$ell progs

Do anyone have experience with selling progs?
I mean how did you do it?
How many copies did you sold?
What method of paying did you used?
Did you used Shareware first?
How did you encrtypted a serial nr?

That's all I want to know :)
hehe thanx

http://www.kagi.com/

the people pay them with a credit card or something, then you send the people the program, then kagi pays you. but they keep a % of the money

Yeah I was aware of that company, but do you have experience with them?

nope.

I am planning on starting my own business so I can sell stuff,
but I am gonna get a merchant account, and a PO box, so I can recieve money orders(with letting people know my home address) and use credit cards,
the main problem with that, is each cost about $20 per month...
so until my business really gets going, I think i am going to use them.

This site will take credit cards for you and deal with primarily in digital products. I have used them and many of my associates do as well. Plus they have an affiliate program where others can post links to your site, sell more of your product for a percentage you set! http://www.clickbank.com

Then if you desire to sell a Hard Copy of something... http://www.ccnow.com is another option. I've used them before as well. But I don't think they'll resell software for you.

What they do is act as a Reseller of your product. So they handle all of the credit card stuff, e-mail notify you of the sale and you handle delivery.

On ClickBank.com they also have a cgi script which will give a password to access your download page so others cannot get there without paying.

See??? If thhe post isn't about coding VB... And more of a sales and marketing post... I"M THE "GURU"!!! :cool:

vbMarketer:
is there anything else I should know before I start my business?

One of the biggest problems I see when assisiting others with their Sales and Marketing... Is they Fall in love with their product.

To be successful in Direct Marketing you product, especially online... Is to "Fulfill" a specific need, or want of your "Target Market".

Many times I have someone tell me they have the most sought after 'Widget' and it will sell like hotcakes! When it doesn't... They keep throwing money into marketing campaigns, display ads, direct mail letters, etc.

The very best products, whether software or not, are those which solve a problem you encounter and can be of help to you. If this is true than there are most likely others who will need your solution as well.

If your test marketing shows your product isn't being received by your target market... Find out why. Re-design or dump it and start again.

Never design a project first then look for a market which will purchase it.

First, choose your target market... Who are they? Where can they be found? How can you reach them? Do they use computers regularly (if thinking of a software product)? Do they have a need for a certain solution? Do they have the disposable income to purchase your product with?

Then develop a product which fit's their needs.

Do some reading and research... Find out where there is a need or a "Niche" to be filled... then proceed to fill that niche.

Many times an add-on, or tutorial, on how to use a certain software product is a great seller! A friend of mine has created an interactive CD for people wanting to begin working with Macromedia Flash.

Another developed a software program, in Perl,which creates web sites on the fly. He began learning Perl roughly a year ago. Then Western Web Works purchased him out! Software, website and all for an undisclosed amount of money!

Now he is working on a program which will manage web sites on a members only basis.

Find a need and fill it. Help others get what they want. And you will be rewarded as well.

One other point... If you are serious about generating an income from online and Internet sales... Register a domain and stay away from the Free Sites. Free sites are okay for download points, testing, etc. But a YourCompany dot com, with a professional look to it, will increase sales and give the customer the feeling you're here to stay.

Most people will not give CC information to a Free Site wth a P.O. Box listed there.

No P.O. Boxes either. Get a box at MailBoxes etc. or some place similar. With them, you get an actual street address with a Suite #.

Lot's more I could give you... :)

As you get closer Dennis, I'd be glad to help you.

Thanks for all your help too!

I am staying away from the freesite's
I hate it when I go to a so called business then see a namezero frame, or banner popup,
I was gonna have a business with the name of DennisSoft, but I thought that was too egotistical, so I am naming it cyber-inertia, is this a good name? I havent registered yet so its not too late for me too change it.

I am gonna register my domain at http://www.registerclub.com ,
and I dont know what host to use,
do you have any recomendations?

thanks for your help...

BTW I am gonna have a web-design service, where I design websites for people,
I know its hard work, but since i am just starting I will only accept "do-able" offers.
it is also gonna be a software company, I already have some idea's for products,
such as html editor, a set up program(like installshield), etc.
if everything goes right, my business is going to have a target market of developers who dont have much money...

which I know that is all of us ;)

thanks!

Thanks for the info VbMarketer, it really has some good points.

Quote:

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if everything goes right, my business is going to have a target market of developers who dont have much money...

---

"Don't HAVE much money???"

Not a good start there buddy! ;-) Your target market needs to HAVE money if you are looking to be profitable. If it's only a sideline hobby in which money doesn't matter... Then go for it! :)

As for Web Site design... There are a buh-zillion of them you will be competing with. To see some examples of the work that is available go surf through http://www.eLance.com You can even bid on work there and see if it's for you!

You can get a feel for what is available... What different types of work is going for... And check out your Competitors web sites and work portfolio's.

As for an Installer.... I would absolutely love something like that! A fill-in-the-blank and Presto!!! an executable app!

Because I am a marketer... I have ideas for my own simple to use programs which will sell for around $25.00 up to $97.00. Including some manuals and eBooks as well. My programs are solution-solvers for others. Solutions I've needed for myself.

Not to say my current program will be highly successful, but I'll still use it. And most likely others will too!

A simple, easy to use installer would alleviate another learning curve I'll have to go through. But if it's priced to high I may opt to go through the pain of learning to use InnoSetup or another freeware solution.

This is why I'm learning VB. The "Pain" of paying someone else big money, to develop a program from scratch, is too high and PAINFUL! :D So I purchased VB 6 Pro and am learning to code my own apps.

Are you looking to make a healthy profit from your site??? If so I'd stay close to markets with money, selling solution-based software, to fulfill their needs. Also I'd stay away from web site design... Far too many people with FrontPage2000 are billing theirselves out as designers!

Let's not take into account that many of the huge corporate giants who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to design a simple website (Which I could do with freeware from http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage ), are folding fast!!!

Web site design is a competitive marketplace, you'll always be updating sites, working out bugs, etc.

Develop your software just once... Place it on download.com. Take credit card orders for the one product and continually develop new stuff, add-ons or updates!

E-mail privately if you desire! You have some great ideas, but you do need a market with money! There is money to be made with shareware too.

Good luck!

You should save all these posts vbMarketer, saves writing time when you write your book ;) you should make a tutorial out of this stuff. Thanks! :D

vbMarketer:

My Business wont be the only way I am going to get money, when I am old enough I am definatly going to need to get a job, but it is kind of a hobby,
and what I mean by "target is developers who dont have mcch money" is like any of us, we are willing to spend about $100 on a good development product, most of us CAN-NOT afford to buy something like Borland C++ Builder Enterprise and Install Shield, or Visual Studio and InstallShield, or even one of the above Dev. producs(BCB VS) and Wise installer, Wise is about $500 I think, and install shield is like $1000, sure they are very Very Good products, but that is just rediculous, unless we are making damn good money, we cant afford $1000....
we (well most of us) had to pay for VB which costs enough, and I think having to pay rediculous amounts of money for an installer is absurd...

that is why I said for developers with not a lot of money, I would have to be crazy to charge like MS or inprise(borland) does.....
for me a lot of money is more than $100 or $150....

I have to at least make something... so I would charge(at an average) about $25 - $75 for my products.. that is just an average... I dont have exact prices worked out yet :D

Start'm cheap...offer disks. Advertise around town to kds and show how inexpensive it is (make them sspend money when they don't notice, for instance, shipping and handeling will be 3 dollars, make it 5, they wll just say yes...) That probably doesn't help but..................

cool, good idea Steve :D
I am sure you have had this happen to you as we all have... :)