I want to promote my websites in real life. Using shirts, hats, and all of that. I wanted to know what sites there are that specialize in this and ones you would recommend. Also, if anyone has ever tried this how successful is it?
My guess would be that it wouldn't be too successful. The best examples I can think of of real life advertising is the nudists at the superbowl with domains on thier chest. I remember the event but not the URL. I think your best bet would be some sort of jingle. I know I will never get the orginal Yahoo slogan out of my head (Yaaaahhoooooooo!) Maybe you have a cd and speakers in a backpack that loop your jingle as you walk around in crowds. Kinds odd but I know I would notice and remember that if I saw it.
It would really depend on the site. If it's a site that is aimed at your local, then you may be on to something, but if it's national (or international) then chances are I'll never see one of those shirts unless you want to send me on. I like ddover's idea though, it made me chuckle as I picture the guy that would actually do that...and I agree, I'd remember the site. (fantastic 13th post)
Thanks for the input. Do you have any links to sites that would sell this? I just want to make a shirt for myself and my moderators down the road. The subject is a forum, topic is video games.
Put a big sticker or decal on the rear window of your car with the domain name. Driving is boring, and every car that stops behind you at the lights will likely stare at it for more than a few moments
When I made some shirts for my forum back in '04, I used cafepress.com, they are fast and very cheap. Advertising really got some lurkers from the T-shirts, some real members but not much to blog about! (If you know what I mean? )
Walmart? You can also buy t-shirt printer paper that you iron on *shrug* Have contests on your forum, and ship out t-shirts to the winners. That'll spread the word. (Send me one & I'll wear it )
cafepress or vistaprint will both do it, in slightly different ways. I think people will only wear the t-shirt if it stands up as a good design in it's own right - or they're members of your family Things that people have on their desk, around their computer might work to jog their memory that yours is a site worth looking at while they're actually surfing - mousemats, post-it notes. It's not very exciting and original, but it seems to work. In your local area you could try posters and ask to put them up in libraries, schools etc.
As far as T-Shirts, hats, and other advertising specialties, visit www.portofprints.com. The company is local to me in Florida and I have bought advertising specialties from them for my business. They are great at taking your niche and finding just the right advertising specialty to put your logo on. For example, if you owned a hair salon, they would suggest a brush or a comb For other offline Guerilla marketing tactics if your site services a local area, bandit signs Flyers Direct Mail Vanessa
I think real life advertising can be pretty good. I've seen people with the little stickers on their back windows with their URL. Sometimes they look ridiculous, but I can't even help but to think about visiting the site just to see how it looks. One thing I wouldn't do, is put something like that permanently on the car... I think that drastically lowers the value of it (not that cars really hold their value anyhow, but just in case).
find a screen printer, there are tons of places that will make simple 2 color designs for about 6 bucks a shirt. If you use crappy white hanes it'll be even cheaper.
Go to an office supply store get poster board and write your URL and a message to visit the site for free beer! Place them on telephone poles where people have to wait for traffic lights, near the malls or popular shopping centers and any college campuses near where you live. If this spikes your traffic then t-shirts might work as well. Start small and work your way up!
It depends on your niche. For example, it worked really well when my indie music zine focused on my regional area (hats, shirts, stickers, sponsoring live shows, etc.). For my business sites, it wouldn't do so well... just too general and not a market that cares that much about those kinds of things. I've used CafePress, but if you want screenprinting, I've heard www.printmojo.com is a good option (according to several bands I work with).