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-newsletter64.html .

My name is Dave Collins from SharewarePromotions, and this month I'm honoured to be writing the content for Software Marketing News. I'm not quite Sharon, but hope to be able to share some good information with you anyway.

So without further ado:

Technology for Productivity
Last month, Sharon mentioned how useful she found TypePilot to be. So far I've only had time to take a quick look, but I also thought it seemed very  impressive.

The fact is that most of people reading this don't have enough time to do everything we'd like to each day, so anything that can save time is bound to be interesting.

One of our clients has a great application by the name of Macro Scheduler. You can use it to automate tasks, enter repetitive key clicks, run macros, automate data transfer, script web applications and more.

Personally, I use it to format entries to our blog, to copy backups across the network at night, to compress downloaded log files, to switch my system speakers off at night and for countless other tasks each day.

Every minute counts, and I'd hazard a guess that Macro Scheduler saves me in the region of 45 minutes a day. Literally.

Well worth a look: http://www.mjtnet.com/

Reaping the benefits of AdWords
Those of you who have met me at the various shareware conferences over the last few years have undoubtedly heard me extolling the benefits of Google AdWords.

I assume that most people reading this newsletter are already using AdWords. If not, then you're probably missing out on a fair amount of low-cost, targeted traffic, aka sales. Enough said.

One of the more shocking conclusions that I've come to over the past few years is that the average AdWords account is set up quite badly. I'm not just talking about losing opportunities, although that would be bad enough. Many of the accounts that I have seen are wasting money. Some of them quite large amounts, on a daily basis.

Let's take a step back.

There are four main parties involved here. Google, the AdSense account holder, the people carrying out the search and the advertiser.

Google wants two things. To provide relevant results for the searches, and to make money from the advertiser.

The AdSense account holder wants one thing. Money for the adverts displayed on their site/s.

The people carrying out the search want one thing. The information they're searching for.

The advertiser wants two things. Good exposure, and a healthy return on their investment.

Of all the parties, Google is in the most sensitive position. They need to make sure that all the other parties are happy with the arrangement. But never forget that their reason for existence isn't to provide a service and make the world a better place. It's to make money.

The fact is that the Google AdWords system, by default, is heavily biased towards Google themselves. And there's nothing wrong with that, because it's their system. But this bias does come at the expense of the advertisers.

In a sense, there's a natural order and balance to the system. Even if you set it up quite badly, you should see reasonable results. But at the end of the day, it's Google who benefits the most.

There's good news and bad news.

The bad news is that you shouldn't be happy with just reasonable. You are more or less handing over money directly from your haemorrhaging account. Even if there's still enough blood left to keep you alive.

The good news is that there's a great deal you can do to turn around your AdWords ROI. Whether you're starting from poor or reasonable, it's quite possible to turn this into excellent.

If pushed I could probably churn out hundreds of tips and hints, but time and space are limited. So here are my five top tips regarding the most commonly made AdWords mistakes:

(1) Tracking each ad individually is essential. Google's account will only let you see how many clicks you get for each ad. But without tracking, you might never know that 99.9% of the visitors that you're paying for take one look at your website page for one second before leaving. Not good.

(2) Clicks from the content network are not worth as much as clicks from Google search and the Search Network. If you're paying as much (or more) for your content ads then you are almost certainly losing money.

(3) Separation of content network and search network ads is essential. Separate campaigns means separate pricing, budgets, ads, keywords and tracking. Don't put them together.

(4) If you don't know what "broad matching" means, then you are definitely throwing money away. Find out immediately at the Google Help Centre - http://adwords.google.com/support - and tighten up your matching options as soon as you possibly can.

(5) Unless you're only using exact matching (which is a bad idea in itself), you should look into negative keywords. Failure to do so is another way to reduce the ROI and improve Google's bank balance unnecessarily.

One more tip for good luck. Never, ever, under any circumstances, let a Google AdWords account run itself. Even once setup correctly, you should be checking in at least every two weeks or so.

The Google Help Centre is a great resource, but if you don't have the time or inclination, why not have a look to see what we can do for you. Our Google AdWords Management package might be just what you're looking for.

http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/google-adwords.html

Covering all bases
Many software companies within the shareware industry are at the leaner end of the company-size scale. Yet for many of us, what we lose in size, manpower, budgets and corporate presence, we more than make up for with responsiveness, willingness to take risk, adaptability and innovation.

However, those of us un/lucky enough to be forward thinking are aware that there are other prices to pay for small size. We have no IT department, communications network, PR team, financial department or boss to "guide" us. We take all of that on our own shoulders.

So I'm sometimes horrified to see how many small business are failing to take even the most basic steps to protect their infrastructure. Despite the fact that doing so could make the difference between sinking or swimming in a crisis.

A few simple and relatively cheap steps could ensure that your business survives.

Backups. Backing up your data is more than a good idea. It's essential. Critical. Vitally important. And with the low prices of the hardware and software required, no business has any excuse not to do so.

A couple of hundred dollars will buy you a copy of Acronis True Image and an external hard drive. Set the software up to automatically back up all of your critical data either across the network or onto a DVD periodically. Make an image of your hard drive onto the external hard drive, then disconnect it and store it somewhere safe

Imagine that tomorrow you walk into your office to discover that your hard drive is dead, and the data cannot be recovered. Work out how many emails, documents, downloads and MB of source data you would lose, and how long it would take you to get back. $200 is all you need to prevent this scenario from occurring.

Connectivity. Over the years I've used a dial-up connection, ISDN, ADSL and 2-way satellite to connect to the internet. The only thing that they have in common is that they all stop working at some point. Without exception.

If your business relies on your connection to the web, then having a backup connection is critical. In the past we relied on ADSL plus a dialup account to fall back on if we needed it. It saved us more than once.

Nowadays, we have a second, completely separate phone line, with a separate ADSL account using a different provider. It's a form of insurance, but we still use the second connection, so get some value for money out of it as well.

If or when disaster strikes or problems arise, having something to fall back on is critical. Don't let the next mishap or bad day jeopardise your company. All of your marketing efforts can go out of the window in literally hours. Cover all bases.

Pay Per Performance - directions & lessons
We've been working with different flavours of Pay Per Click longer than I can remember. I was one of the early adopters of Goto, and have worked quite extensively with FindWhat, AdWords and others.

Aside from the obvious benefits of using these systems, it's also been interesting watching them develop over the years.

GoTo were the real pioneers of the PPC concept, but aside from implementing a great idea, the most significant thing they seem to have done is change their name; to Overture and then to Yahoo! Search Marketing.

As for the rest, if truth be told, it's even difficult to remember them. Miva, Kanoodle, Enhance, Espotting; the reason these names are only vaguely familiar is that there are really only two serious contenders.

And let's cut to the chase here. Google AdWords is leagues ahead of Overture.

Google is slick. Overture is slow enough to be classed as stagnant.

Google is responsive. Overture does well at dragging their feet.

Google adds new features on an ongoing basis. Overture concentrates on changing their name.

There's an important lesson here. Being first is very different from staying first. The fact that Overture were the pioneers of modern PPC hasn't given them any advantage whatsoever in the long run.

Look at it from the other point of view. Google looked at Overture, but saw a good idea that they could make great. And they did so quickly.

However, don't get me wrong here. Don't think that I am a huge fan of all things Google related. I do like most of what they do, but some of it is considerably less than impressive.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day Google offer the best opportunities for our clients.

The old style of advertising, such as the CPM model, is now more or less redundant. Online advertising is a buyer's market, and that puts all the power right into our hands. PPC services have to deliver quality services with a decent ROI. Failure to do so will result in their going the way of the dodo. Or Overture.

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A huge thank you to Dave Collins of Shareware Promotions http://www.sharewarepromotions.com for putting this issue of Software Marketing News together so I could thoroughly enjoy a bit of a vacation!

Awards Announced!!!
All of you have patiently been awaiting the announcement of the Software Vendor Awards! I'm pleased to say they have been posted. The Software Vendor Awards recognized those vendors (as determined by other industry professionals) who provide exceptional value, customer service or innovation!

A small independent vendor, Plimus swept the e-commerce category, while eSellerate's affiliate program shined. Digital River's FileKicker dominated the file hosting category. Other categories divided the votes between nominees with unexpected ties. Russian backed vendors proved to be a force with SWRUS, winning best software organization. SoftIdentity won in the graphics and icon categories, and ASPack was chosen as the best software protection scheme. Shareware Promotions challenged Rudenko when it came to software submission customer service. As expected Mike Callahan took home a well deserved win as best software reviewer.

All of the winners can be viewed online at: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/winners-2006.htm or view the nominees and winners http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/winners.htm

Thank you for your continued interest in SMR. I hope you enjoyed Dave Collin's writing, if you wish to see more I would encourage you to visit Dave Talks http://www.davetalks.com/ and his Software Blog at http://www.sharewarepromotions.com/blog/index.html

Thanks again Dave!
Sharon Housley