This Little Program Went to Market

Create, Deploy, Distribute, Sell and Market Software and More on the Internet at Little or No Cost to You

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Interested in selling your own products on the Internet? This book may be just what you need. Do you have a computer program that others might want to buy? This book explains how you can transform your personal program into a market-ready software package. Have you ever dreamed of owning a Web site, complete with a shopping cart and a safe method of receiving payments? This book can help you set those up for yourself.

Step-by-step instructions are provided for each of these activities. Detailed HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Listings are provided to help you with the necessary Web page programming. You'll also read helpful marketing and distribution strategies.

The freeware and open source tools and services demonstrated in this book make it easy for one person to handle the entire creation-to-sales process in a professional manner.

Create a Web site and launch an Internet sales and marketing process:

• Choose a Web host service provider and build a complete Web site that meets XHTML and CSS compliance standards. Create download links, use cookies, and set up an online survey.
• Optimize your Web site for search engines and control their access.
• Accept credit card payments through PayPal. Create buy now buttons, and a shopping cart.
• Set up and monitor multiple e-mail accounts. Create an e-mail sales order template. Generate packing slips and shipping labels. Create HTML e-mail and PDF files.
• Increase downloads and sales per visitor using various marketing strategies. Monitor visitor activity.
• Learn design strategies for Web sites and program user interfaces.

Make your computer programs "market ready":

• Use a feature-rich integrated development environment. Define an easily repeatable, one-step build process with automatic backup.
• Make your program installable on Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7 without access control errors.
• Provide integrated, searchable help documentation. Draw your own icons or create them from a photo. Create sound files, animated GIFs, and 3D images.
• Create a trial version of your program and market it as shareware. Learn strategies to help protect your program from piracy.
• Create a single file install wizard that requires acceptance of your license agreement, creates file associations, and verifies minimum system requirements.

The examples and installation instructions all use Microsoft Windows. However, much of the material is applicable to any computer operating system. The tutorial and other information in this book have been tested and verified on both Windows XP and the 64-bit Home Premium edition of Windows 7.

More information is available on the Press Kit page.

Tips from the book:

• How to Protect Your Software from Piracy
• Create a Trial Version of Your Program
• How Does PayPal Work?
• How Do Search Engines Work?

Buy Now Look Inside Source Code Listings Hard to Find Tools Press Kit Tips from the Book