I have been looking at a way to sell downloadable digital content off one of my blogs. I sell a type of vector file for digital download. The files are cheap, some of them as low as 25 cents.
I basically just want to sell though paypal and not deal with credit card service and I want customers to be able to buy and receive the file right away.
There are a few ways of doing this- Creating my own database, etc and use product like PayPal shopping cart. I did try this and to be honest the software was over my head and was gettign into some pretty complicated areas. I really just need a IPN feature ( Instant Payment Notification). X-cart is also popular shopping cart software but comes with a hefty price tag and not not sure I want to fork out that kind of money. I believe they have a trial version but takign the time to set uo at not be worth my while.

Next there are third part companies that will let you do this. Tradebit is a site that host your product images and handles your sales- with a smallish commission of 7.5 percent. Thsi may be the option I go with. I think they payout weekly. Paypal charges commission plus .30 cents per transaction if buyer uses credit card to purchases. Not sure what happens if some one buts something for .25 cents and my fee is 30 cents- do I end up owing Paypal?

This may be my biggest stumbling block. I am looking at a Wordpress shopping cart plugin, WP e-Commerce and the free version does not do digital downloads. The cost is 25.00 USD to get the “gold” version which will let me sell digital downloads and buyer will receive file instantly.
I also see that they have an add-on that will integrate with NexGen Gallery plugin, which costs another 10.00 . ARGH.

I will give free version a whirl and if does what i want will do upgrade to paid version.

I also have looked at WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart which is free but I do like that WP e-Commerce will work with NextGen Gallery and that might be the tipping point for me.

I will play with the plugins over the weekend and post back on which shopping cart plugin what worked best.
Lisa

Tags: Web Design // 11 Comments »

I have been having fun installing galleries on some Wordpress blogs this past week. I will admit NextGen Gallery is probably one of the more challenging plugins to install and work with- but very worthwhile. ( Not as bad as the Kimili Flash plugin tho!)
This was not a 30 second download the plugin and upload tho content folder operation. It took me easliy a half hor to get it up and workign properly and even then it is work to get each photo up.
Form and SEO point of veiw you need to make some adjustments to images once they are up.

For example in your NextGen galleries, change the alt text of the image. By default the alt text is name of the file so you alt text will be something like photo1.jpg. Change this to describe your photo is simple English.
A great tip is to make your images linkable.

How to Create Hyper Links For Images in Nex Gen Gallery Plugin for Wordpress

This is quite easy although bit time consuming to do- but again very worth it.
When in Gallery there is empty field for description- you can add html here including a link. I will use this to link to a post that is based on the original image.

Tags: Internet Marketing and Blogs // 6 Comments »

Ever the masochists I keep baning my head against the wall. I often write that I have been trying to have a working ability to use Photoshop for close to 12 years no with next to know headway. I am beginning to think I have an Adobe learning disability.
So whats a girl to do? Continue the madness but delving into vector design band Adobe Illustrator. What is wring with me?

In my travails I cam across an outstanding website that feature fantastic Illustrator Tutorials.
Is is bad to say tha other people talent makes me depressed? I often feel that if I can be “as good” not worth doing. I have to master everything I have an interest in and get depressed when I can’t.

At any rate- check out the site and its Illustrator Tutorials it is really good for the challenged liek me

Tags: Web Design // 11 Comments »

At the risk of sounding like I know what I am doing- I have been playing around with code in some of my Wordpress plugins. Some of the Amazon plugin automatically embed Amazon products into your posts using Amazon API key and search index function. By default the category i in plugins is usually books but I wanted to change to be more specific- like electronics in posts about Blu-Ray players, etc.
After playing around here are the categories I cam up with- I have found the more tailored amazon affiliate links are to the post the higher the CTR and the better conversion to sales. I have an excellent conversion to sales with Amazon and it almost rivals my Adsense revenue at this point.
I am also very wary of relying to heavily on AdSense ( or any one single revenue stream) and happy that I have invested time with Amazon. It is not nearly as easy as slapping in some code on your posts but can be worth the effort in long run. It took almost a year of diligent link embedding in several blogs for me to see real progress and earn income worth mentioning.

List of Search Index Categories for Amazon AWS

Apparel
Automotive
Baby
Beauty
Blended
Books
Classical
DigitalMusic
DVD
Electronics
ForeignBooks
GourmetFood
HealthPersonalCare
Hobbies
HomeGarden
Jewelry
Kitchen
Magazines
Merchants
Miscellaneous
Music
MusicalInstruments
MusicTracks
OfficeProducts
OutdoorLiving
PCHardware
PetSupplies
Photo
Software
SoftwareVideoGames
SportingGoods
Tools
Toys
VHS
Video
VideoGames
Wireless

Tags: Blog For Money, WordPress Plugins // 3 Comments »