Software Developer 101

Most Common MicroISV Mistakes

Fri, 7 Aug 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Here are some of the more common mistakes that many MicroISVs make. Hopefully this list can help you avoid making some or all of them yourself...

Most Common MicroISV Mistakes

How MicroISVs Can Market to Businesses

Mon, 3 Aug 2009 09:00:00 -0400

The thought of selling to large entities such as corporations, schools, and government agencies can sometimes be overwhelming to a small software house. But it is a misnomer to think that only large companies can sell to other large companies. Many MicroISVs sell quite successfully in the B2B - Business-To-Business marketplace. There is no secret formula to selling to big businesses, but a few basics can make selling into this market much easier...

How MicroISVs Can Market to Big Business

How to Sell More Software

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Sales can often be increased several percentage points simply by tweaking your system and making minor changes to your web page and ordering system.

Keep in mind that a single percent sales increase adds directly to your bottom line. Additionally, many of the shopping cart changes can help reduce shopping cart abandonment rates. Effort is spent attracting customers, so why risk losing them in the final stages of the purchase process if it can be avoided with some minor tweaking?

How to Increase Software Sales

How to Determine What Software to Develop?

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:00:00 -0500

Many software developers struggle to come up with ideas about what kind of software to develop, while other developers have too many ideas and lack the time to implement all of them. How do you know when a project is a good idea? How do you come up with software development ideas?

How to Determine What Software to Develop?

How to Start With RSS Feeds

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:00:00 -0400

Getting started with RSS feeds can be a little bit confusing. But few people doubt or dispute the fact that RSS feeds are a necessity for websites. Webmasters who have not stayed up with the newest technologies may struggle at first with the RSS protocol. Follow these steps to deploy an effective RSS feed...

How to Start With RSS Feeds

Why Should Software Developers Use RSS Feeds?

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:00:00 -0400

Software developers can benefit by offering RSS feeds as another way of communicating with customers and potential customers. RSS is a very flexible communication medium, and the benefits to developers who use RSS feeds can be significant...

Why Should Software Developers Use RSS Feeds

How to Sell Software as a Subscription

Mon, 5 May 2008 09:00:00 -0400

Subscription-based software, otherwise known as SaaS (Software As A Service), is becoming an increasingly popular model for software. Many developers have taken to the recurring subscription fee revenue model, but there are a number of subscription-related issues that developers struggle with. RegNet specializes in ecommerce for subscription services, and they have worked together with software developers to address and resolve many of these issues and problems.

Selling Software as a Subscription

How to Build Trust

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:00:00 -0500

Many consumers are still reluctant to make purchases online because they have security concerns. You can help reassure potential customers and encourage them to purchase by building trust. Some of the things that software developers have found effective in building trust are...

How to Build Trust

How to Start a Business

Mon, 5 Nov 2007 09:00:00 -0500

Starting a new business can seem to be an overwhelming or daunting task at times. Use this basic checklist to make sure all the important steps are taken before you launch your new venture. This business checklist will make sure that you cross all your t's and dot all your i's before your business launch.

How to Start a New Business

How to Plan a Product Launch

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Planning a product launch can be time consuming, but attention to detail at this stage of the game is critical to a successful software launch. Follow these steps to launch a new application.

How to Plan a Product Launch

How to Increase Efficiency

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:00:00 -0400

It is difficult for a small software company to be everything to everyone. With that in mind, knowing how to most effectively use time and increase efficiency will enhance the productivity and profitability of a small business. Use these tips to maximize your time:

Increase Efficiency - Save Time - Become More Productive

How to Track Sales

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Once a good source of sales has been identified the problem then becomes how to increase sales from those sites. Usually there are paid advertising opportunities or you can work for better placement on the site. And if you find you can spend $1 to increase sales by $2 the challenge then becomes finding a place to spend a million dollars.

How to Track Software Sales

How to Obtain Links

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:00:00 -0400

In order to garner links you need to provide content worth linking to.

How to Obtain Links

How to Recruit Affiliates

Wed, 4 Jul 2007 07:19:39 -0400

Tips for software marketers interested in recruiting affiliates that make sales! Look for companies in the industry you sell that are not direct competitors. Consider approaching service companies, or companies that provide a complimentary program or service.

How to Recruit Affiliates

How to Prepare for a Software Review

Tue, 4 Sep 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Prepare for your software in advance for a review. Different reviewers from different magazines and review sites use different criteria for reviewing software, so it is important to realize and understood that applications might garner very different reactions from different reviewers. Additionally reviews and reviewers are subjective. Keep in mind that reviews are opinions and nuances of different reviewers might be evident in the reviews of the same application.

How to Prepare for a Software Review

How to Setup Yahoo PPC

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:00:00 -0400

When bidding on keywords in Yahoo, it is important to understand Yahoo's goal is to satisfy advertisers and searchers. As a result, Yahoo considers relevance very important. There should be a strong connection between the keywords or keyword phrases bid on and the theme of the website and landing page that the advertisement directs searchers to.

How to Setup Yahoo PPC

How to Setup Google AdWords

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Create clusters for your ad groups. Each cluster should contain closely related word groups or word stems. Write the ad specifically for that ad group.

How to Setup Google AdWords

How to Establish a Software Brand

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Brand is all about perception, and how others perceive your product or service. You have a brand whether you want it or not. Customers form impressions about product or company. Strong brand builds customer loyalty and enhances the lifetime value of the customer.

How to Establish a Software Brand

How to Write Web Copy

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Actionable tips for software developers writing web copy. Web site visitors read websites very differently than they might read a book or a newspaper. Web visitors scan the text, rather than reading each and every word, as a result the web copy should be designed to be scannable.

How to Write Web Copy

How to Promote Software on a CD Cover

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:00:00 -0400

After sending a software press release developers are often contacted by magazines, asking to include their software on a magazine CD cover. CD ROMs included with computer magazines are very popular especially in Europe. This is a great opportunity for software developers to gain additional exposure at very little expense.

How to Promote Software on a CD Cover

Effective Cross Sells, Bounceback Offers and Upsells

Tue, 7 Aug 2007 09:00:00 -0400

What is an Upsell?
An upsell is a marketing term for the practice of suggesting an additional product typically, a higher priced replacement product or services to a customer who is considering a purchase. Up-selling usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, but up-selling can also be simply exposing the customer to other options he or she may not have considered previously.

Effective Cross Sells, Upsells and Bounceback Offers

How to Run a One Day Sale

Thu, 2 Aug 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Time limited sales can be very effective and will often result in sales spikes. The trick to having a successful sale is proper promotion. There are three different ways to run a time limited sale, developers can run sales to their existing base and prospective customers, they can use a 3rd party who has a large audience, or they can offer a sale through their affiliates and resellers.

How to Run a One Day Sale

How to Conduct and Effective Beta Test

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:00:00 -0400

The first testing should occur in house with different operating systems and different hardware configurations. An alpha version may not yet contain all of the planned features, and may lack documentation, use virtual systems or test drives to fully test software with various operating systems and patches.

How to Conduct an Effective Beta Test

How to Submit Software

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 09:00:00 -0400

There are a large number of software archives (aka download sites) on the web. Developers can increase their exposure by listing evaluation versions of their software on these software archives. There are literally thousands of download sites and it can be a cumbersome task to list your software on all of them, as a result an industry has been spawned.

How to Submit Software

How to Optimize for Organic Search

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Legitimate search engine optimization does not attempt to "fool" the search engines. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is used to help search engines understand the contents of a webpage or website.

How to Optimize for Organic Search

How to Launch a New Application

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:00:00 -0400

When announcing a new version of an application it is important that you convey some key items to potential users. The following is a suggested format for new product announcements.

How to Launch a New Application

How to Create a PAD File

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:00:00 -0400

PAD stands for Portable Application Description, it was created in by a developer and purchased by the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) a number of years ago. The ASP maintain the specification and provide it to developers free of charge. The PAD file of an application maintains relevant information related to the application in the PAD format.

How to Create a PAD File

How to Select Good Keywords

Wed, 4 Jul 2007 06:59:15 -0400

Selecting keywords and keyword phrases sounds like a simple task but the reality is that choosing the right keywords can be a challenge.

There are two main components to select a good keywords, relevance and popularity. If you select a keyword or phrase that is highly relevant but is never searched on, you will not prosper.

How to Select Good Keywords

How to Protect Software

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:00:00 -0400

It will likely come as no surprise when software developers began disabling software functionality to entice users to purchase their sales increased significantly.

Protecting software and limiting its usage beyond a specified trial period has become a necessity. Hence protecting software from cracks can be critical to an application's success. In fact some statistics suggest that a software crack can impact software sales by as much as 30%!

How to Protect Software

How to Price Software

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Some say pricing software is an art, and that maybe true. Pricing software can be a very difficult proposition. Surprisingly developers often under value their software. It can be a challenge to find the pricing sweet spot or the price that generates the most revenue for developers. Some developers experiment with A/B split testing while others take a critical look at their closest competitors and determine how they wish to position themselves in the market.

How to Price Software

How to Write a Press Release

Sat, 7 Jul 2007 09:00:00 -0400

Press releases have short and long term results and can bring in great exposure from print magazines and bloggers. If your press release is well written and properly distributed you will see results online within 24-48 hours of the distribution. The release will likely be picked up by news search engines (ie. Google news, yahoo news) and possibly industry bloggers who monitor press release websites for topic specific press release.

How to Write a Press Release

How to Select a Company or Product Name

Wed, 4 Jul 2007 06:49:35 -0400

When building a business there is little more important than selecting an appropriate company or product name. Names can be distinctive, unique or descriptive.

How to Select a Company or Product Name