Habits of a successful seller
Today I went to visit the portfolios of RedBubble’s top sellers. Namely the top 20 T-shirt sellers and the top 20 wall art sellers. (This ranking did not include self purchases)
I found some strong patterns in how these sellers showcase their art online and make use of RedBubble to sell their work. There were exceptions, but I found myself flicking from one portfolio to another nodding my head as the same habits came up again and again.
What I didn’t find
The best selling artists come from all over the globe, are a variety of ages, and there isn’t a popular genre or medium selling better than others. My very subjective opinion would also politely add that these top sellers come from various skill levels.
Lack of Bling
You know how some people have large images or animations down the left hand side of their portfolio page? Our best sellers don’t do that. Their portfolios are fairly clean with plenty of white space.
Artwork Descriptions
Almost all the top sellers have ‘text only’ descriptions. And they simply describe the artwork – what it was inspired by, how it was created etc.
Of the handful who have images in their descriptions, they are small detail shots or a photograph of someone holding/wearing the finished product – like buyers booth.
Groups
Most of the top sellers are in about 5 groups, some are in none, a couple are in 10-ish. None had a huge list a groups. And they all are in groups which are relevant and make sense for their style and medium.
Journals
About half the top sellers had no journals or very few journals. Which lead me to do some googling. I quickly noticed that several were cleverly blogging elsewhere and participating in other non-art communities to find customers.
Why sell your band photos to other photographers when you can sell them to the fans of that band via a music forum?
Journals were directly related to their art, exhibitions, initiatives, creative ventures in the real world and insights into how they make their art.
I struggled to find non-art themed journals in this group of top sellers. Only one person had a “thanks for the feature” journal on their first page (which quickly got my attention after reading this last week.)
Length of Portfolio
Some top sellers have less than 10 works and others have more than 10 pages. But the bulk were sitting on around 2-4 pages of work in their portfolio.
So what has this taught me about selling on RedBubble?
- Don’t worry about how my art compares to others
- Keep my pages clear of clutter, with plenty of white space
- Use descriptions to describe my work and nothing more
- If I must use additional pictures, the best kind are photos of people wearing/holding the finished product
- Being in relevant groups is better than being in lots of groups
- Journals about my art are the best kind to have
- Blogging and promoting my art elsewhere is a really good idea
- I should keep my portfolio short and sweet
Keith Richardson
Thank you for this.
It begs the question – how did you locate who the top sellers are?
I have wanted to do similar research for some time, but did not know that such information is available.
Thanks for this great journal!
Keith
selling replied
Hi Keith, RedBubble don’t publish information listing the top sellers. I had access to that info for the purpose of writing this blog. I hope it was helpful. Please bubblemail me if you have ideas for future topics :)
jumpy
top tips jo, i have started directing people (from outside the bub) more to the bubble sites, its less cluttered than my usual page.
Do you think RB will ever publish its top sellers (eg. RB top 40)... then we could have a yearly awards night :P
Also, i saw a bubbler who has a visit counter on there bubble site.. do u know how to add this?
James Lillis
Awesome advice. :)
I like Jumpy’s suggestion -what about an RB oscars night? Red carpet… dresses… after party… cocaine. The usual.
Can I nominate myself for “Best Designer with 3 ‘L’s in their last name”?
:)
Evangeline Than
Thanks for doing the research, Jo, some very interesting and helpful findings there!
ozlat
thanks for the tips… well worth knowing
karenanderson
Excellent advice … although I would like to comment on the Lack of Bling section … my thoughts only of course :)) ... I didn’t have anything until recently, when I put in the extra small thumbnails on my profile page …. since then the traffic on my older photos has markedly increased, I try to keep my portfolio smallish, at the moment its 4-5 pages, but I find that people tend not to go through too many pages…. I also have a contact that has pages and pages of portfolio, but I can see at a glance which ones I Iike from her without having to go through her entire portfolio…..
but I am not a top seller … so what would I know …. lol ….
Xavier Shay
I can’t see us publishing our top sellers – it’s a privacy issue
re visit counter, start here , although I suggest this probably counts as “clutter”. Why would a visitor care how many visits your page has had?
MuscularTeeth
yeha some great tips. and yes sure w cant know who the top sellers are but gosh id love to know.
i reckon another one – keep your portfolio full of only the bestest work – its better to have 10 excellent images than 50 images with only 10 being excellent – the buyer often wont look through so much work.
Penelope Thomas
I’d like to know if this included the individuals ‘bubblesite’ as well or just their regular RedBubble profile?
selling replied
This did not include BubbleSites – I’ll have to get to those another time!
Jo Hoden "C'...
Great advice as always Jo :0)
Matt Mawson
there’s a few handy hints here, Jo … thanks for the research … after removing about 200 pieces a few weeks ago, it looks like I need to do even more trimming
butchart
seems to me the main page is all about t-shirts these days.. has art taken a back seat? profit margin better on t-shirts?
Paul Hamilton ...
thanks Jo – some great observations that obviously work
Thanks
Paul
Paul Tait
Very thought provoking – great ideas
Mundy Hackett
Great information here Jo, thank you so much.
dendoo
nice tips. i’ve always wondered what the top sellers were doing that might be helpful to them and now i know! and knowing half the battle….GI Joe!
Judith Oppenhe...
Can you tell us what the percentage of sales is between t-shirts and wall art? Just curious. Thanks.
Vonnie Murfin
Great tips!
Marie Sharp
Thank you so much, Jo, for the helpful information!
ROUBLE RUST
Thanks for the tips!!!!!
Karin Taylor
Hi Jo, great advice…
I have a very busy front page and I am very happy with it and the way things are going for me… I would find it very difficult to reduce my portfolio down to 2-4 pages, i really want to share the whole lot, it seems to be working ok … but i’d love to know who the bestsellers are :)
artist4peace
great info,ty
catdot
Thanks so much. i was quite surprised by the research, as i sometimes assume that those people i see commenting a LOT (and therefore possibly attracting a lot of visits to their own site)...who are often also people who are members of lots of groups.. would end up with the most sales. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that this is not necessarily the case, as although i think commenting and encouraging is FANTASTIC, i think it can be abused and be a bit self-motivated. But i’m sure that’s a topic of many a journal or discussion group around the place. Thanks.
Bluesrose
Good advices. Thank You!
Scott Ruhs
Great insights. I’ve started to make some changes on my profile. Thanks!
Ann Rodriquez
This is great! I’m heading to make some changes RIGHT NOW! : )
Rosemary Scott
This is all great information, but it leaves me confused. I am a member of a large number of groups & know that a large number of my viewers have found me via those groups. I suspect that if I leave those groups I will lose a considerable number of views.
I also like to include an image in my descriptions of my work in a framed format etc…. I thought it would help my sales….
But, I’ve not had too many sales, so…..
still confused!
fashionforlove
Thanks a lot !
drjones
Thanks Jo!
Keithbotilier
Many thanks Jo for your comments and your analysis of the sale,it is excellent information and very informative.
Many thanks
Keith