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Looking for help with a problem....

by Ofthingsmanmade
18 replies
Ok, so I've ran into a little road block with my plan. Let me first explain what my plan is. I'm a high school English teacher and I'm looking to create and sell lesson plans and resources. Easy enough. Here is my problem:

I'm writing a book that offers a full year of lesson plans and resources. I'm going to be selling these lesson plans individually, in units, and as a whole set (the whole book) through the means of an ecommerce solution. I need users to be able to pay and download a file that contains multiple files. It's easy enough in word. I can simply embed power points and other files directly into the resources portion of the book and users can just open them through their product. However, as most digital products are sold in PDF or various other ebook formats, these don't allow the embedded objects to be opened. They're only pictures.

Essentially, I need to sell one download that gives consumers access to a number of files. Btw, I intend on using Volusion for this ecommerce solution, so if you have any ideas there, let me know.

Thanks!
#ebook #ecommerce #problem #volusion
  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Membership site would work fine for this.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ofthingsmanmade
      I've considered this as well. This is going to be like 120+ lessons and 250+ resources. I worry that if I make it, say, $5 a month, a user would simply pay for one month, access and print them all off, then cancel order. It would be better for me to have it like the $60ish dollar one time fee.
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      • Profile picture of the author WillR
        Originally Posted by Ofthingsmanmade View Post

        I've considered this as well. This is going to be like 120+ lessons and 250+ resources. I worry that if I make it, say, $5 a month, a user would simply pay for one month, access and print them all off, then cancel order. It would be better for me to have it like the $60ish dollar one time fee.
        Sorry, by membership site I don't mean you have to charge monthly or yearly. I use plenty of membership sites to deliver my products to customers but they still just buy the products with one-off payments. The membership site is just the way you are delivering the content, not the way you are charging for it. This will give you the most flexibility in moving forward. You could then also add a forum to the membership site as an added bonus for buyers where they call talk with one another and ask questions, etc. This would add more value to your products and help in driving more traffic to your site.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ofthingsmanmade
          Originally Posted by WillR View Post

          Sorry, by membership site I don't mean you have to charge monthly or yearly. I use plenty of membership sites to deliver my products to customers but they still just buy the products with one-off payments. The membership site is just the way you are delivering the content, not the way you are charging for it. This will give you the most flexibility in moving forward. You could then also add a forum to the membership site as an added bonus for buyers where they call talk with one another and ask questions, etc. This would add more value to your products and help in driving more traffic to your site.
          Ohhhh now I see. I did consider the one time payment for a membership site. The only issue I had was this, and again, I'm probably overthinking this: I want to build a brand and release future products. By having them pay a one time fee for full access to the site, I won't be able to market new materials for repeat customers. Do you offer multiple areas of your site where members must pay for new products, or do you allow them access to all new products released, since they're a member?
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          • Profile picture of the author WillR
            Originally Posted by Ofthingsmanmade View Post

            Ohhhh now I see. I did consider the one time payment for a membership site. The only issue I had was this, and again, I'm probably overthinking this: I want to build a brand and release future products. By having them pay a one time fee for full access to the site, I won't be able to market new materials for repeat customers. Do you offer multiple areas of your site where members must pay for new products, or do you allow them access to all new products released, since they're a member?
            No, again you are thinking of something different. Forget charging for memberships, I never said to do that. I just said to deliver your content in a membership site.

            All of the products in my signature are just regular products with one price tag on each product, they are not memberships. But when someone buys any of my products, they are added to my membership site and they login and can access that product. If they buy another one of my products then that product is then added to their same membership dashboard and so they can now access both products in the one members area. If they buy a third product that is added to their same members area, and so on.

            So you are not selling memberships or anything like that. You are still just selling your products as individual products. You are just delivering your products in a members area setup since it makes things so much easier for your customers and allows you to create a community and upsell them into your other products each time they buy.
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          • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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            Originally Posted by Ofthingsmanmade View Post

            Ohhhh now I see. I did consider the one time payment for a membership site. The only issue I had was this, and again, I'm probably overthinking this: I want to build a brand and release future products. By having them pay a one time fee for full access to the site, I won't be able to market new materials for repeat customers. Do you offer multiple areas of your site where members must pay for new products, or do you allow them access to all new products released, since they're a member?
            Wish List allows you to create levels of access, so you can sell access to new levels at any time to previous customers who already have access to another level. I use Wish List that way, although you can use it also as a recurring payment membership.
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  • Profile picture of the author MrFume
    I think you are over complicating this. You could sell the product, and the individual lesson plans via Ebay, I know another teacher who commenced his IM career doing just this, and he now makes astronomical amounts per month (you would not believe it so I won't specify)
    You can always use the Zip (Rar) process, bundle the files in one Zip archive, and have them download that. You could knock up a wordpress membership site and manage the downloads (free member plugins available). You can indeed have active links from a PDF, there are many 'how to's' available. Let me know if you need any help.
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  • Profile picture of the author rondo
    Have you considered selling at TeachersPayTeachers.com - An Open Marketplace for Original Lesson Plans and Other Teaching Resources ?

    Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author HelpingYouBeAnExpert
    I would give them all the files they need in whatever format in a membership area, I sell similar stuff in some of my niches in the past using wishlist plugin, from what I understand optimizepress 2 can do it now, I have it but I haven't figured out the plugin yet, that's the last thing to learn for me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ofthingsmanmade
      Thanks. These are great ideas. I'll look into the ebay idea, but I will admit I like the idea of building my brand through an ecommerce site. I also like the zip idea. I hadn't thought of that. I know Volusion only allows one download per product. This might fit the bill.

      I have considered Teachers pay teachers. It's a really neat site that I will definitely consider. It doesn't fix my problem of providing the different kinds of files they need, and I hate the idea of giving them a percentage of my work, but it's still something I'm definitely considering. (Even though Volusion would have monthly fees attached.)

      And wishlist plugin? For WordPress? I'm not very familiar with it, but I do like the look of volusion.
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      • Profile picture of the author rondo
        Originally Posted by Ofthingsmanmade View Post


        I have considered Teachers pay teachers. It's a really neat site that I will definitely consider. It doesn't fix my problem of providing the different kinds of files they need, and I hate the idea of giving them a percentage of my work, but it's still something I'm definitely considering. (Even though Volusion would have monthly fees attached.)
        You might be giving up 15% of revenue, but you're in front of 100,000's of buyers. Not a bad trade-off. Also you can sell a zip there.

        But if you want to go it alone, then use a membership site as Will has said. Offer as many products or levels or bundles as you like.

        Andrew
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        • Profile picture of the author Ofthingsmanmade
          Originally Posted by rondo View Post

          You might be giving up 15% of revenue, but you're in front of 100,000's of buyers. Not a bad trade-off. Also you can sell a zip there.

          But if you want to go it alone, then use a membership site as Will has said. Offer as many products or levels or bundles as you like.

          Andrew
          True. I'm keeping both in mind. Question: any idea if you can also sell by yourself if you sell on TPT? Or if you choose TPT, do they want to be the exclusive provider of that product?
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  • Profile picture of the author Ofthingsmanmade
    Oh ok. I see what you mean now. That's very helpful. I'm a tad slow sometimes. Lol that's something I'll consider moving forward. Thanks for putting the time into helping me understand!
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  • Profile picture of the author lemonseltzer
    Originally Posted by Ofthingsmanmade View Post

    Ok, so I've ran into a little road block with my plan. Let me first explain what my plan is. I'm a high school English teacher and I'm looking to create and sell lesson plans and resources. Easy enough. Here is my problem:


    Thanks!
    Is anyone helping you write your book ?
    I would suggest getting a proofreader before offering it.
    I see that you intro sentence is incorrect.
    (You can't use I've (I have) with ran.)
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    • Profile picture of the author Ofthingsmanmade
      Originally Posted by lemonseltzer View Post

      Is anyone helping you write your book ?
      I would suggest getting a proofreader before offering it.
      I see that you intro sentence is incorrect.
      (You can't use I've (I have) with ran.)
      I ran into a little problem* Or I have run* Lol, Grammatical errors will be ironed out after I finish.
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  • Profile picture of the author AWilson88
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Good membership software will also allow you to drip feed your product to customers over time if you are worried about a new member coming in and downloading everything then leaving for good.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Ofthingsmanmade
    I do think I'm going to open the Volusion store once I'm finished creating all of my products. In the meantime, I'll add my products to markets like Teachers pay Teachers and Ebay to try to generate some income for potential ads when I open the official store. And yes, I will be proofreading it as well as offering it freely to a few friends of mine who will gladly look over it for me. I suppose step one is to actually sit down and create the product. Sometimes I get caught up in researching/worrying about step 2 before step 1 is even finished.
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