If you've been struggling to make your first sale as a print-on-demand seller or really scale your business to make more than just a few dollars every single month, chances are you might not be getting any sales because of your mockups. So, in today's video, I'm going to actually share with you seven of my top tips for making mockups that actually are going to get you sales. Now, all of these different hacks are ones that I have really found to actually make a difference in the profitability of my items. These are things that I learned through a lot of trial and error, and they all are very quick changes and fixes that you can start implementing almost immediately and are going to make a huge impact on your print-on-demand store. So many of these things I didn't know when I was starting out, and I really wish I did because it would have given me a huge leg up. So, I'm hoping to share this information with you so that you can really start improving your print-on-demand business right now. So, let's not waste any more time and just

jump right into these mockup tips now. If you are selling on a platform like Etsy and using a manufacturing partner like Printify, you are going to have access to a lot of their autogenerated mockups. So, I personally sell with Printify, and every single time I make a new product, Printify is going to give me a bunch of different mockup choices that I can choose to actually use in my store. Now, I love Printify. I highly recommend using them as your production partner for a bunch of different reasons. In fact, I will link a video about how to start using them if you haven't yet. But unfortunately, when you are using these pre-made autogenerated mockups that they give you, you are really not helping yourself actually stand out and get sales. Now, the first problem with these is they are very generic. So, you don't see a lot of really dynamic lifestyle shots. It's typically going to be maybe a person standing, wearing a shirt on a blank background, or just a generic product shot like a mug with a

background that has really basic customization, and it's just not going to look like a real true representation of what that product is going to look like in life. And then the other drawback to using these types of mockups is so many people, they love and use Printify, so they are all going to have access to all those mockups. And since it's probably the easiest way to get a mockup done, a lot of people just default to that basic option. Now, what I like to do is I like to really create a unique mockup for that very first mockup photo that is going to be the one that people are going to stop and see when they are scrolling through the pages of Etsy or other print-on-demand sites. So, it's really important to have a place where you can easily make your own mockups. Now, I really don't like this step to take a lot of time, so that's why I'm really excited to partner with Placeit today. They have been my go-to for making

mockups since day one. Place it is really one of the tools that I very first invested in when I was a really new beginner print-on-demand seller. They have a library of over thousands and thousands of different mockups, everything from mugs to sweatshirts to different tumblers. They have things like journals and tote bags, really any print-on-demand item you can think of. Place it probably has hundreds, if not thousands, of mockups for that specific item. And what I like is you really don't have to be skilled at making mockups to use them really fast and easily. I know when I first got started in print-on-demand, I had no idea how to use something like Photoshop or Illustrator to actually take my design and warp it on a mockup photo and make it look like a true representation of that item. So, I love that Place it, you can simply just upload your design, and it's going to automatically format it as a mockup for you without you doing a lot of stuff. So, I will link all of Place it.

information down below. They also have a free account. It's a little bit more limited, but you're still going to get access to some really great mockups even if you try that out. If you like how it works, I definitely recommend upgrading to the paid plan. But if you just want to see if this could be a good tool for you, I highly recommend just checking that out. Now, what I like to do is I am going to scroll through all of their options, and I'm going to find the best image for that first thumbnail photo. And then I am going to spend time making that look just how I want. Usually, it's only a few minutes. I'm going to download it and upload to my product on Etsy. But I mentioned before those pre-made mockups from Printify. I'm not going to completely not use those. What I like to do is I am going to keep the autogenerated mockups for all of the different variations of this product I'm selling. So, for example, if I have five different colors in this listing, I am

going to keep the autogenerated mockup for each of those different colors and use those as the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth photo so people can get a really good idea of what this product is truly going to look like. But I don't want to have those be the first photo because that's going to have people just keep scrolling by and not click on this. Now, the next thing that I found really quickly in my print-on-demand business is that using seasonal mockups really can make a big difference, especially if you are selling holiday-type items. Now, we are coming up on Q4, which is typically the most profitable time for any print-on-demand seller. In fact, if you're getting really discouraged and thinking about quitting print-on-demand or just not trying this anymore, I highly recommend at least just pushing through the end of the year because a lot of times this is where sellers are making their first sales. They're really scaling their business at this time because so many people are

shopping now for any items that you are selling seasonally. So, this could be things like Halloween items, or maybe Thanksgiving, Christmas, any of those holidays, even ones throughout the rest of the year like 4th of July or Easter. It really makes a difference if you can include a seasonal mockup. So, I really like, especially around Halloween and Thanksgiving, having very fall-inspired backgrounds, especially for things like mugs or tote bags. It really just makes a difference in making people who are shopping really want to click on this, and it feels very true to this actual item. Now, place it. They do have a huge catalog of different holidays, so you can just go to and search something like fall mug, and it's going to bring up a whole bunch of different mugs in a fall-type background. And they even have things as specific as Christmas and Halloween. But the more you can do to really emphasize the holiday. So, if you are making a bunch of family pajama shirts for Christmas, if you can include Christmas trees in the background.

and all sorts of Christmas decorations that is just going to really help sell your items because people are going to connect with it more than if it's just a family with like a blank background or especially if it's like a family in the middle of summer. That's not going to make sense if you're selling some kind of holiday item. So, I love that Printify has a huge selection of these holiday backgrounds. And if you wanted to take it even a step further, some of the items that aren't necessarily specifically for like fall or Christmas, but they do sell really well during that time, you could temporarily switch out that first mockup photo to be a holiday one. And then once Christmas is gone, you can just switch it back to your more generic photo. So, the nice thing about Placeit is that it works as a subscription, so you aren't going to be paying for each mockup that you're buying. So, if you want to try out different things, you can do that and then switch it out later, and you haven't

wasted any money using different mockups. Now, the next thing that I very quickly figured out as a print-on-demand seller that was trying to figure out how to make mockups is that mockups with real people in them almost always are going to sell better than mockups that are just laid flat on a blank surface or just kind of a flat-lay style mockup. Now, this is something I really wasn't aware of when I first got started, and I made a bunch of really cute mockups that were more of a flat-lay style. So, they wouldn't necessarily just be a t-shirt on a blank background, but maybe it would have a cute mug or some flowers in it, but it still wasn't very lifestyle. And then I switched almost all of my mockups to more of that lifestyle with a person in them, and my items started getting so many more views and sales. Sometimes I think people think that having a person in the photo is going to be very distracting, but there's a couple

things you can do to make sure that is not the case. Now, the first one is that you make sure that you aren't showing the full face of the person. Yes, having someone's face or the model's face in a picture can a lot of times be distracting. So, if you want to avoid that, I typically crop my photos maybe around where the lips or the chin is, and then down to about the bottom of the shirt if you are selling a t-shirt or a hoodie. And then you just want to make sure that you're close enough to the item that you can read everything, but not zoomed in so close that you can't even tell this is on a person. So, you kind of want to have that happy medium in between those two. Now, I don't know what it is about having your item on a real person, but I think it just really sells that this is a real item, and it's going to look good on the person that's buying it because it looks great on the model. So, when you are on a

place like place it trying to find mockups you can actually sort by if you want it to have real people in it or just be the garment only. So a lot of times I'm going to toggle that on so I'm only looking at the mockups with actual people in them. And if it has their face in it, don't worry, you can always crop that out later. So you can use pretty much any of the items with people in them, and it's going to do a lot better for you. And then to piggyback right off of that, this works similarly for a lot of items like mugs or tote bags, but you're not necessarily going to have to have a person in it. So there are a lot of mugs where people are holding them, and you can use those. But generally, what I find is that more lifestyle mockup photos for things like mugs are going to work the best. So instead of just having a mug with like a blank wall behind it, have it be on a table with maybe some

books in a plant or like with coffee or tea next to it. So anything that is styled in a way that this looks really real is going to do the best out of mockups. Now the next mockup pack is something that really helped me be able to get a lot more products out way faster. You could temporarily switch out that first mockup photo to be a holiday one, which inevitably is going to mean more sales because in print on demand a lot of times it is a numbers game. The more listings you can get out, the more chances you're going to have for people to see your items and actually purchase them. And that is the fact that you don't have to have a different mockup for every single product. Now when I was first getting started, I really wanted every single item in my store to look 100% unique. I didn't want people to think, Oh, these are mockups. And so I spent a lot of time every single time I made a listing looking for a new mockup to use, and then I'd have to make sure I

haven't used this one before and make a completely new mockup. So searching when there is such a big catalog of mockups can a lot of times take a decent amount of time. But what I quickly figured out is that you can definitely reuse mockups on your store. It's very common. A lot of the biggest, most profitable stores on Etsy are doing this all the time. They have a selection of mockups that do really well for them, and they use them over and over again. Now, I generally like to have about five or ten mockups that are kind of my go-tos, and then I'm going to put pretty much all of my different items, no matter what niche they're in, on those mockups. And the reality is, a lot of times when people are finding your items and purchasing them, they are going to something like Etsy search. They are looking through all of the different things that pop up. They're clicking on yours, and they're checking out. Most of the time, they're not actually going back.

to your store and browsing through all your other products so they won't even see that this is the same mockup you've used, and if they do, it's really common practice for a lot of stores, even things like Target and Walmart, to use mockups over and over again. Now, if you find some of your favorites or you find that products that you used as a certain mockup on are selling really well, definitely make sure you add a heart to that. You're going to bookmark it so you can easily come back to it over and over again, and I just find this saves me so much time 'cause I have all my favorite mockups already saved. I can simply go to those, upload my design, and it's ready to go instead of spending a lot of time looking for a new mockup every single time. Now, the next tip that I definitely wish someone had told me a lot sooner is you don't have to be afraid to experiment with mockups and switch them out pretty often. So, on a place like Etsy, you have the capability to change and

edit your listing at any time, so that means you can edit things like the title, the description, and the mockup photos whenever you want. So, if you've really been trying some mockups, if you've had a listing up for a couple of months and you're getting no traction, it's definitely time to maybe see if there is a better mockup you could try that just might appeal to that audience a little bit better. So, if your listings feel really stagnant and they're not getting you anywhere, instead before you do some other switches, the first thing you might want to try is just switching out the mockup to something different. Sometimes that can make all the difference. And if you are using a place like Placeit, it's nice because, like I said, it's a subscription, you have access to their whole library, so it's not like you paid for these mockups once, and then if you don't use them anymore, you're kind of out that money. You can try as many mockups as you want and kind of see.

which ones perform better, and this also enables you to kind of do what is called AB testing in your shop. So, if you're not really sure what mockups are working the best, you can try a few different mockups and then see which items are getting the most views, are getting the most clicks, and then it might be something to do with that mockup. So, you can try that on some of your other items that maybe aren't doing as well. Now, it does take Etsy a little bit of time to kind of figure out what type of item you're selling and really rank it in their algorithms. So, if you've only had a mockup up for a couple of days, that's definitely not enough time to see if it's actually working. But if it's coming up around a couple of months, that's probably time to start trying to make some edits to your listing and see if you can get it to actually perform a bit better. Now, the next tip is a really simple one, but surprisingly, a lot of new sellers don't do this when it comes to

actually making their listings now. One of the first things I like to do, even as a more experienced print-on-demand seller that has been doing this for a number of years, when I have a new product, especially in a new niche, I am going to take the time to look up that niche on a place like Etsy and scroll through the top couple of pages to see what my competition is going to be doing. Now, I am never going to flat out copy anybody. I'm not going to copy titles or descriptions or even exactly their mock photo, but I like to get a general sense of what my competition is doing and what is working really well in this niche so I can use that information for my own shop. Now, surprisingly, there are some types of photos that just work really well for particular niches, and you won't be able to know that unless you actually are searching and seeing what this niche has a lot of. So generally, if you're seeing products with tons of reviews, a lot of purchases, that means that

whatever they're doing is working really well, so take notes from those mockups and see if you can make something that's similar or has a very distinct feel like that. One of the best ways that we can learn what works in print on demand is seeing what other people are doing right, what's leading them to get sales, and we can try to implement those same strategies in our own shop. So before you upload products to a new N, definitely take the couple minutes to search and see what other people are doing as well. Now, like I said, if you've never tried Placeit before, I highly recommend giving them a try. Even their free account is great, so you can sign up right down below. And I also wanted to mention that I have a full free class for you guys that I put together. It's about an hour long and takes you completely through one of my best niche research methods. So it goes into a lot more detail than I'm able to on a place like YouTube. You can sign up for that.

workshop down below, and I'll send you all of the videos and information straight to your email inbox. And if you're looking for some really great Q4 or Halloween-inspired design ideas, I highly recommend checking out this video next. Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you in my next video.

10 SUPER SIMPLE Mockup HACKS to Skyrocket Your Print on Demand Sales

10 SUPER SIMPLE Mockup HACKS to Skyrocket Your Print on Demand Sales