It’s often worth thinking about how to use the web to make extra income when you aren’t working on commissions or with clients. The internet is a great source of sites through which you can make some extra cash.
As writer Louise Baker has kindly put forward, there are sites other than t-shirt shops, stock sites and sites selling merchandise like Cafepress, that can be used by designers to make money. Here are five places you can use to make money from your designs:
Graphic Leftovers
Graphic Leftovers provides a place where graphic designers can sell designs such as logos and icons to anyone that wishes to purchase them. You can provide your work for whatever price you want in the range of $1-$20, and you’ll get 52% commission of that.
You also keep the rights to all of your images, which means you are free to offer them on other sites if you choose to do so. This website is an excellent way to upload designs that you have already created and place then on the internet. Customers will browse the website according to categories to find what they are looking for or can search by keywords.
Themeforest
If you enjoy designing website templates and themes, this website is a great place to sell them to people.
You can sell your templates for anywhere from 40-70% commission. You are allowed to sell items that you have for sale on other websites, but you will receive a reduced commission rate. Be aware the payments are only made after you’ve made $50 or more, so if you don’t plan to selling a lot of designs it may take some time until you receive a payment.
Project4Hire
Instead of simply uploading your own work and hoping that people buy it, Project4hire allows you to design for specific companies or individuals. The person looking for designs will post what is required, and other designers will bid for how much they will charge. When the bidding ends, the person with the lowest offer will receive the job and will design whatever the company or individual has asked for.
Brandstack
This site offers several options for graphic designers. You can put up your logos or graphic designs for companies to browse and buy if they wish to. However, this website also allows you to create an online portfolio of your work.
Anyone looking for a custom design can view portfolios of designers, and then offer a job to any that they like. Here you have the opportunity to do custom work/requests or just sell what designs you already have.
MyFonts
If you like designing fonts, Myfonts is a great way to sell them. Just put up your font designs for customers to view and purchase.
If they buy your font, you will receive 50% of the price that it sold for. You also have some control over how your font is advertised, as you can add your own graphics to the page, write your own description, and create sales or promotions.
Comments and additional sites you know of are welcome in the comments!
Louise Baker blogs about getting an online degree at Zen College Life.
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