books typically cost $8 to $38. You can even publish digital versions of these coloring books.

4. Teach People to Create and Sell Coloring Books

If you’ve found success creating and selling coloring books, you can teach others how to do it. Typically, these courses cost $14 and $50 and can attract over 5,000 students.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to start selling coloring books:

Pick a niche
Write and design your book
Decide on whether to self-publish or use publishing companies
Format and edit your book
Design the cover art or outsource to freelancers
Sort the copyright and ISBN
Set the pricing
Upload and sell your book
Promote your coloring books on social media

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Selling coloring books doesn’t require any special training or certification. You don’t also need special licenses to run this business.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this field are:

Michelle Lawrence

Karen Sue Chen

20. Products and eCommerce Packaging Designer

Product packaging designers develop eye-catching labels and product packages that meet safety and packaging regulations. In addition, they often work closely with the marketing team to create designs that reinforce the brand’s messaging.

Analysts expect the market size of packaging design services to reach nearly $32 billion in 2030, up from $21.9 billion.

Earning potential: $37,000 to $80,000 annual base salary (the average salary for packaging designers in the U.S. is $51,000 yearly)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, 99Designs, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $62 to $23,259.

Target Audience and Value

Getting gigs is the most challenging aspect of this business. Some sources you might want to explore are:

1. Brick-and-Mortar Retail outlets

Image credit: Johns Byrne

Approach and pitch your packaging designs to nearby brick-and-mortar stores. Also, run paid adverts to reach more businesses and direct them to your website to schedule a discovery call—a typical packing designer charges between $80 to $100 per hour.

2. eCommerce Stores

Image credit: PakFactory Blog

Many eCommerce stores fulfill their orders. Work with them to design custom packaging to ship their orders. You can reach them online via paid and organic promotions.

The $80 to $100 hourly rate is the competitive fee for designers in this niche.

3. Marketplaces

Product packaging designers on Upwork take between $20 to $100 per hour. Also, pro-verified designers on Fiverr earn $500 to $1,000 per project. So, there is so much money to make from this channel.

How to Launch

Start your product packaging design business in these simple steps:

Study the different product packaging needs to understand your audience’s needs.
Select a niche for your business.
Build your portfolio.
Set your price.
Determine your positioning for differentiation.
Establish your brand identity.
Join marketplaces.
Create a website and join social media platform.

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This business idea doesn’t require any special certification and training to start. However, obtaining packing training, licenses, and certificates can set you apart from competitors.

So consider these options:

Certified Packaging Professional (CPP)
Certificate of Packaging Science (CPS)
Certificate of Mastery in Packaging Management (CMPM)

Also, check with local authorities for necessary licenses.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some businesses and professionals in this space are:

Johns Byrne

Paul Virian

21. Publish Books and eBooks

Publishing books and eBooks is an excellent way to monetize your design skills.

A career as an author is financially rewarding, and the future also looks promising. A report by Technavio shows that the electronic books market will grow by $6.93 billion between 2020 and 2030.

Also, published books don’t have recurrent expenditures. So you have nothing to lose exploring your options in this field as a designer.

Earning potential: 70% on every book sold on Amazon Kindle
Top marketplaces: Amazon, Lulu, Apple Books, Kobo, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $0 to $4,000.

Target Audience and Value

You can write books based on your transferable skills, case studies, or the latest trends. Some of the platforms to self-publish your work are:

1. Amazon

Amazon receives over two billion monthly visits, making it the biggest platform to self-publish books and eBooks. Most books on the marketplace are available at $2 to $30. So, some authors earn between $5,000 and $8,000 each month.

2. Apple Books

Self-publishing on Apple Books lets you target a wide range of Apple device users, including CarPlay and Apple Watch. Apple has sold over two billion iOS devices, and over 100 million people use Macs worldwide. So the Apple Book brings so much to the table.

3. Online bookstore

You can sell through your website if you drive enough traffic to the online store and fulfill your orders. Your online store allows you to set your price, control your messaging, target your ideal audience and manage your customer list.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to turn this small business idea into a reality:

Pick a niche
Choose a topic and write your book or eBook
Edit your book or hire a professional editor
Design your book cover or outsource
Format the book or hire a freelancer
Choose a self-publishing platform and upload your book
Create an online community for your books business
Hire a social media manager and digital marketing services to promote your books

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training or certifications to start a book or eBook publishing business. However, getting and flaunting them can boost your credibility and show off your expertise. Also, advanced book publishing and formatting courses can help you create better-looking and attractive books.

You can find and take these courses on Udemy, Coursera, and Alison.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some designers in this space are:

Debbie Millman

Ellen Shapiro

22. Printing Press

The printing business is financially rewarding. About 25,000 U.S. companies are into commercial printing. They generate nearly $900 billion in revenue annually, more than the Saudi Arabian GDP and almost half that of Italy—the EU’s third-largest economy.

Earning potential: $65,000 for operators to $100,000 a year.
Top marketplaces: Yelp, Craigslist, Nextdoor, and Yellow Pages.
Estimated start cost: Industry leaders reported spending $146,000 to $400,000.

Target Audience and Value

Set up your printing press to target these audiences:

1. Businesses

BluSky ETO

The global commercial printing market is lucrative and has impressive long-term growth potential. You can have a slice of the pie by providing printing services to businesses like marketing collateral, catalogs, magazines, product labels, and packaging.

The U.S. has over 10 million companies, so you always have options.

2. Political and Social Campaigns

Image credit: ABC News

Thousands of political and social campaigns happen in the U.S. yearly, making campaign posters and signage printing a thriving business.

The 2022 market size for printed signage alone is $33.9 billion, and analysts expect the number to grow at a CAGR of 2.8% to reach $40.08 billion in 2028.

3. Authors

The number of books published yearly in the U.S ranges from 500,000 to one million, excluding self-published authors. In 2021, the country sold over 826 million physical books, that’s nearly three books per citizen on average. So you can earn big printing books.

How to Launch

Launch your printing shop in ten steps:

Define your target market and develop your business model
Rent office space in a nice location
Register your business to make a legal entity
Open a business bank account and set up accounting for the business
Check with local authorities for the necessary permits and licenses
Secure a business insurance
Purchase and set up the equipment you need for the print shop
Create a logo for a unique brand identity
Develop your business website and join social media platforms
Develop your marketing plan and run promotions

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

A printing press doesn’t require any special training and certification to start.

However, you should comply with OSHA requirements and regulations. Also, check with the local authorities to learn other necessary environmental, health, and safety requirements.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this space are:

RRD Printing

Taylor Printing Solutions

23. Website Design Services

The 2022 total number of web developer and digital interface designer jobs in the U.S. is around 200,000.

However, Statista believes the number will reach 229,000 in 2032, while the total number of web developers and designers will grow to 205,000, so there’ll be enough jobs to go around.

Earning potential: $3,000 to over $75,000 per project.
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $62 to $36,061.

Target Audience and Value

Model your small business web development idea around these markets to have a home run.

1. Local Businesses

Image credit: Unsplash

Small businesses and eCommerce stores drive the growing demand for business websites. A web development agency’s custom services cost between $15,000 and $30,000. But more complex site design projects can go as high as $75,000.

2. Charities

Image credit: Unsplash

Charities are another excellent option for web designers. Most of them need simple websites. So you’ll be looking at making $2,000 to $5,000 per project as a freelancer. And you can command up to $30,000 if you’re an agency.

3. Marketplaces

Verified professional web designers on Fiverr walk away with $100 to $5,000 after each project. They priced some of their premium packages up to $12,000.

Web designers on Upwork charge between $25 and $150 per hour for their services.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to start a web design agency:

Define your target market
Rent an office space if you wish to run an out-home agency
Register your business to make it a legal entity
Secure a business insurance
Choose a business name and create a unique logo
Develop your business website and set up social media accounts
Build your portfolios
Create a marketing plan and run promotions

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Once you have the requisite skills, you don’t need special training or certification to launch a web design service. However, enrolling in project management certification courses can help you seamlessly manage your workflow and customer expectations.

Other necessary certifications are:

User experience and usability courses to build sites with frictionless navigation
Search Engine Optimization certifications for search-friendly designs
Conversion rate optimization courses to create high-converting websites
Graphic and 3D animations to create stunning graphics

Example of Businesses in this Space

Check out these businesses to see what other people are doing in this space:

MWD Web Design Inc.

Colton J.

24. Graphic Design Academy

A graphic design academy might cost you an arm and a leg, but it’s lucrative, as most soft skill training centers.

Data shows that the global soft skill training market reached over $24 billion in 2020, and market analysts believe the number will grow by a CAGR of 12.3% between 2022 and 2027 to reach $47.2 billion in 2027.

Besides the financial rewards, a career as an instructor can be fulfilling. You should consider this career path if you have a passion for teaching or other transferable skills to share with others.

Earning potential: $39,000 to $93,000 yearly total pay (average salary is $56,438 per year)
Top marketplaces: Yelp
Estimated start cost: $14,491 average startup cost for skills training center

Target Audience and Value

Some of the target audiences for this business idea are:

1. Design Teams

Image Credit: Medium

Approach nearby businesses and show them how your training program can help advance the skills of their design team and save the company money. Then, negotiate your pay based on the value you are bringing to the table and what you think the business can afford.

2. College Students

Image Credit: Ms. Magazine

College students are excellent targets for graphic design training skills. Reach those that are interested in acquiring graphic design skills with paid ads.

You can run foundational, undergraduate, and postgraduate programs to cater to all categories of students. For example, some training schools charge up to $40,000 for postgraduate graphic design degree programs.

3. Graphic Designers

Professional graphic designers are always looking for ways to advance their design skills. You can target this segment with professional certification programs or bootcamps. You might also partner with reputable certifying bodies like Adobe to offer their certification programs.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to launch your academy:

Develop your training programs and modules
Set your training fees and payment plans
Rent a training center in a good location
Register your academy
Secure the appropriate licenses and insurance policy
Design your training center to set the right ambiance
Create a logo for the business
Design a website with online learning features to cater to out-of-location students
Set up your social media presence
Develop your marketing plan
Hire and train your staff

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You’ll need a license to run a degree-awarding training center.

Also, it would help if you had more than transferable graphic design skills as an instructor. Your students expect you to have professional certifications and specialized training from recognized bodies.

Some top options are:

Adobe Certified Associate
Graphic and Digital Design Certificate (Parsons School of Design)
Udemy or Coursera professional graphic design and animation courses
Master’s degree in graphic design

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some graphic design training centers are:

The New School

Certiport

25. YouTuber

YouTube is not just a video-sharing platform. It’s also the second-largest search engine after Google. Over 2.6 billion people use the platform once a month. They spend about one billion hours daily watching five billion videos.

A career as a YouTuber is financially rewarding but never a walk in the park.

Identifying your target audience and creating content that addresses their pain point is the most straightforward to succeed in this space.

Earning potential: $80 to over $55,000 monthly.
Top marketplaces: YouTube.
Estimated start cost: $150 to $1,100.

Target Audience and Value

You can target prospective graphic designers or designers with your video. Some ways you can monetize your YouTube content are:

1. YouTube Ads

Joining the YouTube partner program is the most popular option for monetizing YouTube videos through YouTube ads.

However, to qualify, you’ll need to rake in at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 video watch hours in the past year. Then, you can earn between $2 to $12 per 1,000 views.

2. Sell Merchandise or Courses

Another way to monetize YouTube videos is by selling merchandise. If you don’t have any physical product, you can promote your design courses before or after your YouTube videos and drop the purchase link in the video description.

3. Sponsored Videos

Image credit: Fran Patrillo.

Influencer marketing is reimagining how brands connect with their customers. YouTube is the second most popular platform for influencer marketing. Join the train if you have a large and engaged following.

Several brands can pay you $500 to $10,000 to recommend their products. Some may even pay up to six figures for a YouTube campaign if they are sure of the results.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to launch a career as a YouTuber:

Understand your audience and find your niche
Create a YouTube channel and brand yourself
Decide on the monetization strategy
Invest in good camera and gear
Acquire video editing skills and video editing software if you don’t want to outsource
Develop your content calendar
Create your first video and upload
Optimize your video for search engines
Run YouTube to promote your videos

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to become a YouTuber.

However, taking video editing courses can save you a lot of money. Also, if your business model centers on teaching your audience design skills, you should acquire professional certifications in the field to advance your credibility.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the designs YouTubers making a wave in the industry are:

4 The Creatives

Graphic Island

26. Newspaper, Magazine, and Catalog Design Agency

The global digital newspaper and magazine market, valued at $34.2 billion in 2021, will grow at a CAGR of 4.2% between 2022 and 2028 to reach $45.6 billion. The industry looks promising. You can register your agency and run it from the comfort of your home.

Earning potential: $35,000 to $67,000 base salary per year (the average is 48,289 yearly)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Legit, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $2,300 to $5,200

Target Audience and Value

Some of the target audiences for this business are:

1. Newspaper and Magazine Companies

Image credit: Envato

Partner with newspaper and magazine companies. Offer to handle their designs to save them the cost of maintaining a full-time in-house team. Working with them can guarantee you a steady supply of jobs. Negotiate your pay per page or project.

Some magazine designers charge $50 to $90 per page.

2. Marketplaces

Join marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork to build your client base and portfolio incrementally. You can earn between $10 to $55 by selling your service on Fiverr. Some designers on Upwork charge about $30 and up to $750 per project.

Catalog designers on the platform earn between $20 and $100 per hour.

3. eCommerce and Retail Businesses

eCommerce brands and retail businesses are your largest audience. Most of them use product catalogs and magazines to spread their marketing messages.

You can approach them for custom designs or target them with customizable templates on your websites or third-party template marketplaces like Envato or Creative Market.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to launch this business at home:

Identify your target market
Choose a name and register the business
Get business insurance
Buy design software
Create a website and set up social media accounts
Hire and build your remote team
Design newspaper, catalog, and magazine templates to build your portfolio
Join marketplaces
Promote your business

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to run this business model. However, you can find relevant professional courses to advance your skills.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this field are:

Corey F.

Luis L

27. Online Drawings and Handcrafts Sales

You can build a sustainable career selling custom drawings and handcrafts art collectors. Statista projected that the global arts and crafts market will grow from $35 billion in 2017 to $50.9 billion in 2024.

Besides the tempting financial rewards, the business lets you express yourself and bring your imagination to life.

Earning potential: $12.5 to $49.84 per hour (the average hourly rate is $20.97)
Top marketplaces: Etsy, Shopify, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a personal computer and software.

Target Audience and Value

Build your business around art lovers. It helps you lower acquisition costs and maintains a high conversion rate. Some small business ideas in this field are:

1. Offer Custom Art

Image credit: Yasmeen A

You can make a lot of money creating custom art for clients. Since they’re tailor-made and provide personal significance and uniqueness, most collectors will be okay with paying more to have them on their walls.

Commissioned paintings from experienced artists cost $100 to $10,000.

2. Start Online Craft Store

Image credit: The Indian Express

An online store for your craft business lets you transform your passion and creativity into a business. Moreover, it’s lucrative so that you can earn a good living.

Candle making, jewelry, and headbands are some craft business ideas for your inspiration. Others include embroidery, home decor, sculpture, and decorative pillows.

Also, sell your crafts on Amazon, Etsy, and other marketplaces to reach more people.

3. Sell Your Drawing Online

Image credit: Artmajeur

Create stunning hand-drawn images and sell them on art marketplaces like Shutterstock and iStock. Also, sell on your website to cater to non-marketplace users.

Additionally, license your art to businesses for commercial use. It’s where the money is. You can make between $100 and $10,000 from licensing fees.

How to Launch

Follow these simple steps to launch your online drawing and handcrafting small business ideas:

Identify the gap in the market—decide what you’re going to sell
Define your target audience and pick a niche
Name and register your business
Create a logo and brand your business
Design your website and set up your social media
Create sales pages and join marketplaces
Plan your supply chain and order fulfillment
Make your crafts or sample drawings
Promote your business

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This business model doesn’t require special training, certification, or licenses. However, check with local authorities to learn what applies in your area.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the design businesses making it big in this space are:

Cedar and Sail

Artisaire

How to Choose the Best Business Ideas as a Designer

We have explored some of the best small business ideas for designers. When you start your journey, choose options that match your passion and career objectives.

And remember to use this resource to start on the right footing.

Featured image via Unsplash.

The post 27 Best Small Business Ideas for Designers first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

21 novembre 2022/par Service comm.

How to Sell on Pinterest Without a Website

You don’t need an online shop to sell on Pinterest, but owning one can give you the upper hand.

The only problem is that managing an eCommerce store is expensive.

On the other hand, selling on Pinterest has a low entry barrier. So it’s an excellent place to start even if you can’t afford a website.

Plus, Pinterest has many engaged users who are happy to buy your product, craft or offer. This is the only social media network where the most significant users hold the most disposable income in America.

This guide shows you how to sell to these top spenders on Pinterest, whether you own a website or not.

What Pinterest Brings to the Table
Selling On Pinterest Without a Website
Organize Your Products into Boards
Publish Your Products as Pins
Promote Pins on Pinterest
Go Beyond Pinterest
Blog on Medium
Selling On Pinterest With a Website
Set up Your Online Store
Add Your Product Catalog
Create Rich Pins
Stay Organized With Product Groups
Prompt With Shopping Ads
Wrapping It Up

What Pinterest Brings to the Table

Pinterest is not just a visual discovery engine. The social network brings more to the table.

With 433 million monthly active users and over one billion web visits in August 2022, the platform offers businesses new opportunities to reach highly engaged audiences.

Data Source: SimilarWeb

Also, data shows that about 38% of pinners have a college education, whereas Snapchat is 20%, Twitter is 32%, and Reddit stands at 15%, offering you access to a sophisticated market.

The social network enables about two billion monthly searches.

The company’s data revealed that 97% of the searches are unbranded, providing a level playing ground for all competing brands. However, for context, 42% of Google search queries are with branded keywords, meaning many searchers already have a brand in mind before searching.

Also, 80% of pinners said they discovered new products or brands on Pinterest, and 85% buy things they’ve seen from brands. Additionally, pinners are 55% more likely to buy a product after seeing a visual on Pinterest compared to other platforms.

The platform is not all talk and no action.

For instance, nearly nine in ten weekly pinners make buying decisions on Pinterest, and 50% of users have bought after seeing a Promoted Pin.

Pinterest might not be as popular and imposing as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok, but the user engagement shows the platform can hold its ground against some perennial favorites.

Its numbers are impressive, making Pinterest too good to pass up.

Selling On Pinterest Without a Website

You can sell on Pinterest without a website.

It’s an excellent option for affiliate marketers. A Pinterest business account will work best since it lets you monitor analytics and run ads. You might also need a Facebook page and a Medium account to further your marketing.

When you’re ready, here’s how to start selling on Pinterest without a website.

Organize Your Products into Boards

Pinterest Board is a collection of pins.

It lets you stay organized. You can create different boards to categorize your products. For example, having boards for televisions, sound systems, video players, and other products in your catalog will make sense if you deal in electronics. You can further classify the boards into sections, like LG, Samsung, and Sony.

Boards make it easy for shoppers to find your products.

To create one, log in to your profile and click the Saved tab.

Click the + icon to reveal a drop-down menu, then select Board from the options.

Enter the product category in the name field to create the Board.

Open the newly created Board, click the ellipsis icon (the three horizontal dots), then the Edit board option to type a befitting description for the Board.

Use the Organize option to create and organize the pins into sections.

Publish Your Products as Pins

Create visually engaging pins to display your products.

One exciting thing about Pinterest is that you can create unlimited pins for the same product using different visuals, titles, and descriptions. And the more pins you create, the greater your chances of increasing your visibility and CTR.

The mistake most brands make is creating a single pin for a product and leaving the rest to fate.

But it doesn’t work that way.

As a visual discovery engine, you’ll need to create a lot of pins to stand out and hold your ground on Pinterest. It also lets you cover most of the keywords pinners use to discover products on the platform, stretching your visibility further.

To create pins, head to your profile and select Create Pin from the Create drop-down to begin.

On the next page, select the Board you wish to have the Pin on from the drop-down, then enter the Pin’s title. Of course. Use the keywords people are likely to search for to target Pinterest searchers.

You can see in this Pin that Cicinia, an online retailer of bridal dresses and accessories, uses searchable keywords in the title. But the Pin doesn’t have a description. Don’t make the same mistake.

Write a compelling description to entice users to click your link.

You can search your keywords on Google to see what other brands have as their descriptions if you don’t know what to write. Then, add a discount code to the description if you have any. It supports up to 500 characters, so make the most of it.

Finally, upload your visuals, add your alt text describing the visual you uploaded, then include the destination link, in this case, your affiliate link, and publish the Pin.

Repeat this step for the rest of your products.

Promote Pins on Pinterest

Pinterest comes with a built-in ad manager.

With this tool, you can promote your pins to the perfect audience. It lets you target people based on demographics like age, gender, and location. You may also run campaigns based on their interests or search terms.

Additionally, Pinterest allows advertisers to upload their customer lists for custom targeting. However, it works best for sellers that own a website.

Running ads means you don’t have to compete with the over 240 billion pins for attention. Instead, promoted pins put you on the spot and in front of the right people.

Dimniko, an online advertising agency, helped a client sell over 22,500 products with Pinterest ad campaigns, generating up to 11-times ROAS.

The brand pivoted to Pinterest after experiencing slow sales from other channels. According to them, the client spent around $15,000 daily on Facebook ads, generating $3 million monthly in Shopify; that’s $6 for every $1 spent on ads.

But with Pinterest, they generated $1.29 million with $116,000—$11.12 per $1.

Dimniko advised Pinterest advertisers to kill assets that didn’t meet the KPI in the first seven days and scale the budget of the top performers by 20% every two to three days.

They admitted that half of their sales were due to their retargeting strategy and suggested that new advertisers should start with their existing buyers and ‘actalikes.’

Go Beyond Pinterest

Several opportunities exist for you outside Pinterest.

Depending solely on the channel to reach prospects is a considerable risk. The platform only controls about 450 million of the estimated 4.7 billion global social media users, so there are always more people to reach.

You can do this organically by publicly sharing your pins or boards using trending and relevant Twitter and TikTok hashtags. Also, brands like Bergdorf Goodman use Facebook to promote their pins.

Like them, you can post your pins’ links as updates on your Facebook page.

Promote the post to reach more people.

Blog on Medium

Nearly 43% of global internet-enabled persons use ad blockers, meaning there’s little future for intrusive marketing.

So, content marketing is a no-brainer.

It lets you reach prospects through organic search when they are most likely to purchase. Also, creating consistent, valuable, and engaging content helps you answer customers’ questions, build trust, and influence buying decisions.

Studies found that content marketing generates three times more leads than traditional marketing channels. Also, brands that create content have a six times higher conversion rate than non-adopters.

Thankfully, you don’t need a website for content marketing with Medium. It’s a free and intuitive online publishing platform that lets anyone create, share and discover content.

Sign up on the platform. Research keywords and create quality content with them. You can repurpose the article into a video with tools like Lumen5.com and share it on YouTube.

Selling On Pinterest With a Website

A website puts your Pinterest marketing on steroids.

At least you won’t have to upload your products manually. Instead, the platform can automatically pull your products from your online store to Pinterest and update your catalog regularly. It also lets you retarget non-converters and upsell existing buyers, improving conversion and customer lifetime value.

Follow these steps to connect your website to Pinterest and sell on the platform.

Set Up Your Online Store

Create an online store if you don’t have one yet.

Pinterest currently supports Shopify and WooCommerce stores and online shops that can integrate with the following:

Lengow
ChannelAdvisor
GoDataFeed
Feedonomics
Products

Next, add the website to your Pinterest business account to claim ownership. Verifying your site allows you to access analytics for the pins you publish from your website and pins other users created from your site and get a verified merchant tag.

You can claim your website by adding a DNS TXT record to your domain host, uploading an HTML file to your website’s web server, or adding an HTML tag to your website code.

Add Your Product Catalog

Upload your catalogs to start selling on the platform.

Catalogs are a feed ingestion tool that lets you connect your eCommerce shop to your Pinterest store. The file lists all your available products and their corresponding attributes, creating a data source for the Pinterest store.

Pinterest ingests the data source every 24 hours to create your product Pins and process up to 20 million products per account. You’ll need to contact Pinterest support if you have more than that number of products.

You can add up to 20 data sources to promote your products across different markets, languages, and currencies. However, uploading your data sources to Pinterest is only available in selected countries. If you’re eligible, the steps here can get you started.

Alternatively, you may use third-party integrations like Shopify’s Pinterest app and Pinterest for WooCommerce plugin to get your products on Pinterest. Tools like Lengow, ChannelAdvisor, GoDataFeed, Feedonomics, and Productsup can also streamline your Pinterest data ingestion.

Create Rich Pins

Rich Pin is a step up for Pinterest pins.

They have extra information like price, product availability, description, and product link, providing pinners with rich shopping experiences. Rich pins encourage higher click-through rates, enabling you to sell more. They also make better ads.

With rich Pins, you don’t need to update your product Pins manually whenever the need arises. Instead, they update automatically each time you change your product titles, description, price, or availability.

Another fantastic thing is that rich Pins require only a one-time, easy setup. Pinterest will convert all your product Pins to rich Pins if you enable the feature for your account, and new Pins will appear as rich Pins.

Shopify natively supports Pinterest product-rich Pins, so it doesn’t require manual setup. Open any product page, copy the link and append .oembed to the URL, then validate with the Pinterest Rich Pins Validator.

If your store runs on WooCommerce, install the Yoast SEO plugin and enable Open Graph in the plugin setting. Next, copy any of your product URLs and validate. It’s that easy.

However, you’ll have to roll up your sleeves for custom sites.

It requires you to manually add rich metadata to the header of all your product pages. Pinterest supports Schema.org properties. Use any product schema generator like Merkel Schema Markup Generator to generate the JSON-LD code for each product page.

Next, use Google Tag Manager to add the code to the page’s HTML.

To begin, log in to your account and select Add a new tag under the “New Tag” section.

Choose a name for your tag, then select Custom HTML as the tag type.

Scroll down to Triggering to choose a trigger, then click the + icon.

Name your trigger and select Page View as the trigger type. Next, choose Some Page Views under the “This trigger fires on” section.

Specify your trigger condition, save and then publish your tag.

Repeat the steps for all your product pages, then validate any URLs to apply for rich Pins.

Stay Organized With Product Groups

Product groups help you manage your inventory.

It also lets you promote a product category instead of individual Pins. You can create a product group manually or leave that for Pinterest to handle if you use Shopify. The app can automatically sync your Shopify collections to create relevant Pinterest product groups.

The auto-created product groups include All Products, Top Sellers, Back In Stock, Best Deals, New Arrivals, and Most Popular.

You can add others manually if you need different product groups like brand, custom label, product type, category, or gender. First, ensure the fields exist in your data source and name the products based on your chosen filters.

Follow these steps to create a product group:

First, log in to your Pinterest business account from your desktop.
Click Ads on the top menu and select Catalogs.
Select View product groups, then Create product group.
Apply filters to select the products for the group
Go to the next page and enter a name for the product group.

Prompt With Shopping Ads

A website lets you take your Pinterest ad campaigns to a new level.

For instance, you can retarget non-converting shoppers to recover lost sales or upsell active buyers to improve their lifetime value. You may also create an act alike (equivalent to Facebook’s lookalike) audience to reach your ideal prospects, eliminating guesses from your targeting.

However, the first is to install the Pinterest tracking tag.

It’s a code snippet that lets Pinterest track your store visitors and their actions while on your site. The code helps you measure your campaign performance, optimize your conversion, build a targeting audience and become a verified merchant.

To install the tag, log in to your Pinterest ads account, click the Ads tab on the top menu, select conversion from the drop-down, and follow the rest of the instructions to complete the process.

Create your audience and run shopping and personalized collections ads to promote your products. Also, launch dynamic retargeting campaigns to upsell buyers and retarget shoppers that abandoned their carts. Run these campaigns concurrently for the best results. This resource can guide you in setting up high-converting Pinterest ads.

Also, don’t forget to promote your store outside Pinterest for maximum reach.

Wrapping It Up

So you don’t need to own a website to sell on Pinterest.

With just an affiliate link, you can get started on the platform. That might even change soon. The social network is piloting a feature that lets shoppers checkout and pay for items on Pinterest so that they don’t have to leave the app to complete their purchases.

The in-app checkout will probably redefine social commerce in the coming years, and getting onboard Pinterest and setting up your stores now means you’ll always be ready for the mad rush.

Thankfully, the tips in this article can get you started.

Featured image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

The post How to Sell on Pinterest Without a Website first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

9 novembre 2022/par Service comm.

Exciting New Tools for Designers, October 2022

We write this guide to the best new tools for designers and developers each month. For October, we’ve sought out tools to make you a better website builder, some handy utilities to make you more productive, and a spooky font for the end of the month. Enjoy!

Microsoft Designer

Microsoft Designer is a brand-new app for creating images from text prompts. You can create social media posts, blog images, and any other assets you need with its step-by-step guided process.

Remix

Remix is a full-stack web framework for React that lets you focus on designing your UI. Remix is geared towards web standards and delivers a resilient user experience so you can build better sites.

Ultra

Ultra is a super-fast package manager that uses hardlinks to install packages. It’s up to ten times faster than NPM and Yarn, and the project is open-source.

AskEdith

AskEdith is an AI-powered app that translates English into SQL so you can query your database without writing custom SQL. Just type a description of what you want to know, and the app creates the query for you.

Wide Angle Analytics

Wide Angle Analytics is a GDPR-compliant Google Analytics alternative that puts privacy first. Track actions across multiple sites and discover insights about your site without exposing yourself to privacy violations.

story.to.design

Imagine being able to import a whole webpage straight into Figma. You can, with story.to.design, a fantastic app that imports code into Figma for updating UI elements or speeding up redesigns.

Metlo

Metlo is a testing platform for securing APIs. By running comprehensive tests against your API, you can uncover issues like unidentified endpoints, before they become a security threat.

StockAI

Nothing is more frustrating than searching for the right stock image when one doesn’t exist. StockAI is a day-saver that searches for stock images, and if the sought-after image doesn’t exist, it will generate one for you.

Growthfyi

If ad-blockers are playing havoc with your Google Analytics, check out this script from Growthfyi. It’s an invaluable service that doubles the speed of GA while ensuring ad-blockers don’t catch it.

Sourcery

Sourcery is an excellent tool for developers that continually reviews your code and suggests improvements automatically. Write better code, and catch errors before it goes to review.

Cyber Security Icons

This set of Cyber Security Icons contains 20 illustration-style icons. In addition, there are some great interpretations of complex ideas like retina scans, crypto vaults, and end-to-end encryption.

Blinqo

Blinqo is a handy little Chrome extension for anyone that needs to share their screen. It allows you to blur parts of your screen when sharing or recording, so your private details remain private.

Instaprice

Instaprice is a helpful new service that shows you what other freelancers charge for the job you’re quoting on. Earn the actual market rates and never get caught out undercharging again!

Leta

Leta is a great app that allows you to design your own keyboard layout. You can redesign the key positions for macOS, Linux, or Windows and download them for free.

Blogic

Build blogs powered by the Notion API with Blogic, a no-code blog builder that can create fast, SEO-friendly blogs in under a minute. Custom domains and third-party scripts are supported.

Digital Maker Toolkit

The Digital Maker Toolkit is a collection of resources for anyone releasing digital products. It includes guides on process, a handy step-by-step checklist, a list of further resources, and a guide to the available tools.

Slides

Slides is a static website generator you can use to create beautiful, animated websites in minutes. Select layouts from a collection of templates and publish with clean code that downloads fast.

AXplorer

AXplorer is a privacy-focused browser with a built-in VPN. Created by the Axia blockchain network, it generates free crypto in the form of AXIA coins when using it to browse the web.

Font Engine

Can’t decide on a font for your latest side project? Font Engine is a handy little app that will suggest fonts for you. Just tell it your brand values and hit the ‘Suggest’ button.

Deliciozo

Deliciozo is an excellent display font with irregular strokes and styling, making it feel like a paper cut-out. It’s perfect for magazines, cookbooks, and even logos.

Kayino

If you’re looking for a font to convey the hippy era, look no further than the psychedelic stylings of Kayino, a groovy display font with crazy details.

Noganas

Noganas is a spooktacular font for the upcoming Halloween festivities. Use it to add some gruesome frivolity to your seasonal designs.

The post Exciting New Tools for Designers, October 2022 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

17 octobre 2022/par Service comm.

Exciting New Tools for Designers, September 2022

The Summer’s over, and we’re back at our desks to discover that the web’s best app builders, font designers, asset creators, and developers have been hard at work to deliver this bumper collection of exciting new tools for designers and developers.

Below you’ll find productivity apps, icons, gradients, AI, and some awesome new fonts. Enjoy!

CSS Scan

Forget right-clicking on a website to see how it’s coded. CSS Scan is a browser extension that lets you view the CSS styles of any element and copy them to your clipboard.

Slicons

Create stand-out UI designs with Slicons, a set of 300+ pixel-perfect icons. Light, regular, and bold versions match your typography and work with Figma, Sketch, XD, and Iconjar.

Codex

Codex is an IDE extension that lets you comment on your code like a pro. Anyone on your team can add comments, questions, or notes to any lines of code.

Gradientify

You too can leap aboard the gradient design trend using Gradientify, a collection of 100+ beautiful, human-designed gradients. Copy the CSS, or download PNGs for free.

90 Bitmap Shapes

Create unique logos, social media assets, apparel, and abstract icons using this editable set of 90 Bitmap Shapes in vector form for Photoshop, Sketch, and Figma.

BlockBee

Get paid in crypto using BlockBee. The Web 3.0 payments infrastructure integrates with the best ecommerce carts, including PrestaShop, Opencart, Magento, and WooCommerce.

Flatfile

Banish the woes of importing CSV data with Flatfile, a CSV importer that formats human-edited data files to eliminate errors and speed up B2B onboarding.

ClipDrop

Effortlessly clip the backgrounds from images in Figma with the ClipDrop plugin. One-click removes backgrounds, objects, people, text, or defects.

Craiyon

Craiyon is an AI drawing tool based on a stripped-down version of DALL-E. You can generate any image you like using a simple text prompt.

Google Headline Tool

Use Poll the People’s powerful Google Headline Tool to optimize your headlines for more effective search ads and clickable blog post titles.

Retro Postcard Effect

Embrace the trend for retro images using this Retro Postcard Effect for Adobe Photoshop. Easily drop your custom images into the placeholder layer for an instant vintage style.

Hugo

Hugo is an admin suite for freelancers that takes care of business with intelligent contracts, audit trails, and an integrated wallet, so you can focus on being creative.

CTA Examples

CTA Examples is a database of call-to-action examples for every possible scenario. So no matter what you want to persuade your users to do, you’ll find the best prompt here.

Superhuman

Create unique 3D characters to wow your customers using Superhuman. You can customize clothes, hair, and poses using 1500+ elements or choose from 500 pre-made characters.

PostHog

PostHog is an extensive set of tools built on a modern data stack. You can do more with your data by creating your own app or using one of the 50+ that are included for free.

Radix UI

There’s no need to reinvent UI components for React when you can use Radix UI. The high-quality, accessible components are perfect for web apps and dashboards.

KB Clip

Now you can create a searchable wiki for your business with a fraction of the effort thanks to KB Clip. Just highlight a Slack conversation, and transform it into an article in one click.

DropBlok

A great way to monetize your followers is with a custom app. DropBlok is a no-code tool that will build the app for you.

Blofishing Font

Blofishing is a gorgeous handwriting font that adds personality to your layouts. It’s ideal for wedding stationery, social media marketing, and anything that needs a personal touch.

Haratte Font

Haratte is an elegant font with graceful curves and a modern aesthetic. It’s perfect for logos, magazine design, social media assets, and more.

The post Exciting New Tools for Designers, September 2022 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.