If you sell a digital product online, you will want to take steps to prevent digital theft. Piracy is nearly impossible to stop entirely, but sometimes it’s just too easy to get at your product. Here are a few tips that will help make it harder.

1. Your thank you page: Name your thank you page with random characters. Otherwise, it may be possible to use Google to search for it and easily get your product without paying for it. Try it for yourself. Go to your site, use Google to search “thank you” or “download” for your site only. You’ll probably be surprised.

2. Restrict search bots access: Search bots look in your root domain for a file named “robots.txt”. This file tells them where they are allowed to search. If the file doesn’t exist, there will be no restriction and it will be very easy to find your product. For exact syntax, do a search on Google.

3. Encrypt your Paypal button: If you are using paypal to receive payments, you’ll want to encrypt the button. It’s an option that you can choose when creating the button. If it’s not encrypted, users will know the exact address of the download page by hovering their mouse over the button.

4. Use protection software: The best resource to protect your digital product is a software designed by Armand Morin called “Product Padlock”. Product Padlock is effective at protecting all kinds of digital product by restricting access to the file by using a combination of a code and the user’s IP address. Even if the file is shared, it will be unusable on any other IP. It also gives you the power to deactivate any refunded products. Too many people buy a product, ask for a refund and keep using the product. Protect your rights.

You worked hard creating your digital product and I strongly believe that you should get all the sales that you deserve. Don’t let thieves take that away from you. As the internet grows, piracy is becoming an ever growing problem. We must do everything in our power to stop it.