How to get people to look at your posts?

I’ve discovered, after posting a few models, is that nobody even bothers to look at my models. I don’t know, but it seems like even the lamest posts get a lot of prints and downloads, while my models just have 1 measly print.

I don’t understand.

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There’s a few strategies to that. Some promote their models through other social media. But you can also enter contests. You’re featured with much smaller collections in contests so others are more likely to see them.

Depending on what you are posting, it may take longer for those interested to find your stuff. You can help them by listing all the keywords that apply to your model. Leaving out key words limits what searches you show up in.

And then there is just time. With good models others may post about your stuff on social media and people may sign up as followers of your models. That’s all on its own schedule.

Maybe the biggest factor is coming up with unique and eye-catching models that fill a need. That’s not easy. I haven’t looked at your models so am not in any way saying anything about your models. These are just the things I’ve observed.

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Your 2 first models are not even one week old and there are super niche. You need to build a follower base in your niche first and it takes time to do so. And then maybe you will gather downloads more easily.

And making quality pictures of your prints is also an important factor in the popularity of a model.

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Imagine if you were looking for the stuff you’ve made, how would you find it? Are the images clear and encouraging instead of boring renders? Is the description clear? Have you set up correct tags? If there are more models like yours does your ones stand out?

And that’s just for “general” models.

If your model’s in a niche, then the intersection between people within that niche, people having 3d printer, people being on makerword, people that’d benefit from your model and people looking for one and willing to print it might simply be 0 people. In that case your model simply won’t gather any attention and that’s ok.

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The eagerly downloaded models are usually nice, aesthetically pleasing and complete. Fan designs are usually not something to encourage downloads, as few people need the prop itself. If it were a propeller hooked to a stand to be plugged into a flower, and the aileron looked like a ladybug, such a model would already have a group of recipients who are eager to download it among gardeners who like to decorate their gardens. You need to think of makerworld as a site where models are downloaded by people with no knowledge of modeling and construction, if you care about users using your models.

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I’m gonna be brutally honest here, because I believe that’s the best way to help you: Your model pages suck. Not the models themselves, just how they are presented to the public.

  1. You have no actual pictures of the models, just renders. Not only is that against the TOS of Makerworld and might get your models taken down, it’s also why a lot of users won’t click to see the details.

  2. You are begging for boosts, either by placing a banner in the description section of your model or by replying to yourself in the comment section (seriously, wtf?). Major turn-off for a lot of people.

  3. The description of your models is poor. I have no idea how big or how small your fan blades are or what they can be used for. You included a technical drawing in your gallery (which is something I appreciate and do myself with a number of my models), but there’s not a single dimension in there, rendering them pointless.

  4. You’re not using a single tag, making it much more difficult for the algorithm to find your models in the first place, so it’ll probably not present them to users who are searching for them, unless they happen to use the exact same words you used to name your models.

  5. Your models serve an extremely specific niche and you don’t have a history of similar models or any followers, so obviously the number of downloads will be low. It’s like YouTube, you can’t upload two videos and expect to have 15 million subscribers the next day. It takes many years and lots of hard work to get there, and the vast majority will fail somewhere along the way. It’s basically the same here.

I know the above was harsh and brutal, but I believe in giving it to you straight instead of dancing around the issue, trying to be polite. Another, more general, advice if I may: Don’t design things with the mindset of “This model must generate lots of downloads”, but design stuff that you find useful. My most successful designs so far have been the ones I’ve designed for myself and then threw on Makerworld as an afterthought because I figured someone else might have a use for them as well. Trying to force this rarely works, most users will sense that and steer clear.

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To be faire to him, there are pictures of his prints. But they are hidden underneath the gallery of the print profiles and there are really poor quality.

@OP You must take good pictures of your prints and show them with pride where everyone can see them when loading the page if you don’t use them as thumbnails.

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put this blunt, with out printed images your models will most likely just get removed. why, because its required.
start there.

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In additon to whats been said, look up some of the folks items that have been giving advice. There will be great examples of what they’re talking about.

Don’t steal copy though. Come up with your own style that matches your models. Have fun with it, or be ultra serious. Think about what advertisements catch your eye and ask yourself why.

Like the other have said, print it and get some pics. Who would want to print it if you can’t be bothered?

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Sure, but I didn’t want to look at the models because I specifically wanted to only hit the general stuff. Having to tell people to follow the posting rules is really for Bambu to do and I don’t like critiquing other people’s stuff.

Edited… Thanks Malc!

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Did you mean to reply to the OP (@henry140) rather than @mzip?

MZip didn’t suggest anything about not requiring photos. An abundance of good suggestions were found in the response.

Your tone also appears to have been speaking to the OP.

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Ya, my comment was meant for henry140.

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Not all heroes wear capes. You’re the Dad most of us never had, but that all of us needed. Thank you!

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Thanks guys. I will change and improve my models and edit them. As soon as I find a way to fix my camera I will be posting real pictures of my prints. :slight_smile: Thanks again everyone.

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I believe that if your model deserves the attention of manufacturers, it is necessary to address them directly.

Can you be that honest with me? lol Is there a section here for people to give advice on their page and model descriptions? I have no idea what I’m doing.

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Ahh, it’s been a while since there was any talk in this topic. I’ve just published a new model… Waiting to see how it would turn out.

I am guessing you are still interested in feedback, so I printed your bearing spinner

I printed your profile without any tunings and took that picture without any post-processing.
What printer and filament are you using? You should be able to get a much better final result.
Matte PLA (like the one used) is also better for hiding imperfections.

About the profile I am sure it can be fine tuned a little bit, but the first thing I don’t understand is why you enabled support. It clearly sliced and printed without any.

From a functional standpoint the bearing works, but it is a little loose and I am afraid the flat ball surfaces (topo and bottom) could cause issues in a real application. EDIT I just noticed it was intended just as a fidget toy, so ignore the real applicaion thing.

Oops, I just forgot to turn off support…
I am using the P1S and PETG HF. I’ve also printed the model with PLA basic, too.

Who knows… It needs to be optimized for print. Though I can choose to not to use the flat surface on the top.
I’m not sure how I can make this. Tighter it ends up printed sticking together. Looser then it’s just really loose. I adjust the parameters by 0.1 mm, and I found this to be the best.