Monday, October 19, 2009

Sell Information Online And Protect Your Ebooks

Is there any way to protect your ebooks from being shared when you sell information online? Using ClickBank is a potential solution. By accepting payment with Clickbank, it gives you some security.

How does Clickbank protect you? You create a sales page to market the ebook that you are selling. The person buying it clicks on the buy link on your sales page and is promoted by Clickbank to enter payment information. If the information entered results in a payment being made, Clickbank sends the customer to your download page. If not, Clickbank blocks them. Therefore they can only get to your page if they pay for your product.

The limitation with Clickbank is that it cannot protect
you from a paying customer who shares your product. Once a customer pays for and downloads your product, they can share it with whomever they want.

One possible solution when you sell information online is to use a password protection membership website to control distribution of the ebook. Instead of placing the information in a PDF, you keep it on one of these websites. When someone accesses a product that I have on one of these websites, they need to enter their user name and password and if there is a problem with payment they cannot see the information. I have a main course that costs $700 and has a $97 monthly subscription. That is not something I want being distributed for free. On the other hand, I might not care as much for a $27 ebook.

With most products, especially in niches where the buyer tends to be more honest, sharing is not a major issue. One technique to limit sharing is to use the honor system by reminding your readers at the beginning of the ebook that it is not free and giving them a way to report violators who choose to share the ebook without permission. Many people who read such a statement will abide by it. They do not want to be considered thieves and will abide by your request.

The bottom line is that unless you keep your information on a password protected membership website or use PDF protection software, there is not much you can do to stop sharing when you sell information online.
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Copyright Stephen Beck, 2009
You have permission to reprint this article as long as you don't make any changes and include the bio below.

Stephen Beck shows people how to sell information online. Pick up his three free videos at http://www.8WeekstoProfits.com so you can begin today.

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