How to Make Your Own Ringtone Site

Create a ringtone website to sell ringtones to mobile users.

Modern mobile phones, including the current generation of smart phones, use MP3 format files for ringtones. If an audio file can be saved as an MP3 file, it can be used as a ringtone. Fortunately for companies that sell ringtones, not all users know how to create their own MP3 files. This consumer demand, combined with the lack of technical skills required to complete the process, has created a business niche for selling these digital downloads.

Things You'll Need

• MP3 editing software
• Website hosting
• E-commerce software
• Payment processing

Instructions

1. Edit the audio clips and save them in MP3 format using any audio editor that supports saving files as MP3s, such as Audacity. Edit the audio clips to about 30 seconds in length. The best-sounding ringtones are ones that play in a continuous loop, so that the start and end of the file do not sound abruptly different.

2. Set up a website-hosting account. The website will need e-commerce software to run, so find a host that allows installation of additional software packages on the server. Large hosting companies, like SiteGround, offer inexpensive hosting packages of this variety.

3. Install the e-commerce software. The web host generally makes several different packages available. Choose a package that best fits the needs of your website. A key requirement of the e-commerce software you choose is that it supports digital downloads---most modern e-commerce packages do support digital content downloads. To install the e-commerce software, choose the package from the host's control panel application, select the "New Installation" option and follow the setup wizard. Installation only takes a few minutes to complete.

4. Configure the website. This step includes uploading a custom logo and selecting a design template for the site. Do these steps from the e-commerce software's administration page. Each step is a simple, wizard-driven process.

5. Create the product catalog. The products in this case are the ringtones. Using the e-commerce software's administration page, upload the ringtone file, assign a ringtone name and set the price. These steps need to be repeated for each ringtone to be made available on the website.

6. Open a payment processor account. A payment processor handles credit card payments so that customers can purchase the files before downloading. Two popular choices are PayPal and Google Checkout. Both offer free setup and full integration with most popular e-commerce software packages.

7. Test the website to make sure everything works. Go through the website like a customer would, testing each part of the purchase experience. Once verified, the website is ready for launch to the public.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure that you own the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder before making any ringtone available for sale. Creating ringtones from commercial music and then selling the ringtones is likely to result in a lawsuit.

References

• Ecommerce Guide: Open Source E-Commerce: Twelve Promising Programs
• Wired Magazine: Stop Paying for Ringtones

Resources

• Audacity Audio Editor
• SiteGround