Flexibility: The Key To A Best Seller

Selling the same file tens, hundreds and even thousands of times probably makes you wonder sometimes, How is it actually being applied in real world instances? Obviously, if you are able to sell a file repeatedly, over a stretch of time, this means you did something right in your design process.

Flexibility is one of the most important aspects of any file that you will upload to FlashDen. Every time you sell a file the buyer has a different end use for it in their mind. Many of you may end up knowing how a buyer has used it by their comments, if they hire your freelance services for customization or if you happen to stumble upon it while browsing.

How Flexible Should My File Be?

That’s a good question. You obviously don’t want to place every feature you can think of because an abundance of features can sometimes lead to confusion and could possibly overwhelm your buyer. On the other hand this is not the case for everyone, as some just can’t have enough options, especially if they are prolific net-preneurs.

There is no real answer to the question as it is something that is not decided by you, but by your customer and most importantly time. Taking feedback from your past sales and implementing it into your next project will help you tone the feature set you provide with each new file you get ready for upload.

The internet being as diverse as it is, and multiplying every year, will slowly tell you what it needs. At the base of it all though lies the basic concept of flexibility in usability, or as I like to put it “functional design”. If you are able to get your file to work on a website for a dentist as well as a blogging cook specializing in organic cooking then it’s safe to say that you have succeeded.

Here’s some related reading on design and usability -

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7

Comments

Hyder

This contributor has published 71 articles so far and their bio is coming soon!


  • michelsteege says:
    March 2, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    I did found out that luck is the most important thing ;)

  • MBMedia says:
    March 2, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    I’d like to add that while flexibility is extremely important so is simplicity of use and customizing. Making 100 xml driven parameters seems like a good idea at first, but when the xml file becomes more complex than actionscript is then we’ve completely lost the idea of people buying stock to make their project’s easier. So make your projects xml driven, and make them flexible, but make sure that they are easy to understand and customize as well or you’ll spend 6 hours a day giving support and have a lot of nasty comments left behind on your item!

  • VF says:
    March 2, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    Great message and a necessary article.

    One of the best way to make a file into flexible one is supporting each and every buyer for atleast first 2-3 weeks after upload. Time consuming, yet guaranteed way for better sales.

  • VF says:
    March 2, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    MBMedia is right. We can see some of files having vast xml settings but poor sales. Maintaining the balance of simplicity-flexibility is also very important.

  • sike says:
    March 2, 2009 at 9:56 pm

    I think VF is the right guy know how to sell the same files thousands of times. We need some advice from him.
    LOL

  • - Flash Spec - says:
    March 3, 2009 at 2:02 am

    I think flexibility is a consequence of good OOP and balanced code, and should come by itself, but not by struggle. It should come from the programmer’s nature of code re-usage.

    Flexibility is an opportunity for customization, not a necessity.

    – Flash Spec -
    Balance in Every Byte

  • Clemente says:
    March 3, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    I agree with sike lol