Running my own website...
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I am currently trying to build my website in order to sell plugins (probably in 2-3 months).
I'd like to find a "hassle-free" site builder, but I've made a mistake 2 days ago choosing a business plan from Wix.
They say you can easily sell digital product, but in reality, the only thing they provide is a space to upload your files, so the customer receives a download link after purchase, but there's no customer account, no customer page with permanent download links, and no password or other license management...
Fortunately, I could cancel my account under the 14 days trial.Do you guys know any other site builders that have these possibilities? Don't want to make the same mistake twice
I prefer site builders, so I don't have to bother with everything myself and use different providers for payment and everything, and I don't know much on this side anyway...Thanks!
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Wordpres + Woocommerce/Easy digital downloads + Addons from Code Canyon
I prefer Woocommerce to EDD and its addons are cheaper. If you don't care about support then you can get the addons for WooCommerce really cheap at sites like WooMill. I haven't bought any of these though so I can't comment on how good they are at supplying updates. I have a bunch of addons from the official WooCommerce site and they all get pretty regular updates and support (on the rare occasions I've needed it) is excellent.
If you want any help with the setup let me know.
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I started using https://www.imcreator.com/ to build my websites.
e-commerce sales are done with https://www.sendowl.com/ in the background. It's the only way I've found to sell products with serial numbers.I've had great success with shopify in the past. It's easy, so maybe give them a look.
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Mobirise to build a rough idea, edit the html as you see fit, host on aws s3 with cloudfront. Lambda functions + aws api gateway for your email push requests, fastspring for ecommerce and hosting files and you're done. Virtually free forever. (Web hosting costs on s3 with cloudfront basically don't exist).
Edit: for download links, fastspring allows you to reset the duration of them, so if you wanted you could allow that per user.
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Another good option when you're just starting is Gumroad.
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Currently looking to use Webflow + Foxy cart. It's a very powerful combo and allowing for allot of customization if that is your cup of tea ...
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For me, it would be definately >> "Wordpress + WooCommerce + Elementor or DiVi Builder" combination.
No need to think too much eighter. For other cool wordpress website builders, you can listen to this guy and choose yours ;)
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Like Dave I'm using wooCommerce on WP with WooCommerce Serial Numbers plugin. It's not great but it seems to work.
I host files on pCloud - Its not secure in any way - you just define shareable download links - but seeing as the authorised product = demo product + serial, then I dont mind how many people download from pCloud (they are just getting the demo) - as in fact I'm only really selling serial numbers...
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For serial numbers, I am using Woocommerce License Manager, it works great.
WooCommerce License Manager
Buy WooCommerce License Manager by firassaidi on CodeCanyon. This plugin is exclusively sold on Envato marketplace. Tested with WooCommerce 9.5.2 and previous releases. Tested wi...
CodeCanyon (codecanyon.net)
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Wow! thanks a lot everyone! that's a lot of suggestions so far
@d-healey what add-ons do you particularly have in mind at Code Canyon? Gumroad seems a good alternative, I'll dig deeper
@dustbro thanks for SendOwl, apparently it's a good solution too, as I've seen it numbers of times during my research
@LightandSound I don't know anyone of these, it seems a bit complicated at first, but probably because I just don't know... However, I prefer to stay away from amazon.
@briandoliveira Foxy seems a bit limited about the integrated password management, however, Webflow seems to be very powerful!
@orange You confirm what my heart is already leaning to :) But License Manager vs Serial Numbers, I don't know yet
@Lindon Same thing, three of you guys are talking about the most popular combo, so there's a great chance I'm going to do the same!I had a look at almost everything here, and I think I'll go for:
- Wordpress (I'm a bit familiar with, and it seems to be the most popular with Woocommerce integration)
- Woocommerce
- Stripe
- PDF Invoice
- Yoast SEO
- Elementor (maybe not right at the beginning, if the standard page optimization of WP is good enough for me)
- License manager OR Serial Numbers (I don't know which one is the winner here, but I'm attracted to License manager)
I already have a domain (since my mistake with Wix), but I still have to find a pro mailbox.
So the last questions:
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Do you guys have an idea for a mailbox?
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Is there something specific to think if I want the customers to have an account/download page with the product links, AND the license number automatically accessible on that page?
Can't help pressing F5 in the forum...
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I'm only using two plugins from CodeCanyon at the moment:
- WooCommerce Downloadable Product Update E-mails
- Simple Simon Live Chat
Do you guys have an idea for a mailbox?
I use The Newsletter plugin with Amazon SES so it costs pennies to send out thousands of emails. For receiving emails I just use the inbox provided by my webhost.
Is there something specific to think if I want the customers to have an account/download page with the product links, AND the license number automatically accessible on that page?
I use Amazon S3 for storing my files and Woo has an S3 addon to automatically generate time limited URLs to these files. The links to the files are provided in the user's My Account area on my website and emailed to them. This is all handled automatically by WooCommerce. WooCommerce has a software addon for license keys, but I haven't used it.
A few other things I use: Bunny CDN, Akaunting (on a sub domain for automatic accounting, it integrates with PayPal and WooCommerce), Matomo for analytics (also on a sub-domain, much nicer to your users than Google Analytics).
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Woocommerce automatically creates a "customer account". So each cutomer can login to their account, download the plugins whenever they want. The License Manager easily integrates to WC and stores the License number in customer's account. The customer can see the License Keys in the Orders menu. Also there is an option for saving the payment methods in this accounts too. So no need to use WC Software addon.
Back-up: I suggest UpdraftPlus plugin. It's free and one of the best solutions for WP Backup. Just link it to your Gmail or Dropbox or Amazon account, it will store the database / files periodically.
The Security: I suggest Wordfence. It can be used free but in pro version, there is a strong firewall that will prevent you from the hackers. It's a very important thing. Also it supports Two Factor Authentication for admin login.
Email Campaigns: I use The Newsletter plugin with Amazon SES just like Dave. I'm combining emails with Woocommerce Follow-Ups plugin also. You can manage abandoned carts emails, purchase specific coupons, reminders....etc with Follow-Ups plugin.
Cheers ;)
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@ustk if it helps any - if I was starting again - I ALSO would choose License Manager.
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@Lindon That's said man, so License Manager for me too, thanks!
