Software Marketing Newsletter Software Marketing Newsletter SMR - February Issue SMR Newsletter Hi, Welcome to the February issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter50.html . Armadillo/Software Passport ********************************* I will be writing an article related to some of the recent questions that have been raised regarding Armadillo/Software Passport and usage of marketing information. Unfortunately the article is not yet ready, so it will be sent in a second newsletter this month. If any developers have questions or comments that they would like included in the piece, please forward them to me as soon as possible. My hope is to separate fact from fiction, and present in non-technical terms both sides of the issue. Article ******************************* Webmaster Tools & Resources With new technologies, algorithms and sources emerging on a daily basis, webmasters are constantly struggling to stay informed. The quality of content on the web and the number of products available to webmasters can seem overwhelming. The goal of creating a site that can be quickly found can be a struggle. Unless webmasters have a well-established brand, a great domain name and a huge marketing budget, it is important that they appear in search engines via specific keywords. With this in mind, we have compiled a list of resources and products that will benefit webmasters in their efforts to be found. http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article52.html What is Podcasting? Listeners can retain audio archives to listen to at their leisure. While blogs have turned many bloggers into journalists, podcasting has the potential to turn podcasters into radio personalities. http://www.small-business-software.net/what-is-podcasting.htm Determining Keywords Determining keywords is a critical step in web design. If your website and meta tags do not contain related keywords, web surfers will be unable to find your website when they conduct searches. The formula is a little tricky - you will need to locate terms that are popular and relevant to your site. These terms may or may not be terms that *you* feel are relevant terms. The optimal terms in a site should be terms that a potential customer would use when searching for a website with your content. http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article54.html Technology Review Free RSS to HTML Script ******************************* A free PHP script, rss2html.php, that converts RSS feeds to HTML has been made freely available by NotePage, Inc. The rss2html.php script allows webmasters to display RSS feeds on their website. RSS or Really Simple Syndication, as it is commonly known, is a technology that gives webmasters the ability to to easily distribute and publish syndicated content on the Internet. Most webmasters understand the potential benefits of making RSS feeds available for viewing in a web browser. FeedForAll's new rss2html.php script allows users to create webpages that will always display the most current information from the RSS feed, and because the resulting page is pure HTML, it will be in a format friendly to search engine robots. Using rss2html.php webmasters can customize the format and look of the web page created from the feed. The RSS feed's contents can easily be integrated into an existing website's theme. The rss2html.php script parses the RSS file, extracts the pertinent information, formats it, and serves it up as regular HTML. The rss2html.php script runs on any webserver that can run PHP scripts, and it support feeds in the RSS 2.0, .93, .92, .91, or .90 format. Additional details and a download for the free script can be found at http://www.feedforall.com/free-php-script.htm   Software Success Stories ******************************* Abbyy USA Software - Read this inspirational story about Abbyy Software's industry successes. Abbyy USA started out in 1999 as a 2 person company, now has have 29 employees. Each year about 12 million units of scanner and all-in-one devices world wide ships with Abbyy's FineReader OCR technology. Abbyy's customers include: Banctec, BenQ, EMC2/Documentum, EPSON, Freedom Scientific, Kurzweil, Kofax, Lexmark, Microtek, NewSoft, Notable Solutions, Panasonic, ReadSoft, SER Solutions, Samsung Electronics, Sumitomo Electric Systems, Stellent, Toshiba and Verity. Read Abbyy's Story http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/software-success-9.htm Organizations ****************************************** Steve Kiene, founder and former CEO of eSellerate has announced that he is putting together an organization for independent software developers. As we receive more information about the new organization for developers we will make announcements. Schmooze ************************************ Napa Valley Schmooze - A spring Shareware Schmooze is scheduled for Napa Valley March 11-13th, 2005 Napa, California, USA. The schmooze will be held at The John Muir Inn is located in north Napa at the beginning of the world famous Napa Valley wine region. Additional Details - http://www.medlin.com/schmooze/ SIC Early Registration Discount ************************************ Registration is open for the 2005 Shareware Industry Conference. The conference will be held in Denver, Colorado July 14-16. Early bird registration is only $ 99! This special is only available until April 1. Register now to receive the discount! http://www.sic.org SIC Sponsorship Opportunities *************************************** If you have an interest in sponsoring the 2005 Shareware Industry Conference, now is the time! In order to have your information included in all of the promotional material consider sponsoring now. Sponsorship levels can be viewed at: http://www.sic.org/sponsors.asp SIC News ****************************** In an effort to keep individuals informed about deadlines, awards and related conference activities the Shareware Industry Awards Foundation has created an RSS feed that will contained information related to the Shareware Industry Awards and the Shareware Industry Conference. Add the following url to your RSS reader - http://www.sic.org/sic.xml Game Developers Conference ************************************ The Game Developer's Conference is scheduled for March 7-11, San Francisco, California. At GDC 2005, you will be equipped with practical tools to handle these and other obstacles along your road, and you will be exposed to future vision catalysts ­ empowering you to create tomorrow's game today. Bring your future vision into focus at GDC 2005. Register by February 9 to save up to 30% on GDC Conference passes. IGDA members save an additional $50. Use priority code: EIGDA05 when registering, and you will automatically be entered to win an iPod mini. http://www.gdconf.com/ Reminder RSS Feed for SMR Forum ********************************************* Realizing how it is difficult to visit a forum on a daily basis we have made the SMR forum posts available via an RSS feed. Simply add the following url http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/forum/rss.php to your RSS reader and receive all of the SMR forum posts. Search Engine News: **************************************************** MSN - Microsoft went live with what had been their beta search engine. Microsoft intends to challenge Google with their new search functionality - see how your site does http://www.msn.com Looksmart - Looksmart appears to be flailing as a search engine with a significant loss this quarter. Google - Google released a developer API. The new API lets developers create computer programs that interact directly with the AdWords server. With the applications created, advertisers and third parties can more efficiently - and creatively - manage their large AdWords accounts and campaigns. A great idea would be an Adsense API! Details - http://www.google.com/apis/adwords/ Google - Google has recently become an ICANN-accredited domain registrar. Google will be able to directly sell seven top-level domains.   Download Site News Tucows & Dr FileFinder **************************************** I'm very pleased to let everyone know that Mike Callahan (Dr File Finder) is the new Manager of Editorial Content at Tucows!!! He will be responsible for all the content on Tucows. Planning on having things that will benefit both users AND software authors. A section on "How To..." do different things on the computer, software reviews, REAL reviews including my Dr. File Finder's Picks, Dr. File Finder Quick Picks, and lots more. Watch Tucows for more - http://www.tucows.com Download.com ********************************* Download.com has revamped their user reviews section. New features include the ability for developers to respond to reviews. The publisher's response will be delineated as "From the publisher." Publishers will need to use their Upload.com username and password when submitting user opinions for this to occur. Reviews and ratings will carry over through product updates, but will be version-stamped and sortable by version. The thumbs-up/thumbs-down rating has moved to a system that more closely resembles CNET's own editorial rating systems. See http://www.download.com to see the new rating system in action. Registration Service News: ********************************* Asknet & Softwrap - asknet, a leading global provider of outsourced electronic software sales and distribution services (ESD), announced today that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Softwrap. Under the agreement, asknet will combine Softwrap's encryption technology with its own ESD services to provide software and other digital media publishers with a complete end-to-end eCommerce solution, incorporating a "Try & Buy" facility. The facility, which is enabled through Softwrap's technology, will allow asknet's clients to offer full versions of their products as a trial download, from which users can then easily purchase a license code through the asknet eStore. asknet's clients will also be able to secure their non-trial versions for digital download with Softwrap's cutting edge encryption technology. Complete Press Release - http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050117/phm007_1.html Apptastic - There is a new registration service Apptastic, however I'm stymied to understand the value they provide as they are essentially a reseller for authorize.net. According to their press release - "Apptastic is the newest shareware registration service that offers added features for lower prices. Features include support tracking system, registration validation, and user tracking." http://www.apptastic.net/ 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. Software Marketing News tries to keep developers informed about important industry changes. Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome suggestions and feedback on our articles and information Thank you for your continued interest in SMR. Sharon Housley Software Marketing Resource - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com NotePage, Inc. - http://www.notepage.net