Hi,
Welcome to December's Software Marketing News. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter34.html

EURO-CONFERENCE
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The Euro Conference will commence in just one short week. Karin from Shareware Promotions has agreed to write a summary of the EuroConference for the January newsletter! Stay tuned to hear all the details.

BLOGS
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I've been experimenting with RSS Feeds and Blogs. I've received a lot of questions about as a result I've written an article detailing blogs and how they can benefit your business. http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article21.html

Be sure to also check out the new SMR blog for daily posts for additional marketing tips and software news that effect developers. http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html

FROOGLE FEEDS
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Froogle is Google's product search engine. It allows surfers to find specific products and conduct price comparisons. In order to submit your software to Froogle you will need to create a data feed. There is an article detailing how to submit a feed at: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article22.html

TECHIE GIFT IDEAS
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Having a very "technical" family I decided to help others who struggle with gift buying. In assembling the techie gift ideas I also learned that "User Friendly" is more techie than "Dilbert", who would have thought!. If you are a techie type, know a techie type or have to buy a gift for a techie type check out some of the gift ideas at
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/techie-gifts.html

GOOGLE
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Well I could go on and on whining about Google and the mistakes they are making, but I don't think anyone subscribes to this newsletter to hear me whine. I will just make two points. If Google's searches are no longer serving up relevant listings the masses will eventually speak by shifting their searches to another engine that serves them better. It is not a good idea to rely on a single source for your web traffic, especially one of which you don't have any control. Google's "regular" search listings provide "free" traffic they are free to change their algorythm whenever it strikes their fancy and really that is their choice. Creative developers depend on multiple sources for their web traffic and as such, should not be as affected by the most recent changes that Google has implemented.

SHAREWARE JUNKIES AWARDS
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Shareware Junkies has announced nominations for this year's best shareware programs. The SharewareJunkies.com Awards, will be presented on January 6, 2004 Surfers are invited to cast their votes at http://www.sharewarejunkies.com between now and December 18. There are 4 categoriesm Best Windows Program, Best Macintosh Program, Best OS/2 Program, Best DOS Program--and the fifth celebrates the Best Freeware Program. The program which receives the highest number of votes will be named Best Program of the Year.

VAT
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Another disappointment for those developers resisting VAT collection. Emetrix has caved and as of December 1st will begin collecting EU VAT on qualifying purchases. :-( Business customers can opt out of the tax realtime and Emetrix is encouraging physical shipments for vendors wishing to avoid the collection of the tax.

NEW SITE
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Check out Small Business Software, the site includes sample letters, resources, and much more.
http://www.small-business-software.net

SCRIPT DEBUGGER
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Stas Semenov has released Script Debugger IDE, a development platform based on ActiveX Scripting technology, and intended for building custom business solutions and program automation. Script Debugger IDE includes powerful script and form editors, and supports full client and server script debugging.
http://www.script-debugger.com

Thank you for your continued interest in Software Marketing Resource
Sharon Housley
Software Marketing Resource - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
NotePage, Inc. - http://www.notepage.net
Messaging Software - http://www.messaging-software.net