- Streaming on Twitch has got to be
one of the most rewarding things to do.
That said,
when it comes to earning a living through streaming,
there is more to it than just playing video games.
Sure, getting a brand sponsorship would be epic,
but the time it typically takes
to build a large enough audience
that allows you to become financially free
can feel discouragingly long.
That's why, in this video,
I wanna share one of the best ways to start earning money
as soon as possible as a streamer.
And best of all, it involves minimal risk,
minimal upfront cost,
and it can continue to scale
into a huge portion of your income
as you continue to grow your channel and reach.
It's selling your own branded merch.
The most important reason
to start selling merch as a Twitch streamer,
even if you have a small audience right now,
it's simply because your merch
can absolutely help grow your audience.
A pretty positive feedback loop, if you ask me.
What I mean is, your most loyal and biggest early fans
are your ambassadors,
so give them the opportunity
to wear the love they have for you
and help grow awareness of your stream
with their friends and family.
Whether you've built a loyal audience already or not,
now is absolutely the right time to start.
(upbeat music)
For newer Twitch streamers,
it's easy to think, "Yikes, I can't sell merch,
"I only started a few months ago, have like 14 subs,
"60 follows, and I'm still trying to find my voice here."
While other streamers might think,
"Merch, that sounds expensive and complicated.
"It's tough enough sticking
"to my ambitious streaming schedule
"while taking care of myself so I don't burn out."
And although all of those thoughts are completely normal,
the good news is it's never too early,
it isn't expensive,
and it certainly isn't complicated.
And when you think about it,
aside from sharing your passion, building a community,
and just plain having fun on Twitch,
wouldn't it be great to get paid to do what you love?
So, why not start as soon as possible?
Traditional moneymaking through Twitch
requires achieving Partner status.
That's having an amalgamation of a minimum sub count,
minimum total stream time and views
in order to split ad revenue with Twitch.
And for new streamers
working on building towards those minimum thresholds,
monetizing your creativity is an uphill battle.
And yet with merch, none of those limitations exist.
- Freedom!
- With easy-to-use graphic design apps like Canva,
or freelance graphic design services like Fiverr,
designing your merch has never been so accessible.
And with reputable print-on-demand suppliers,
selling is both low-risk and low upfront investment as well.
So let's break it down step by step.
In order to have merch,
you need to design merch.
Since ultimately it doesn't matter how many subs you have,
if your merch doesn't look aesthetically pleasing,
you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone
to actually buy what you're selling.
Canva is an awesome web app that has countless templates.
It's got a free version, as well as a paid version.
But there are absolutely tons of free setups
that follow best practices when it comes to graphic design
that you can use right after you sign up.
If you're not an artist, no worries.
Designing merch doesn't necessarily have to be intense.
For example, maybe you have a catchphrase on your stream
or a quote that can simply be written in a stylish font,
then turned into merch.
But if you want captivating imagery,
or if you don't have a refined logo yet for your channel,
it may be well worth it to hire a freelance graphic designer
by asking your personal circle of friends for referrals
or using freelance gig service websites,
like Fiverr or Upwork, to find yourself a graphic designer.
The main consideration
you are going to want to make in this phase
is to make sure you create
and strictly follow a set look and feel
so that the graphic elements,
fonts and colors you use will stay consistent
with your Twitch page and in-stream graphics.
That way, when people see either your channel or your merch,
they recognize it's you at a glance.
After you have some designs,
it's time to set up your merch store,
you know, the place folks will go
to actually buy your merch.
Now, if you've done any digging,
you've definitely seen companies like StreamElements,
who are marketed towards helping streamers
sell merch to their audience.
These companies are a good option
because they do a lot of the initial setup for you,
but consider the fact
that if you choose to go this third-party route,
you are limited to their site's landing page design,
their overarching branding and their product lineup.
Ultimately, you also don't truly own your store
or possess the remarketing potential
of being able to, say, email your audience on your terms
when you have new merch that drops.
By making your own Shopify store,
your merch shop is truly yours
so that you can ensure its look and feel
is uniquely designed to speak to your Twitch followers.
And a well-designed store with great copy
increases the perceived value of your merch,
and could be the difference between making a sale or not.
And hey, if creating your own store
sounds like something you are interested in,
we have created an incredible free blog post
on how to start a business
that will take you from concept to your very first sale
with all of the setup steps in between.
You can access this free guide with worksheets, videos,
and other resources like checklists, as well as templates,
by clicking the link right up here
or down in the description below.
But heading right back on track,
once you have your designs and store set up,
the next step is to actually make your merch.
And I use air quotes with "make,"
since you won't be doing that at all.
This step is often the one that stops creators like you
right in their tracks
once they think about the sheer cost
of ordering hundreds of T-shirts upfront.
I mean, who the heck has that kind of money
when every spare penny
is being invested into your creative output
or upgrades to your Twitch setup?
Am I right?
And so print-on-demand is the most straightforward
and no-risk option for those just starting out selling merch
because it requires zero money to get started,
zero need to pre-order any inventory,
and zero time to actually do the difficult part of packing
and shipping your merch to your fans and customers.
How, you ask?
Well, with print-on-demand,
you upload your designs to your account
with the print-on-demand supplier that you choose,
then decide which of the many blank products they offer
you want your designs to sit on.
Next, you synchronize your e-commerce store
with your print-on-demand account,
and, well, that's it.
When your followers go to your merch store
and add that coffee mug with your logo on it to their cart,
the moment they check out,
your Shopify store automatically notifies
your print-on-demand supplier that you got an order.
And one of their team members grabs a blank mug,
applies your design onto it,
boxes it up, prints out a shipping label,
and sends it to your customer
without you ever having to lift a finger
or send a single email.
You, of course, get charged for their services,
and you keep the profits on what you charged your customers.
It's just that simple.
If this all sounds too good to be true,
I welcome you to check out this video,
which I'll link right up here,
where I share everything you need to know
about print-on-demand.
But moving right along for now,
you've made your design,
you've set up your store,
and you've synced your store
with your print-on-demand supplier of choice.
But how do you promote, market,
and sell your merch to your stream viewers?
There are five main ways.
The first is, of course,
to order samples of your merch
from your print-on-demand supplier
so you can wear them on stream.
A quick mention here and there while you're streaming
can shock you at how much attention this can draw,
because, honestly, you're not blatantly advertising,
but, instead, just casually mentioning
and pointing at your shirt
or at your bottle as you take a sip,
all while your viewers are already engaged
with the core content.
The second way is to leverage chat,
and more specifically,
through custom chat commands that you set up.
Whether you use Streamlabs or Nightbot
or virtually any other stream management app,
you can create shortcut exclamation mark commands
that enable your viewers to type the commands into chat
to get more information.
You may already have an !socialmedia command
that lets your users know
where they can follow you elsewhere,
whether we're talking Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook.
So, why not create an !merch command
that instantly shoots them a link
to your online merch store?
The third way is in your midstream bumpers,
countdown screens, as well as your intermission screens.
Instead of just having a standard
"Stream starts in" countdown clock,
why not just make the countdown
just a small element in the corner,
while the majority of your screen
is filled with product and lifestyle shots,
along with your merch store's web address,
so that fans who are eager enough
to wait for your stream to start
can go shopping while they wait?
Fourth up is to make sure
your About section features your merch.
You'll notice in a lot
of successful streamers' About sections,
they include options to donate,
have merch calls to action,
as well as other information
to help build a deeper bond with the reader.
This is so powerful,
because, look, if someone is choosing
to go to your About section,
it means they're genuinely interested in you.
I mean, interested enough to want to learn more.
So having a call to action
and a big button to take them to your merch store
in your About page
ensures that people who are most interested
in you and your content
have a direct path to check out your merch.
And fifth on this list is to market
and share your merch off platform.
Whether it's a link on Instagram
or a link in the description
of all of your videos on YouTube,
the name of the game is simple.
Your audience is actively seeking to learn more about you,
engage in more of your content,
so make it easy for them
to find their way to your merch store.
All of these little actions add up.
And with you spending so much of your time, energy, sweat,
and effort on your channel already,
it would be a shame for you to lose the opportunity
to monetize at every moment that you can,
in a non-cringe, non-pushy way, of course.
But I believe that you've gotta
at least give your audience the option
to discover your merch in as many places as possible.
And by the way, if this has gotten you pumped up
but you just want to test things out a little bit,
you should definitely claim
your 100% free, no strings attached trial to Shopify.
During your first day,
you can design your store and add a print-on-demand supplier
using the free app store
and upload a few designs
just to see how easy the entire process is.
You can access your free trial with Shopify
by clicking right up here
or tapping the link down in the description below.
Creating content is super rewarding
and super challenging all at the same time.
And here at Shopify,
we think you deserve to grow not just your audience
and your impact,
but your business and your bank account too.
And when it comes to streaming,
merch is a fantastic choice,
no matter how small or big of a streamer you currently are.
But hey, if you enjoyed this video
and feel like it's helped you,
help us out too by giving this video a like.
And if you're not a subscriber yet,
make sure you subscribe and hit that bell
so you'll be notified
the moment new videos just like this one drop.
But I'm curious,
what do you think about creating
and selling your own merch on Twitch now?
Have you ever tried it?
Let us know in the comments below.
But as usual, thanks so much for kicking it with me
on the Learn with Shopify YouTube channel,
and I'll catch you in the next one.
(upbeat music)