Free Tutorial for Customers
of Instant Resale Templates
This tutorial will show you step-by-step how to get started as a template reseller. STEP #1) Copy the disc onto your computer's hard drive
STEP #2) Register a domain
STEP #3) Get web hosting
STEP #4) Customize the Sales Page
STEP #5) Decide how to deliver the product
STEP #6) Create a download directory
STEP #7) Add your payment button
STEP #8) Upload everything
STEP #9) Market your website
STEP #10) Implement advanced techniques
STEP #1: Copy the disc onto your computer's hard drive.First, please note that Volume 1 is a DVD-ROM, and in case you purchased Volume 2--it's a CD-ROM (Note: both of these were clearly labeled on the sales pages).
In order to use the DVD-ROM, obviously you will need a computer that has a DVD drive. It is not a "video" DVD, and will not play on your DVD player for your TV. If your computer's DVD drive can burn DVD's then it should also have the ability to read this DVD. However, if your computer only plays DVD's (and cannot burn them), then it may or may not have the ability to read this disc.
If for some reason you don't have a DVD drive that will read the disc, I recommend getting an inexpensive external DVD drive, which you can simply plug into your computer and read the disc (and I'm sure you'll use it for other stuff too in the future). Here are some places you can order one for less than $60: Buy.com and Tiger Direct
(note: internal drives are even cheaper, starting at about $25, but require hardware installation)
Go ahead and put the disc into your computer's DVD drive. Depending on your computer's settings, something might pop-up onto the screen, OR nothing might happen. This is because some computers might automatically try playing the DVD, or it might give you the option of what program to use to open it.
The disc is not a movie, so if your computer tries playing it with a media player of any type, just close the media player.
The disc does NOT have an auto-run function. In other words, it's not like a software program that will pop up with a menu and installation instructions. So if nothing happens when you put it in, that is completely normal!
If your computer gives you some options of how to open the disc, choose to open it "as a folder", or choose to "explore" it.
For most Windows computers, this will be the best way to open it:
Go to My Computer (double click) Look for the DVD/CD drive Double click the drive, which should open it in a Window. If that doesn't work, RIGHT-CLICK on the drive, and select "Explore" or "Open". You can then browse through the files on the disc, or double click the MENU.html file to view the menu. STEP #2: Register a domainHere is a video tutorial showing step #1:
It is important to copy the disc to your local hard drive for two reasons:
1) The disc is "read only" and you can not edit any files on it.
2) You can then keep the disc as a backup.You will need about 2.1GB of free space on your hard drive for Volume 1, and about 427MB of free space for Volume 2.
HOW TO COPY the contents of a DVD-R or CD-R to your local hard drive:
Open the DVD/CD in a Windows explorer window (so you can see the files on the CD). You can do this by going to My Computer and then double click on the icon for your DVD/CD drive. In another window, open your My Documents folder. In your My Documents folder, create a new folder, such as "TEMPLATES01". Open this new folder.
On your DVD/CD window, select all of the files. You can do this by hitting Control-A, or by going to File>>Select All.
Drag and drop all those files from the DVD/CD into your new folder that you created.
Do NOT copy it to your desktop as that often creates shortcuts only. Instead create a new folder to copy it into.
All of the above works on a Mac too, its just a little different.
*If you've already registered a domain that you intend to use, you can skip this step and go down to STEP #3 below...
What is domain name?
A domain name is basically the web address of a particular website. For example "Google.com" or "HostingSecret.org" is a domain name.
If you want to have a serious online business, you NEED your own domain name.
Why do you need a domain name?
A website is the online equivalent of "real estate". And if that's the case, then a domain name is like the title deed to your website.
There are plenty of free web hosts out there who will let you host your site on their server without owning your domain. Typically they'll put it on a subdomain of their own domain. The problem with that is that you don't own the "title deed" to your own website. In fact, THEY own it.
Suppose the free host suddenly went out of business? Or suppose they decide to stop offering free hosting and they redirect all the traffic to their own site. Ouch.
You need to have your own domain so that you can build EQUITY in your "virtual real estate". If you don't own your domain, it's kind of like renting a home instead of buying it. You'd be building equity in someone else's property for them.
By building equity in your own online property it becomes an asset that you can keep for the long term, or sell to an investor.
Okay, hopefully you understand why it's so important to have your own domain. Now let's talk about what type of domain you should register.
Domain Extensions
First, which domain "extension" should you choose? Of course you're familiar with the ".COM" extension, but when you go to register a domain you'll see several different options. What about those?
It really depends on what you're going to be using the domain for. If it's going to be primary domain for your business, I'd settle for nothing less than a ".COM". For example, yourbusinessname.com.
The reason for this is that .COM's have long been considered the "gold standard" of the domain name industry. It is the most memorable extension for most of the general public, and could be viewed more favorably by potential investors if you should choose to sell your business some day.
However, if the domain is not intended to be the central identifying address for your business, there are some other good options available. The next best domain extensions are generally considered to be .NET, .ORG, and sometimes .INFO and .BIZ.
If your website is going to be an information source designed to help people, the .ORG extension can actually be preferable to the .COM. The reason for this is that the .ORG extension is generally associated with non-profit organizations and other helpful groups. When a web user sees your website listed on a search engine, a .ORG extension might create an element of trust which causes them to be more likely to click onto your site.
Now that we've talked about extensions, let's look at what your domain name should be...
Choosing a Domain Name
If you're choosing the main domain for your online business, there are several strategic marketing factors that can come into play. Often the best website names are "made up" words (eBay.com, Xanga.com, Flickr.com, etc), while others are more straight forward (facebook.com, digitalpoint.com, etc).
However, when it comes to selecting a domain for a content-based informational site it is generally far-and-away best to choose a name that concisely describes exactly WHAT the site is about.
So if your website is about car wheels, the best domain would probably be CarWheels.com. If that wasn't available, you could look to see if other extensions are available (such as CarWheels.net, CarWheels.org, etc.). If those were not available, look at adding another word to the domain. Most people would start by trying combinations like CarWheelsOnline.com, CarWheelsStore.com, etc. That can be a good strategy, but another way to find unique domains is by adding a personal touch. For example if your name was Bob, you could register BobsCarWheels.com, or if you're marketing locally you could register SpringfieldCarWheels.com.
So if you're planning on selling website templates, you might choose a name like: MikesTemplates.com
Or if you're planning on selling templates to a particular niche, it could be something like: TemplatesForWriters.com
What about hyphens?
This is a very common question that I am asked. Traditionally, a domain is less valuable when hyphenated. For example, car-wheels.com would be worth less than carwheels.com. That's probably because it's more difficult to remember a domain with a hyphen in it, or to advertise it on the radio, on TV, etc.
However, hyphens may also help with search engine optimization (SEO).
It is hard to draw any concrete conclusions, because there are so many factors involved in SEO, but the success and top ranking of many hyphenated domains would lead me to believe that they may have an advantage.
Some people have also speculated that the search engines could penalize or "sandbox" hyphenated domains due to the proliferation of spam sites using hyphenated domains. I have not seen this to be the case, but it is something to be mindful of.
Domain pitfalls to avoid
DON'T use intentional misspellings (you can use misspelled domains to capture traffic, but you should NOT build a full fledged site on one).
DON'T use abbreviations.
DON'T use numbers (digits), unless you have a really good reason.
DON'T make it too long. Shorter domains are more memorable, and generally more attractive in your advertising and search engine listings. It's okay to include multiple keywords if your site warrants it (low-cost-life-insurance.com), but don't go overboard (buy-your-low-cost-term-life-insurance-here.com) because it will make you look like a spammer.Okay, so now that you know how to choose a domain, let's look at exactly how to register one...
Registering your domain
There are literally hundreds of places on the internet where you can register a domain. Some are clearly better than others.
If you've already found a good and reliable registrar, feel free to stick with them.
One of the most important features is having a registrar that allows you to QUICKLY and EASILY change your DNS by yourself. You will need to use that feature right away. I also suggest using one that allows you to easily create your own name servers. We won't be using that feature today, but it's a good one to have in case you want to use it in the future.
If you need a good registrar, here's the best and cheapest one that I use: www.lifedomains.net (opens in a new window)
After you've registered a domain, continue to the next step...
STEP #3: Get Web Hosting.If you want to have a website, you NEED web hosting. It's simply impossible to have a website without it.
What is web hosting?
Web hosting is what makes your website available on the internet.
In a nutshell, a web host puts your website onto a computer (called a web server) which has a dedicated connection to the internet. The web server is designed to "serve" your web pages to visitors when they go to your web address (the domain that you registered in the previous step).
Why is it important to choose a good host?
Here's the thing...
There's good web hosts, and then there's "not-so-good" web hosts. The problem is if you pick a bad host, it can really get your website started on the wrong foot.
I could talk about some of the web hosting "horror stories" that I've heard and personally experienced, but I'll spare you the gruesome details ;-) Let's just say it's no fun to invest your time and money into launching a website, and then experience constant problems because of an inadequate web host.
That's why I want to get you started on the right foot by getting you set up with a reliable web host...
Which web host should you choose?
HostGator is a web host with the qualifications you should look for in a web host...
They have the TOOLS necessary to succeed with your website They have the SUPPORT available when you need help They have the RELIABILITY needed to keep your site online and making money They have the PRICE to make it affordable and keep more money in your pocket Some of the features that I have found to be extra helpful include...
One-step WordPress installation One step phpBB installation STEP #4: Customize the Sales Page.So if you've been worried about how you're going to set up a blog or forum, this is the way to go.
They also have very generous resources in terms of storage space and monthly bandwidth usage. Even the smallest plan is more than most people would need for their website.
Which hosting plan should you choose?
As I mentioned, even their smallest plan is plenty big for most sites. However, there are a couple of factors that you may want to take into consideration.
The most important question to ask yourself is how many websites you plan on launching.
If you plan to launch only one site and focus on making it the best it can be, then a small hosting plan is probably adequate. You could go with the "Hatchling" (the smallest plan) or the "Baby", which is probably a little better value because it has more resources.
On the other hand, if you plan on launching multiple sites, your best value is going to be a "Reseller" account. The thing that many people don't understand about reseller accounts, is they think they are designed only for reselling web hosting. However, you do NOT have to sell any hosting. They are perfect for hosting your OWN websites.
Instead of having to buy another hosting account each time you want to launch a new website, you can simply launch as many as you want and never pay any extra. HostGator's reseller accounts allow you to host an unlimited number of domains! Of course you still have to pay to register the domains (just go back and repeat step one above to register more domains), but you don't have to buy more hosting.
It's also great because you have the freedom to launch sites whenever you want. You don't have to wait for the web host to set up a new account every time you want to launch a new site. You simply add the domain to your hosting list, and upload your site!
Extra money idea: If you're selling website templates, you could also sell your customers the hosting to go along with those templates. With a reseller account it's very easy to sell hosting, and I explain how to do it in my free guide: How to Sell Web Hosting
Their smallest reseller plan (the "Aluminum") is probably enough for most people. If you plan on hosting a lot of big media files (like video and stuff) then you might want to go for one of the bigger reseller plans, like the "Copper". On the other hand, you can upgrade at any time, so if you're unsure, then you might as well start out with the "Aluminum".
In fact, I've got about 40 websites hosted on one of their "Aluminum" reseller plans, and never had any trouble with it.
Get Your Site Online For As Little As 1 Cent!
Since this is the web host that I personally use, I went ahead and arranged a special discount code for you to use.
You will receive a $9.94 discount on your first month, which means you can get started for as little as 1 cent on the "Baby" plan, which is not really much of a "baby" because you get a full 5 GB of disk space!
To get the discount, just use this coupon code during the checkout: IATVRE
Please use this link to get hosting if you wish to use this coupon:
Click here to get your hosting account
Remember, HostGator is the most reputable web host in the business, and if you need any help they will be happy to assist you at their helpdesk:
The helpdeskThey also have a wide variety of video tutorials that you can watch. You can view those here: Click here for their video tutorials
Within Volume 1, you will find a folder called "ResellerSite". This folder contains the turn-key sales site for the templates.
At a minimum you should customize the sales page with your own name, and price. It would be best if you also give the product itself a new name, and change the page's Title tag to make it unique.
If you are familiar with editing HTML, and understand these things, go ahead and do it. Otherwise, please watch the following video to see how to do it.
STEP #5: Decide how to deliver the product
Since the file size of all of the templates combined (along with the Starter Kit videos, etc) is so large, I recommend delivering this product to your customers on a CD-ROM.
Most computers are equipped with CD burners these days, and it is very simple to burn your own CDs. You basically just put a blank CD into the drive, open it, drag and drop the files onto it, and click to burn. If you're selling a product for $97 or more, it may be worth the few minutes of your time to burn the CDs and ship the product yourself.
However, if you are making a high volume of sales, or if you would rather keep it "hands off" for you, then I recommend using a fulfillment company, which is what we typically use.
We use a company called Corporate Disk, and you can reach them by going to: http://disk.com
They can give you a free quote to let you know how much it would cost to use their service. The nice thing is not only do they duplicate the discs, but they also package and ship them to your customers. You just have to pass the orders along to them, which can often be automated or partially automated.
The other option is to offer your templates as a digital downloadable product. This has it's pros and cons. On the good side, your product fulfillment costs are nearly zero (which can increase your profits, or allow you to sell at a lower price), and your product is delivered instantly. On the bad side, a large product like this will use a lot of bandwidth (particularly if you're making a lot of sales), and you may have to provide technical support for customers that have problems downloading it.
If this were a small product, I would definitely recommend making it downloadable. In such case, the benefits of digital delivery typically far outweigh the negatives. For example, if you are selling only a small number of the templates, or if you're selling one of the components from the 'MORETEMPLATES' folder as a stand alone product, then you should definitely consider digital delivery.
You will have to weigh the options for yourself and decide what is best for your business. If you choose digital delivery, there are detailed instructions in the steps below, showing how to get your files online to deliver them to your customers.
STEP #6: Create a download directory
If you are choosing to ship a physical product to your customers (like a CD-ROM), then all you need to worry about is the thank-you page.
You will just need to make sure your thank-you page includes some contact information so your customers can get in touch with you if they have any problems with their order. You should also let them know when to expect their product in the mail (for example, 2-4 weeks).
If you are choosing to fulfill the product via digital delivery (download), then you will need to create a download directory and place all of the files in it to be downloaded by your customers.
You'll need to compress all the files into zip files, and then put download links for each of the zip files onto your thank-you page. I recommend breaking up the collection into about 20 zip files, so you can keep the size of the zip files under 30MB each.
In the video below you will see exactly how to do this:
STEP #7: Add your payment button
You will need to add your own payment button to the sales page (you want to get paid, right?).
I personally like to use two different payment processors on my sales pages, because I like to give multiple payment method options to my customers (I've found it to increase my conversion rates). I use the following two services:
PayPal (free to join) 2Checkout (only $49 to join) STEP #8: Upload everythingThe following video shows how to create a payment button and put it on your sales page:
Once you've completed the above steps, you can upload everything to your website.
The best way to upload is to use FTP. If you don't have any FTP software, I recommend SmartFTP. It is free, and I've been using it for the past 8 years. You can download it at:
This video shows how and what to FTP to your site:
When you complete this step, you're in business!
STEP #9: Market your websiteAfter your site is online, it's a matter of getting traffic to your website. I'm not going to cover any methods in detail here, because it would be an entire series in itself, and there are already a LOT of resources out there that talk about how to get traffic to a website.
In general there are two types of traffic: paid traffic, and free traffic.
If you're willing to pay for traffic, Pay-per-click is probably the easiest and most accessible method. You can get started on Google AdWords very inexpensively, and it's easy to track your results to see if you're getting a good return on investment.
Free traffic generation is an entire science unto itself. Methods range from SEO (search engine optimization), to forums, blogs, article distribution, classifieds, buzz marketing, web 2.0, social networking, etc.
Within the realm of web 2.0/social networking, there are numerous ways that people are driving traffic using sites like youtube, Myspace, Facebook, Squidoo, Hub pages, etc.
STEP #10: Implement advanced techniquesOnce you've gotten the hang of the above steps, here are some advanced ideas to explore to boost your profits...
Give away something for free. Require the visitor to enter their name and email, and then sell the templates as a One Time Offer.
Add a One Time Offer upsell for customers who purchase the templates. You've got a huge selection of template products to sell within the MORETEMPLATES folder, many of which have pre-written sales letters with them.
Use a tracking program to split test several variables, and increase your conversion rate. For details, click here
Do joint ventures. This could be as simple as cross-promoting with another marketer. The most common example would be to send an email promotion to each other's lists. You can also swap ads on each other's thank you pages. Look for marketers who have products that are complimentary to what you're selling. For example, someone selling graphics would be complimentary to your templates package. You could also create product bundles with other marketers, etc.
Add an exit pop to your sales page to help build your list. Branch out into related niches and products. Try creating a video sales letter and slit test it against the written sales letter. Always keep part of your focus upon what you're going to sell NEXT. Try to make as much money as possible with the templates, but don't get "hung up" on them. This is especially true once you start building a customer base. You will make much more money selling new products to your existing customers than you will selling your old products to new customers. There are always new marketing techniques to test and implement, so keep learning!