Boost Your Blogging with Your Own Merch

It’s a fact of human nature that people enjoy expressing their devotion, their affiliations. There’s a tribal aspect to human nature that every good writer can tap into. If you write something that people enjoy, they will naturally want to express their affiliation with you. This can be leveraged into a passive income stream, sure, but you’re not going to get rich selling t-shirts and mugs. The more important aspect of selling your own “merch,” your own merchandise… is that it helps create buzz around your blog itself.

If you’ve ever been driving and seen a sticker on the back of a car that says, “KCCO,” or “Keep Calm and Chive On,” you’ve seen an example of this phenomenon. “The Chive” is an image blog. That’s all it does, literally: It posts images and memes. As the site grew in popularity, it created a loyal following and began developing its own merchandise. From stickers with the KCCO slogan to t-shirts featuring comedian Bill Murray (who seems to have a special relationship with the folks running the site), there is a culture of “belonging” that characterizes the site’s merch.

“Good merchandise, even hidden, soon finds buyers.” – Plautus

This is just one example among many. Creating merchandise is a way of establishing a culture of belonging that allows people to express their affiliation. It’s the same concept behind the use of terms like “Venti” and “Grande” at Starbucks. When you hear the phrase, “Venti cappuccino,” you immediately know someone is referring to Starbucks. This was intentional marketing to create an “in-group” of people who are “in the know” when it comes to shopping at Starbucks.

But what about writing? Is it possible to create the same culture of merchandise when it comes to your blog and your written work? Of course it is. People have largely forgotten Game of Thrones thanks to the disaster that was the last two seasons of the television adaptation, although I’m seeing some clips from the show appearing on social media as younger viewers discover it. When GOT was at its height, however, George R.R. Martin’s series had a powerful impact on popular culture. You’ve probably seen a t-shirt or even a mug with the phrase, “I drink and I know things.” That’s a quote straight from a character in Game of Thrones that is immediately recognizable as merchandise.

If you create writing, characters, quotes, symbols, and other tie-ins to your work that people enjoy, it won’t belong before you’re seeing your readers buy shirts, coffee mugs, and similar merchandise to express their affiliation. Merchandise has real power. (Consider how powerful and polarizing is the MAGA cap, for example; it’s a simple red baseball cap that has taken on a life of its own, arguably making it one of the most influential pieces of merchandise ever created — regardless of what you think of it.) Merchandising like this gets the word out about your work, spreads awareness of you as an author, and makes your blog that much more popular and influential.

When you approach your blog, therefore, take the time to check out one of the many free dropship merchandising sites out there. There are countless sites where you can upload your own slogans or graphic designs and then sell t-shirts, mugs, caps, and other merchandise to your audience. I mean, sure, you can have things printed up custom, but that’s a level above and beyond what most authors are going to do. Instead, just avail yourself of the services already out there.

You might be surprised at just how much response you get from using merchandise to promote your blog and increase your reach. Your dedicated readers will also enjoy the opportunity to “rep” their appreciation for your work. It’s a win-win situation that furthers the cause of getting the word out about your blog… and that’s really what we’re trying to do, at the end of the work day.