99% of Web Designers Miss This Incredibly Fun Income Stream
Most web designers focus exclusively on websites.
They design them. They launch them. And then the project ends.
What’s often overlooked is one of the most enjoyable, creative, and profitable extensions of web design work: printed goods.
Business cards, product packaging, mugs, magnets, promotional products, and other physical materials are a natural next step — yet the vast majority of web designers never offer them.
By the way, these are outsourced. You’re not producing. You design, order from a trusted vendor, quality check, and deliver to your client. Design is free for your client and you markup the cost of the product a percentage that is aligned with your business.
Printed Goods Often Come Before the Website
Many businesses aren’t ready for a full website right away.
What they are ready for is:
Business cards
Simple promotional products
Basic branded materials
These are often the very first investments a business owner makes when they’re getting started.
When you provide those printed goods early on, you become their designer from the beginning. By the time they’re ready for a website, you’re not competing with anyone — you’re already the person they trust.
Printed Goods Extend Your Role Beyond “Website Designer”
When a client hires you for a website and later realizes you also handle printed goods, something important happens.
You’re no longer just their web designer.
You become the person they associate with all of their marketing materials.
That shift changes the relationship. Instead of one-off projects, you’re now part of the ongoing life of their business — both online and offline.
What Counts as Printed Goods?
Printed goods include far more than traditional stationery:
Business cards
Product packaging
Stickers and labels
Mugs and drinkware
Magnets
Promotional products
Branded inserts and thank-you cards
These items live in the real world. They’re used, shared, handed out, and reordered.
You can even work with a local sign shop to supply vehicle graphics, banners, and signs.
Why Printed Goods Become Nearly Passive Income
Once printed goods are designed and produced, another real advantage appears: reorders.
When a client runs out of business cards, labels, or promotional items, they don’t want to redesign everything. They want a simple reorder.
That reorder:
Requires minimal time
Uses existing designs
Generates income without new client acquisition
Over time, this creates a quiet, reliable income stream that runs alongside your web design work.
Why Web Designers Are Perfectly Positioned for This
Web designers already:
Build brand systems
Understand consistency
Work closely with business owners
See where physical touchpoints are missing
Understand file setup and requirements
Printed goods aren’t separate from web design — they’re a continuation of the same branding work, just applied to physical materials.
Why This Income Stream Is So Often Missed
Most designers skip printed goods not because they’re difficult, but because they’ve never been shown a simple, sustainable way to include them.
Without structure, it’s easy to assume print adds complexity.
In reality, once systems are in place, printed goods often become:
One of the easiest offerings to manage
One of the most enjoyable to design
One of the most consistent income sources
The Long-Term Advantage
Printed goods create longevity.
Businesses start with them.
They grow with them.
They reorder them.
And when you’re the person who provides both printed materials and websites, clients rarely look elsewhere.
For many web designers, this is the missing layer that turns short-term projects into long-term relationships — and brings creativity back into the work.
