As previously mentioned by here on POD Helper Cafepress have formed a partnership with a website called Sellit that provides widgets that you can use to promote your store in MySpace, Facebook and basically anywhere you you can post HTML code without restrictions. Previously when I checked it was in closed beta so I couldn’t really get a good look at it.

Now I have looked at it I have to admit that I am unimpressed. I think that people new to the web love this type of widget/gadget but the fact is that in general they look very unprofessional. I think they can only look good if they can be can be seamlessly integrated into the design of the website. I have yet to see this happen though.

Actually you are very limited to what you can do with this widget. It seems that you can only use a section which contains products which for most Cafepress shopkeepers means that you can only promote one design at a time. Apart from choosing whether to display one item or a grid there seems to be no customization features. At the moment you can only associate one Cafepress store with your membership too.

Verdict: One good point about this is that the links lead to your store rather than the Cafepress marketplace so you can get the commission you deserve but unless they add some features I recommend that you spend the time you have allotted to marketing your products elsewhere.

I came across the news today that Cafepress have formed a new partnership with Sellit to make widgets called ShopBots which can be used to help market your Cafepress stores across platforms such as blogs, and MySpace. I don’t use MySpace myself but I do use a blog obviously so I signed up. Unfortunately it is still a closed beta at the moment so I can’t really give you much information about it.

They do have some information on their web page and FAQ and of course the first question I had was: what does it cost me?  Well, it seems to be free. I think that that company will make money as an affiliate and recent changes to the Cafepress Affiliate Program may mean that it doesn’t even affect your volume bonus as the links go to your store and I believe all items sold from your store front contribute to your volume bonus.

As you can see the widget is squarish and less than 400px wide. It should easily fit in most blogs if that is where you want to use them. I am not big on widgets myself as they can be slow loading and can be frustrating for people with slow internet connections.

Zazzle has a similar widget which you can access from your control panel but it is not as cool as this one in my opinion. On the other hand you can use the Zazzle widget to earn affiliate dollars and you can include other people’s stores and items if you choose. That may be more important.