"setting up website for download of games rules" Topic

I couldn`t find an appropriate board for this so I thought I`d try posting this here:

I`m staring to look around now with the intention to start a website and have downloads of my rules & scenarios available from it.
There seems a lot to choose from, and it all looks a little bewildering… and so I think I might need help from someone who`s already done it.
Once you have this webspace and site up, for instance, how do you get the software to download it in place? I have a Paypal account which might be of some use, which i could have registered as a seller (I`ve only bought stuff before now!), but I`ve no idea how it would all work.
Is there any advice, or a simple beginner's guide out there somewhere… or is it best left to a professional?

Thanks for any advice you can give on this one.

Regards,

Mike.

A lot of people seem to use Blogger for this with links to Rapidshare.

It depends it you want to charge for the material

Yes, I do BT.

If you are not sure about websites and setting up shopping carts, etc then why not use a blog to run your site and then sell through RPGNow, Wargames Vault, etc if they are PDFs? It would be easier and get you to a larger market.

Mike

Thanks Mike,

The files are in pdf… I`m still editing, but looking ahead now to see how best to promote them.

And yes, I think it would be easier that way too!

You set up a PayPal buyer link (the code is copyable at PayPal at your accoun, and you just paste it into your products page), and when you receive an email of a sale, you email the password to the buyer that allows him to open the PDF. Or, you can password protect the PDF within a Zipfile; either way works. Here's how my seller page looks: link (you can right click on it and select "view source" to see how the PayPal code looks).

And I also sell at Wargames Vault. Nothing to stop you from selling at as many places as you can/want….

1066.us

Thanks Doug!

I need some free webspace or something maybe that comes with ads. Unfortunately my ISP (btyahoo) recently pulled the plug on its webspace deal. Any suggestions as far as that is concerned?

Sorry about asking these dim, novice questions!

I use yola.com, free site, no ads, lots of templates/tools. Paypal buttons, ect.

They even handle the domain name reg and set up for you.

free to try, so your not loosing anything to experiment with it…

I only pay $4.95 USD per month for my Angelfire Website. But I would do that even if I wasn't selling anything: ads are annoying and my site content is too big for the free size….

James (napthyme),
I had a quick look at yola and it does look inviting!
But do the free ones (like this one) get enough people visiting them?
Mike.

Are you looking to sell or give away? There are several free ones around that have dones of rules on them. As for hits to the website if you have a banner here on TMP you can post news items to promote them. As far as other sites that get a number of hits I am not sure. I have links to thousands of sites some with counters some without. You REALLY have to self-promote in order to get hits off web crawlers.
VR
James Mattes

Yes James, I intend to sell.
Thanks for the advice, but thousands of sites?

Yeap, last count (about 2 years ago) I had general and specific hobby links of over 2,500. Now with blogs, yahoo groups store site, general and specific history sites it is really in need of an over hall and re-organization. If I do leave for a few months I plan on working on just catagorizing all the links.
VR
James Mattes

You at Revilelelle in Bristol Mike?

Web crawlers (also known as search engines) are strange beasts. The way you get listed high when someone does a word search is to have your Webpage designed with the key words included in the text. Then the difference in protocols is the difference in the crawlers; Google makes domain names a priority; and also how many other Websites are linked to yours; other crawlers say that how much traffic your site gets makes it list higher. But it is an art not a science. Getting listed with Yahoo and Google is top priority: but I gave up trying to get listed with Yahoo once I was listed with Google -- for some reason, no matter how directly I applied to be listed, Yahoo never did list my Website. (I get nice high listed position with Google though; and it is as big or bigger than all the other search engines put together, so I'm not complaining.) Getting listed takes time and persistence. My Website started out (once it was listing at all) listing down around page four and five; now it lists usually on page two and sometimes on page one, when you search using the most commonly used search phrase ("battle hastings"): and I've been listed on Google for c. the last seven years….

yola is just like any other site you start, the SEO depends on where google and the rest rank you in search. Traffic comes from searches,links,and product announcements or is PPC, google ad words (which can cost a fortune)

Your going to have a digital product so best to get it into all the DL sites that carry said products, link to those from your site, link them to you in the PDF.

Yola is easy to use so you can do it yourself, you can download your site as a back up, there forums are chock full of helpful people who answer problems very fast.

Honestly I can't see paying per month for a site that is not going to perform any better then a free one.

my site there if you want to see my (as usual work in progress)finished site.

lonegunmangames.com

oooohhh, hold on James!
"SEO", "PPC", & "DL" ?
…and how do you link them to the PDF (think I know what that stands for!) if the file is for sale and download… surley it should not be accessible to someone conducting a search?

LOL… OK

SEO = Search Engine Optimization (having all your ducks in the right places so search engines know who/what you are)

PPC = Pay Per Click Advertising (very expensive)

DL = Download sites (the ones for gamers specifically.)

Yola does have the ability for you to load files to your website (host then for you) and then sell them right on the site with a paypal button.

Paypal buttons are a bit tricky, but your not dealing with shipping these, so that makes things easier.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions. I'm still learning all this myself, and its a lot to take in all at once.

Thanks for your offer of help James, its much appreciated!

Mike.