The T-Shirt Blog

Strictly For Webmasters

Posted on January 15th, 2008 by Alex.
Categories: Geeky tees, Strictly For Webmasters
Tags: alexa, rankings, traffic, webmasters

So far I’ve mainly written about t-shirts from a consumer point of view, but I’ve secretly wanted to create a subsection of this blog that deals with issues faced by webmasters, t-shirt designers, and anyone involved in selling or publishing t-shirts online, in particular because that’s something I am involved in myself. I run several other t-shirt related sites, actively work on advertising campaigns, and have created several t-shirt designs (with more on the way). Given that a significant part of my visitors are actively involved in running t-shirt related sites I feel like I have a ready made audience who could benefit from the topic, and vice versa. So expect to see more posts about things like search engine optimisation, website promotion, search marketing (ppc), and other issues pertaining to running a website and attracting visitors.

My first topic for webmasters has to do with Alexa.com and and the issue of measuring a site’s populary relative to other websites. (If you already know all about Alexa you might want to skip the rest of this post). Before I explain to you what I find so useful about Alexa’s website rankings, let me ask you a question:

Have you ever looked at another website and wondered how much traffic it gets?

It might be a competitor’s website, an industry leader like Busted Tees or Threadless, or maybe a blog who’s readership (or lack thereof) you are wondering about. The reality is, that, short of asking, there is no real way of knowing how much traffic another website gets, and here’s where Alexa comes in. Alexa is a tool that ranks websites sites in order of traffic. So, for example, Yahoo.com is number #1, Google.com is #2, YouTube.com is #3, and Facebook is #6 as you can see for yourself at Alexa’s main page. The rankings are straightforward - while we don’t know exactly how many visitors or pageviews these sites get, we can see that Yahoo gets the most visitors, Google is just behind, and YouTube follows in third place. A quick search for my site reveals that thetshirtblog.com is ranked… #533,515 as of this minute.

Personally I use the Alexa toolbar for Internet Explorer and the Alexa plugin for Firefox to instantly see the Alexa ranking of any website I visit, just like in this screenshot:

So at this point you are probably wondering, how does Alexa gets it’s rankings? Furthermore, are those rankings accurate and are there any caveats? Well, hold those questions until the end of the article, because it’s time for some tees! Did you really think you were going to read through a full post from The T-Shirt Blog without seeing a single t-shirt? Don’t you realize, t-shirts are the glue that holds the universe together, and permeate everything we see and do! Ok, maybe not, but these customized Alexa tees showcase your site’s ever changing Alexa ranking with the help of Zazzle’s API:

And now for the nitty-gritty on Alexa’s rankings.

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(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)  Loading ...

Lucky Threadz Rocks!

Posted on January 10th, 2008 by Alex.
Categories: Shop Reviews, Best Of The T-Shirt Blog
Tags: luckythreadz, luckythreadz.com, lucky, threadz, threadz, air, guitar, tees

No, I’m not just saying that as a play on words with the above t-shirt.  Lucky Threadz really is an outstanding vendor with a multitude of original and creative designs.  Think of them as Busted Tees‘ more urbane counterpart, but with somewhat outdated pop-culture references.  And while you are there - don’t forget to check out some of the embedded videos, like this hilarious Richard Simmons sketch from Who’s Line Is It Anyways, and a poignant reading by Charles Bukowski

For more things that rock check out the ultimate guitar hero accessory guide, and be sure to look through the rest of Lucky Threadz’ affordable inventory, including long sleeved tees, and hoodies.

(2 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)  Loading ...

M&Ms Are The New T-Shirts

Posted on January 7th, 2008 by Alex.
Categories: Custom T-Shirts
Tags: mms, m&m's

Is the M&M division of Mars, Inc. really doing so badly that management feels the need to prostitute diversify the brand by going into the novelty gifts business?  Mymms.com now offers fully customizable candy, which means more things for us to customize and personalize without needing to get our lazy butts out of our task chairs.  

Realistically, the MY M&M’S® fill the niche of party favors and Valentine’s Day presents, as the minimum order is $47.96, and most package options include individually wrapped favors.  Amazingly enough, a $3849.99 crystal champagne flute and diamond ring set is also available, with four 7oz bags of personalized M&Ms thrown in to sweeten the deal.

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Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 25th, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: Current and Topical
Tags: santa, xmas, holidays, t-shirt

I was already in second grade when I first found that Santa doesn’t exist.  I can still remember the sunny afternoon as we were packing our bags at the end of the school day.  And the irony of it all?  I am a full blooded jew.

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Upside Down and Inside Out

Posted on December 25th, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: Geeky tees
Tags: weird, geeky, tees, tshirts

For some reason t-shirt makers are starting to make shirts that you can read from the upside-down position. The obvious reason for this is so that you can cheat during science…

…and history exams.

If only they realized that it would be a lot easier to cheat if they printed everything on the inside, right side up of course.

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T-Shirts That Shouldn’t Exist, Part 2: Dirty Rotten Style

Posted on December 23rd, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: Offensive, T-Shirts That Shouldn't Exist
Tags: offensive, tees, tshirts, t-shirts

Recently, one of my readers left a comment asking if anyone’s ever heard of dnrstyle.com, and whether they are to be trusted.  After a quick look at the site I’m left wondering the same thing - what with the amateurish design and abundant colloquialisms.  One the other hand, I can’t help but admire the enthusiasm of the site’s creators.  Seems like a bunch of lads from the ‘hood’ got together and made it happen - a few t-shirt designs, a printing press, a website and a shopping cart, and free shipping doesn’t hurt either.  I still wouldn’t trust them with my credit card…

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)  Loading ...

The Bright Side of T-Shirt Hell

Posted on December 23rd, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: Offensive, Geeky tees, Shop Reviews
Tags: tshirt, t-shirt, hell, tshirthell, tshirthell.com, geeky, nerdy, tees

Remember the days when T-shirt Hell used to be really offensive, got itself into numerous lawsuits and all sorts of controversy?  Kotaku, a gaming blog, even got a C & D letter because they posted a T-Shirt Hell tee! 

Well it ain’t your grandma’s T-Shirt Hell anymore.  I’m not saying you won’t find a bunch of seriously offensive tees on their website, but some of the newer designs are funny in an almost wholesome sort of way!

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)  Loading ...

Threadless ‘07 Wrap-Up (Win a $25 gift card)

Posted on December 19th, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: Bargain Basement
Tags: threadless, sale, artsy, t-shirts, tshirts

The Threadless Winter sale has been extended through the end of today.  Clearly, there is no time to waste on a long winded post, but there are a lot of good shirts still available.  Many old designs have been reprinted, but unfortunately a lot of them are sold out especially in guys sizes (Nice Boobies notwithstanding).

Also I wanna give a small token of appreciation to one of my my faithfull readers - a $25 Threadless giftcard you can hopefully use to snatch up a couple of shirts before the sale is over.  Just reply to this post before 5 pm today and I’ll randomly select a winner and email  the gift card to the email address listed in the winning comment.

Here are some in-stock tees worth buying, sale or not:

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)  Loading ...

Burnswell $12 Sale

Posted on November 26th, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: Bargain Basement
Tags: burnswell, t-shirt, sale, bargains

I’ve been wanting to do a special section about t-shirts sales and bargains, and with the holiday shopping season in full swing it’s about time.  There are a couple of sales going on right now, and as the competition between t-shirt merchants increases I don’t think that’s about to change.   So stay tuned for more deals on worthwhile tees, and if you’ve have a tip for me, by all means send it in or leave a comment.

To start things off we have Burnswell, a two year old online store with 25 original designs you won’t find anywhere else.  Everything is at a discounted $12 and shipping is around $5, depending on how many shirts you order. Enter coupon code BRNS_TSB for another 10% discount.

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)  Loading ...

Moblogging with The T-Shirt Blog

Posted on November 23rd, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: T-Shirt Central
Tags: math, delicious, shortie, tee, shirt

I came across the idea of moblogging about t-shirts while reading a recent post by Karl at Tcritic. This of course prompted me to check my Blackberry Pearl, with the mostly empty 2 GB MicroSD card inside, and 1.3 megapixels of cameraphone goodness.  The findings revealed the following photo of a delicious t-shirt from Questionable Content, as worn by a friend of a friend.

There was also another random tee shot. Your guess is as good as mine as to what they were putting the “fun” into.

Now, I don’t think I’ll be doing a whole lot of this kind of “reporting” in the future. Trying to convince someone to let you take a picture of their shirt is bad enough, but where is the karma pointing a camera at their chest because of the t-shirt they are wearing, as opposed to the t-shirt they are not wearing?  Anyhow, my closet has plenty of undocumented tees to share.

The tee is a gift loan from a friend, who got it from Steve & Barry’s, a department store chain NY and perhaps other places.  Unfortunately a web search for this shirt turned up nothing at all, neither on their website, nor on ebay, not anywhere else.  So if you happen to really want a creamy pink guy’s t-shirt that says “Shortie” on it, you are SOL unless you are willing to DIY via Zazzle

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)  Loading ...

The Anti-Polo at Threadpit

Posted on November 17th, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: Funny, Offensive, Best Of The T-Shirt Blog
Tags: funny, polo, shirt, threadpit, threadpit.com

Most online t-shirt shops stick to printed tees as their chief production medium. Presumably this is due to their popularity, and the relative ubiquity and low cost of screen printing over, say embroidering. Threadpit.com however, managed to take the classic Polo logo and turn it on it’s head in a clever parody. It comes in four classic colors, and it’s price is Old Navyesque $21.95. In fact, there are more polos available, all too x-rated to show.  Watch out Abercrombie Moose!

P.S. How cool is it of Threadpit to leave a comment section under each tee. I wish more shops would encourage that kind of feedback.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)  Loading ...

What Would Jesus Wear?

Posted on November 5th, 2007 by Alex.
Categories: Political, Shop Reviews, T-Shirts That Shouldn't Exist
Tags: christian, fundamentalist, t-shirts, shirts

Nothing from Walmart, anyway. I was browsing the T-Shirt Shopping List when I came across an ad for ChristianShirts.net. The site contains a huge 10 page selection of t-shirts, mainly slogan tees making a case against abortion, but also against gay rights and evolution.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)  Loading ...