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-newsletter52.html .

Selling Software on Amazon
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I recently signed up with Great Mind Software to sell FeedForAll on Amazon.com. With Amazon's new search coming I thought think this is a great opportunity for small developers to increase their exposure. Great Mind Software acts as publisher of software products, for the purpose of getting it listed on Amazon.com.

Kathy Salisbury of Pharos Games has launched this new service and I'm glad that I jumped in early on, as the process was really quite simple.

In order to sell items on Amazon the item must exist in Amazon's inventory. Items are catalogued using a unique barcode identifier. Great Mind Software a subsidary of Pharos Games has setup a publishing company that provides barcodes for developers interested in selling on Amazon. For $ 99.00 Great Mind Software will review the title, setup the Amazon listing and provide a barcode.

The developer then creates a seller account on Amazon. Once setup they list inventory in their software and begin selling their title. I've been very pleased with the response and the sales my listing has brought. Additional information on Great Mind Software and selling on Amazon can be found at: http://www.greatmindsoftware.com

Avanquest
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One of the most brilliant software marketers I know, Phil Schnyder from askSam has begun working with Avanquest. Avanquest is a global software publisher and distributor based in Paris. They are currently launching a new area of on-line software distribution.

Avanquest's reach is extensive covering territories in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, Finland, France, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and the US. Their new on-line sales channel is desinged to promote, market and sell products internationally. The on-line sales channel will be launched in France and England in April and will be expanded to other territories over the next 12 months.

Signing a publishing agreement with Avanquest will mean your software marketing materials will be localized and published in local languages. Avanquest's press department maintains close relations with all the major publications in each industry. They will send press announcements in local languages and setup special promotions including cover mount CDs, special offer discounts, bundling opportunities and other online marketing promotions, including distribution to an in-house mailing list of over 2 million subscribers.

If you are interested in submitting your products for consideration for distribution by Avanquest contact pschnyder@avanquest.com include your product name, description and web address so that your product can be fully evaluated.
Additional details on Avanquest can be found at: http://www.avanquest.com/ENG/

Protexis & CNET
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Through a multi-year commercial operating agreement CNET and Protexis have bundled their offerings providing developers solutions for licensing, ecommerce and distribution. Three pieces to a puzzle that developers struggle with when selling software online. Protexis specializes in licensing and ecommerce solutions while CNET holds the keys to undoubtedly the largest software download distribution network on the Internet. Their properties include: download.com, windowsmarketplace.com and zdnet.com. CNET has a vested interest in Protexis' success, so it is logical that they would provide the power of the CNET distribution network capabilities to Protexis clients.

Realizing that some developers have different levels of protection already in place, the new Protexis protection system is designed to work with existing systems or as a complete standalone solution. At this point, if an existing protection system can pre-generate a list of serial numbers, it can easily work with the Protexis system. Eventually Protexis hopes to expand their support to other types of key generation systems.

The key benefits offered by Protexis appears to be a very aggressive e-commerce rate of 8-10%. In addition the software will be "wrapped" in a very short time frame (15 minutes). The developer will not have to integrate a complex SDK into their application to track sales, the Protexis system automates the process, making what is typically a time-consuming process, a turn-key solution.

I have not yet attempted to "wrap" any of our titles but will be sure to let everyone know how it goes when I do. It will be interesting to see how this agreement affects sales through traditional shareware registration services. I will be interested to see how secure Protexis' licensing is, when it becomes popular, and how flexible their ecommerce solutions is. In particular, as I scrutinize their e-commerce system I will be looking to see if developers are able to have custom order forms, multi-tier pricing options, or add-on products? All which ultimately have the ability to influence the sales volume.

And finally, the answer to the question everyone is asking, how will this new service effect prices of product listings on download.com - it won't. The end-user browsing listings on CNET's properties will not see any discernable difference in the products wrapped using Protexis and those not wrapped.
Additional Details - http://www.upload.com/1200-21-5139580.html

Samurai Business Tools
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Scott Kane the moderator of the comp.software.shareware.authors group has started a newsletter the Soft Zone. The Soft Zone newsletter is dedicated to persons, companies and people interested in the selling and marketing of software using the "Try Before You Buy" marketing model. Soft Zone is FREE and you can unsubscribe any time you like.
Additional Details - http://www.samuraibusinesstools.com/newsletter.html

Article
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Innovative RSS
While RSS was at one point only considered to be a means to deliver news headlines, RSS has quickly become a powerful medium to disseminate all kinds of information. As traditional marketers are attempting to rein in content delivery, measuring e-mail open rates, click-throughs and conversions, Internet users are fighting to gain control over the content they receive. Savvy marketers and business owners are using RSS as a way to improve corporate communication and increase their external exposure and brand appeal.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article57.html

How is Podcasting Used?
Although podcasting is new, it is well on its way to becoming a mainstream communication medium. Podcasting, simply put, is audio files that are delivered via RSS. Many people believe that podcasting is solely for the distribution of music files, but really, nothing could be further from the truth. This emerging method of audio file distribution has opened an array of marketing and communication opportunities to businesses. Currently, most who are familiar with podcasting are technically savvy, but it is clear that podcasting will be more than a passing fad as many businesses are adopting podcasting and employing it in unusual yet powerful ways. Podcasting can be used for talk shows, tutorials, music demos, educational training, stories, comedy clips, debates or even foreign language tutorials.
http://www.podcasting-tools.com/how-podcasting-is-used.htm

Hurry! Early Registration Discount for SIC
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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

Search Engine News:
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Yahoo is 10 years old this week. A time line of Yahoo's life has been created as a fitting tribute.

While pursuing doctorates at Stanford University, Jerry Yang and David Filo begin to compile a list of their favorite Web sites. The list eventually appears online as "David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web."

http://www.newscoast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050228/APN/502280581

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Sharon Housley
Software Marketing Resource - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
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