Become a Better Creator

As the Blender Market continues to grow and more creators and products become available, it's going to become more important that your products and you as a creator stand out. Here's a list of things you can do to make yourself and your products stand out more on the Blender Market.

Brand your Products and Images

Your products preview images are your first impression, your advertising campaign and your branding all in a 400 x 225 px area. This is why it's so important to take your time when working on your preview images. Those images have to showcase your product(s) in a favorable way, pique the interest of your customers and solidify your brand. It's hard but quite doable. To help, keep your preview images consistent, clean and attractive. Add your branding into the preview image as well; whether that's a logo, a particular render style or graphic treatment. Users who are familiar with you should be able to look at a preview image and know it's yours. Here are a few of our creators that do a great job of designing and branding their products:

Respond to all Comments and Support Topics

It should go without saying, but this is so important and cannot be overstated. Make sure you answer every question and problem related to your products. If a customer asks a question be sure to answer it quickly and politely, even if the customer isn't polite. Think back to a time when you had great support for anything you bought...would you do business with that company again? Chances are, you would. Enough said. You may make this easier by ensuring you are subscribed to the support forums and comments of all your products. 

Listen to the Customers

It's fairly easy to find out what potential customers want, need and are willing to pay for. Keep an eye on forums, comments, social media; basically any place Blender users have conversations. Dial into their wants and needs, ask questions, pose hypotheticals. Do your research. It'll take time, but you should be able to determine what users want and are willing to pay for before you create it.

Write Simple yet Thorough Documentation

Let's assume you have created an advanced add-on with stunning functionality or perhaps you've built an advanced character generator, but without easy to follow, complete documentation, most users won't be able to use your products. Spending time to create good documentation before your product is released should save you time and energy after your product is published. Your documentation should be able to answer most questions that may come up from customers. Even after publishing, don't be afraid to update your documentation with frequently asked questions. The documentation system is easy to update. Use it.

Use Product Tags Wisely

The only way your product sells, regardless of quality, is if people can find it. This is where tags come in. Think of tags as keywords, which customers use to find your products when searching. This doesn't mean adding tags for every word in the dictionary, but it's certainly something you should spend a little time on and put some thought into. A good rule of thumb is to choose 5-10 keywords that are clearly associated with your product.

Promote your Products

You might not want to hear it, but promoting your products is essential to success. This doesn't mean you should flood every social media site and forum with posts/tweets about your product(s), but you should be selectively using a few outlets to let people know about your products. Facebook, Twitter, Blenderartists, and others are all good outlets. You might also consider starting a blog or website for yourself where you can promote your product(s) in more detail.

Embrace Blender Market Promotions 

From time to time we may contact you to suggest a certain timeframe to discount your products. It's up to you, but we suggest you take these offers into consideration. These promotions are often because we expect higher traffic levels during a specific timeframe or because we're preparing a site-wide promotion.

Collaborate with Others

Some of the best products, projects and models come from collaboration. Don't be afraid to collaborate with other artists or developers. You may have serious modeling chops, but perhaps rigging isn't your thing. Why not contact a great rigger on the site and discuss working together? We can split commissions on product sales between multiple creators. Just get in touch. 

Rejections Happen, Grow with Them

Even though it's never fun, rejections happen. You work hard but it's very possible you'll have products get rejected. This is not the end of the world. All rejections come with feedback, take it seriously and use it to improve your future work. In case we didn't give you enough feedback, just ask for more details. We'll do our best to oblige.

The above are just a few of the things that you can do to make yourself and your products stand out in an ever-growing marketplace. Is there anything else you feel is important? Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts!