My 1st Professional Website

In an earlier blog post (The 1^st eBook I ever Bought), I mentioned setting up a free website, which I did. The only thing was that the website was only to store my eBooks, so that they could be downloaded by my eBay customers. The website itself didn’t have any sales pages, which at the time was ok as I didn’t have to pay for hosting it.

As my eBay sales increased I wanted my own professional website that I could make sales from. The only trouble was I didn’t have any knowledge in this field. Sure I had learned how to put an index page on my free site and a folder to store my eBooks, ready to download. But multiple sales pages, all with payment buttons? I don’t mind telling you that it was daunting.

That was until I found that PlanetSMS also sold ready made eBook websites at a very reasonable price, all I needed to do in addition to buying the website was host it and get myself a domain name. Once I made the purchase it really was very simple, all I had to do was follow the instructions that came with it. If ever I got into difficulty I simply asked for help. As I had bought the website from PlanetSMS I automatically became a lifetime member and had access to their forum, which still to this day has to be the best I’ve come across. If there is ever anything that I’m not sure about, all I have to do is ask the question and somebody will get back to me with a solution to the problem.

At first I tried to use my free web space, from my ISP, to host the new website, but I was only allowed 30MB, which was enough for the sales pages but not enough to store all the eBooks as well. So I needed to find a web hosting company, which I did through the PlanetSMS forum, I also got a discount for being a member.

Next I needed to buy myself a domain name to go with the new website. I went to 1&1 and got myself sorted out for £1.99 a year. Which I think you’ll agree is very cheap.

So my 1^st eBook website was established. I was still using Outlook Express as my auto responder. But the more sales I was making the slower my PC became as it was checking for emails every 5 minutes, so that the customers didn’t have to wait for their purchase. Another big downfall of using Outlook Express as my auto responder was that my PC had to be on all the time. I went to the PlanetSMS forum and asked for some advice. I was advised to check out My DD (My Digital Dispatcher).

My DD is a clever software programme that is added to my website and links up my PayPal account. The staff at My DD installed the programme onto my website for me, as I didn’t know how to. All I had to do was load my items for sale, the titles used and the web location that it could be downloaded from. Then whenever I receive a payment on PayPal My DD is notified of the payment and title of the item sold. It will then instantly respond by sending the customer an email containing the relevant link for that title. My DD is also set to send me an email for every transaction, so I can keep an eye on my sales and I can also see if an email failed to send. I should mention that if an email fails to send it’s normally a fault of mine, having not matched the titles exactly. Hey we all make mistakes, don’t we. But that’s another beauty of MY DD; it tells me I’ve made one. All I have to do then is find it and correct it. The real beauty of My DD is that because it’s on my website it works 24/7 even when my PC is off and I’m snoring my head off. It also means that my website, (once I set it up), is fully automated.

Take a look at my 1^st eBook website and see what you think. If you’re thinking of buying your own eBook website, wait until my next blog post as things have got a whole lot easier and Cheaper to set up.

Until next time, Barry Wells

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Filed under: General • Getting Started

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