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"How to Protect Your Digital Downloads from Thieves"

You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included. ------------------

By Merle MCPromotionsPress.com

Selling ebooks and software online are big business these days. The beauty of the transaction lies in the fact that there's no physical product changing hands. What does this mean to you? No Inventory -- Big Profits.

It's a simple process, really. Someone comes to your website, chooses a product, makes the payment and is instantly given access to a download page or link to access the product.

Although it sounds rather simple, there are a few steps you need to think about in order to keep those who have not paid from stealing something you've worked long and hard at creating. Some of these tips are plain common sense but nevertheless, are worth pointing out.

1) Your HTML download page needs to include the robot tag of "no follow" to keep the search engines from indexing it and including its contents in their database for the entire world to see. It looks like this and goes between your <head> tags:

2) Make sure to name your download folders and files with strange names and change them often. Don't use common names like downloads.htm or thankyou.htm, as someone could go to the search engines and easily find your documents in this way.

3) Instead of uploading your files in .PDF or .EXE format, zip them up before uploading them to your server. Search engines can easily index .PDF docs but won't go near any file with a .ZIP extension.

4) Your actual download page should only contain the downloadable file and not common links to other pages of your website. It needs to stand alone in order to best protect itself.

5) Make sure that your various website directories all contain an index.htm file. Failure to do so will make it possible for anyone to open your directories and gain access to every single file inside. This is especially important for your download directory.

6) Ask your web host about password protecting your download directories.

So maybe you've done some of these things and it's still not enough. You need more serious protection. There are various scripts and software you can download that will do the job for you.

A few options are:

1) Redirect Pro: RedirectPro.com

For those who sell via PayPal, it uses the IPN feature of your account to protect your files. This is a PHP script and is available for $47.00

2) CB Protect: CBProtect.com

According to this site, four out of 10 copies of ebooks and software are stolen. This service works with any payment processor and will not allow your products to open if the person did not actually pay for them. Lock as many files as you want. $2.95 will get you a 30 day trial; after that plan on paying $29.95 a month for this locking luxury.

3) FlashPal Generator: FlashPalGenerator.com

Secures your Paypal processing by encoding your url's with Flash. Includes a helpful video tutorial on how to use it. $67.00 out the door.

4) ClickBank Download Protector: tinyurl.com/zhbrv

A useful script if you sell using Clickbank. Supports multiple download links and thank you pages and you can even set expiring down load links. You can even collect the buyer's name and email address on every purchase. $34.95

5) PayPal IPN Download Protector:

webmasterinabox.net/paypal_ipn.html

Another script by WebmasterinaBox.net. This one is for those using Paypal to sell your digital downloads. Again, you have the ability to set the expiration on your download links. $34.95

No matter what type of digital product you're selling on the Internet, it's worth reviewing your delivery methods to make sure people aren't walking away with your products. A few lost sales may not seem like much, but over time they can really add up to a substantial loss of revenue.

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"Must Have Marketing Resources" Ebook by Merle is loaded with VALUABLE online resources you need to know about, when it comes to running your web business. Get your copy now at ... mcebook.mcpromotions.com

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