How to sell PDFs, videos and other digital content on your website

ContentCategory
3 min read
Duane Fernando

With many of us staying home to slow the spread of COVID-19, local brick-and-mortar businesses are most affected by the reduced foot traffic. Businesses that offer services like music lessons or exercise classes rely on people being together in the same room. However, social distancing makes it difficult for these types of interactions to occur in person.

If your business is in a similar situation, consider switching to digital content. For example, you can sell music tutorial videos that customers can download directly from your site. Or, post videos on a private page on your site that only paid members can access. You can also turn printed books or instructions, like recipes or lesson plans, into a PDF that people can download after purchase.

How to sell PDFs, videos, and other digital content:

Here are some ideas to sell digital content online-

Add digital products to your online store

Sell PDFs, videos and other digital content on your website

Your online store doesn’t have to be limited to selling and shipping physical products. You can sell digital products, as well. Downloadable products, such as videos, PDF documents or MP3 audio files, can be sold from your site. If you have the GoDaddy's Online Store, you can add digital content to your store. You can upload up to 10 files per product. Keep in mind, there is a file size limit of 2GB.

If you’re using Online Store, see Add digital products for detailed steps on selling digital products in your online store.

You can also sell digital content from your WordPress site. If you have WordPress with the WooCommerce plugin, see Adding and Managing Products to add downloadable products to your online store.

Post your digital content on a private page

You can also post your digital content on a private page. A private page can only be accessed by invited customers or members. Once your customers have paid for access, you manually send your customers a link to the private page after their purchase.

If you’re using Websites + Marketing, see Create private website pages.

Use the promotional banner

Once you have the digital products on your site, let your customers know that the content is available for purchase. One solution for promoting new products is using a banner at the top of your homepage that links directly to the digital content page.

If you’re using Websites + Marketing, see Add a promotional banner to my website to direct customers to your digital content.

Sell access to YouTube videos online

Along with content directly sold from your website, another option is to sell access to your unlisted YouTube videos. Unlisted videos are videos that don’t appear in YouTube search results. They are accessed through a specific URL that you share with others. For example, you sell access to the video on your website. Then, once the customer has paid, you send them the link.

To learn more about YouTube privacy settings, see Change video privacy settings.

Summary

While social distancing can create challenges for your business, it also gives you the opportunity to do business with your customers in a whole new way.

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