Hi,
Welcome to the April issue of Software Marketing News, an independent voice for software developers. An HTML version can be viewed at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/author-resource-newsletter66.html .

New Tucows Chat
The "Ask Tucows" Chat is a chance for you to "talk" to various Tucows employees and ask questions, make suggestions and get to know us better; it's also a chance for us to get to know you better. Tuesday, May 2nd from 12:00 noon to 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time check their website to see the times of other chats.
http://chat.tucows.com/

PubCon Overview - The Tipping Point
I recently attended the PubCon conference in Boston. Malcolm Gladwell the author of The Tipping Point and Blink was the keynote speaker. He was very engaging and raised some very interesting points.

The book, The Tipping Point, in part discusses the concept of connectors and mavens, and how they bring about change. Connectors are those unique individuals who have an uncanny connection to an unbelievable number of other people. They typically cultivate relationships and grow extensive networks in a variety of different social circles. Connectors have extremely diverse social networks, while most individual have three to five social networks; connectors have an astounding fifteen social networks. Mavens are those individuals who consistently provide highly specific and relevant information based on analysis of a specific sector, they might evangelize a specific brand or be known for being price conscious.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/tipping-point.htm

What is The Long Tail?
At the PubCon Conference that I recently attended there was a whole lot of talk about The Long Tail. I thought it might be helpful to those unfamiliar with the concept to explain what the Long Tail really is.

The phrase "The Long Tail" was first used in 2004 by Chris Anderson a writer for Wired Magazine. Anderson used the phrase to describe business models. The article initially referencing The Long Tail referred to the fact that a small handful of blogs have a large number of links pointing to them, while millions of smaller blogs have only a handful of links. Chris Anderson described the effects of the long tail on business models and argued that products that are in a low demand can effectively and collectively make up a market share that exceeds the few of those that are in high demand.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/the-long-tail.htm

Google Juice?
What is Google juice? Google juice is a slang phrase that used to describe a websites ability to rank well in Google searches for key phrases. A website that performs well, ranking one or two, in a variety of phrases, in particular for phrases that are not part of the websites name is said to have a lot of Google juice.

Web Awards
Nominations are open for the 2006 WebAwards. The 2006 WebAwards will name the best Website in 96 industry categories. Nominate a website today!
http://www.webaward.org/

Advertise on SMR
Advertise on the most popular software marketing resource! Prices are very affordable and only a single slot will be available on each page. In an effort to better serve website visitors we have removed adsense ads from the web pages on Software Marketing Resource website. A single 468X60 box (text or graphic) will be sold on each of the directory pages.

Ads are first come first serve! Additional details at:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/advertising.htm



Award(s)
Shareware Industry Awards
SIAF People's Choice Awards voting begins on May 1st and ends at 12:00 Noon Mountain Daylight Time on May 31st.

Nominations for the Shareware Industry Awards will begin on May 1st. In order to be considered for the awards, your product must be released by May 1st! Nominations will end at 12:00 Noon MDT on May 8th! You must nominate in order to vote. Those who participate are asked to look at all nominated programs prior to the commencement of voting.

Shareware Industry Awards voting will be from May 24th through 12:00 Noon Mountain Daylight Time on May 31st each year.

More - http://www.sic.org/voting.asp

Conference(s)
Shareware Industry Conference (SIC) 2006
Make your plans to attend the Shareware Industry Conference! July 13-15, 2006 in Denver, Colorado. Rooms are filling up fast.
http://www.sic.org



Resources:
Statistics
Adage Supplemental PDF with lots of statistical information about advertising online. It is worth a peak!
http://www.adage.com/images/random/Interactivefactpack06.pdf



Article(s)
New Articles

Google Paranoia or A Cause for Concern?
Anti-Google sentiment is on the rise. Web pundits have tossed around monopoly theories and privacy advocates have warned of a day of reckoning. While Google has made friends on Wallstreet, it has disappointed the technical evangelists who were once its fiercest followers. Google has grown into a big scary company and web watchers are expressing their concerns about the information Google gleans from their various services.
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/google-paranoia.htm

RSS More than Just News Headlines or Blogs
The core use for RSS is generally considered news headlines and blog syndication, but innovative businesses are learning to use RSS in different ways. Consider RSS as a communication channel that can provide current, targeted information as it appears within a very targeted audience.
http://www.feedforall.com/rss-more-than-news.htm

Search Engines

Google Suggest
As you type, Google will offer suggestions. Use the arrow keys to navigate the results. Unfortunately one of the most common suggestions for anything related to software is "crack" or "serial" :-(
http://labs.google.com/suggest

A9 / Alexa and Microsoft Live
Garrett French reports that both Alexa Amazon's A9 have switched from being powered by Google Search to Microsoft's Windows Live Search.
http://www.searchenginelowdown.com


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Software marketing resource is an independent voice for developers. We welcome any suggestions and feedback on our blog, articles, newsletter and website.

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