WordPress Digital Download Website Builder: Create Your Dream Website with Ease

If you are thinking of creating your own digital download website, this is the best time. Because now people are consuming digital products more than ever before. Here is an eye-opening stat for you: 

According to McKinsey, global spending on digital products is expected to hit $135 billion by 2024. And this number is only going to increase every year. 

All you need is to create a website to start selling your digital products to join this industry. Also, creating a website isn’t as much of a hassle as it may sound to you. 

With WordPress and a digital download website builder like Download Monitor, you can create your own digital products website within a few hours. 

Seems unrealistic? Well, keep reading this blog and eventually you’ll agree with us. 

So, without any further ado, let’s get started! 

Download Monitor

Grow your audience, track download performance, and convert your leads into paying customers with an easy-to-use digital downloads solution for WordPress

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When You Need a Digital Download Website

As just said, to sell your digital products, you’ll require your own website. However, one confusion may arise in your mind what if you sell your digital products to an online marketplace rather than selling it from your website? 

Sure, you could sell your products from a marketplace. But a marketplace has many rules to follow. Also, you’ll need to share your profit with the marketplace owner. 

But with your own website, you’re the boss. You control the look and feel, set your own prices, and can even build a community around your work.

Plus, no more waiting for someone else to approve your product – you’re in charge! Last but not least, you don’t need to share your profit with anyone. 

Now if you are convinced that you should create your own website to sell your digital products, let’s get introduced to the first thing that you’ll require – digital download website builder. 

Meet Download Monitor – The Best Digital Download Website Builder for Beginners

Have you ever come across the Download Monitor plugin? If yes, then you already know how powerful this plugin is. 

However, if you don’t know about the Download Monitor plugin, then let us introduce you to this plugin. 

Download Monitor is one of the most popular digital download website builder plugins with more than 100,000 active installations. It has also 4.5 out of 5 user ratings. That means users love this plugin for its amazing features and user-friendliness. 

If you want to create a website and show your content only to the selected members, e.g., premium users, or if you want to create a website and sell your digital products to everyone just like another eCommerce site, this plugin has support for both situations.

This is one of the many reasons why so many people love this plugin. 

Shortcomings of the Download Monitor Plugin

Though Download Monitor is the best digital download website builder solution, it has a few limitations. Let’s focus on that: 

While the free version offers a lot, some powerful features like content lock and email integration are available in the paid plans.

Also, if you are expecting a complete eCommerce solution in this plugin, you’ll be a bit disappointed.

Because the Download Monitor plugin focuses on tracking and managing downloads, not processing payments. You might need another plugin for that.

Pricing for The Best Digital Download Website Builder 

The Download Monitor is a freemium plugin which means it has both free and premium versions. You will get the Download Monitor free version in the plugin repository and you don’t have to pay a single penny to use this version forever on your site. 

And the premium version comes with three different packages. Here are the packages: 

• Basic: $39 per year for 5 websites. 
• Popular: $99 per year for 5 websites.
• Complete: $159 per year for 5 websites. 

Building a Digital Download Website on WordPress Using Download Monitor Plugin

Now you know why Download Monitor is called the best digital download website builder plugin. 

So, it’s time to show you how you actually can create a digital download website using this plugin within a few hours. Let’s get started! 

Prerequisites

Hold a bit! To continue this tutorial, you’ll require a ready WordPress site. If you have a ready WordPress website, you can follow this tutorial and create your digital download website right away. 

However, if you don’t have a WordPress website, first, create a WordPress site, then follow this tutorial.

Don’t be panicked, because creating a WordPress website is easy. All you need is to register a domain name, buy a hosting plan, and install WordPress on your control panel, and your website is ready. 

If you still have confusion, you can follow our – How to Sell Wholesale Digital Products blog to learn how to get your WordPress website ready.

In the first segment of this blog, we have shown how to install WordPress on your control panel. Hope, it will help you. 

Download Monitor

Grow your audience, track download performance, and convert your traffic into email subscribers with an easy-to-use digital downloads solution for WordPress.

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Install Download Monitor Plugin 

After getting your WordPress website ready, then install the Download Monitor plugin on your website. 

Installing the Download Monitor plugin is an easy task. Follow the below process to install this plugin on your WordPress-powered website: 

• Within your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to “Plugins” and then “Add New Plugin.”
• Search for “Download Monitor” and select the official plugin from WordPress.org.
• Click “Install Now” and wait for the installation to complete.
• Once installed, click “Activate” to start using the plugin.

That’s it! That’s how you should install the Download Monitor plugin. 

As we said earlier, the Download Monitor plugin allows you to do both- 

1. Show your digital products only to specific members, and 
2. Sell your digital products to anyone 

We’ll discuss both ways here. Keep reading! 

Show Your Digital Products Only to Specific Members 

Suppose you have uploaded your digital product to your site and now want to share it with only:

• Members Only: Only logged-in users will be able to access this file. 
• Paid Only: Only users who purchased a product that contains this file will be able to access the file.
• Email Provider: The person who enters his email will only be able to access this file.
• Retweet: The person who retweets a predefined text will only be able to access this file. 

To do this, follow this procedure: 

Go to your WordPress dashboard -> Downloads -> Add New. It’ll allow you to add a new digital product to your site.  Then give it a name and write a short description for it. 

Now scroll down a bit and you’ll find an option to upload your file. Simply upload your file here. 

Then suppose you want to share this file only with those who share their email with you. So, simply checkmark the Email lock option. 

When you’re all done, hit the Publish button to publish the file. 

Now if you visit the frontend, you will find your digital product like the following image. 

The download button only be activated when someone will enter a valid email address there. Then he will be able to access this file. 

Now let us show you how you can sell your digital products to the world. 

Sell Your Digital Products to the World 

To sell any type of digital products using the Download Monitor plugin, first, you’ll need to enable the Shop feature of this plugin.

In order to enable the Shop feature, go to your WordPress dashboard and then navigate to Downloads -> Settings -> General -> check the “Shop Enabled” box.

After enabling the Shop feature, it’s time to create a few required pages to prepare your site for selling digital products on it. 

Here is the list of the pages that you need to create: 

• No Access Page 
• Cart Page
• Checkout Page 

Let’s check how you can do that! 

a) Create a No Access Page

If you are using the latest version of the Download Monitor plugin, the No Access should already be there. 

However, if the page isn’t there by default, simply, create a page. 

To create a page, navigate to the dashboard -> Pages -> add a new page naming it No Access. Then insert the below-mentioned shortcode:

[dlm_no_access]

To do that, insert the Shortcode block and then paste this code to get your job done. Then publish the page by clicking the “Publish” button. 

Then go to Downloads -> Settings -> Advanced -> Pages Setup -> No Access Page – select the page you created above which is the No Access page. 

Then hit the Save Changes button to save all the changes. 

b) Create a Cart Page 

Now you need to create a cart page. Creating a cart page is almost similar to creating the above-mentioned No Access page.  

Go to your WordPress dashboard -> Pages and click on the Add New Pages option. Then name the page “Cart Page”. Now add the [dlm_cart] shortcode to the page. 

Finally, click on the “Publish” button to publish the page. 

After you’ve published this new page, go to Downloads -> Settings -> Shop. In the Pages tab, select your newly created page as your cart page. Click Save Changes and you’re done.

c) Create a Checkout Page 

There is one more page you need to create, and that is the checkout page. Following the same procedure, create a new page and give this page a name, e.g., Checkout Page. 

Then add this shortcode to the page:

[dlm_checkout] 

Now simply publish the page. 

Once you have published the page, go to Downloads -> Settings -> Shop. In the Pages tab, select your newly created page as your checkout page. 

Then click on the “Save Changes” button to complete the process. 

Now you’re all set to upload your digital products to your site. 

• To upload a product, go to your WordPress dashboard and click on “Shop”. Then hit the “Add New Product” to start the uploading process. 

In the next interface, insert your product name and description. There is an option named “Insert Download”, click on that option to upload your digital product.

There you will find an option to upload your digital products from your local storage. Or, you can just drop your file here to upload it. 

After uploading the product, scroll down a bit and there you’ll find options to set the product price and the download item. Also, don’t forget to upload the feature image to attract your customers. 

Once you’re done with this, simply hit the “Publish” button to publish this product. Now this product will be shown on your product page. 

Here is the preview of the product that we have just published:

That’s how you can sell your digital products to anyone around the world. 

Digital Download Website Builder- Key Takeaways 

As we said at the beginning of this blog, creating a digital download website isn’t that much of a complicated task if you can choose the right digital download website builder which is the Download Monitor plugin. 

So, what do you think? Creating a digital download website is complicated! No, right? 

All you need to do is prepare a WordPress site, install the best digital download builder – Download Monitor plugin, upload your products, and kick-start your business. 

However, if you have any further confusion related to this tutorial, feel free to share that with us using the comment box below. We would love to address your questions at our earliest convenience.

Happy digital download website building!

Download Monitor

Grow your audience, track download performance, and convert your traffic into email subscribers with an easy-to-use digital downloads solution for WordPress.

See Pricing