HOW DO I SET UP A DOWNLOAD PAGE

You could send the download link to your customers through email if you want to skip making the Download Page.

-Shaun

If you're selling a digital download, you should use E-junkie Shopping Cart for selling downloads & tangible goods. I know there's a coupon out there for the first two months free, but then it's $5 a month after that. It's got some pretty powerful features too.

actually what i need is just how im going to do it myself

i already had the page set up but i dont know how to imput the codes to make my product downloadable to my clients

any idea will be greatly appreciated

Hi, dont know if this will help but:

you can just zip your files then upload them to a folder call it what you like then your link would be e.g. www.yourdomain/download/xyz.zip put the link in your web page or email etc..if your not sure how to do it just PM me or reply here.

<a href="http://www.yourdomain.com/download/xyz.zip">Your Description Here</a>

You can use notebook or any text editor or free html editor to add the above code.


The file will appear to download as and when anyone clicks your link.

Make sure you protect it in some way and deny access to the folder via the robots.txt file and give your download.zip file a complex name if it is a paid download etc.

Here is a typical robots.txt file made in notebook:-

User-agent: *
Disallow: /cache/
Disallow: /images/
Disallow: /graphics/
Disallow: /rs/
Disallow: /cpanel/
Disallow: /private.php

Creat the file in notebook upload it to your site where all the other files are i.e. public directory or www just copy and paste a line above such as Disallow:/download/ this should stop the engines indexing your download folder in theory.

Another way would be to set the download on an autoresponder so once the person inputs their name and or email they are sent the download.zip in the welcome email message or directed to a download page.

Sometimes people use the robots.txt file to exclude files from search engines however, this is not a good solution as the robots file can be read by anyone.

Hope this helps a bit..

thanks mistermint i really appreciate your suggestion im going over to try doing as you said just wish me luck! and if i couldnt get it done i'll remember to PM you

Hi filiks,

Just had a thought and should have said earlier: If your not sure how to do stuff..just keep a copy of the page your working on in case you make a mistake..

You should be OK as I see you have had the above website since 2006 gangstar or what lol..

If you're going to use this method though, then make sure you put another folder inside your "download" folder, because puting that into your robots file will just show humans where to rip your products off from.

So if you're going to use this method, I'd recommend putting an index.html page in that folder so that it doesn't display directory structure, and then put a randomly named folder inside that one where you keep your files.

eg. downloads/rh34iuohfes/file.zip

...for example.


Or if you're interested in a bit of automation and download security, check out:

DLGuard - Download page protector, create expiring download links

DLGuard is a product I created many years ago (and built-upon since then) that automates download pages, and secure links.

It gives your customers unique download links and then expires them about the amount of time / download attempts you set.

This sort of system is the only way to get proper download page and download link security, and also has the benefit of creating a much easier interface to manage customers and your products.

I hope this helps!

cheers
Sam

Another good system for this is the one I use, which is Rapid Action Profits. It's definitely beneficial to use a secure solution to deliver your product, otherwise the link to the download page will be all over the blackhat forums in no time.

The downside is that all of these software solutions have a learning curve. It may also be worthwhile paying someone to set the system up whilst you watch, then you can learn how to do this for yourself next time.

Hi Jacqui,

Nice to meet you

And thanks for your interest in DLGuard! If you have any questions about it, please let me know - I'm happy to help!


This was definately the idea behind creating DLGuard in the first place - I used to create sites for clients, and I wrote a script (that eventually became DLGuard) to speed up the time it took to create ecommerce sites for clients.

What I've aimed to do the whole time is not only make it easier for you, the vendor, but also make it easier for your clients.

The easier the buying process is for a client, the more likely they are to buy from you again.

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, though

As mentioned, if you have any questions, please let me know!

cheers
Sam