20.12.08
The April issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers.
SixLaws of Software
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Most home consumers have all the software they will ever need, and most companies out there already have all the basic technologies they need to successfully compete. What's a software developer to do? Read the Six Laws of the New Software to find out.
http://changethis.com/12.SixLawsSoftware
Top 10
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The site contains a top 10 list for users and a top 10 list for developers. It is got really great ideas and something that beginners as well as old-timers should review :-)
http://www.anova.org/software/ztopten.htm
ICE Awards - Recognizes Clients for Internet Commerce Excellence
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The awards showcase small and large companies alike - savvy companies that are putting e-commerce best practices to work in creative new ways to drive revenues and efficiencies through their online stores. If you can tell a story about a B2B or B2C e-commerce strategy or campaign that generated compelling results, you could be one of Digital River's next ICE Awards winners.
Details - http://www.digitalriver.com/corporate/ice/
Digital River Puchased SWREG
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Digital River Purchases SWREG
Under the agreement terms, Digital River acquired certain assets and assumed certain liabilities, vendor contracts and intellectual property of SWReg for $8.8 million in cash. Digital River says the agreement allows it to make additional earn-out payments of cash based on achieving specific revenue and development goals over the first 12 months following close of the acquisition.
I of course had a number of questions related to the aquisition and Brant Pallazza was kind enough to answer them.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article58.html
Alternatives to Digital River
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Every time there is a DR acquisitions developers scramble to find independent registration services. While I'm still happy with Emetrix's service it comforts me that there are still so many viable independent solutions:
Read the newsletter to find out more
Brilliant Marketing
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I usually reserve the term brilliant to marketers like Phil Schnyder of asksam, but this week I got an email from Sunil and was very impressed. It seems that everyone is getting to RSS readers these days, and the marketplace have become very crowded. In an effort to increase his distribution Sunil is releasing a customizable RSS reader that can be branded and feeds can be imbedded in the custom version. There is an incentive for webmasters to help with distribution because distributors can gain exposure imbedding their feeds in the customized version, while Sunil is increasing his distribution and market share.
See details on this custom reader - http://www.deskshare.com/awrc.aspx
Displaying RSS Feeds
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Content contained in RSS feeds can be added to websites a number of different ways. Each method for displaying the RSS feed has pros and cons associated with it. Webmasters will need to determine which option will best meet their hosting and technology needs.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article59.html
Steps to Creating and Promoting RSS Feeds
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RSS, or Really Simple Syndication as it is commonly known, is a technology that gives webmasters the ability to easily distribute and publish syndicated content on the Internet. It seems like all Internet businesses now have RSS feeds available; at least your competitors do. You have finally made the decision that you have to have one. Where do you start?
Steps to Creating an RSS feed - http://www.feedforall.com/create-promote-rss.htm
RSS Education Discount
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Ok it will come as no surprise to anyone that I've been on an RSS kick lately writing lots of articles (like those above), but most of my articles touch on small segments of RSS. Rok Hrastnik recently wrote an ebook that covers *every* aspect of RSS and then some! The book is 550 pages long! I negotiated a discount on his book for FeedForAll customers, which he said I could also offer to SMR readers. Through April 6, 2005 the ebook can be purchased at a $ 10.00 discount after that the list price will apply. http://www.marketingstudies.net/feedforall/
PAD2Froogle Tool
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PAD2Froogle takes URLs or file paths of PAD files and creates Froogle feed file. So you can easily update your Froogle store. This product is provided free of charge from ByteScout!
http://www.bytescout.com/pad2frooglescout.html
Technology Preview
EZRound
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A new tool that I love - create cool html tables with rounded corners, drop shadows and special effects. You dont have to be a technical person, a graphics guru or a website genius to succeed. Creating a design in EZRound is an amazingly simple and very visual process. All you have to do is pick the menu choices that look good to you. EZRound will do the rest! http://www.ezround.com
MetricsMate
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MetricsMate compares your last period's metrics with the current period. How did this week's sales compare with last week's? What percent of visitors viewed your web site this month compared to last month? Just enter your current and last metric. MetricsMate immediately displays the gain or loss.
http://metricsmate.com/
Kathy Salisbury's Blog - Kathy has started up a blog at
http://www.pharosgames.com/blog/
Nominate Programs for SIC
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The SIAF welcomes your submissions to the Shareware Spotlight to help the voters become aware of your programs. By listing your program, the people nominating will be able to see a list of your programs and be able take your program into consideration. Suggest your program for consideration now http://www.sic.org/submit.asp
Shareware Industry Awards Voter Registration begins on April 1st and ends on April 30th each year. IF you have registered in the past you need NOT register again unless you have NOT participated for two (2) consecutive years. Register Now - http://www.sic.org/voting.asp
Reminder
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Don't forget to visit or subscribe to the Software Marketing Blog - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html or http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog-feed.xml
Also the forum is a great place to learn and participate http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/forum or grab the forum feed at: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/forum/rss.php
New Search Engine Resource
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Web Search Engines - http://www.web-search-engines.net is a focussed directory for webmasters, marketers and promoters.
Search Engine News:
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Yahoo - Be alerted when Yahoo! launches new products for publishers. To support the publishing community, Yahoo! will be introducing new products and services-including publishing tools, advertising products and access to our Yahoo! audience. Our products will leverage the Yahoo! network to provide the most value for small publishers.
Google - Google has agreed to purchase Urchin a web analystics company.
http://www.urchin.com/company/news/03282005.html
20.12.08
Software Marketing News - May
FavIcon from Pics - Awesome Resource
Instantly create favorite icons from existing graphics with this free service.
http://www.html-kit.com/favicon
URL Trends
URL Trends is a free tool from Joel Strellner which tracks how a domain does over time. Each month it tracks Alexa ranking, Yahoo! backlinks, MSN backlinks, & Google backlinks. The tool also compares the site to Google search results and keywords in the WordTracker database to determine if the site has top Google rankings for any common terms. http://www.urltrends.com
Epic Trends
Epic Trends has started a new blog about usability.The blog will cover help authoring, user interface design, demo and tutorial authoring, usability, copywriting and multimedia. These issues are becoming increasingly important in software and web development, as the Internet audience is growing increasingly diverse.
http://www.epictrends.com/usability-technical-writing-copywriting-multimedia/index.shtml
Article(s)
Benefit to Topic Search Engines
While many marketers are scrambling for links, any links, an area that is often overlooked is topic-specific search engines. What many don't realize is that these engines do produce traffic, and they often contain traffic that is very targeted. Anyone who has taken the time to analyze weblogs and track sales sources will likely see that targeted traffic converts at a significantly higher rate than non-targeted traffic.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article60.html
Product Launch
Last fall we launched FeedForAll and having recently gone through the launch I thought I would take the opportunity to share the details of our launch with other developers and marketers.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article61.html
10 Tips for Bloggers
There are no hard and fast rules on how to blog. Having said that, bloggers will likely increase their exposure by following some simple blog guidelines.
http://www.feedforall.com/tips-for-blogs.htm
FAST
The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) was set up in 1984 by the British Computer Society's Copyright Committee. Its' first action was to raise the awareness of software piracy and to lobby Parliament for changes in the Copyright Act 1956 to reflect the needs of software authors and publishers.
FAST is unique in that it is the only association in the world that represents both software publishers and end users. All the other associations concerned with software management represent software publishers only and therefore, have an approach that is not geared to helping organizations and end users who are actually responsible for managing software.
There website includes a section for reporting illegal use of software or illegal downloads.
http://www.fast.org.uk/
SIC - What to Expect
I've received a number of private emails related to the Shareware Industry Conference, so I thought I'd take a moment to let first timer's know what to expect and how to prepare.
1. Packing - Plan on bringing an extra bad for goodies. SIC sponsors are very generous and it is a shame to leave things behind because your luggage doesn't have room.
2. Dress Code - The conference itself is very casual and most people wear slacks or jeans with t-shirts, polos, or dress shirts. Many people wear shirts with company logos to promote their brand. While the conference and sessions are casual, the SIAF banquet is anything but, with most everyone wearing suits, gowns, dress' or even tuxedos. I would recommend bringing a sweater or light jacket as in the past the conference rooms have been on the cool side.
3. Meals - Most meals are sponsored or made freely available to registered conference attendees (meaning attendees that have paid to attend the conference and sessions). Throughout the day, beverages are available. The sponsors with hospitality suites usually have an assortment of goodies and refreshments available.
4. Sessions - Throughout the day sessions are held. There are 2 sessions running at any given time and attendees can optionally choose which sessions they would like to attend. The SIAF makes an effort to make presentations available for all attendees. The speakers sit at the front of the room, facing the attendees. Each session has 1-3 panelists. The last 15 minutes of the session is typically reserved for questions.
5. Wireless Access - The hotel has wireless access, and in the past the SIAF has made a cybercafe available for attendees to use. If it is crowded attendees, are asked to use the systems for no more than 15 minutes in a single sitting.
6. Freebie Table - A "freebie" table is made available for attendees. Attendees can provide product literature, CDs or promotional items. Attendees are free to browse the table throughout the conference. Space on the table is somewhat limited and attendees are asked to be courteous to other people's items. If exposure is critical consider sponsoring. All sponsors are given the opportunity to include an item in the goodie bag that is given to each attendee.
7. Networking - Without a doubt the biggest benefit of the SIC are the networking opportunities. No need to be shy everyone is welcome. Bring business cards and take the opportunity to talk to anyone and everyone. I find it helpful to write notes on the back of the business cards that I collect to remind me what was discussed.
Search Engine News
Yahoo - Be alerted when Yahoo! launches new products for publishers. To support the publishing community, Yahoo! will be introducing new products and services-including publishing tools, advertising products and access to our Yahoo! audience. Our products will leverage the Yahoo! network to provide the most value for small publishers. If you are interested in being notified when they launch, please provide your information below.
http://publisher.yahoo.com
Beefed up small business resource center on Yahoo - http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources
Yahoo added a search function that allows surfers to search Creative Commons content. Creative Commons are copywritten works that have limited their copyrights in some way.
http://search.yahoo.com/cc
SNAP
Enter your search term and SNAP will tell you related terms and the number of times the term has been searched on. As you type the terms it brings up related terms that include that text. Very similar to Google's beta but different results, the site can be sued to find popular PPC search terms.
SNAP - http://www.snap.com
Google Suggest - http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
Google
Google has agreed to purchase Urchin a web analystics company.
http://www.urchin.com/company/news/03282005.html
Search Engine Weapons
Automatic tools created by SEOmoz for the use of the web community.
http://www.socengine.com/seo/tools.php
If you know someone who would like to subscribe please have them send a blank email to webmaster@softwaremarketingresource.com with "subscribe" as the subject line.
20.12.08
Welcome to the June issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter55.html .
Tucows
Many of you may have noticed that Tucows has a new look. The new site is more than just a new look, Tucows has added a number of sections to educate consumers and developers about relevant issues.
The redesigned site includes significantly more editorial content. They have added articles to explain how users can get the most out of their computer, the Internet and the software. Personally I think this is a great move as it will build a community on Tucows where users will return to the site. Tucows is establishing itself as a trusted informational source not just a software repository. Hats off to Tucows for its forward thinking, fresh look and new content.
http://www.tucows.com
Jupiter Media Awards Nomination Deadline Approaching
Nominate your product, services, blogs and marketing campaigns for Jupiter Marketing Excellence Awards. Nomination deadline is June 3, 2005 so be sure to nominate soon!
http://cp.jupiterweb.com/index.php/1226_default
OutSourcing
We've recently used eFocusWorks http://www.efocusworks.com for some side development projects and have been extremely pleased with their professionalism and responsiveness. If you are looking to offload some programming work, I highly recommend them!
Posters for Marketing or Fun
Kathy Salisbury just launched a very cool new service. Making full color posters from any pictures/graphics or images. Simply FTP the picture up and you will recieve the poster in a few days! The posters are economical and of excellent quality (we just had some done).
http://www.greatmindgames.com/custom-posters/
Conferences
Shareware Industry Conference
Time is running out for SIC - Register Now! The time for the annual Shareware Industry Conference is nearly at hand. The conference will be held July 14 through 16, 2005 in Denver, Colorado. There'll be infomative sessions, lots of networking, special events, and more. And of course, the highlight of the conference is the annual Shareware Industry Awards banquet. This is one industry event not to be missed.
Additional information - http://www.sic.org
European Shareware Conference
Dates for the European Shareware Conference have been annouced. The fifth annual European Shareware Conference will take place on November 5 and 6th, 2005 in Brussels Belgium.
Additional Information - http://www.euroconference.org/
ISDEF
The annual ISDEF conference will be held October 13-16, 2005 in Vinograd, Russia just outside of Moscow. Details will be forthcoming.
Additional Information - http://www.isdef.org
Free Software Company Listing
A FREE listing form for your company, as a software developer and/or publisher, to be listed in the Year 2006 Software Industry a comprehensive reference of the industry focusing on key market and contact information for software companies throughout North America, to be published in September 2005.
http://www.softwarebusinessonline.com/s-dirform.htm
Article(s)
What is Wiki?
Wikis generally allow web pages to be written, edited and created collectively in a web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and simple text. Most Wikis are open, and allow any user the ability to edit the contents of a Wiki web page. While some say this opens the concept to abuse, Wiki moderators and self-policing in the Wiki sector appear to be taking hold. Wiki supporters generally feel that it is generally easier to correct mistakes than create the content from scratch. Wikipedia is a standing symbol of what many would consider a succesful Wiki.
http://www.small-business-software.net/what-is-wiki.htm
Valuable Content Portals
Think of the time spent surfing the web gathering resources and information. By creating a topic-centric resource compiling information, webmasters are providing a service or value. In many cases that value is simply the compilation of topic-specific information in a single resource. The compilation of this information in itself is the value.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article63.html
Evolution of Google AdSense
The web has evolved into a complex "organism" which, to some, appears to have a life of its own. As the Internet has evolved, so too have online marketers and publishers. The dot-com balloon is said to have burst but savvy publishers have grabbed the coat tails of the Google search monster and employ Google AdSense on content-rich websites. Google AdSense, a pioneer for providing content-sensitive advertisements, has been a boon to webmasters looking for alternatives to amortize their web trafffic.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article62.html
Tools
BlogPulse has an interesting Trend tool. The BlogPulse Trend tool graphs the number of times words are mentioned in the blogosphere. The graph depicts trends.
Check it out - http://www.blogpulse.com/trend
Submit RSS Feeds
Submit your RSS Feeds to this categorized RSS search directory.
RSS Network, is located at http://www.rss-network.com .
Google AdSense Changes
If you're an Adsense publisher you might notice a message like the following one on your Reports page after the next time you log in.
Learn how to improve the performance of your Google ads with our new optimization tips page! To be considered for personalized optimization tips, email us at adsense-support@google.com with "Optimization Request" in the subject line.
It will be interesting to see how Google Optimization requests affect AdSense revenue.
Search Engine Weapons
Golexa - It really does not get much cooler than this website! GoLexa is a search tool with complete page analysis for each result!
http://www.golexa.com
UrlTrends - Generate trend reports. Each month monitor the search engine progress of specific urls. Urltrends generates graphs making it easy to visualize patterns.
http://www.urltrends.com
SW Regional User Group Conference
Consider sponsoring the SW Regional User Group Conference. This is an extremely cost effective opportunity to get your name and products out to User Groups. A number of options exist.
GENERAL SPONSOR - $500 receive a link from our website to theirs for 1 year receive a listing in the Proceedings Book, given to all 300 attendees receive full contact listing for all attendees attend August 6 Vendor Faire (table top demos) provide promotional material about your product or special user group pricing sheets provide door prizes for the attendees
EXHIBITION SPONSOR - $250 receive a link from our website to theirs for 1 year receive a listing in the Proceedings Book, given to all 300 attendees attend August 6 Vendor Faire (table top demos) provide promotional material about your product or special user group pricing sheets provide door prizes for the attendees
WELCOME BAG STUFFINS' & DOOR PRIZE SPONSOR - no fee ** This sponsorship level is for vendors who cannot attend the conference ** provide promotional material about your product or special user group pricing sheets for 300 attendees provide door prizes for the attendees (30 door prizes requested)
http://www.swugconf.org
Thank you!
20.12.08
Welcome to the July issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter56.html .
Awards
Voting is underway for this year's People's Choice and Outstanding Achievement in Educational Software. The voting is sponsored by the Educational Software Cooperative and is open through July 10, 2005. Vote now!
http://www.edu-soft.org/education-awards.shtm
Technology Review
Ok, most readers know that I've become casually obsessed with RSS feeds. Well I've started playing with NextUp's TextAloud http://www.nextup.com and have to say it just does not get any cooler than this! You simply paste text into TextAloud save the file as an MP3 enter the MP3 in the enclosure field of an RSS feed and you have a podcast without ever uttering a word. I have wanted a podcast for SMR for quite sometime *but* the fear of a microphone has held me back. I'm happy to now announce that the articles in the Marketing Directory http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/marketing-article-directory.html will now be available via a podcast, courtesy of "Kate" and "Paul" (my TextAloud voices). Now software developers can work (listening to articles) while jogging, and away from their computers. :-)
This stuff is really very cool. I would welcome feedback from readers (or listeners) and if they like the idea I will consider making the SMR newsletter into a podcast.
If you wish to subscribe to the article feed as a podcast use the following url - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/smr-podcast.xml
Article(s)
Before I delve into the article, I want to address a specific issue related to copying. While the first article deals with clear copyright violations, there is also a rabid problem in the software industry related to the cloning of software applications. I have more ideas than I can keep up with, I don't know why the behavior of cloning applications is condoned, nor do I understand why some developers can't be innovative. Cloning may not be illegal, but it is certainly not ethical.
Competition is Good, Copying is Bad
I've always been of the opinion that competition is a good thing. It encourages all of us to be better and make better products. While it might be true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, copying someone else's work is simply wrong.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article65.html
When Something is Free Online
Companies or individuals may promote a free offer or service for any number of reasons. From branding to ad revenue, companies often use "free" to attract attention or interest. As a consumer, it is important to realize what "free" might really mean.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article64.html
Submit Podcasts Feeds
Submit your Podcast Feeds to this categorized Podcast directory.
Podcasting Station is located at http://www.podcasting-station.com
Submit Security related RSS feeds and blogs to Security Protection http://www.security-protection.net
Conferences
Shareware Industry Conference
Time is running out for SIC - Register Now! The time for the annual Shareware Industry Conference is nearly at hand. The conference will be held July 14 through 16, 2005 in Denver, Colorado. There'll be infomative sessions, lots of networking, special events, and more. And of course, the highlight of the conference is the annual Shareware Industry Awards banquet. This is one industry event not to be missed.
Additional information - http://www.sic.org
European Shareware Conference
The 5th annual European ShareWare Conference Opening doors across Cyberspace will take place on the 5th and 6th of November 2005 in Brussels, Belgium .
http://www.euroconference.org/
5th Annual Game Developers Conference Europe
The European Game Developers Conference will take place in Europe 30 August-1 September 2005 Café Royal, London, UK. Scholarships are available for eligible students.
Additional Details - http://www.gdceurope.com/
Casual Games Conference
Insights to the business opportunities and design considerations required for Developers, Publishers and Distributors to succeed in this rapidly-expanding game industry segment. Sponsored in part by MSN Games. July 19-20, 2005 - Seattle, Washington http://www.CasualGamesConference.com
SLAM 2005:
Sales, Licensing, Alliances & Marketing for Software Companies In Vancouver on August 17-18, join leading software sales and marketing executives and consultants for two days of performance-driven sessions at SLAM 2005: Sales, Licensing, Alliances & Marketing for Software Companies. There is no other event focused on driving sales and profitability like SLAM 2005. Register by July 12 and save $400. Click here to download the pdf and see the program which features software executives and leading consultants.
http://www.softwarebusinessonline.com/slam_conf2005_index.htm
Software Business 2005
Software Business 2005 has been the premier software industry event for the past four years. C-level executives from top software companies and the hottest startups will come together in Tampa on November 1-2. Over 40 sessions with tracks in Finance, Sales & Marketing, Executive Strategy and Operations will give executives and managers the blueprint to run software companies successfully. Register by June 17 to save $300. Click here to download the preliminary conference brochure. Save $300 if you register by June 17th at a discounted rate of only $695! **Save even more with Team Discounts! http://www.softwarebusinessonline.com/sb_conf2005_registration.htm
Search Engines
Google Earth - The $299 service formerly known as Keyhole has been relaunched by new owner Google, and it is even more impressive-and free. Google Earth offers a powerful yet extremely easy-to-use digital globe that makes it a cinch to find a wide variety of geographical data for travel, business, or educational purposes.
http://earth.google.com/
Yahoo's AdSense Competitor - Yahoo has begun testing a program to show text listings on Web pages based on user behavior. In a pilot program with Revenue Science, a Bellevue, Wash., behavioral-targeting company, Yahoo's cost-per-click text ads are shown on Web pages using data collected by Revenue Science.
Yahoo Mindset - A Yahoo! Research Labs demo that applies a new twist on search that uses machine learning technology to give you a choice: View Yahoo! Search results sorted according to whether they are more commercial or more informational. http://mindset.research.yahoo.com/
Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome suggestions and feedback on our articles and information
20.12.08
An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter58.html .
This issue is slightly shorter than normal and will be followed by the special SIC Issue next week. If for some reason you do not wish to receive the extra conference issue please just drop me an email.
A New Group for Independent Software Professionals
In June, a new group was launched for people in software and shareware: the Association of Independent Software Industry Professionals, or AISIP. AISIP is open to anyone in the independent software industry, from newbies to old hands, from authors to vendors. It is a calm place where people can gather, learn, and share information about the independent software industry
Members also receive discounts of 15% - 100% on various software products, can use a nice "AISIP" logo to put on their website, and have the opportunity to interact with other independent software industry professionals from across the globe. The best part of AISIP are the private newsgroups and web forums where members can ask questions, get answers, share information, and find out what others are doing in the independent software industry. The attitude in the newsgroups/forums is consistently positive and professional. The newsgroups are private and password-protected, and they are fiercely (but politely) post-moderated to keep them clean and on-track. There are no anonymous posts, either.
These newsgroups are like a breath of fresh air. The cost to join AISIP is only $24/year (that works out to just $2/month!). If you don't get your money's worth in the first month, you can ask for a full refund and it will be given within a day. But it is unlikely you will need a refund - this is a worthwhile new group, and the newsgroups/web forums are an ongoing source of valuable, timely information for the independent software industry professional. Join now - http://www.aisip.com
Google & RSS
Robin Good, who is pretty web savvy dished out some advice about Google's new feature that makes it possible to add RSS feeds to a personalized Google home page. While Google got slammed from other industry professionals for being slow to implement RSS Robin points out that Google's implementation makes it possible for them to capture, index and track each of those RSS feeds. So essentially in one shot Google opens up officially to full RSS adoption and use, launches an online RSS aggregator that is easy and functional to use and opens up the door for RSS feed submissions directly to its indexes.
The bottom line submit *your* feeds to the personalized Google page. It *could* be a back door into Google.
Google Banning Directories?
There have been rumors on the Webmaster World Board that Google is revising the way that it treats topic specific directories. Personally, I don't think this is a good idea, the niche portals are valuable and contain related information in an easy to navigate location. Does these mean SMR will be banned or directories like: Digital Photo Tips http://www.digital-photo-tips.com/ or http://www.web-search-engines.net will be banned?
Technology Preview
FeedForDev
Consider signing up to beta FeedForDev, a new tool for Software developers that allow authors to actively communicate with their users, from within their software, using RSS! A beta release is imminent sign-up to receive notification.
http://www.feedfordev.com
Technology Review
I have been playing with lots of tools from partners lately and will be reporting more about them each month.
ClipMate
I've known Chris Thornton (Thornsoft Development) for years, but have only recently downloaded ClipMate. Chris is one of those guys who always provides spot-on advice in the industry forums, so I expected ClipMate to be a robust application, but it out-performed even my high expectations. The first tests were to port content from one feed to another. For some reason the standard windows clipboard gets gummed up when I try to do this. In any event, every day I find more uses for ClipMate including macro email or forum responses and signatures. The bottom line is, if you ever use the Windows clipboard, get ClipMate, it will save you time and increase your productivity.
http://www.clipmate.com
Article(s)
Short Term vs Long Term Marketing Efforts
In order to create consistent sales cycles and a positive growth trend, businesses usually engage in both short and long term marketing efforts.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article67.html
11 Clients You Need to Fire
I stumbled across this article, and thought that a bit of it rang true. There is something called quality of life ;-) In any event I don't know the author but he apparently knew some of our old customers.
http://www.christopherhawkins.com/06-13-2005.htm
Tips
Optimizing for Search Engine
114 tips for webmasters looking to increase organic search rank. The site isn't terribly attractive but the advice and tips is generally spot on http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm
Map Comparison
This site has a very cool comparison of Virtual Earth to Google Maps
http://www.jonasson.org/maps/
Awards
SoftSummit 2005 marks the debut of the annual Summit Awards honoring leaders that are setting new standards in maximizing the lifetime value of their software by implementing high level, customer-centric software value management strategies in software pricing, purchasing and management.
http://www.softsummit.com/awards/entry/index.html
Entrepreneur of the Year
Could you be the next Inc. Entrepreneur of the Year? Inc. magazine is looking for its next Entrepreneur of the Year. Do you or an entrepreneur you know, have what it takes to be Inc.'s next honoree?
http://www.inc.com/entrepreneur/
http://www.inc.com/entrepreneur/instructions.html
CopyScape
Copyscape has moved to amortize their technology. Copysentry is the professional version of the free Copyscape service, which provides a one-time search for copies of your web page. Copyscape is a great tool for quickly checking if your site has been copied. The new Copysentry alerting service protects you by monitoring the Internet for plagiarized copies of your online content. Copysentry searches the web regularly for copies of the text on your pages and informs you by email as soon as they appear. Copysentry's powerful technology even locates copies that contain only part of your page, as well as copies that have been modified from their original form.
More information on CopyScape and CopySentry http://www.copyscape.com
Conferences
European Shareware Conference
The 5th annual European ShareWare Conference Opening doors across Cyberspace will take place on the 5th and 6th of November 2005 in Brussels, Belgium .
http://www.euroconference.org/
SWRUS-Kiev 2005 Conference
Kiev developers are planning some great events in a conference adjacent to ISDEF. The planning appears to be "set" for westerners, you need only to show up.
http://swrus-kiev.com/
ISDEF
Registration for ISDEF's fourth international conference, ISDEF 2005, is now open. Software company development will be one of the central themes of this year's conference. The Independent Software Developers Forum (ISDEF) announces the start of registration for participants in the fourth international conference ISDEF 2005, which will take place at the Holiday Inn Hotel just outside Moscow (on Vinagradovo Prospect, 4 km from the Moscow Ring Road along the Dmitrovsky highway) from October 13 to October 16, 2005. The ISDEF international conference is a significant event not only for the Russian market, but for the international IT market as well.
Every year the ISDEF conference is attracting more and more visitors from throughout the world. Nearly 500 people attended last year's ISDEF 2004; their numbers included not only developers and software manufacturers, but also journalists, major software distributors and publishers, representatives of investment and legal firms, and government organizations and financing bodies.
http://www.isdef.org
Austin Game Developer's Conference
The third annual Austin Game Conference is a two-day event will be held October 27-28, 2005 in Austin Texas. The Austin Game Conference, is the definitive conference for networked game development, including massively multiplayer online games, mobile and wireless games and devices, and online PC and console games.
http://www.gameconference.com/
SoftSummit
Over 700 executives from leading software publishers and purchasing companies, as well as key industry press and analysts, are expected to gather at SoftSummit 2005 to discuss key trends and best practices in software pricing, purchasing and licensing. The conference will be held
October 10-11, 2005 Westin Hotel, Santa Clara, CA
http://www.softsummit.com/
Software Business 2005
Software Business 2005 has been the premier software industry event for the past four years. C-level executives from top software companies and the hottest startups will come together in Tampa on November 1-2. http://www.softwarebusinessonline.com/sb_conf2005_registration.htm
Search Engines
Google
Click Defense(CD), a Colorado based Click Fraud Tool seller has sued Google for click fraud loss amounting to $5 million!
Google AdWords has gone through some significant changes. Login to your account to see how these new changes have effected your ranking.
Google did provide the following ad optimization tips: https://adwords.google.com/select/tips.html?hl=en
Kanoodle Kanoodle is implementing bid management. You can set your max bid for each listing individually, or you may set one overall max bid that will apply to all your listings. As circumstances change - perhaps a new advertiser enters the mix, or a competitor lowers a bid - Kanoodle will automatically adjust your bid in real time, raising or lowering it by one penny at a time.
Ask Rumors are out that Ask is implementing a pay for traffic scheme. Stay tuned!
Holidays?
Thinking about Christmas? Holidays Sales? Promotion and ad planning for the holidays? You should be!
Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome any suggestions and feedback on our articles and information
20.12.08
Welcome to the the special Shareware Industry Conference issue of Software Marketing News. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter57.html .
SIC OVERVIEW - WEDNESDAY
Upon arriving at the conference, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that nearly all of the conference preparation was completed. Mike Callahan (aka Dr. File Finder http://www.drff.com ), who was hosting the conference, had things firmly under control.
Registration began mid-afternoon, and I had the opportunity to put a face to the online persona of people like Loren Brewer of Wingenuity http://www.wingenuity.com who was surprisingly young, and contrasted my imaginary vision of him.
The opening reception hosted by the SIAF was on the 12th floor of the Hyatt. The Rockies could be seen cutting into the sky in the distance. The jet lagged faces of Dave Collins from Shareware Promotions http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and the girls from SoftKey http://www.softkey.com who travelled for nearly 24 hours, started the conference. Assuring each other that one nights sleep is all it would take to adjust to the air, climate and time zone made for easy conversation.
SIC OVERVIEW - THURSDAY
I sat on one of the very first panels Blogs and RSS with Dana Van Leuvan from Pheedo http://www.pheedo.com and Sunil M from DeskShare. There was standing room only and the session appeared to be well received.
This panel was followed by a session presented by Dave Mahon from the CyberCrime Unit of the FBI. The Cyber Crime presentation was not specific to shareware, but never the less I found it quite interesting.
Once again Digital River was gracious enough to host Thursday evening's reception. I have to say, when Digital River does something, they do it "big". In the center of the ballroom was a mechanical bull. Attendees were invited to sign their life away and go for a ride! The reception was extremely well received and while only 30 or so brave souls ventured onto the back of the bucking brute, all others were satisfactorily entertained. Judges with white boards scored their riders on skill and attire. Some of the more adventurous souls donned themed outfits, hoping to win the hearts and minds of the judging panel. I have to say it appeared that the panel was particularly enamored with the color pink.
SIC OVERVIEW - FRIDAY
Friday morning gave way to bleary eyed attendees eager for more. I was on a session with Phil Schndyer (AKA Mel Gibson). Phil was juggling hats as the new product acquisition manager from Avanquest http://www.avanquest.com and head of askSam http://www.asksam.com . Not one to disappoint, like in years passed Phil was able to consistently entertain and shine as a panelist. Sadly, I found that sharing the spotlight with Phil is not what is cracked up to be, because he is just too damn funny and invariably steals the show.
Throughout the conference hospitality suites were open, allowing attendees to interact on a personal level with vendors.
The hosted hospitality suites included:
TUCOWS - http://www.tucows.com - Tucows presented a very different and refreshing image than in years past. Greg Weir and Bob Gibson have listened to authors, and recruited Mike Callahan to assist with content development. It seems they really have their act together and want to be an industry force.
CNET- http://www.download.com - Still the traffic king, CNet introduced a new look to their website. An area that scored points with me, is an idea borrowed from Amazon, where items are presented to the surfer based on past habits. It is all about targeting! CNet also brought trophies to give to the products that have earned a significant number of downloads over the years.
eSellerate - http://www.esellerate.net - Though they've grown into a decent size company, I always feel that eSellerate listens to what authors have to say. In particular Mike Burda and Denise are open to ideas and suggestions. We discussed a doozie of an idea this year, and if implemented, eSellerate could, in my opinion, conquer a lot of ground. Stay tuned!
Digital River - http://www.digitalriver.com Digital River implemented a number of items that were of concern to affiliate publishers last year including improved tracking and they have served up some interesting and new items.
Avanquest - http://www.avanquest.com Avanquest hosted a suite and announced their acquisition of Blitzbox.de. The suite was used for one on one meetings with attendees interested in expanding their European distribution opportunities.
Massages by Dr File Finder - http://www.drff.com Mike Callahan's daughter Kadee and a college friend provided massages free of charge to travel weary attendees, the rooms atmosphere and candlelight soothed souls and was *really* well received.
Unfortunately not all of the attendees were aware of the hospitality suites located on the first floor. As a result, we whipped up a small natural disaster, a Tornado. The warnings caused attendees to quickly vacate the session rooms and congregate in the alcove on the first level adjacent to the hospitality suites. For us "Easterners" who are accustomed to blizzards and occasional hurricanes, the tornado alert was quite disconcerting. The hotel staff instructed hotel patrons to go into their bathrooms and hide under the sinks or congregate in the "approved" areas. Not exactly relaxing...
Friday night was exhibit night where vendors show off their stuff to attendees. Massive food displays with cook to order pasta dishes and heaps of finger food greeted attendees. Beer was provided free of charge courtesy of HC Topp Systems http://www.topsystems.com .
Attendees collected stamps in their "prospector's logs " from each of the exhibit booths. A completed log meant you would be entered into a drawing for Microsoft Media Center courtesy of Microsoft.
Exhibit night was followed by a hosted desert reception. The quiet atmosphere allowed developers to network and talk while enjoying some delectable treats.
SIC OVERVIEW - SATURDAY
The late nights and early mornings were beginning to show on the faces of some attendees by Saturday morning. Saturday's session continued, but by now it was clear that Phil Schnyder from askSam http://www.asksam.com was hands down the most entertaining speaker, full of funny anecdotes and helpful hints.
I spoke on a session with Michael Halls. Michael is my left brain hero. I've never met anyone quite like him, his presentations was designed specifically for introverts. Believe it or not there are a few introverts in the industry who struggle with the social aspects of networking and the panel was a great mix of tracking sales, increasing conversion and discussions on where to spend money.
The afternoon gave way to the gala event, the Shareware Industry Awards Banquet. All I can say is ....what a night.
The awards banquet was a terrific combination of humor and wit.
Entertainment was provided by Brian Kellum who specializes in physical humor, with imitations of blind dates, football players and poking fun at various audience members.
Phil Schnyder was in the role of MC. Phil's gregarious nature and self-defacing humor kept the audience laughing during the awards ceremony.
The awards recognize the well deserving best of the best. The awards ceremony itself was quite a surprise with both users and developers recognizing some large industry names, Microsoft received both the People's Choice Best Business Application or Utility Award and Shareware Industry Award for the Best Sound Program or Utility and Google won the Shareware Industry Award for the Best Program for PDA's.
While the industry acknowledgment was a bit of a surprise, the awards truly show that shareware is a viable marketing method used by both small and large developers.
What a great end to a terrific conference. I'll add a mention about Jack Hart ECD Systems http://www.ecdsystems.com who encountered my children at the conference. According to them he was particularly kind. I don't know who you are but the kindness you extended was appreciated and definitely in the spirit of the industry.
This years conference was especially nice in that I was able to meet developers whose names I had seen in the past, though I have never met them in person. This list included David Raimondo of Acoustica http://www.acoustica.com , Alistair from Rampellsoft http://www.rampellsoft.com and Bill Adler of Cyberscrub http://www.cyberscrub.com .
Next year's Shareware Industry Conference will be held in Denver, Colorado and I hope to see everyone there!
Danny's Overview - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article66.html
SIC PHOTO COLLECTIONS
Shareware Industry Conference Photos will be expanded as time allows so check back in a few weeks -
SIC Photos
http://www.sic.org/05photos/sic2005.htm
Tucows
http://download.tucows.com/sic/
Becky Lash / Epic Trends
http://www.epictrends.com/sic-2005/
Dave Collins
http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/conferences/sic/2005/index.htm
ShareIt
http://www.shareit.com/impressions.html?page_id=sic05&sessionid=254132351&random=d50e8e91398a7a6e21ad4c18ba50b3c9
TOP 10 THINGS I LEARNED AT SIC
1.) Noone has figured out the affiliate thing yet, but the registration services are listening and really trying.
2.) Text links with 6-10 words have a higher click through.
3.) User Interface is absolutely critical to software design.
4.) Developers are finally starting to figure out the value of upselling, cross selling and partnering!
5.) Product families are taking hold and becoming more popular with developers.
6.) RSS is still a fledgling technology in the "techie" crowd.
7.) Vendors have been listening to feedback and many of the service changes were as a result of feedback from smaller developers. Talk to your vendors!
8.) A few years ago newsletters were the hot item, this year it was blogs. The bottom line is strengthening communication with users is critical.
9.) Tracking is still a struggle.
10.) All software developers do not think that they are geeks. ;-)
SIC WINNERS
SIAF 2005 Winners - http://www.sic.org/2005nominees.asp
SIAF People's Choice Winners - http://www.sic.org/peopleschoice.asp
SIAF HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
The Shareware Hall of Fame has been instituted to honor those persons, companies, and products that have had a profound effect on the shareware industry. In order to be eligible, one must meet the minimum requirement of having been in the industry for at least five (5) years. Everyone who participates in shareware marketing owes these pioneers a debt of gratitude.
Shareware Hall of Fame 2005 Inductee:
Patrick Hochner - Patrick Hochner created P. & A. Inc, along with his wife, Akiko, in May of 1984. At that time it was strictly a translation company, but in 1991 Patrick entered the world of software distribution. He used his contacts, experience, and knowledge of software to present high-quality programs to Japanese computer users. And, while providing good programs, he also provided good Japanese instruction with each and every product he sold. In 1992 his company was the first ASP approved shareware vendor in Japan and he distributed some of the most popular products including games such as Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, and more. Patrick has gone on to distribute a wide range of games, applications, and utilities taking care of the translation and localization in Japanese. Patrick has worked hard to promote shareware not only in Japan, but around the world as well. As a member of the shareware community, Patrick has become known for his honesty and integrity. In his dealings with shareware authors around the world, he always puts principle before profit. In view of his contributions to shareware and the shareware community, the SIAF board of directors is proud to induct Patrick Hochner into the Shareware Hall of Fame!
SIC 2006
The 2006 Shareware Industry Conference will be held July 13-15, 2006 at the Hyatt Tech Center in Denver, Colorado.
ANNOUNCEMENTS AT SIC
Shareware Promotions - Dave Collins announced that he attained certification as a Google Adwords Experts and is now a Google Advertising Professional. In the Google world this is akin to being a Grandmaster in Chess. With a little research I uncovered how incredibly difficult it is to obtain this certification. Congrats Dave! If you require SEO help contact Dave at http://www.sharewarepromotions.com
Tucows - Tucows has launched improved download libraries and capabilities. Full statistical reporting is now available for just $ 10.00 per month! The website and ARC are newly designed with a user interface that helps developers determine the best keywords for cost per click campaigns.
http://www.tucows.com
Download.com - Download.com has launched a completely new look for CNET Download.com. The new design creates a more cohesive look and feel that will provide more exposure to all of the great content available at CNET Download.com. The new design provides better, consistent navigation for all the categories of software, music and games. On a technical level, it takes advantage of many of the latest advances in CSS and XHTML.
http://www.download.com
Digital River - Digital River had a number of announcements. They have rebranded their affiliate program to attract Super Affiliates. The new network will be named oneNetwork and they are implementing an affiliate rewards program. They have added "PowerRankings" to affiliates to rank the more succesful products.
DR has introduced a new pricing scheme for RegNow but there is some fine print associated with the new offer so read carefully. The new rate is 6.9% and $1.00 for each *item* sold. In order to obtain the rate authors must participate in the REgNow CD200 program and their is a $2.00 minimum on any orders.
DR stressed that in order for developers to take full advantage of these opportunities they must be promotion ready and supply creative art work for affiliates and potential partners to use.
Software Ads Now is also quite an interesting opportunity for both developers and publishers. I haven't yet played with it, details are at http://www.softwareadsnow.com
CubicleSoft - CubicleSoft announced their new sharewrap system that enables developers to integrate product activation into their software.
http://www.cubiclesoft.com/ShareWrap/
Avanquest / Blitzbox.de - Avanquest acquired Blitzbox.de to enhance their software distribution network.
http://www.avanquest.com
AISIP - Sue Pichotta announced a new organization for software developers. Details at http://www.aisip.org
Shareware Junction Blog - Mike announced a new shareware blog at: http://blog.sharewarejunction.com/.-
Rudenko Software - Launched SubmitEverywhere a submission service to all sites regardless of the number of referrals.
http://www.submit-everywhere.com
Blog Posts Related to the Conference
Mike / Shareware Junction
http://sharewarejunction.blogspot.com/2005/07/sic-was-blast.html
Greg Seelhoff (GameCraft)
http://blog.gamecraft.org/2005/07/shareware-industry-conference.html
http://blog.gamecraft.org/2005/07/sic-2005-day-one.html http://blog.gamecraft.org/2005/07/sic-2005-day-two.html
Shareware Beach
http://www.shareware-beach.com/2005/07/sic-2005/
Tom Warfield
http://www.asharewarelife.com/2005/07/pretty-good-solitaire-wins-peoples.html
Beck Lash / Epic Trends -
http://www.epictrends.com//usability-technical-writing-copywriting-multimedia/200507.shtml#0715a
http://sharewareblogs.com/node/216
QumaSoft
http://www.qumasoft.com/weblog/archives/07-01-2005_07-31-2005.html#72
Mike Callahan
http://editorial.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2005/7/20/1056917.html
Michael Lehman
http://radio.weblogs.com/0141212/
Dan Fernandez
http://blogs.msdn.com/danielfe/archive/2005/07/14/438988.aspx
ESC
http://educationalsoftware.blogspot.com/
Renegade Minds
http://renegademinds.com/Default.aspx?tabid=60&mid=415&ctl=ViewEntry&EntryID=20
.NET Undocumented
http://wesnerm.blogs.com/net_undocumented/2005/08/ecommerce_provi.html
Apptastic
http://apptastic.net/blog/2005/07/sic-2005-recap.html
THANK YOUs
In closing I would like to personally extend a thanks to Mike Callahan, his wife Carole, daughter Kadee, and Maelena for all the effort and hard work they put into the conference. As a founder of the SIAF board, Mike is the chairman and noone works harder or is more committed to the conference. Thank you Mike.
And finally a big thank you to all of the sponsors at http://www.sic.org who made the event possible.
20.12.08
Welcome to the September issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed
at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter59.html
.
Day of Giving
The past few years we have donated all sales that occur on September 11, to a non-profit charity. Each year we select a different organization. I realize that this newsletter's reach is global, but nearly all of us live in regions that have been touched by tragedies of some kind, whether natural or terrorist in nature. The sadness
has touched the world on a global level. If you are one of the lucky ones, who are fortunate enough to have only heard of the tragedies from a distance, consider finding a way to give back. If donating money is not an option consider volunteering your time or donating goods. With Tsunami's, Hurricane's and Terrorism you don't generally have to look far to find people in need. It doesn't matter what day you choose, whether you donate blood, funds, time or goods you will be a richer person for having assisted those in need.
More - http://www.onedayspay.org/index.php
Katrina
On a related note, if there were any shareware/software developers impacted by Katrina that require assistance whether it be infrastructure, support or something else. Please contact me and I will make our resources available to help.
Nick's Ideas
Nick Bradbury has what I would consider the golden touch, it is not just pure luck that he has developed software that has been acquired by public companies. HomeSite, TopStyle and FeedDemon were all one of kinds entering their respective markets, they were defined early on as market leaders.
So when Nick says something matters, I take notice. :-) Nick recently joined the board of Directors for AttentionTrust.org. Unfortunately,. what this means I'm not sure, but based on Nick's past moves all of us should pay attention to AttentionTrust as it is likely to take flight at some time. Best I can tell is that AttentionTrust.org was established to give users control over their personal information. Nick has been quite busy with BradSoft's acquisition but in the next few months I intend to talk with him more about Attention Data and write an article to better explain the motivation and goals of the organization for now additional information can be found at:
http://www.attentiontrust.org/research
Technology Review
FeedForDev
FeedForDev is a a new tool for software developers. Communicate with users by integrating RSS feeds directly into applications. Beta testers will receive a discount coupon for registered versions! Check out FeedForDev.
http://www.feedfordev.com
Article(s)
The Copyright Debate -
RSS is commonly defined as really simple syndication. So, this means that any material contained in a feed is available for syndication, right?
http://www.feedforall.com/rss-copyright-debate.htm
Tell the World About Your Blog
Well, you've joined the others and have created a blog. It is time to tell the world about your online journal.
http://www.rss-specifications.com/promote-your-blog.htm
Ego Searches
Ego searches are free and simple searches designed to monitor blogs and news portals for mentions of your company, product, competitors or other specific keywords.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article68.html
Shareware Promotions New Services
Shareware Promotions is providing a new service for Google Adwords Management. They start by identifying the aims of your Adwords campaigns, and from there they handle the keywords, match options, bids, budgets, ads and tracking.
Additional details - http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/google-adwords.html
Shareware Promotions has also revamped many of their other packages to making it easier to understand the various services that they can provide.
http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/overview.html
And as many of your read last month Dave Collins is now a certified Google professional - http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/gap.html
Shareware Justice
Shareware Justice is a service that helps track and prosecute piracy in America, Asia and Europe. According to their website they have collected settlements ranging from $750-4500.00 per instance of infringement. The best part they say, you only pay them if you get paid! http://www.sharewarejustice.com/
BlogPulse
BlogPulse automatically discovers trends by harnessing the explosive growth of blogs. The new BlogPulse Profile rank's and graphs trends, as determined by blog mentions over time. Keep your finger on what the blog-o-sphere is saying about products and services by following BlogPulse profiles.
http://www.blogpulse.com
SharewareWiki
Henk Devos has started a Shareware Wiki. Unfortunately it is not an open wiki and it requires registration to participate and navigate the site.
http://www.sharewarewiki.com
AISIP Book club
The Association of Independent Software Industry Professionals (AISIP) will launch a new online book club on September 1st, 2005. The AISIP book club will enable software industry professionals to discuss books related to Internet marketing and business. A different book will be featured each month. The first book to be read and discussed will be "Search Engine Optimization for Dummies" by Peter Kent. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a hot topic for website owners.
http://www.aisip.org
Search Engines
Yahoo Spider
Enter the full URL, of the site you would like to submit. Enter only the top-level page of your site, and the Yahoo crawler will explore the rest of your site from there. Yahoo will automatically detect and remove dead links on an ongoing basis.
http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
Google Fight
Enter two search terms and watch the stick figures duke it out. The winner has a larger number of occurrences in the Google directory.
http://www.googlefight.com
Blog and Podcasting Comparison Charts
Which RSS / Podcasting search sites are the best?
Podcasting Directory Comparison - http://www.podcasting-tools.com/podcasting-directory-comparison.htm
RSS Directory Comparison - http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-directory-comparison.htm
Holidays?
Thinking about Christmas? Holidays Sales? Promotion and ad planning for the holidays? You should be!
Conferences
European Shareware Conference
The 5th annual European ShareWare Conference Opening doors across Cyberspace will take place on the 5th and 6th of November 2005 in Brussels, Belgium . Sign-up Now!
http://www.euroconference.org/
SWRUS-Kiev 2005 Conference
Kiev developers are planning some great events in a conference adjacent to ISDEF. The planning appears to be underway; for westerners, you need only to show up.
http://swrus-kiev.com/
ISDEF
Registration for ISDEF's fourth international conference, ISDEF 2005, is now open. ISDEF will be held from October 13 to October 16, 2005, in Moscow, Russia
http://www.isdef.org
Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome any suggestions and feedback on our articles and information
Thank you for your continued interest in SMR.
Usugi zwizane z szeroko rozumian reklam w internecie pozycjonowanie Krakw , tworzenie stron www, tworzenie sklepw, indentyfikacja wizualna.
20.12.08
I'm sure everyone is wondering where the October issue of Software Marketing News is... well I have good news and bad news. With the growth of the FeedForAll product line and stability and size of the NotePage product line, I've been really overwhelmed lately.
The good news is we've hired additional staff (which I'm training right now) to help manage the growth. The bad news is there won't be an issue of Software Marketing News for the month of October as I've been just too busy. On a side note the site will be under-going a major change, we've been working with MalStream on a site redesign and are very excited to unveil our new look and layout. We are also updating much of the content contained on the SMR site so stay tuned!
20.12.08
Welcome to the November issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter60.html .
Unconfirmed Industry News
According to the press release at:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051101/phtu029a.html?.v=1 . Mike Callahan has been hired by Rose City Software as VP of Software Marketing and will be head up acquisition of new software titles. I have an email into Mike Callahan to confirm this, but I have not actually spoken with him.
Windows Marketplace
Microsoft has partnered with eSellerate and Digital River to list software solutions in the Windows Marketplace. Software developers should contact either eSellerate or Digital River to determine how they can take advantage of Microsoft's traffic.
Sad News
It is with sadness that I write about the death of an industry colleague. Lance Rose, a pioneer attorney in the computer and Internet law fields, has passed away. During his time in private practice, Lance wrote for major publications such as Wired Magazine, Silicon Alley Reporter, and ComputerWorld, and for books such as Internet Unleashed and Electronic Publishing Unleashed; lectured at forums around the country, including the Library of Congress, Copyright Society of the USA and the Internet Society; founded and chaired the first major online law conference series in the world, "Legal and Business Aspects of the Internet", sponsored by the National Law Journal; and advised and represented many software developers, electronic publishers, and other technology related companies. Many developers know Lance from his sessions at the Shareware Industry Conference each year.
Shareware Radio
Mike Dulin and SharewareRadio.com brings you a weekly broadcast of views and news about the Shareware software industry. Former guests include Brant Palazza from Digital River, Dmitry Kurashev of Famatech at famatech.com. Alexandre Kolosovski an attorney with International Legal Counsels PLLC in Paris who specializes in IT law and Phil Schnyder from askSam Systems.
http://www.sharewareradio.com
SPLOGS
What is a splog? It is SPAM + blog. Splogs are generally created from scraping content and are usually non-sensical and designed for SEO and adsense revenue.
The new splog sites have significantly diluted the value of blogs and many of the blog search engines. As a result bloggers and marketers are attempting to combat splogging, and a new site Fight Splog has popped up. The Fight Splog contains a page that allows users to report Splog etc...
http://www.fightsplog.com/take-action.php
New Technology
Simon Carter from DataMystic (formerly Crystal Software) has launched a very interesting new application. The application Web Copyrighter embeds hidden information into any web pages, blogs, rss feeds or XML files, showing the rightful owner of any published work.
http://www.datamystic.com/webcopyrighter.html
Article(s)
What is Creative Commons?
A Creative Commons license allows creators to place conditions on their copyrights. Traditionally, copyrights restrict the rights of others from modifying or distributing copywritten works. Creative Commons licenses offer flexibility by allowing the creator (copyright holder) the ability to choose what limitations they want in place with respect to specific copywritten works.
http://www.feedforall.com/creative-commons.htm
Repackaging and Republishing Content
We are taught to recycle paper, cans, bottles and plastic but marketers rarely discuss the value of repackaging and repurposing content. Publishers and marketers alike have embraced content syndication and RSS but few have considered the value beyond the actual syndication. Consider an alternative communication channel that reaches a new or different audience.
http://www.feedforall.com/text-to-podcast.htm
Short Term vs Long Term Marketing
In order to create consistent sales cycles and a positive growth trend businesses usually engage in both short and long term marketing efforts.
http://www.small-business-software.net/shorterm-vs-longterm.htm
Online Tools
This tool is to check your backlinks and the anchor text used in those backlinks. Finds unique backlinks and the anchor text.
http://www.helpfulinformation.org/seo-tools/anchortext.pl
Tucows and Shareware Spotlight
Free high-traffic exposure for one week on the Tucows network. In order to get the listing all you have to do is write about your program, tell potential users what it does, how it works and why they should try it. Contact Mike Callahan for details.
Sample Sportlights -
http://editorial.tucows.com/blog/SharewareSpotlight
Jagger / Google and Reinclusion
With the Jagger update many webmasters and content publishers are despondent over their Google traffic. If you find yourself banned from Google follow these directions for a reinclusion:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/reinclusion-request-howto
Conferences
European Shareware Conference
The 5th annual European ShareWare Conference Opening doors across Cyberspace will take place on the 5th and 6th of November 2005 in Brussels, Belgium . It is not too late to sign up. Digital River is hosting an event Friday afternoon that will include a tour of Brussels, ACT will be hosting Saturday evening's beer tasting, and Sunday will be a taste of Brusselian Music Gourmets.
http://www.euroconference.org/
We have lots planned for the SMR site, while its taking longer than we initially anticipated, I think our new look and some of the launch items will be of particular interest to software developers, so please stay tuned!
Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome any suggestions and feedback on our articles and information
20.12.08
Welcome to the December issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter61.html
.
Russian Developers Take Action!
In the Russian software community there are two active developer organziations SWRUS and ISDEF. SWRUS has over 1,000 members and attracts developers starting out, a number of more experienced developers help their colleagues grow their businesses. ISDEF is an "invitation-only" professional organization for developers who are established in the industry.
We have had an ongoing dispute with a Russian developer who felt the need to clone one of our applications illegally using our help files and custom icons. In the most recent incident the developer began distributing our rss2html.php
script and documentation as his own.
The developer with whom, we were having difficulties was a member of the SWRUS' development community. I was very pleasantly surprised by the SWRUS board's action. After receiving a complaint and analyzing the evidence, the SWRUS board expelled the developer from the SWRUS organization.
The Russian Software development community never fails to impress me, they realize that the software world is global, and piracy hurts all of us, by taking a stand against piracy
they are building trust in the software community and making a statement that it will not be tolerated. SWRUS' actions were professional and are a shining example to other industry organizations who cater to members with intellectual property concerns.
Thank you SWRUS - http://www.swrus.com
Developer Contest Starting On EBay
The online auction firm, eBay will put $5,000 up for grabs for individual developers in a contest called the eBay Developers Challenge. A developer team of up to four people has a chance to win matching Xbox 360 consoles.
Both the individual and team winners in the Challenge will also recieve trips to the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego next March.
Details:
http://ebay.promotionexpert.com/devchallenge2006/splash.html
Truste Attempting to Install Download Trust
TRUSTe and sponsors representing leading content and search providers, anti-spyware vendors and online advertisers announced a new program to certify consumer downloadable software programs.
The Trusted Download Program provides market incentives for adware and other software companies that clearly and unavoidably communicate key functionalities and obtain informed consumer consent prior to download.
The Trusted Download Program promotes ethical behavior by publishing a “whitelist” of certified applications. The whitelist will be used by companies beginning with program sponsors such as Yahoo!, AOL, Computer Associates, CNET Networks and Verizon as a tool to make business decisions about advertising, partnering or distributing software products.
http://www.truste.org/trusteddownload.php
Free B2B Online Listing
The Vendor Portal is a quick and easy way to add or update your company listing in the BtoB Online Directory. http://www.mediabrains.com/client/btobm/bg1/vp/Register_Login1.asp
PR.com
PR.com is offering Silver listings free of charge. List your company information, products, services and press releases. A variety of press release distribution options are available as well.
http://www.pr.com/membership-plans
ClipMate Profile
Thornsoft's Clipmate's latest release uses an RSS component to communicate with application users. See how Chris Thornton is using FeedForDev as a marketing tool.
http://www.feedfordev.com/clipmate.htm
more on ClipMate - http://www.clipmate.com
Check Blacklists
Web based application for checking blacklisted IP addresses.
http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx
IT Reseller
Free company listings - Basic listings in the ITReseller.com directory are free. If you are not listed, but would like to be, simply fill out the fields on the form.
http://www.itreseller.com/add_company.php
Google Analytics
Is Google playing games, making it "unavailable" to increase use - remember how they passed out gmail invites?
http://www.google.com/analytics/sign_up.html
Google Base
I'm still struggling with the purpose of Google Base, hosting all of the information rather than linking to its source (whatever happened to duplicate content?) but they are Google so I guess they can do that. I've got some tests running to see if it generates traffic and I'll share my thoughts in the next few months.
http://base.google.com
EuroConference Photos
The following are collections of photos taken at the recent European Shareware Conference.
Dave Collins Photos - http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/conferences/esc/2005/index.htm
Jan Goyvarts Photos - http://www.shareware-beach.com/photos/eswc05/
Conference Summary - http://www.shareware-beach.com/2005/11/eswc05
ISDEF Photos
I have been unable to track down photos of the ISDEF conference or the pre-ISDEF conference in the Ukraine. If you have photos please send me the link to share.
Chinese Shareware Conference
Digital River is currently hosting a summit for Digital River clients in China. Digital River has partnered with CNSW http://www.cnsw.org to provide information on marketing software.
IGDA Game Developer Conference 2006
The GDC will be held March 20-24, 2006 in San Jose, CA. Attendees who register before February 15, 2006 will save up to 35% on conference passes. Scholarships are available for a select group of University students.
http://www.gdconf.com/register/
IGDA Demographics
The IGDA has posted the first of its kind, "Game Developer Demographics: An Exploration of Workforce Diversity". It accurately answers the question: "Who makes games?" by examining the demographic makeup of the development community. Nearly 6500 people participated in the survey,
answering a series of questions pertaining to age, race, sexual orientation and education among other variables. The comments are very interesting (it is a separate pdf download)
http://www.igda.org/diversity/report.php
eSellerate & Paypal
eSellerate now also allows customers to pay for their purchases with PayPal. When customers choose the PayPal payment method, the eSellerate store directs them to PayPal's Express Checkout interface, where they can quickly authenticate their payments. After authentication, the customers return to the eSellerate store to complete their
purchases.
Search Engine News
Jagger Update - According to search sources there is no longer an even playing field when it comes to search placement. Search experts recommend small businesses trying to define a web precense focus on a niche. The new Google ranking system means that success breeds more
success, while new sites or systems with less brand recognition will be at a natural disadvantage.
Digital River
Digital River Inc. will acquire Commerce5 Inc. in a deal worth $45 million. Under the agreement, Digital River will acquire about 40 Commerce5 client contracts, including Gateway, Inc., Lexmark International, Inc., Sharp Electronics Corp.
and Sony Electronics Inc. Digital River will pay $32.4 million for the company, and it will assume $12.6 million in debt. In addition, Commerce5 executives will receive 87,500 Digital River shares based upon meeting certain performance goals.
Film on Software Development
"Aardvark'd: 12 Weeks with Geeks," the story of intern programmers at New York-based Fog Creek Software creating a product from scratch to shipping, is now finished, one of the first films to delve wholly into the life and culture
of coding.
http://news.com.com/Film+documents+software+creation%2C+the+fun+way/2100-1026_3-5980696.html
Article(s)
Educated Consumers
Not too long ago, a colleague asked me why we invest so heavily in consumer education. We have made a conscious decision to spend marketing dollars on consumer education for a very simple reason. Educated consumers are simply better customers.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article70.html
Web Directories
Web directories are an important component to search engine positioning. Directories come in all shapes and sizes, some are generic, while others are highly specialized.
http://www.small-business-software.net/web-directory.htm
Content is King
The age old question keeps coming up, how do you retain website visitors, how do you make visitors return to your website? The answer should come as no surprise, fresh content. Content is truly king, the fresher the content the better the site. What many webmasters fail to realize is that there is an endless supply of content on the web that is freely available to webmasters.
http://www.small-business-software.net/content-is-king.htm
We have a number of projects planned for the SMR site, but unfortunately it is taking much longer than we initially anticipated, I think our new look and some of the launch items will be of particular interest to software developers,
so please stay tuned!
Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome any suggestions and feedback on our articles and information.
20.12.08
Welcome to the January issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter62.html .
New Look
Malstream http://www.malstream.com was kind enough to create a new look for the Software Marketing Resource website. Malstream Graphic Design, specializes in both online and printed media. As you can see their quality is excellent. Malstream provides web design services; they assist in building a corporate identity, packaging, print advertisements and icons and program interfaces. The prices are also very reasonable and turn-around time is excellent.
Happenings in 2005
Sell on Amazon
Kathy Salisbury launched Great Mind Software and began publishing software titles on Amazon.com. Kathy's service is a great value and due to its popularity, and the inexpensive cost for a listing, she has instituted a new policy. If you qualify and wish to sell through Amazon, sign-up.
http://www.greatmindsoftware.com/signup/
AISIP Launched
Sue Picchota lauched the Association of Independent Software Industry Professionals. AISIP is a professional association for people who work in the independent software industry. The organization has a become an instant success with more than 6,000 messages in the members newsgroup since its launch in June of 2005. The best part is it is only $ 24.00 per year. This is money well spent when you consider that the monthly fee is just $ 2.00 per month. One helpful marketing tip will pay for membership, for the next decade.
http://www.aisip.org
Mac Foray
We recently launched a Mac application, and appreciate the help of Allistair from Rampell Software, maker of DidTheyReadIt, SureType and TypeRecorder http://www.rampellsoft.com . Allistair is doing some interesting things, and I'll be interested in learning more from him in 2006. Brad Taylor from http://www.churr.com was also helpful in our foray into Mac marketing. We've learned a lot and will be posting more about Mac marketing in the coming year.
Technology Predictions for 2006 and Reflections on 2005
2005 literally took the world by storm. The tragedies of the Asian Tsunami, the Hurricanes that blew through the US Gulf Coast and the earthquakes that swallowed parts of Pakistan have left an indelible mark on 2005. While mother nature cast a shadow on 2005, it was technology that delivered the impact that resulted in a huge outpouring of donations.
2005 in Review and 2006 Predictions - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/2005-overview-2006-predictions.htm
Other Industry Predictions -
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/predictions-2005.htm
Website Resolutions for New Year -
As all of us view the new year, we determine various ways to improve ourselves. Whether its eliminating bad habits, or improving quality of life, January 1st is seen as a new beginning and starting point. Your website too, can use a new look. Consider taking the website to task with these down and dirty, quick improvement tips for the new year.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/website-resolutions.htm
Past Predictions
How did Dave Collins do with his predictions?
I'd have to say he nailed it - hmmm security and privacy, RSS, and search engine landscape changes.
http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/blog/200412.html#e578
How did I do with last year's predictions?
DR is still struggling and has not unified their aquisitions and technology into a consolidated - showing that size in this case does not matter. I was off on Outsourcing , conceptually I was right but I'm seeing more from China than India these days. And strategic relationships have never been more important than they are today - not too bad for a non-oracle ;-)
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter49.html
Software Vendor Awards
We felt it was time to recognize software industry vendors. As a result we are launching Software Vendor awards. This will help new developers, Micro-ISVs and others marketing software give insight into the specific solutions and customer service the Software Vendors provide.
Schedule:
January 1, 2006 Vendor Nominations Open
January 27, 2006 Nominations Closed
February 1, 2006 Voting Begins
February 15, 2006 Voting Ends
March 1, 2006 Winners Announced
Review the list of categories for Software Vendors.
Nominate Software Vendors Now - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/2006-nominations.htm
Game Developer Awards
Nominations for the 6th annual Game Developers Choices Awards will commence on January 2nd , 2006.
http://www.igda.org/awards/nominations.htm
Call for Papers -
Shareware Industry Conference (SIC) 2006
SIC 2006 Denver, CO on July 13-15, 2006.
SIC is the premier shareware/software industry conference attracting vendors, download sites, and software developers from around the world.
The SIAF Board has just issued a call for papers and presentations for SIC-2006, in Denver, Colorado. If you are interested in speaking at the conference, please make sure you download and follow the Call for Papers guidelines, and take particular note of the various submission deadlines. Please respond by January 31, 2006.
http://www.sic.org/sic2006/sic-2006_call-for-papers.pdf
SLAM - 2006
SLAM 2006 Chicago, IL. on April 11-12, 2006.
SLAM 2006 is a Sales, Licensing, Alliances ?
This is an opportunity to present to owners, CEOs, presidents, vice presidents and division or department managers of leading and fast-growing software companies interested in exceptional performance and corporate growth. Please respond by January 13th.
http://www.softwarebusinessonline.com/slam_conf2006_callforpres.htm
Conferences
Shareware Industry Conference - It is the sponsors that, in large part, make this event possible. SIC offers three basic levels of sponsorship, with each level providing successively more exposure for the sponsor.
http://www.sic.org/sponsors.asp
Software Marketing Calendar
Calendar of events in the software industry. If you have events that relate to software that you would like to have added please email them to me.
http://www.calendarhub.com/pub/softwaremarketing or grab the RSS feed from http://www.calendarhub.com/rss/21882/month
Article(s)
What is Web 2.0
There has been a lot of chatter lately about Web 2.0, as if the Internet is a versioned software application. So what is Web 2.0? Simply put, Web 2.0 is a perceived transition of the web to web applications.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/web-2.htm
Web Applications vs Desktop Software
There has been a long running debate about web applications replacing desktop software applications. While some functions are better suited to web applications. It is my belief that security concerns and legacy systems will prevent desktop software from becoming obsolete.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/web-applications-cons.htm
an alternate view "Say Goodbye to Software Residing on Your Desktop" can be found at http://tinyurl.com/7mgxm
Software Success Story
RIT Labs - Ritlabs SRL is a software company specialized in communications products. Since Ritlabs creation in 1994 their user base has grown to include thousands of customers.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/software-success-10.htm
If you would like to be profiled as a software success story drop me a note.
Resources:
Add Your Forum
Find Your Forum is a forum directory. Just add your software forum in the appropriate category.
http://www.findyourforum.com
Office Online
If your product or service works with Microsoft Office request a Free listing on the Microsoft Office Marketplace.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010409771033.aspx
Best Wishes for 2006
I would like to personally extend good wishes, happiness and prosperity in 2006. My heart goes out to those affected by the tragedies of 2005. My hope is that in 2006 the world will be a better place.
We hope you enjoy the new look and information on the SMR website. Please feel free to send us your comments and suggestions.
If you know someone who would like to subscribe to Software marketing News please have them send an email to webmaster@softwaremarketingresource.com with "subscribe" as the subject line.
Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome any suggestions and feedback on our blog, articles, newsletter and website.
20.12.08
An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter63.html .
Software Vendor Awards - Voting is Open!
The Software Vendor Awards, will be decided by YOU, software industry professionals! By rewarding those vendors who excel at customer support innovation and value, you will help new developers, and micro-isvs cut through industry clutter and form relationships with quality vendors. Your vote will also send a message to software vendors who don't excel at these values that are so important to developers selling online.
Review the list of Nominees!
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/nominees-2006.htm
What can be learned from the nominations?
Perhaps other will find opportunities in the following observations, I made from the nominations:"
- there were not a lot of nominations in any of the "innovation" categories.
- individuals were sometimes recognized in the customer service area rather than the company.
- there is not a lot of competition in some areas.
- customer service and overall value were closely related in many cases
Vote Now:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/awards-voting.htm
Voting closes on February 15th., winners will be announced on March 1st, 2006.
Cool Technology - Productivity Tools
One of my resolutions each year is to improve productivity and improve process. Al Harberg suggested TypePilot to me around the first of the year, so I gave it a try. TypePilot is saving approximately 7 hours a week. I've created a directory of common phrases, explanations, answers and signatures for our various products. I use the macros to respond to forum posts and emails. I expect that as I continue to build my response database, I will save even more time. If productivity matters to you, take a look at TypePilot
http://www.colorpilot.com/typepilot.html
Cool Technology - RSS
FutureRSS - The FutureRSS script only displays items thats dates have passed. Allowing web publishers to prepublish content weeks or even month's in advance, knowing that the content will automatically be displayed at the appropriate time.
http://www.feedforall.com/future-rss.htm
RSS Cache - The rss2html Cache module saves the feed locally for a specified period of time, making feed retrieval much quicker.
http://www.feedforall.com/rss-cache.htm
Both FutureRSS and RSS Cache are available free of charge to registered users of FeedForAll or FeedForAll Mac.
Dave Collins Writing March Issue
You are all in for a treat. Dave Collins of Shareware Promotions and the prolific writer behind the numerous articles on DavesTalks is going to write the March issue of Software Marketing News.
For a taste of Dave check out - http://www.davetalks.com
Software Organization Blog
SWRUS, a Russian Software Developers group has a new blog.
http://blog.swrus.com/
Call for Papers - Extension
The SIAF has extended the deadline for speaker abstracts until February 14, 2006. Conference organizers are looking for qualified speakers with expertise in a number of areas. Please let your colleagues know about this opportunity. Details http://www.sic.org/sic2006/sic-2006_call-for-papers.pdf
Shareware Industry Conference (SIC) 2006
SIC 2006 Denver, CO on July 13-15, 2006.
Start making your plans to attend this year's Shareware Industry Conference. SIC is the premier shareware/software industry conference attracting vendors, download sites, and software developers from around the world.
http://www.sic.org
EuroConference
The dates for the 2006 European Shareware Conference have been determined. The EuroConference will be held in Cambridge, Great Britain November 4-5, 2006. Cambridge is a University City with International appeal.
Additional Details - http://www.euroconference.org
The Software Business 2006
The Software Business 2006 Conference will be held October 17-18 in Denver, Colo. at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center (the same location that the 2006 Shareware Industry Conference will be held July 13-15, 2006). Four tracks will be offered -- Executive Strategy, Company Financing, Sales ?
http://www.softwarebusinessonline.com/sb_conf2006_index.htm
Resources:
IT Reseller.com
An IT directory. Add your company free of charge.
http://www.itreseller.com/add_company/
Ziff Davis WebBuyers Guide
The Web Buyer's Guide connects qualified technology buyers to the products and services that they are actively looking to buy. List your products in the Buyer's Guide to influence qualified buyers today.
http://www.webbuyersguide.com/buyers_guide/vendor.asp
Office Online
If your product or service works with Microsoft Office request a Free listing on the Microsoft Office Marketplace.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010409771033.aspx
Press Release Distribution
SB Wire
SBWire provides effective press release distribution services to small to mid-sized companies. Their base press release distribution services are offered free of charge. http://www.sbwire.com additionally there are numerous sites which accept press releases postings free of charge, be sure to post your release as many places as possible - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/pressreleases.html (under post releases)
Microsoft Interviews
Channel 9 (aka Microsoft) has started a MicroISV podcast where Michael Lehman (many of you know Michael from SIC 2005) will interview developers for 5-10 minutes. If you are interested in being interviewed contact Michael or checkout the MicroISV show!
http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/The_MicroISV_Show
WUGNET
WUGNET manages the new RSS portal for Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace RSS service. A promotional opportunity exists for developers that have products listed on the Windows Marketplace. Developers are entitled to have those products listed in the RSS feeds on the Marketplace which is automatically distributed to thousands of end users who rely on the Windows Marketplace to rate, review and make purchasing decisions.
This free marketing tool is offered to you by Microsoft to enhance the Windows Ecosystem. Once you register for the RSS feed on the Windows Marketplace any products listed by your company on the Windows Marketplace are eligible to go into the RSS news feed. You can abstract a press release with Title, a paragraph of copy and we use the bottom link to refer back your product listing on the Windows Marketplace. You can embed the link to the full release on your site and thereby drive traffic directly to your site. A further benefit of the RSS feeds is that we can list products you are just now releasing, plan to release, post press releases, list special sales, or other pertinent information you want to communicate to the Windows Community.
Sign up at: http://www.wugnet.com/windowsmarketplace/marketing
Article(s)
Top 10 Content Creation Techniques
A sticky site is a place people will visit again and again. By creating an atmosphere people like to revisit, will increase their exposure to your product or service.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/top-10-content-creation.htm
What is Google Base?
In order for Google Base to succeed, it will need the support of both publishers and users. Quite frankly, most are having difficulty seeing the value in Google Base. Google Base, is a new service in beta, from Google that requests that publishers add their information to the "Google Base".
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/what-is-google-base.htm
Great Online Business Resources for Webmasters
As the web becomes increasingly more crowded, it is important for webmasters to take the extra step to make their web sites user friendly. There are a number of free resources available to webmasters:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/great-online-resources.htm
Conference Sponsorship
Shareware Industry Conference - It is the sponsors that, in large part, make this event possible. SIC offers three basic levels of sponsorship, with each level providing successively more exposure for the sponsor.
http://www.sic.org/sponsors.asp
Sponsorship Opportunities:
Bronze Level Sponsor: $1,000
Up to 2 Free conference registrations
1/4 page ad in book (4 x 5.5 inch)
Opportunity to include promotional literature and premium items for attendees in the attendee bags to be handed out upon registration.
Listed in SIA booklet
Listed on sponsor signs displayed at conference
Listed on SIAF Web page
Mentioned during SIA banquet Rotating banner on SIAF Web page
Silver Level Sponsor: $2,500
Up to 4 Free conference registrations
1/2 page ad in book (8.5 x 5.5 inch)
Listed in SIA booklet
Opportunity to include promotional literature and premium items for attendees in the attendee bags to be handed out upon registration.
Listed on sponsor signs displayed at conference
Listed on SIAF Web page
Mentioned during SIA banquet
Rotating banner on SIAF Web page
Gold Level Sponsor: $5,000
Up to 8 free conference registrations
Full page ad in book (8.5 x 11 inch)
Listed in SIA booklet
Opportunity to include promotional literature and premium items for attendees in the attendee bags to be handed out upon registration.
Listed on sponsor signs displayed at conference
Listed on SIAF Web page
Mentioned during SIA banquet
Rotating banner on main SIAF Web page
Company logo under "Premiere Sponsor" section on the SIAF Web page
Listed on a banner at the hotel during the conference
Free Exhibitor booth.
Exhibit Booth and Event Sponsorship are also available for discussion. Additional Details: http://www.sic.org/sponsors.asp
Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome any suggestions and feedback on our blog, articles, newsletter and website.
20.12.08
Hi,
Welcome to the March issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter64.html .
My name is Dave Collins from SharewarePromotions, and this month I’m honoured to be writing the content for Software Marketing News. I’m not quite Sharon, but hope to be able to share some good information with you anyway.
So without further ado:
Technology for Productivity
Last month, Sharon mentioned how useful she found TypePilot to be. So far I’ve only had time to take a quick look, but I also thought it seemed very impressive.
The fact is that most of people reading this don’t have enough time to do everything we’d like to each day, so anything that can save time is bound to be interesting.
One of our clients has a great application by the name of Macro Scheduler. You can use it to automate tasks, enter repetitive key clicks, run macros, automate data transfer, script web applications and more.
Personally, I use it to format entries to our blog, to copy backups across the network at night, to compress downloaded log files, to switch my system speakers off at night and for countless other tasks each day.
Every minute counts, and I’d hazard a guess that Macro Scheduler saves me in the region of 45 minutes a day. Literally.
Well worth a look: http://www.mjtnet.com/
Reaping the benefits of AdWords
Those of you who have met me at the various shareware conferences over the last few years have undoubtedly heard me extolling the benefits of Google AdWords.
I assume that most people reading this newsletter are already using AdWords. If not, then you’re probably missing out on a fair amount of low-cost, targeted traffic, aka sales. Enough said.
One of the more shocking conclusions that I’ve come to over the past few years is that the average AdWords account is set up quite badly. I’m not just talking about losing opportunities, although that would be bad enough. Many of the accounts that I have seen are wasting money. Some of them quite large amounts, on a daily basis.
Let’s take a step back.
There are four main parties involved here. Google, the AdSense account holder, the people carrying out the search and the advertiser.
Google wants two things. To provide relevant results for the searches, and to make money from the advertiser.
The AdSense account holder wants one thing. Money for the adverts displayed on their site/s.
The people carrying out the search want one thing. The information they’re searching for.
The advertiser wants two things. Good exposure, and a healthy return on their investment.
Of all the parties, Google is in the most sensitive position. They need to make sure that all the other parties are happy with the arrangement. But never forget that their reason for existence isn’t to provide a service and make the world a better place. It’s to make money.
The fact is that the Google AdWords system, by default, is heavily biased towards Google themselves. And there’s nothing wrong with that, because it’s their system. But this bias does come at the expense of the advertisers.
In a sense, there’s a natural order and balance to the system. Even if you set it up quite badly, you should see reasonable results. But at the end of the day, it’s Google who benefits the most.
There’s good news and bad news.
The bad news is that you shouldn’t be happy with just reasonable. You are more or less handing over money directly from your haemorrhaging account. Even if there’s still enough blood left to keep you alive.
The good news is that there’s a great deal you can do to turn around your AdWords ROI. Whether you’re starting from poor or reasonable, it’s quite possible to turn this into excellent.
If pushed I could probably churn out hundreds of tips and hints, but time and space are limited. So here are my five top tips regarding the most commonly made AdWords mistakes:
(1) Tracking each ad individually is essential. Google’s account will only let you see how many clicks you get for each ad. But without tracking, you might never know that 99.9% of the visitors that you’re paying for take one look at your website page for one second before leaving. Not good.
(2) Clicks from the content network are not worth as much as clicks from Google search and the Search Network. If you’re paying as much (or more) for your content ads then you are almost certainly losing money.
(3) Separation of content network and search network ads is essential. Separate campaigns means separate pricing, budgets, ads, keywords and tracking. Don’t put them together.
(4) If you don’t know what “broad matching” means, then you are definitely throwing money away. Find out immediately at the Google Help Centre - http://adwords.google.com/support - and tighten up your matching options as soon as you possibly can.
(5) Unless you’re only using exact matching (which is a bad idea in itself), you should look into negative keywords. Failure to do so is another way to reduce the ROI and improve Google’s bank balance unnecessarily.
One more tip for good luck. Never, ever, under any circumstances, let a Google AdWords account run itself. Even once setup correctly, you should be checking in at least every two weeks or so.
The Google Help Centre is a great resource, but if you don’t have the time or inclination, why not have a look to see what we can do for you. Our Google AdWords Management package might be just what you’re looking for.
http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/google-adwords.html
Covering all bases
Many software companies within the shareware industry are at the leaner end of the company-size scale. Yet for many of us, what we lose in size, manpower, budgets and corporate presence, we more than make up for with responsiveness, willingness to take risk, adaptability and innovation.
However, those of us un/lucky enough to be forward thinking are aware that there are other prices to pay for small size. We have no IT department, communications network, PR team, financial department or boss to “guide” us. We take all of that on our own shoulders.
So I’m sometimes horrified to see how many small business are failing to take even the most basic steps to protect their infrastructure. Despite the fact that doing so could make the difference between sinking or swimming in a crisis.
A few simple and relatively cheap steps could ensure that your business survives.
Backups. Backing up your data is more than a good idea. It’s essential. Critical. Vitally important. And with the low prices of the hardware and software required, no business has any excuse not to do so.
A couple of hundred dollars will buy you a copy of Acronis True Image and an external hard drive. Set the software up to automatically back up all of your critical data either across the network or onto a DVD periodically. Make an image of your hard drive onto the external hard drive, then disconnect it and store it somewhere safe
Imagine that tomorrow you walk into your office to discover that your hard drive is dead, and the data cannot be recovered. Work out how many emails, documents, downloads and MB of source data you would lose, and how long it would take you to get back. $200 is all you need to prevent this scenario from occurring.
Connectivity. Over the years I’ve used a dial-up connection, ISDN, ADSL and 2-way satellite to connect to the internet. The only thing that they have in common is that they all stop working at some point. Without exception.
If your business relies on your connection to the web, then having a backup connection is critical. In the past we relied on ADSL plus a dialup account to fall back on if we needed it. It saved us more than once.
Nowadays, we have a second, completely separate phone line, with a separate ADSL account using a different provider. It’s a form of insurance, but we still use the second connection, so get some value for money out of it as well.
If or when disaster strikes or problems arise, having something to fall back on is critical. Don’t let the next mishap or bad day jeopardise your company. All of your marketing efforts can go out of the window in literally hours. Cover all bases.
Pay Per Performance – directions & lessons
We’ve been working with different flavours of Pay Per Click longer than I can remember. I was one of the early adopters of Goto, and have worked quite extensively with FindWhat, AdWords and others.
Aside from the obvious benefits of using these systems, it’s also been interesting watching them develop over the years.
GoTo were the real pioneers of the PPC concept, but aside from implementing a great idea, the most significant thing they seem to have done is change their name; to Overture and then to Yahoo! Search Marketing.
As for the rest, if truth be told, it’s even difficult to remember them. Miva, Kanoodle, Enhance, Espotting; the reason these names are only vaguely familiar is that there are really only two serious contenders.
And let’s cut to the chase here. Google AdWords is leagues ahead of Overture.
Google is slick. Overture is slow enough to be classed as stagnant.
Google is responsive. Overture does well at dragging their feet.
Google adds new features on an ongoing basis. Overture concentrates on changing their name.
There’s an important lesson here. Being first is very different from staying first. The fact that Overture were the pioneers of modern PPC hasn’t given them any advantage whatsoever in the long run.
Look at it from the other point of view. Google looked at Overture, but saw a good idea that they could make great. And they did so quickly.
However, don’t get me wrong here. Don’t think that I am a huge fan of all things Google related. I do like most of what they do, but some of it is considerably less than impressive.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day Google offer the best opportunities for our clients.
The old style of advertising, such as the CPM model, is now more or less redundant. Online advertising is a buyer’s market, and that puts all the power right into our hands. PPC services have to deliver quality services with a decent ROI. Failure to do so will result in their going the way of the dodo. Or Overture.
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A huge thank you to Dave Collins of Shareware Promotions http://www.sharewarepromotions.com for putting this issue of Software Marketing News together so I could thoroughly enjoy a bit of a vacation!
Awards Announced!!!
All of you have patiently been awaiting the announcement of the Software Vendor Awards! I'm pleased to say they have been posted. The Software Vendor Awards recognized those vendors (as determined by other industry professionals) who provide exceptional value, customer service or innovation!
A small independent vendor, Plimus swept the e-commerce category, while eSellerate's affiliate program shined. Digital River's FileKicker dominated the file hosting category. Other categories divided the votes between nominees with unexpected ties. Russian backed vendors proved to be a force with SWRUS, winning best software organization. SoftIdentity won in the graphics and icon categories, and ASPack was chosen as the best software protection scheme. Shareware Promotions challenged Rudenko when it came to software submission customer service. As expected Mike Callahan took home a well deserved win as best software reviewer.
All of the winners can be viewed online at: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/winners-2006.htm or view the nominees and winners http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/winners.htm
Thank you for your continued interest in SMR. I hope you enjoyed Dave Collin's writing, if you wish to see more I would encourage you to visit Dave Talks http://www.davetalks.com/ and his Software Blog at http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/blog/index.html
Thanks again Dave!
Sharon Housley
20.12.08
SoftwareMarketingResource.com is pleased to announce the winners of the First Annual Software Vendor Awards. The Software Vendor Awards recognize the top vendors that supply services or products to software developers and micro-isvs.
Set on recognizing not only ubiquity, but quality and customer loyalty, industry recognition and customer loyalty paid off for vendors nominated for the Software Vendor Awards.
A small independent vendor, Plimus swept the e-commerce category, while eSellerate's affiliate program shined. Digital River's FileKicker dominated the file hosting category. Other categories divided the votes between nominees with unexpected ties. Russian backed vendors proved to be a force with SWRUS, winning best software organization. SoftIdentity won in the graphics and icon categories, and ASPack was chosen as the best software protection scheme. A long time industry favorite Shareware Promotions challenged Rudenko Software, when it came to software submission customer service.
As expected, Mike Callahan took home a well deserved win as best software reviewer. CNET's Download.com held their own as a favorite download site, while PC World attracted attention as providing the best advertising value for software developers. Shareware Promotions flexed its muscle when it came to search engine optimization services. Press distribution and writing divided its winners between two popular software press companies DP Directory and SoftPressReleases. Avanquest glowed as a heralded software publisher, providing superior customer service, while Great Mind Software made its precense known; an industry newcomer tieing the giant when it came to overall publishing services.
SwiftCD and Pingram Marketing, a service specifically for Eastern European developers, earned recognition when it came to CD distribution. Dewahost and PAIR Networks both were acknowledged as favorite hosting providers for software developers.
All of the winners can be viewed online at: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/winners-2006.htm or view the nominees and winners http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/winners.htm
The winners were selected by software industry professionals. The awards were designed to recognize those software industry vendors who excel at customer service, overall value and innovative implementation. Software developers and software industry professionals voted for their favorite vendors in fifteen categories. # # #
20.12.08
Welcome to the April issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter65.html .
This month's SMR newsletter sponsor is Vertical Response
Competitive Edge
What an edgy name! Dave Collins is starting a monthly newsletter that will give readers the competitive edge! Take advantage of Shareware Promotions expertise!
http://www.sharewarepromotions.com
Cool Technology -
RSS Scripts Directory
NotePage, Inc. is pleased to announce a new RSS Scripts Directory. The RSS Scripts Directory contains helpful scripts for managing, manipulating and converting RSS feeds. The intent of the the RSS Scripts Directory is to help users fully realize the potential and functionality of the RSS specification. RSS is a popular new format used to syndicate information on the Internet.
Current scripts contained in the directory include RSS Cache, FutureRSS, and RSSmesh. The RSS Cache script module expedites the retrieval and conversion of RSS feeds into html web pages. The FutureRSS script enables webmasters to prepare content for their RSS feeds in advance, and have it automatically appear at the desired date and time. The RSSmesh script allows for multiple RSS feeds to be merged into a single RSS feed. All of the scripts dynamically manipulate the RSS feeds, so all management occurs in realtime.
http://www.feedforall.com/scripts-directory.htm
Simtel
Get paid for your downloads! They pay your hosting costs and pay you to link to them. I got a note from Aaron (Shareware Promotions) letting me know about a new program that Simtel has implemented.
Simtel's new Affiliate Program has a twist, simply put, for every 1,000 visitors you drive to Simtel they will pay you $2.00! They will pay you for driving your download business through the Simtel site.
https://affiliates.digitalriver.com/affiliate_signup.html
Advertise on SMR
Advertise on the most popular software marketing resource! In an effort to better serve website visitors we will be removing adsense ads from the web pages on Software Marketing Resource website. A single 468X60 box (text or graphic) will be sold on each of the directory pages.
Prices are very affordable and only a single slot will be available on each page. Ads are first come first serve! Additional details at:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/advertising.htm
Award(s)
Technology Awards
Get those applications buffed up and tricked out! The What's Next Forum & Technology Awards are coming to Boston in June at the Four Seasons Hotel on June 7, 2006. Entrants can enter their technology products or services categories ranging from Data Management to Mobile. Hurry! The deadline is Friday, April 7th!
http://www.mitx.org/technologyawards/
Shareware Industry Awards
That time has come! Submit your products for the Shareware Spotlight. The Spotlight highlights programs eligible for awards. Nominees will often review the list prior to submitting their nominations. Draw attention to your program by submitting it to the spotlight.
http://www.sic.org/submit.asp
Advice For Developers
I had an intern this past week, and I asked him what advice he would give to developers. He felt that many developers overlook simplicity in favor of features, and that ultimately simple=success.
According to my intern:
From newcomers to the computer world, to the technological savvy, simplicity is the key to a popular, great, and selling program. Something that isn’t tedious, something that isn’t bland, and something that isn’t complex; something that is simple. Sure, great and smoother code is nice, but so is a better interface and simplicity. Programs that have a lot of options can overwhelm the neophytes to the program (although it may be very pleasing to the very few technical elite). Programs like BitTorrent, iTunes, and Mozilla Firefox all have two things in common: they have the user in mind and simplicity. Things such as a simple interface, a small learning curve, easy access to tools and options, enhanced search capabilities, and all-in-one packages make things for the end-user much simpler and friendly. Take for instance, Mozilla Firefox. The interface is fairly simple for the first time downloads/users and customizable later on for each individual needs, tabbed browsing makes it easier to surf through different web pages rather than having different windows, it works just like any other Internet browser, tools such as the built in Google search bar, download manager, and options menu are very easy to access, as said before, Google search bar and many other search add-ons as well, and all the privacy, security, pop-up blockers are there when you download for the first time. Mozilla even says it themselves on their site: "Our next generation browser will simplify and speed up your browsing experience." So whether you want a smoother code, better graphics, or faster load times, simplicity is the key for you and the user.
Conference(s)
Shareware Industry Conference (SIC) 2006
SIC 2006 Denver, CO on July 13-15, 2006.
Start making your plans to attend this year's Shareware Industry Conference. SIC is the premier shareware/software industry conference attracting vendors, download sites, and software developers from around the world.
http://www.sic.org
EuroConference
The dates for the 2006 European Shareware Conference have been determined. The EuroConference will be held in Cambridge, Great Britain November 4-5, 2006. Cambridge is a University City with International appeal.
Additional Details - http://www.euroconference.org
Resources:
Best Coding Practices
A new site has been launched that claims to promote the best coding practices, the site is designed to help developers to come up with the best methods to build code.
http://www.bestcodingpractices.com
Article(s)
PR Tips
While controversial issues frequently attract attention they can also alienate potential customers. Sometimes it is better to put a positive spin on public relations.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/pr-tips.htm
Organic Search Engine Optimization
The fabled tales of successfully tricking search engines into high rankings have given way to a new truth, to achieve decent consistent ranking you cannot engage in tricks but on focused optimization done in a professional ethical manner. According to search sources, with the latest Google update, there is no longer an even playing field when it comes to search placement.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/organic-seo.htm
Using Delicious
Delicious is a social book marking system, that is notable, not only for its unusual web address http://del.icio.us, but for its unusual approach to content building that is becoming increasingly popular.
http://www.feedforall.com/delicious-rss.htm
Monetizing RSS Feeds
Publishers are evaluating options and determining how they can profit from RSS feeds. The two obvious contenders that publishers are considering to profit from their RSS feeds are: subscription RSS feeds and RSS feed advertisements.
http://www.feedforall.com/monetizing-rss-feeds.htm
AdSense Tips
AdSense allows website publishers to display contextually relevant advertisements on their website. If a web visitor "clicks" on an advertisement, the web publisher will earn a percentage of the advertising revenue generated as a result of the click.
http://www.small-business-software.net/adsense-tips.htm
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