Selling software online is a lucrative online business niche, so kudos to you for wanting to get into it. Soon you will join the many developers who have become successful software entrepreneurs using only their programming skills.
Successfully selling downloadable software online boils down to three things:
Reading: How to create a website to sell software
- Find a software idea people will pay for
- Make buying easy
- Provides excellent customer service.
And what exactly does all of this entail?
In this guide, you will learn how to start selling your software products online, along with some considerations and best practices around to help you succeed.
You’ll also learn how to set up your own WordPress store to sell your software (and why you need to do it!).
First, let’s take a look at how selling software online differs from building a SaaS software business.
Selling software online vs. selling a SaaS Solution
In general, starting a software company means creating a downloadable software that users download to use locally on their systems or applications, or launching a SaaS solution that users access via the Access Cloud.
Create Downloadable Software From Software is the best way to get into the software industry as it is pretty easy to get started. Here you can write your app on your notepad and offer it for sale on your website. Your users can download it to install on their systems.
You don’t need to build a complex cloud tech ecosystem. All you have to do is release regular updates to keep your software app compatible with your users’ systems – and of course with new features.
Downloadable software products are usually developed for a specific platform, such as B. Mac, Windows, Linux, Android or iOS, just to name a few. As an example, consider a VPN for Mac. Downloadable software is also often built on top of an app – a plugin for WordPress, for example.
When you start a downloadable software company, you typically charge your users a one-time fee for the initial download and a monthly fee Paying to get support, updates, and newer features.
In contrast, running a SaaS business requires building a complex – and often expensive – app infrastructure. You need to make sure your software works well in the cloud and that any downloadable apps you offer stay in sync at all times, even if you allow offline access. With this business model, you charge a monthly, quarterly, or annual flat fee.
This guide focuses on downloadable software products.
Now let’s focus on the three most important steps to successfully selling software online.
Step 1: Discover a profitable software idea and validate it
When the Time Comes When selling software online, the first step is to discover product ideas that can be developed. There are three ways to do this…
1. Choose a popular solution to create add-on software for it
In this case, choose a popular application and create a software product that adds a needed functionality.
Rony Fadel, former Apple engineer and now an indie developer, built an email client for Mac for the Zoho solution. This allowed users to access multiple accounts. (Fedel’s product, Mailbox for Zoho, is a good case study, by the way.)
If you search community forums of your target solutions, you will find people complaining about missing features that can be developed profitable software add-on.
One downside to this is that a solution may deliver what you offer, making your product obsolete. (The solution to this is to keep delivering more value with your software and provide an experience better than the proprietary tool.)
2. Choose a platform and launch a “mass market” product
Next, choose a platform and create a product that targets a large user base.
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It’s like creating an email client for Mac. In addition to Apple’s official email client software, you’ll be competing with many established options (like Thunderbird) in this case.
You also have to compete with web apps (many of which have free access) and open source alternatives. The market is crowded, so the competition is fierce.
3. Pick a niche industry
Another way to come up with a software idea is to pick a niche. For example, you could develop software for tarot readers or astrologers.
You could also choose the gaming niche and start games.
Niche software is often a good option as it allows you to solve a very specific problem for a select segment of users. In this case, both the problem and the target group are well defined.
Whatever approach you take when deciding on a product idea, think about how you could expand your product range in the future to upsell generate and cross-sell revenue.
Once you have an idea for building your software, it’s time to validate it.Browsing user forums is an effective way to validate software product ideas. If you have a lot of people complaining about a lack of functionality, give it a try. Niche community groups can also provide insight into the demand for an idea. Search volume analysis (discussed in detail here) is another way to validate demand.
Step 2: Build your product
Now comes the coding part. Here you are already the pro! When developing your product, just keep the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in mind.
An MVP is a “bootable” version of your software that contains only the must-have features – in the case of your software, it delivers the unique feature it promises to deliver.
Creating an MVP is not as time or resource consuming as coding all your (planned) software. For example, if you want to develop automatic time tracking software for Windows, start by only offering automatic time tracking. Features that increase productivity or provide time-spent analysis or support for APIs can wait.
If you sell software online, an MVP will help you get your product to market sooner and allows you to gauge demand for your product, collect feedback (and feed it back into development), and deliver a better product.
Step 3: Set up your ecommerce store to sell your software product(s)
Many software companies are looking for ways to sell Mac apps outside of the App Store. Similarly, Windows software developers also want to sell independently. They often do this to avoid the hefty commissions these marketplaces charge and the lack of control over the cadence of their products’ releases. For the same reasons, selling on digital marketplaces like Amazon also makes no sense.
Building your own software store to sell your software online is the best option. If you sell your software on your website, you:
- pay no commission on your sales to the app stores
- can experiment with pricing as you like
- You can brand yourself from the start and build your own user base (and you can maintain your own CRM)
- You can engage directly with your customers
- Receive You have complete control over your product release schedule; You don’t have to wait weeks for your updates to be released
- Can sell software products for multiple platforms from the same storefront
With WordPress and Download Monitor to set up your software store a
The easiest way to set up your website for selling software online is to use WordPress and a plugin that allows you to sell and distribute software.
One such plugin is Download Monitor, which is specially designed to make selling software products easier. With Download Monitor, you can start selling your software products online in just three easy steps. (We’ve detailed the process here.) In short, once you enable Download Monitor, a Shop tab is added to your site.
Add a new product is easy with handy settings to upload the download and set prices:
You also get detailed insights into your downloads:
For more information on creating your shop, see this article.
Download Monitor also makes activating payments, maintaining version history and access control effortless. By streamlining your entire sales process, it does all the work for you when it comes to selling software online.
Because software can be easily pirated and redistributed without your permission, you may want to implement some form of verification to ensure fair access. For example, Download Monitor collects users’ IP addresses. You can even limit the number of installations if needed.
Invest in user experience
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Another aspect of successfully selling software online is offering a good user experience.
First, create high-quality installation resources. Installing downloadable software is quite an exercise, even more so when purchased from an independent vendor. First-time users may find it even more difficult.
So to ensure users can install your software, write easy-to-understand installation and startup guides. Also, write support documents that explain the different features of your app and how to use them.
Reserve time to provide maintenance and support.Most downloadable software products require routine updates to remain compatible with users’ systems or applications. Maintain a release calendar accordingly.
Also work on bug fixes that are reported. The quality of your customer support has a direct impact on your user retention. Also, stay with your customers and ask for feedback – this can guide your product development.
Prioritize product development as well. Keep adding new features to your software so your users see the value of their subscription.
Market your software business
Your product’s landing page (and by extension, your shop website) is Your biggest marketing asset for selling software online. It acts as the linchpin of your marketing strategy.
Ideally, you need a landing page that includes:
- An explanation of what your product does – its unique value proposition
- Features (and benefits)
- Pricing
- An overview of the installation steps
- The platforms the software is compatible with, along with other specifications
And of course a download/buy button!
Also add a version log so users can see that you have invested in the solution and that it is actively maintained. Users often do not prefer to buy from independent software vendors if they think the project might be abandoned.
Besides using elements that increase conversion rates, your landing page must also have the right SEO use keywords. This consistently generates organic leads. For example, if you google “astrology software for mac” you will see several organic results that are not from the official web store. On-page SEO can give you a similar exposure depending on the competition in your niche.
Content marketing and writing SEO blog posts on topics relevant to your audience will help also in such organic lead generation.
Participate as a marketer of your product and promote your product on software review sites, reach software bloggers and engage with your target audiences on social media platforms and forums. All of these can boost your software sales.
Also try free trials:
Offering a free trial is another great way to entice potential customers to use your software and to demonstrate how it works. Users are more likely to click the buy button after trying the product.
Make sure you’re tracking metrics like your traffic (both organic and referrals), conversions, and Review the length of your typical sales cycle, and others that software company sales teams or general salespeople religiously measure.
Conclusion…
There are many ways to start selling software online, but choosing the right one for your business is essential.
Selling your software through your own website (rather than using a platform’s marketplaces) gives you higher profit margins and complete control over pricing and release/release dates. update schedule of your product. You’ll also build your own customer base, which you can use to grow your business. In addition, you can launch versions of your app for all popular platforms and make them all available directly on your website.
Thankfully, thanks to this guide to selling software online, you now know exactly how to set up a store for your software company.
The process of selling software online is completed with Download Monitor significantly easier given how it makes payment management, access control and product delivery hassle-free.
With its many extensions, Download Monitor will help you provide your users with an even better software buying experience. From creating beautiful download pages that provide a better checkout experience to memorable download buttons, the complete pricing plan has you covered. Try it!
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