Underground Journal

DLGuard Review: Using Secure Download Sales Tools To Start An Ebook Business

DLGuard software has been helping individuals to integrate shopping carts on their websites for years. This DLGuard review focuses on its use for administering an ebook business through process automation.

Back in 2007, I had been writing ebooks and was disappointed with the marketing of them by online sales services. The inability to directly capture loyal customer data at point of sale was another setback, so I happened across some positive DLGuard reviews that highlighted its usability with independent ebook publishers/sellers.

DLGuard does have the regular shopping cart stuff (promotional coupon capability, payment processing support with several vendors) but in ebook business terms it is the product’s automation of emails and download links is where the power lies.

After the software confirms payment (with Paypal/Clickbank/etc.) it emails the customer a unique download link to their ebook purchase. Critically, it secures the link by limiting the validity period and number of permitted download attempts. This safeguards the link from being shared and your ebooks from being mass-downloaded.

In terms of set up, the DLGuard scripts took minutes to install on my web server. More time is required to configure the product inventory database (which depends on how many ebooks you have and the volume of meta-data you are happy to add). Adding purchase/checkout/cart links on your site is easy to do using the sample templates.

The one part of customization that can take some time is editing the shopping cart web pages to make them blend in with your website. The code is logically separated from the business logic so this coding work could conceivably be easily outsourced.

DLGuard provides all the required download sales functionality you would need for starting your own ebook business. The support and online forums are invaluable for sourcing tips and tweaks to optimally configure and customize the system. Finally, the customer tracking and reporting data is invaluable for independent publishers wishing to cross sell loyal customers by mailing list.

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