Substance and Style

Selling digital content is one of the least expensive and easiest businesses to start. Once you create ebooks, online courses, manuals, templates, or any other number of products, you can sell them indefinitely, potentially earning out the amount of effort you put in and generating passive income in the future. However, if people share your content without compensating you, you could end up missing out on revenue and even spending money on expensive legal issues. 

Anything you create and publish online is automatically protected by copyright in the United States. If it comes down to it, the law will usually be on your side if you can show when you created the content and published it. However, you really don’t want to get to the point of having to litigate. It is far better to take preemptive steps to keep your work from being stolen in the first place. 

Before you even publish your content, make it clear to users that they are being granted the right to view and/or use your content, and that they are not permitted to share it. Have a very simple and clear Terms and Conditions notice. State that the work is for individual use by purchaser and that sharing the work will result in their loss of access to the content, without reimbursement. 

Next, you’ll require login for access to your content. This is a much better solution than allowing downloads because downloads can more easily be shared. Additionally, you can revoke access to users who violate your terms and conditions. 

To set up Premium Content subscriptions on WordPress, you have to have a paid plan. However, you can do the following even with the least expensive plan (around $90 a year). Here’s how to set up your Premium Content Subscriptions:

1. Figure out how much to charge. Will you charge a one-time fee or a monthly or yearly subscription rate? Figure this out in advance. You will be prompted to choose from existing subscriptions or add a subscription as you go through the process of adding premium content.
   
2. If you haven’t already, set up your site to take payments by getting a Stripe account and linking it to your bank account. Try to have a separate account for business to make things easier for yourself at tax time.
   
3. Create a new page or post and add a Premium Content Block. The block will show two different views (accessed by tabs at the top). Here you will customize what is seen by subscribers and non-subscribers. Users will be prompted to either log in (if they are logged out) or sign up if they are not subscribers. New subscribers will choose a plan if you have options listed (annual, monthly, etc.).
   
4. After you customize what non-subscribers see (subscription options, etc.), click on the subscribers tab to add your premium content. This is where you add what people are paying for. What you see in this tab is what your paid subscribers will see when they visit the page.

5. Publish the page!
   
6. Visit Tools -> Earn -> Collect Payments to see your subscribers and keep track of earnings. You can also use tools -> earn to set up a newsletter for paid subscribers and allow donations to your site.