Okay so you head on over to spreadshirt and open up a shop, create some designs, got your own domain, and customized it the best way you know how. Now what? You've got all these amazing products and no ones buying because no ones seen or heard of you. You've started this on a shoestring budget so your not likely to be on TV any time soon and PPC ads wouldn't do much good at this point. You need to do some free promoting and here's five ways you can get started.

1. Create a myspace/facebook/linkedin profile for your website and add people you know. Make sure you put some time into this. the cooler you profile looks the more likely people are to take a longer look and see what you have to offer... especially if they don't know you. Don't think of you page as a place to get sales think of it more as a way to get your name out to the masses and get some recognition. Once you've got some friends... make comments on their pages to remind them you exist. Say things like "Just showing your page some love BTW check out the site at "your domain.com" we've got some pretty cool clothing" make sure you change your comments every time so they feel that your a real person.
2. Buy one of your own shirts out of the shop. Make sure its the funniest or most unique shirt you have and when you wear it people will ask about it. Let them know where you got it from. Ask your friends and family if they would buy something like it at the price you set. Give it away for free to someone in your target market. Chances are they'll be asked about it and will say where they got it from. Viral marketing at it's best.
3. Do something newsworthy while wearing your shirt. Plant some trees with a local charity, Take some at-risk youth to a sporting event, and use that to write a Press release in e-mail format to reporters in your local newspaper. People love helping charity and if your donating proceeds to charity by selling your shirt you'll get a big boost in sales.
4. Post on T-shirt and clothing line blogs. Make sure your posts are relevant. Don't just leave one-liners like, "That was a great Post." Say something that adds to the post, these are the comments that don't get deleted and can lead to establishing you as an expert in the field.
5. If your flat out broke, Look for something in your household you'd be willing to part with for free. Host a promotion on your site for the person who buys the first or the 10Th T-shirt will get that along with his/her Purchase. This increases a customers urge to buy because they get more value for their dollar. You may be losing something of your own but sometimes it does take money or value to create money or value.

All these are great ways to increase traffic and brand recognition for free and work for me now as well as in the past. The most important thing to remember is to not get caught up in learning so much that you forget to take action. Yes it's important to learn but often times I see new entrepreneurs getting overwhelmed with the reading and learning and they never take any real action. Action is what leads you to profits so get out there and DO something!