Selling software online can be a lucrative business for anyone. There are two options for selling software: You can sell a program you wrote, or you can become an affiliate for a software company. Both options can provide a revenue stream as long as you can market software properly and generate software sales. In this guide for software sales, you will learn a step-by-step process for selling software online.

How to Sell Software Online

Five steps are involved for selling software you’ve produced online. (Selling software as an affiliate is a different process and will be discussed later in this guide.)

1. Write software, and test it thoroughly for any bugs or errors. The aim is to create a market-ready software product.
2. Create multiple versions of your software to be used with different operating systems, such as Mac, Windows and Linux. By creating a software program that can be used on multiple systems, you will be increasing your potential customer base.
3. Distribute a free trial of your software program for a specific time and with limited features. Your customers, with a trial version, can test the software before they buy it. This demonstrates your software, which helps customers decide whether they want it.
4. Find and use a platform for software sales. Compare sales platforms to find out which offer the features suitable for your requirements. The right sales platform should offer some marketing tools to generate software sales.
5. Market your software. Multiple ways exist for marketing your software. Use marketing strategies that meet your sales requirements and budgetary limitations.

How to Market Your Software

Even products of limited quality sell well. One reason is marketing. With an effective marketing plan, you can generate software sales easily and make revenue. When it comes to marketing software, some techniques work better than others.

• Reviews & Testimonials: This is easily one of the most cost-effective marketing techniques. A positive review by a prominent blog or testimonial by an influential personality brings publicity and credibility for your software product. Get your software reviewed by bloggers and influencers by engaging with them and having them use your software. Use and highlight reviews and testimonials on your sales pages.
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: PPC advertising is one way to market your website and storefront through search engines. People searching for a software product like yours on search engines can be targeted using PPC ads. This highly targeted advertising method can effectively be used to generate software sales with the right product and sales page content.
• Forums: A forum serves to answer questions on specific subjects. For example, there might be a forum on securing computers from viruses. In a forum related to your software, suggest it as one of the solutions to a question after providing a thorough and useful post. Be a genuine participant in the conversation on forums and not just someone who is there to advertise a product.
• Affiliate Networks: An affiliate network works as a platform for merchants with products to be sold. Affiliates are interested in promoting those products and earning commission on sales. When it comes to generating software sales, affiliate networks can be handy tools because they are performance based marketing mediums. If you sell software programs this way, you get many people to promote your software on multiple websites, forums, groups and other places. You need to pay only when a sale is made.
• Blogging: A blog lets you write about your business and your product. A software firm can blog about how its software can help solve certain problems. The blog can be used for engaging with existing and potential customers. It can be used to answer questions and take feedback. A blog with good content also brings in SEO benefits, and the traffic from keyword searches related to your software can be brought to the blog and then converted into sales.

How to Earn Through Software Sales

You can earn through software sales two ways. We will look at them in detail.

The first way to earn through software sales is to create your own software program and sell it online through various channels. This method requires you to know how to write software or be able to hire someone to do it. You are responsible for marketing activities, customer support and managing overall operations for your software business. The benefits of this method are that you have full control over the business and that you get to keep all the revenue from software sales.

The second way to earn is by becoming an affiliate for a software business by joining an affiliate network or by associating with the software firm directly. Affiliates are responsible for generating software sales through their own marketing activities and earn commission according to the agreed-upon terms of business. If you don’t have the capacity or skills to develop your own software, becoming an affiliate is a good option for selling software online. Becoming an affiliate requires you to be good at marketing and promoting products among people who would be interested in buying them.

How to Set Up Selling Software

You need to know where you can sell your software online.

Places like Amazon, eBay, your own website and other places exist on the market. Comparing the different options is one way to make a choice and start selling today.

One option for selling software is using a sales platform that provides all the capabilities required for selling software online. PayLoadz is one such sales platform for digital goods, including software that can be used by software firms to sell their products. PayLoadz provides several tools and features, including secure file storage, payment processing through multiple providers, automated delivery of software and various marketing tools. You can sell software on your website, blog, forums, the PayLoadz Store and eBay using the PayLoadz platform. With PayLoadz, you can start with a free account. You would only pay a monthly fee when you start generating software sales.

PayLoadz provides an option for selling software even if you don’t have your own software program. Anyone interested in promoting products and earning commission on sales can join the affiliate network on PayLoadz. The affiliate network provides access to thousands of digital products, including software programs from various sellers. You will know the commission affiliates can earn on each sale. An affiliate is required only to promote the products. Whenever someone clicks the affiliate link to purchase a software product, PayLoadz credits the commission to that affiliate’s account.

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