It could've been 3+ years ago since I did any online marketing. I jumped into the startup bandwagon with a friend and did development for the startup. Things are alright. The good part, I got better at programming, server management, etc. In fact, I did a lot of things that I never did before like managing servers on Amazon Web Service, etc...
Actually, I am still with this startup. But I have an itch... so I launched a new personal project.
I created DIPPEC.com, a PHP script for selling digital products with Paypal. And it is selling for $20. I just launched this over a week ago.
Now, I am working my brain on how I can promote this. Here's what I have done so far
I have setup my Google Plus and Facebook Page (can use a few more likes)
I have my blog setup and wrote 5 posts
I did all the basic on-site SEO
I integrated Google Analytics
I submitted DIPPEC for listing at Hotscripts and 2-3 more directories
I tested some Facebook ads (really small budget)... still running - 1 sale, negative ROI
I updated some other websites I have with some links
I updated some of my old Youtube videos with info about DIPPEC
Here are some ideas that I have, but haven't got to doing it
Guest blogging... really need to spend sometime researching the blogs, proposing articles and writing them
Creating Youtube videos about the product
Craft an email marketing campaign and get an optin box on the website
So, you guys have any feedback, about the product, about my marketing, etc...
I think you're doing about as well as you could (the design is good without being too sales-y in the copy), but as someone who already has a website I'm wondering if it would integrate with my existing systems. Surely I wouldn't be alone in this consideration either.
There are hundreds upon hundreds of plugin choices for shopping carts in WordPress (the platform I use most commonly). I'm currently using Easy Digital Downloads but once I get past pre-launch I will use my membership plugin's (MemberFindMe) shopping cart functionality simply for the fact it will eliminate a plugin.
Benefits that might convince someone like me (that may or may not apply to you) include:
- No more updates or maintenance to remain secure
- It's a separate system that isn't a big target like WordPress and doesn't advertise itself to end users
- Eliminates the need for X, Y, Z plugins that end up slowing down the rest of the site
- Never chance random site users with login credentials accidentally happening across your sales data since it's wholly separate
That being said, it might be worthwhile to add a WordPress dashboard plugin to monitor some sales data - in fact I think these exact integrations are one great way to promote your service.
Other than that I would recommend getting in touch with the people who do Fantastico and other 1-click server-side installation systems and see about getting yourself listed there. Since it's a paid service you might want to negotiate a leasing deal with them.
When I wanted to do this, I wrestled with the idea of whether to make it as a Wordpress plugin or a stand-alone like it is right now. I am sure that you could ride off the community when you build something for Wordpress. But I settled for a stand alone solution. There are pros and cons of both, but perhaps this is something I can build and support better.
You mentioned Google+ and Facebook - Twitter is HOT too. You want to use all three platforms to connect with the market leaders that are already reaching your market. Consider too how you can leverage something that's already popular as Trish pointed out. Where would your product complement something that already has a customer base. Perhaps a book or guide on the topic of selling digital products - simply partner with the author to give them an addition income stream as an upsell to their training, etc.
Thanks Lynn. I did some Twitter search and found some good potential partners. Anyway, can you explain about the book or guide? Are you suggesting that we write a book together?
No, look for books or guides on that topic that are already being heavily marketed. You may be able to JV with the author to recommend (or even bundle!) your software. Ideally you'll find guides or tutorials that reach your exact target market.
Oh... like recruiting affiliates? Actually, I am building an affiliate system for DIPPEC. DIPPEC will come built-in with an affiliate system soon. Will definitely be approaching potential affiliates.
Affiliates are great, but JV partners or private licensing options where market leaders can bundle your software could be a very lucrative way of reaching your market in larger quantities. ;-)
aaah... OK. Affiliate is what I am normally used to. Private licensing, well, that's kinda new to me. Sorry if my next question is too basic... but can you explain how this works, an example maybe? Profit share, revenue share, upfront payment...?? What would be the deal like?
Starting Over...
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