Great question sent in by S.M.

Hello Lynette, My question is really a multi pointed one, so if you are capable of helping me I would appreciate. First part, I need a web page for my Info based business, I sell information, who can handle this with the following requirements in mind.

1. I would like to have the option of allowing the customer to download the info immediately (the largest piece would be 25 pages.) or mailing to them
2. I need to accept credit cards or checks to capture all the sales possible.

Recap Web pages, down load info or capture where they want it sent, accept all forms of payment. I know these are not very technical to most but to me, the Fred Flintstone of computers, its enough. Thanks a million S.M.

Hello there S.M.,

What you need is not so much a web page but a system that you can ‘plug’ into your existing web page to let you sell and deliver your digital products automatically.

There are many different systems that will help you do all that. Some you can install on your own website, others are hosted services where you pay a monthly fee to use the software and yet another type are hosted services, you don’t pay a monthly fee but they will take a cut out of every sale you make.

Let’s take a look at each of these options.

No monthly fees, your own website.

At first blush, this seems like the ideal system. People checkout through your own website and you have 100% control over everything. The down side is, you (or your technical assistant) will have to maintain the software yourself. That part is not so fun after a while. Especially when things go wrong, your site gets hacked, the software has a security hole and your host shuts you down because of it. etc. In the end, you’ll still end up paying something to run the software on your own.

I normally don’t recommend this for someone who’s not familiar with web development side of things. But if you are and believe you can handle these things, take a look at aMember.

Monthly fees, no software responsibility

This is the recommended way to go for most people. Especially when you don’t know or don’t want to mess with the technical side of running a digital delivery system. Of course, there is an expense involved so you’ll have to ensure your sales can cover that but the good news, this is usually a fixed cost. So the more you sell, the more you get to keep.

If you’re interested in going this route, look into E-junkie.

No monthly fees, commission per sale.

Like the previous option, this requires no technical knowledge and you don’t have to worry about software updates and security issues. No monthly fees are applicable but you do pay for the service in the form of a commission or percentage of the sale.

One good example of this is ClickBank. The nice thing about them is you get an affiliate program built-in, and can tap into their affiliate force. But you have to take into consideration the commissions. It’s a good way to get started selling your digital products and is fast and easy. But in the long run, it can get expensive since you pay them on every sale.

Each option has its pros and cons. You just need to weigh them out. When considering them also take into account the following:

• Do you have an affiliate program or plan to have one?
• Do you want an integrated newsletter list or have a way to tie your mailing lists together with your sales process?
• If you have a merchant account, who is your merchant account provider and what type? Authorize.Net and LinkPoint are the most common for US-based businesses. If you use one of them you will have a wider choice of systems.