Hi,
Welcome to the May issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter54.html .


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.

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