How to Sell Downloads on Your Website
- 1). Know your products. Finding a program and setting up your website to handle sales depends on what kind of services or products you will be offering. Some of the most common pay-per-download sales include PDF files, documents, music files, video files or artwork created by you. Once you know what kind of product you will offer for sale, use this information to locate a program that will help set up your website.
- 2). Select a program. There are several programs available that make it simple to set up a pay-per-download service for your customers. Most of these programs are run through PayPal, but you can choose your payment preferences to also include credit cards. One of the most commonly used download program is E-Junkie (see References). This service costs you $5 a month. They make it easy to use by coordinating your PayPal information for incoming payments, as well as providing links to add "Shopping Cart" buttons to your website. There are also no fees for how many purchases are made through your website. This allows you to pay only the monthly fee.
- 3). Set up your downloads. Start by going through the sign-up process for the program you have chosen. Going through the program's setup process should be very easy. Once you have set up payment through the website, you can start adding your files to the server. This makes a file available for download to any customer who clicks on a link on your website. It automatically links to the specific file. Each file you add to the server, the website will provide you with two links. One link gives the option to add the file to the customer's shopping cart, while the other link shows "Buy Now." When you post these links on your website, they are shown as buttons to your customers.
- 4). Collect your payment. When a customer clicks on the "Buy Now" button or makes a purchase from their shopping cart, they will enter their payment information based on the payment methods you have chosen to accept. The payment processor through the server's website will then verify that the payment information is valid and the money goes directly into your chosen account. The customer is then given the chance to complete their purchased download.
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