Right now it takes care of the basics…

• Provides ready-made “Buy Now” buttons to place on your website
• Automatically delivers files to paying customers
• Protects the downloads using unique links with security restrictions
• Integrates with four of the leading affiliate networks

All right and good. Things are running smoothly, so lately I’ve been getting on with building the system I was dreaming about when I started DeliverMyFile. It takes those basics and expands upon them, providing some powerful tools for product publishers to do some serious business.

Here’s just some of the things on the list…

• Tie-in with your email newsletter service to add new customers to an auto-responder list.
• Create and edit fancy sales letters that add intelligent up-sell offers and post-purchase “one-time offers” into the checkout process.
• Instantly share sale revenue with your Joint-Venture and Referral partners.
• And all the while keeping these advanced features in a simple-to-use control panel.

I’m looking for your feedback

If you already use DeliverMyFile, or just want to throw in your two bits about your digital product delivery needs, I want to hear from you. Your input will help me make a better service.

What email services do you use, that you would want DMF to support?

Are there any other services that you could see tying in with orders made through DMF?

What are your biggest challenges when creating/publishing/selling your digital products?

What is on your wishlist as a product creator?

Please leave your answers and feedback in the comments below. Thanks for your help with making DeliverMyFile a service that will knock your socks off.

• Flip the layout to be optimized for on-screen reading
• Add columns to make reading easier
• Use a graphical background to add eye appeal
• Insert headers and footers for consistency

Watch the video to see me start from scratch and create a nice looking page layout using OpenOffice Writer. (don’t have the software? See Part 1 to get it for free)

Here’s a quick overview of the process explained on the video…

Working with Page Styles

Using Page Styles (as well as Paragraph Styles, which we’ll get to later) makes the process of designing a great looking eBook much more simple and easy to repeat over and over again. Styles work by defining a set of formatting rules that you can apply to elements in your document in one click. Today we will edit the Default Page Style to make the basic layout for our new eBook.

Use a Landscape orientation to fit on screen better

Simply flipping your document to Landscape mode, so it’s wider than it is tall, makes it fit better on computer screens, allowing readers to see bigger text while viewing the whole page at once without scrolling.

Set page margins to zero

This will let our background image go all the way to the edge of the page. We’ll add margins to our text in just a moment using border spacing.

Insert a page Background graphic

Adding a background image is key to making your eBooks stand out from the crowd. This simple step adds visual appeal to every page instantly.

Selecting the “Link” box will let you update the image file and see changes reflected in your document.

Add a Header

Check the box to add a header to your page. You will have to adjust header spacing depending on the shape of your background image and where you want it positioned.

Add a Footer

Check the box again. Again you may have to fiddle with the amount of spacing later.

Add page border to fix margins

Add a border to the page, which will show right around the very edge of the page, by selecting the four-sides buttons, and setting the colour to white (which is my preference).

Border spacing becomes your page margins. 1.5cm is a good place to start, but it may need adjustment depending on your background image.

Split your content into columns

To make it easier to read in Landscape orientation, you should create two or three columns for your text. Be sure to add a bit of column spacing (about 1cm) between them.

See how it looks

Click apply to see your page style in action. Check to make sure the spacing is correct. If not, make adjustments to your page style settings for border spacing, as well as header and footer spacing.

Add text to your header and footer

Write whatever you like in your header and footer sections. This will appear the same on every page. You can add automatic page numbering under Insert -> Fields.

The page is set for greatness!

With that, you’ve created your Default page style. As you write, and your content flows to the second page, it will automatically use this same style giving your whole document a consistent look. You can save this document as a template to use for all your future eBooks and save time.

But hold on! We’re not finished here. In the next article of this series I’ll look at using Paragraph Styles to make the text of your eBook shine.

Homework

Follow along with the tutorial to create your own page template in OpenOffice, then begin to create a custom page style that is unique to you. Join me for the next tutorial when we will start working with your text.

You can also download the “cheat sheet”, the very same document I created in the tutorial video.

Thanks for reading. I welcome your questions and comments below.

Be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter for future tutorials and tips!

I also received a few messages asking me for more details on how I designed it, and what software I was using. This will be the first post in a series explaining the process I use to make such “top-notch” eBook design. The first question I received was…

What software do you use?

Perhaps those asking were hoping for an answer of “XYZ Super eBook Generator Pro” where you can click a button and have this all done for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t exist. My method involves a little more elbow grease, but after you do it once you’ll have your own template to re-use over and over again.

The software in question is OpenOffice Writer, part of the free open-source OpenOffice suite available for download at OpenOffice.org. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux systems, and is a very good replacement for Microsoft Office. I use it for all my officey/document needs.

Now, there’s no reason you can’t follow through this tutorial series using Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, or whatever document/layout software you like. The design concepts will still be helpful, and you can just skip over the occasional mention of a specific feature. However, being that the software is completely free, it’s no trouble to give it a shot.

Your Homework

I’m going to let you off easy for this first one. Your only action step is to go download and install OpenOffice.

Meet me back here in a few days to get started on your new eBook design. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed or my email newsletter so you don’t miss out on the rest of this tutorial series.

Good news! Your book will be judged by its cover. Use it to stand out from the crowd. Be ready with a professional design that will boost your sales and credibility.

Express Package

Order Express
$25

Good design doesn’t have to be complex. With the express package you’ll get the benefit of a professional designer, but without the more time consuming and expensive detail work. Your eBook cover will still look great, but perhaps a little less unique.

Express package includes

• Product design incorporating your title and other text.
• Full quality, full page “flat” cover design.
• High quality 3D “virtual” product image for sales pages and banners.
• BONUS: Voucher for $3 credit for a new account with DeliverMyFile to sell your product securely and automatically

Professional Package

Order Professional
$47

Let a professional designer create a totally unique concept for your product including custom illustration and layout incorporating your photos and logos. Your eBook will stand out from the crowd as a top-notch product. Go ahead… let them judge your book by its cover!

Professional Package Includes

• Complete custom design conceptually matched to your product with original illustration and graphics
• Incorporate your custom titles and text, as well as photos and logos
• Full quality, full page “flat” cover design.
• High quality 3D “virtual” product image for sales pages and banners.
• BONUS: “Buy Now” graphic incorporating your eBook design
• BONUS: Voucher for $5 credit for a new account with DeliverMyFile to sell your product securely and automatically

Deluxe Package

Order Deluxe
$99

For the product creators who put a lot of time and care into their eBooks, let me help you knock it out of the park with a deluxe design treatment that includes both the cover and the actual eBook inside layout.

Deluxe Package includes

• Complete professional custom cover design
• Full quality “flat” cover design
• High quality 3D “virtual” eBook cover graphic
• Custom design layout using your new cover design, makes your whole eBook look Pro
• Pre-made template file in free OpenOffice format, ready for you to paste in your content
• BONUS: Customized “Buy Now” button graphic.
• BONUS: Website/Blog header graphic
• BONUS: Ready-made sales website template
• BONUS: Voucher for $10 credit for a new account with DeliverMyFile to sell your product securely and automatically

No matter what package you choose, I’m sure you will be very happy with the result. In fact, I guarantee it! After two revisions, if you still aren’t happy with your custom design, you can request a full refund. No risk, no worries. Nothing to lose, and only a great eBook cover design to gain.

Absolutely Everything You Need To Know About
“How to Protect & Deliver Your Product Downloads”


This eBook takes a hard look at protecting your digital products from theft and file sharing, starting with the popular “do-it-yourself-methods” (and why they don’t work so great) and finishing with a thorough review and cost comparison of five leading download protection services.

You need to read this book if…

• You sell anything where a download is delivered via a “Thank You” page. (not as safe as you might think)
• You have to send emails to your customers. (get the process automated)
• You want to pay less than you currently are for your download delivery service.

Download it, read it, and you’re sure to save money on your digital product delivery.

More eBooks in the “Absolutely Everything You Need To Know” series will be coming soon. Be sure to subscribe to this blog, or sign-up for the email newsletter to stay informed.

You can draw attention to your important points as easy as putting pen to paper with these two realistic hand-drawn effects. Just copy, paste, and save and that’s all there is to it!

Here’s How You Can Do It!

This neato effect is created using a couple images and a little bit of CSS styling. This tutorial should be easy enough for anybody to follow, as no advanced technical skill is required.

Step 1: Save the image files to your website

Step 2: Add the CSS style code

.highlight {
position: relative;
padding-left: -5px;
overflow: visible;
font-weight: bold;
height: 100%;
}
.highlight_yellow {
position: absolute;
left: -3px;
background-image: url('images/highlight_yellow.png');
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-size: 100%;
background-position: 0px 0px;
margin-left: -5px;
padding-right: 5px;
width: 105%;
line-height: 200%;
overflow: visible;
height: 32px;
}
.underline_red {
position: absolute;
left: -3px;
background-image: url('images/underline_red.png');
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: bottom;
background-size: 100%;
margin-left: -3px;
padding-bottom: 5px;
width: 105%;
line-height: 105%;
overflow: visible;
height: 100%;
}

Step 3: Pick out the text you want to highlight

<p>I can't emphasize enough <span class="highlight">just
how important this is</span>. So pay attention!</p>

Step 4: Add your desired highlight effect

<p>I can't emphasize enough <span class="highlight">just how
important this is<span class="highlight_yellow">&nbsp;</span>
</span>. So pay attention!</p>

More Examples

Just highlight the important bits.

Just <span class="highlight">highlight the important bits.
<span class="highlight_yellow"> </span></span>

Get out your red pen for underlines.

Get out your <span class="highlight">red pen
<span class="underline_red"> </span></span> for underlines.

How about an underline inside of a highlight.

<span class="highlight">How about an <span class="highlight">underline
inside<span class="underline_red"> </span></span>
of a highlight.<span class="highlight_yellow"> </span></span>

And now a highlight in the middle of an underline.

<span class="highlight">And now a <span class="highlight">highlight in the
middle<span class="highlight_yellow"> </span></span>
of an underline.<span class="underline_red"> </span></span>

Party time! The IM Geek is in da house!

That’s IM as in “Internet Marketing”… as in “doing business online”… as in “sitting at home in your underwear while making money”. (but I don’t tell everybody about that last bit)

My name is Ryan. For the past decade or more I’ve worked as a freelance website developer, designer, and all-round webmaster sorta guy. In that time I’ve soaked up more technical know-how than most. I’m here to share that knowledge with you in easy bite-sized pieces.

Here’s how I can help you

First, ask me anything. I’m taking your questions about website “stuff”, giving you a complete and hopefully very helpful answer, and sharing them in this blog for everybody else in the same boat.

Second, keep an eye out for tips and tutorials. You may not know what question you should ask, so I’ll be proactive in teaching you how to make your online business more efficient, and more profitable… and along the way, maybe a little more fun, too.

Third, I can’t help you at all if you’re not listening. So, subscribe to my email newsletter, or RSS feed, to keep tabs on everything I share. I can promise a complete lack of “marketing hype” and a whole lot of down to earth useful information.

I look forward to being of service to you soon. Please say hello.