Advice on Shareware business

I have the intension of hosting a small website to sell shareware application. I am new to this and would like advice on the following: 1. Product Ideas; what makes a product sell, what kind of product would sell well. 2. Where to sell; I am aware of sites like [login to view URL] which are used to promote sharewares 3. Tools of the trade; recommended literature, programs etc 4. Payment processing; What’s your take on payment processing, credit Card, eSellerRate, cafepress, webmoney, SMSCoin etc 5. Securing Shareware; does this work at all? how to keep crackers at bay, securing applications, merchant solutions (Like [login to view URL] merchant) 6. Web Site; design, web host, content etc 7. Promotion; email marketing, forum posting, web promotion I just need informed advise on how to start, I cant think of everything, but the ideal person for this job would have gone through this and would know what is needed. ## Deliverables 1) Complete and fully-functional working program(s) in executable form as well as complete source code of all work done. 2) Deliverables must be in ready-to-run condition, as follows (depending on the nature of the deliverables): a) For web sites or other server-side deliverables intended to only ever exist in one place in the Buyer's environment--Deliverables must be installed by the Seller in ready-to-run condition in the Buyer's environment. b) For all others including desktop software or software the buyer intends to distribute: A software installation package that will install the software in ready-to-run condition on the platform(s) specified in this bid request. 3) All deliverables will be considered "work made for hire" under U.S. Copyright law. Buyer will receive exclusive and complete copyrights to all work purchased. (No GPL, GNU, 3rd party components, etc. unless all copyright ramifications are explained AND AGREED TO by the buyer on the site per the coder's Seller Legal Agreement). ## Platform A report in MS Word or similar