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Is it worth protecting your products from pirates?

by MikeMizOne
30 replies
I'm setting up the buy page right for a product I've been working on. The thing is, while I'd like to prevent people from spreading my book illegally, I don't want to make it too complicated for the actual buyers.

Is it possible to redirect someone to a URL through PayPal but not show the actual URL in the adress bar?

How do people protect their products?

Is it even worth protecting them? Maybe piracy is not a big concern as I might think..
#pirates #products #protecting #worth
  • Profile picture of the author webcashuk
    Let's face it, the big record companies struggle to stop piracy and look at the budget and tech they had available to them.
    I would not concern myself overly with it, just make sure you have links back to your site hard coded into the book, maybe use watermark software or whatever.

    Sometimes when people really like a product and share it whilst you aren't actively making money from that product you are growing your brand and long term this could be far more valuable to you.

    So In essence I would say don't worry about it too much, get your product out there, get selling start working on your next product, and stop worrying about things over which you have very little control

    Peter
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesJ
    Well I would load my product up with affiliate links and then drop it on places like Torrent sites and piracy forums before someone else does. That way you will still make bank from your book.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeMizOne
      Originally Posted by webcashuk View Post

      Let's face it, the big record companies struggle to stop piracy and look at the budget and tech they had available to them.
      I would not concern myself overly with it, just make sure you have links back to your site hard coded into the book, maybe use watermark software or whatever.

      Sometimes when people really like a product and share it whilst you aren't actively making money from that product you are growing your brand and long term this could be far more valuable to you.

      So In essence I would say don't worry about it too much, get your product out there, get selling start working on your next product, and stop worrying about things over which you have very little control

      Peter
      Yeah, that's kind of my thought as well. I will do some more research on this and if I can't find I will settle for something simple.

      Originally Posted by JamesJ View Post

      Well I would load my product up with affiliate links and then drop it on places like Torrent sites and piracy forums before someone else does. That way you will still make bank from your book.
      That's a great idea actually, thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author megamind22
    Dont worry yourself too much about piracy cause it will always happen. Even Fortune500 companies get it too so I will suggest you concentrate more in making more profits than been discourage.

    Alternatively you can make your download Password protected if you have the script or software to do that.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeMizOne
      Originally Posted by megamind22 View Post

      Alternatively you can make your download Password protected if you have the script or software to do that.
      Yeah I thought about it but passwords just add an extra step for the buyer, plus anyone can give out a password and have people download it.

      What about dynamic download URLs? Anyone tried using something like that before?
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    • Profile picture of the author Goffs Concepts
      Originally Posted by megamind22 View Post

      Dont worry yourself too much about piracy cause it will always happen. Even Fortune500 companies get it too so I will suggest you concentrate more in making more profits than been discourage.

      Alternatively you can make your download Password protected if you have the script or software to do that.
      True! Its too bad but its just going to happen.
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  • Profile picture of the author PremierInfinity
    Nah. It's just a thing that you'll never totally eliminate.
    Just move and focus on your marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    Just add value that pirates can't do, like offering 1on1 coaching etc.

    If you sell to certain segments piracy is low anyway. I had a software business for 10 years and piracy wasn't really an issue, mainly as I was selling to businesses. I did find somebody "cracked" my software, but in reality it was a trojan named on torrent sites as My_Software_Name_Crack.zip!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    Is it even worth protecting them? Maybe piracy is not a big concern as I might think..
    Brand your stuff 16 ways from Sunday.

    It's funny that some people work so hard to get their stuff to go viral, while others try hard to stop it.

    If it's worth more than $20 or so, put it behind a password. If it's less valuable let the BH crowd "distribute" it for you. If it's well branded it will stay that way.

    The last WSO I launched got shared with the BH crowd and drove a bunch of targeted traffic to my site. I got it taken down from BBHW and now wish I would have left it there.

    It's also a good idea to monetize your thank/download pages.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by MikeMizOne View Post

    How do people protect their products?

    There are lots of ways of doing this. One of the simplest/fastest/cheapest ways is through a service like e-Junkie.

    I can personally recommend their system.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Whether it's an online product, a car stereo or your living room TV, if a determined thief wants it, they'll get it.

      That said, there are multiple ways to help honest people stay honest. One good one is to make sure your download page and product itself are not available to search engine spiders.
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  • Profile picture of the author DRP
    Originally Posted by MikeMizOne View Post

    How do people protect their products?
    By using the right security solutions. This could be as advanced as a gateway or as simple as using a retailer like Amazon or Clickbank. If you're producing a book, then you should consider Amazon or iBooks for Apple. NOT PayPal or Clickbank!

    Originally Posted by MikeMizOne View Post

    Is it even worth protecting them? Maybe piracy is not a big concern as I might think..
    Yes, it IS worth protecting your IP. This is especially true because there are a lot of clever folks like me that can consistently access restricted data. I can get most info products for free. Thankfully, I'm not a dick, but I could be. So yes, protect your stuff. Use a retailer because they take care of the security at no cost to you.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      John is right . . . your downloads are never 100% secure . . . even with the very tightest methods employed. Someone that has purchased your product can always do an "illegal" share.

      Be aware that there is the proverbial "trade-off" between security and a good product purchase and delivery experience. Often, with very tight security, the user experience is awful because the buyer has to jump through many hoops (steps) to even access or view his purchase. Passwords are lost or forgotten over time and online access mechanisms can be changed.

      Just employ a reasonable method of security which is user friendly and don't fret over the products that are stolen by the few. Most web hosts will be sympathetic if your product is posted online.

      The best to you,

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Ghoster
    I know my view on this is not popular on this forum (at least it wasn't the last time I partook in a thread like this) but no, it isn't worth it.

    Pirates aren't going anywhere, and it is true that MOST of the people who pirate would never have been your customers anyway.

    Yeah, it stings that they're getting something for free, but if you spend money to try to prevent it, you're just robbing yourself.

    If the music industry can't prevent it, you won't be able to either.

    And, if your product is actually quality, you can benefit from pirates. (This is the part that's really unpopular here). Word of mouth advertising (or on social) is very valuable. And it's not like pirates are tight-lipped sociopaths. They love talking about quality stuff and they have friends who refuse to pirate. What's more, pirates have blogs - some of them have big blogs - and they might end up being your best affiliates.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeMizOne
      Originally Posted by brettb View Post

      Just add value that pirates can't do, like offering 1on1 coaching etc.
      I've been thinking of this for some time, I might add something like that as an upsell later on. I constantly get questions about the subject I'm teaching in the e-book, usually it's minor questions but I don't see why I could get into coaching as well.

      Originally Posted by Brent Stangel View Post

      If it's worth more than $20 or so, put it behind a password. If it's less valuable let the BH crowd "distribute" it for you. If it's well branded it will stay that way.

      It's also a good idea to monetize your thank/download pages.
      The only problem here is that this is my very first product, I am unknown to the IM crowd and niether do I have a personal website. Maybe this is the time to create one hehe?

      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      There are lots of ways of doing this. One of the simplest/fastest/cheapest ways is through a service like e-Junkie.

      I can personally recommend their system.

      Steve
      Looks pretty interesting, super cheap at 5$ as well. Have you used their system? Can you give me some pros/cons with it?

      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

      Whether it's an online product, a car stereo or your living room TV, if a determined thief wants it, they'll get it.

      That said, there are multiple ways to help honest people stay honest. One good one is to make sure your download page and product itself are not available to search engine spiders.
      What's the easiest way to hide a page from spiders?

      Originally Posted by Ghoster View Post

      I know my view on this is not popular on this forum (at least it wasn't the last time I partook in a thread like this) but no, it isn't worth it.

      And, if your product is actually quality, you can benefit from pirates. (This is the part that's really unpopular here). Word of mouth advertising (or on social) is very valuable. And it's not like pirates are tight-lipped sociopaths. They love talking about quality stuff and they have friends who refuse to pirate. What's more, pirates have blogs - some of them have big blogs - and they might end up being your best affiliates.
      Your not the only with this view in this thread, several people have mentioned that pirates can be good for you. The only problem now is that I only have one product, nothing else. The more I think about it, the more I think I should put up my own website so I can start brandin myself.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by MikeMizOne View Post

        What's the easiest way to hide a page from spiders?
        For the page itself, use something that uses a dynamic link. For example:

        If your page address is example.com/download

        Use a link tracker or redirect script to make the link

        example.com?a=download

        Most spiders will stop at the question mark. And if they do try to follow, they'll get stonewalled by a good script.

        For the product, start by delivering it in a zip file. For extra security, store the file above your main "public html" folder on your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author HelpingYouBeAnExpert
    You can stop pirating! Best is to build a business so it's immune to it!
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    • Profile picture of the author Ghoster
      Originally Posted by HelpingYouBeAnExpert View Post

      You can stop pirating! Best is to build a business so it's immune to it!
      That is like saying, "You can stop aging! Best thing to do is to be immune to it!"
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      On the whole, you get what you pay for.

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  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    I made thousands sending out DMCA notices to hosts whose users were using my software with no license. If they pirate but your quality is good, people will pay to keep it, as well as save embarrassment or disconnection from their host.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeMizOne
      Originally Posted by dvduval View Post

      I made thousands sending out DMCA notices to hosts whose users were using my software with no license. If they pirate but your quality is good, people will pay to keep it, as well as save embarrassment or disconnection from their host.
      I should just make it super easy to steal, then I would send out DMCA notices and bank big, right?
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by MikeMizOne View Post

        I should just make it super easy to steal, then I would send out DMCA notices and bank big, right?
        That depends. Are you selling software that forms the foundation of someone's business? Software that, if they were forced to stop using it would put them out of business, at least temporarily?

        If so, go for it.

        If not, you may want to think it through a little more.
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  • Profile picture of the author itos
    There is really no way to protect against pirates if you just offer a product like a PDF. Most users that pirate your product were not going to buy it in the first place.

    What I recommend is to offer something more like a thing that you can only get when you pay for it. For example exclusive access to private forums or a one-one coaching.
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  • Profile picture of the author leilani
    Put your copyrights all over it and make it into a pdf.

    Offer an affiliate program to promote your book? Maybe?

    Thoughts off the top of my head.

    Leilani
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeMizOne
    So I decided to go with E-junkie, trying the free trial at the moment and it looks solid. I can create affiliate links, create discounts and a whole lot of other stuff. I can also decide when the download links should expire.

    I will update this thread a couple of weeks from now to let you all know how it went.
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  • Profile picture of the author morg2k2
    I think you will never be 100% Safe, if music companies could not avoid piracy. If Microsoft never could avoid the safety of their Operation system. I remember one time when they implement a very sophisticated solution and the day before releasing it, its been hacked.

    So you , me or any other marketeer will never be safe.

    The focus should be concentrating on your work, optimizing it, creating new launches, etc... Because piracy will always exist.
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  • Profile picture of the author jahmeld
    I would suggest setting a membership site where they have to login to access your content. This could minimize the amount of pirating but with any digital product it's difficult to completely avoid being pirated.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nexstair
    There is one way in development where you can set link to expire after some time or user get files via email after making payment.You may want to try one as soon as you get website to sell from....
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  • Profile picture of the author NickNimmin
    It will probably cost you some sales if your link gets out but chances are the kind of people who search a pirate site for your product or ebook would probably not have bought it in the first place.

    I recently launched a social media graphics product that was downloaded and shared as well as having the links posted in various places within minutes of it going live. I put my DMCA hat on and started sending out notices to get the product removed and I a manually went in and changed all of the download links in the members area.
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  • Profile picture of the author dlane1987
    I don't think it is worth it. If someone is determined to steal it they will and anything you put in place could effect your conversions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Protecting the download page isn't the problem. It's after a customer downloads your product, and decides to spread it all over the internet. Some software engineers have found a way to issue a 1-time usage on their digital products. Ebooks included. Until you can find an engineer who can do this for you, absolutely try and protect your download page. Use DL Guard to protect your download page.
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