MiniSiteGallery.com

DIYeBookCover.com is the first sales letter mini-site. It’s a great example how I use mini-sites to make money online - by selling products.

My first actual website is a content mini-site about computer cases. Then, I tried my hands on list building by putting together a long sales letter squeeze page. Yep, a sales letter just to get people into my mailing list. That was MoneyClicking.net, which is now my blog.

Then later, I created my first product - DIYeBookCover.com.

Back then, DIYeBookCover.com was a set of videos on how to create your own ebook cover using Photoshop Elements 2. And not too long after that, Adobe came up with Elements 3, and then 4. That’s when I stop selling DIYeBookCover.com. I felt that my videos were too outdated.

Anyway, a few months back, I thought I’d repackage DIY eBook Cover with some Photoshop Action scripts and start selling them again. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a set of instructions and commands that you can install in your Photoshop. I recorded all the steps needed to create a bunch of e-cover graphics, and now I am selling them as Photoshop Action scripts.

You can use this script and with just a few mouse clicks, you’ll a nice looking e-cover to represent your product. It’s just a simple 3-step process. Step 1, open the template layout file. Step 2, run the render action script to create your e-cover. Step 3, save it as web graphic.

It’s that easy.

With the new DIY eBook Cover, you can choose to represent your product online in 51 different ways. You can choose e-cover designs ranging from CDs, DVDs, books, ring binders, software box, even iPod and PDA and more…

Apart from that, I also maintain a few of the components from the original DIY eBook Cover. Customers will also get the eBook Layout Strategy Videos and also 51 eBook Cover Templates to get them started.

If you need great looking e-covers, you better check it out now…

[+] http://www.DIYeBookCover.com

When creating mini-sites, most of the times your mini-site is just a static HTML web page (no fancy content management or dynamically update content). In some mini-sites, you may not be selling something at all.

You could be creating a landing page for affiliate programs, a special web page with video, a special ebook download page, etc…

In the past few days, I created a mini-site, with only a few pages. Each page has a video that I created with Camtasia. And I wanted to know what people think of the video. So I thought that I should add a commenting system to the pages.

When you run a blog, you have the commenting system built-in. But with a static page, how do you add a commenting system to it.

I needed that. So I search around looking for a commenting system.

And I found a great one by GentleSource.com

Check it out - http://www.gentlesource.com/comment-script/

What I like about it is that it’s packed with features. You can set it up with Akismet (Wordpress’ anti-spam system), Captcha image, IP blocking, flood protection, Text Link Ads integration, word filter and many more.

One feature that I hope they add later is AJAX commenting. With AJAX, perhaps the page doesn’t have to load everytime you add a comment. AJAX commenting is something that you see at YouTube.com. You see that you can add a comment, but the video does not reload.

Perhaps I will do another post later explaining what AJAX is all about and how you can use them in your online marketing.

HOW IT WORKS

If you sell ebooks or software, you need a way to protect your download page from prying eyes. Many of us use Paypal. It’s easy and it’s convenient. I use them too. And the easiest way to use start using Paypal to accept payment is to create a Buy Now Button from within your Paypal account.

But to protect your digital product, you need to do something extra.

The sad truth is, Paypal’s Buy Now Button doesn’t actually protect your downloadable products. By viewing the HTML source code of your website, people can see where they will be redirected after making a payment using Paypal. And knowing this information, people can just type that address in the browser, skipping the part where they make the payment.

But Paypal has implemented (since years ago) a mechanism that you can use to verify and approve orders before allowing access to your download page. And all that can be automated, so you don’t have to do it manually.

This is known as the Paypal IPN (Instant Payment Notification). You can get a manual at Paypal at Paypal’s IPN page.

Before I tell you about how to implement this with your product, let me first tell you how it works.

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