Want to sell instructional video online

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HotShot_AB

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Jul 12, 2008
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For some of you this may seem really easy/stupid, but I just can't figure out the process for the life of me. I have made one instructional video for my offline business that I would like to sell online. I'm pretty sure that I want to stay totally digital because I don't want the hassle of the packaging and shipping, etc. I have ideas for at least 5 other videos, but I want to get my feet wet with this first one before I go crazy.

I have looked at 1shoppingcart.com for a shopping cart; I know how to build webpages...well, good enough. I don't fully understand how hosting it on my hosting account and contracting a shopping cart company for the actual sale work together.

Can you guys (and/or gals) help? Where do I start? If more information is needed, let me know.
 


Well, let's just pretend that I was a plumber. I have some new tools, or some different methods for doing whatever plumbers do and I have made a video showing those different methods to help other plumbers out. I want to sell that video. (I'm not a plumber, but the analogy fits).

I am fairly well known in my industry and could post my new website where I will sell this video on a few forums and I think they would sell like hotcakes. I'm not looking to get rich off of them by any means, but I'm tired of answering dozens of emails and calls on the subject and think it would be better for me to just make the video once, and reap the benefits while I sleep.

Make sense?
 
Most hosting accounts with cPanel offer one or more shopping cart scripts. You can host it from your site, just make sure SSL is set up properly. Some are paid and some are free. You will also need a merchant account to be able to accept CCs. If you like paypal, you can use it for this by upgrading to a paypal business account, they will charge you a (I thnk it's around 3)% per transaction.

Choose one that supports digital content delivery or subscription access; basically they pay, then they get a one-time downloadl link or subscriber login/pass sent to their email.
 
jryan... thanks for the reply. I use hostgator to host my website(s) right now and it has cpanel. It is pretty easy to work with. Not sure if I can host video or not, I'll check. What is SSL?

Look guys, I can appreciate your guys' cynicism with newbies and people selling "How to make a zillion dollars in 2 hours without doing any work" kind of crap, I hate that too and that's why I'm here and not another so called internet marketing forum. I hate that other forum because of all the hype and broke wannabees trying to pawn their crap off on other legitimate business people. I have a legit business offline and I'm just trying to make it a little better by selling my knowledge to people that are trying to get started (in my industry). So, if you guys can help, great! If not, I understand, just let me know so I don't waste my time. I won't waste your time.

With that said, could somebody lay it out in terms of step 1). Do this Step 2). Do that

Like I said, I'm a total newb to marketing on the internet, not stupid, just new to it.
 
This is going to sound a little offbeat, but have you considered selling it through LuLu?
They do VCD and DVDs there now, as well as direct downloads, which basically allows people to purchase it in whichever method they like, and you can set a markup on it to the level you desire.
Also means you don't actually have to worry AT ALL about security, credit details, payments, etc. The downside is that you will make substantially less from it, unless you're charging an arm and a leg for the video content.
 
HotShot_AB said:
jryan... thanks for the reply. I use hostgator to host my website(s) right now and it has cpanel. It is pretty easy to work with. Not sure if I can host video or not, I'll check. What is SSL?

could somebody lay it out in terms of step 1). Do this Step 2). Do that
Click to expand...

Looks like you already have most of the answers. SSL = Secure Sockets Layer. You'll need a Security Certificate so your customer CC info is safe by being encrypted using https. Or use a 3rd party like Pay Pal, 2 Checkout etc. for the final transaction and the cc processing will be done on their SSL webpage.

Only other thing I can see you'd have to monitor is: If you are hosting lots of long full length video's and also providing many preview video clips - if/when you get anything close to a decent amount of traffic to your site checking out those video's and downloading them -- a virtual hosting account won't cut it. And you'll have to upgrade to a dedicated server.

Vid files are huge. depending on the resolution quality and format you are using, can be 2.5 MB per minute on 320x240 .wmv format (small and shitty) - right up to 200MB per minute HDV quality. (top DVD Quality).
 
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