Of all of the feedback and emails from the readers of microISV.com, I’ve never received anything from a female shareware developer. This is not a huge surprise if I simply reflect on all of the offices I’ve worked in, but I know there must be more than a few ladies out there working on the next killer app. Let’s hear from you, use the Submit Information link to the right.

A few months back, Wincent Colaiuta from wincent.org posted an article telling how the registration algorithm for his Synergy software had been hacked and his sales immediately dropped 20%-30%. The article outlines the effects the hack had on him and the potential effect on his customers. At the time he also thought that the decreased sales may also bring about the demise of his company.

I got in touch with Wincent to see what, if anything, has changed in the months that have passed. His response was very succint, “the sales haven’t recovered but are still limping along. I am trying to finish a couple of new products which use a new protection system, and in the meantime hoping that my funds don’t run out. “

Many shareware developers depend on Google ads as one of their primary marketing channels. Lately, many searches are returning ads that are minimally targeted and appear to be bulk fed to Google. Many ads are from eBay affiliates trying to cash in on the eBay affiliate program that eBay has been promoting very heavily (hey, they just paid one affiliate over a million dollars for one month). The exception is when doing searches with multiple keywords that are technical in nature.

Now that they are a public company they have obligations to the shareholders to increase revenues and profits. This makes them less likely to limit the proliferation of what are becoming spam-like ads. The downside for shareware developers is that cost per click costs could become artificially inflated. Have you been adversely affected by the increase in bulk affiliate advertising on Google?

Steve Troxell of Krell Software is a successful microISV who has created several tools for SQL Server users and developers. Steve has been kind enough to share his experiences of being a microISV and offers some great advice to those who are looking to do the same.

Read the rest of this entry »

Niall Kennedy attended a discussion on running your own software business where several successful developers discussed their experiences about their projects. Niall provides both a summary and a full recording of the discussion.

Several interesting thoughts came from the discussion including the fact that PayPal was the preferred method of payment and Japan should be an area of focus for sales.

How To Run Your Own Software Business presentation [Niall Kennedy] via Justin Van Patten

CubeYellow Software
MasterList Professional Developer News
Tigsys Software
Christopher Hawkins

Many thanks to Sharon Housley for including microISV.com in the Novemeber newsletter from Software Marketing Resource. The entire newsletter is a great read and the article The Golden Hour will especially be of interest to shareware developers.

Customer information is probably the single most important batch of information for a microISV, but sometimes collecting information leads to losing a sale. The folks over at SharewarePromotions made the decision not to purchase a product because the site required an email address before the download. Their advice is to sell first and collect later.

Websites that don’t sell - shooting yourself in the foot (link to main page, article doesn’t have a permalink)

A South Australian accountant designed a software app that competes with MYOB and Quicken but is geared toward small businesses with little to no bookkeeping experience. His 28 person company now boasts over 89,000 customers and they are just now entering the US and Canadian markets. Marketing is done through accountants who recommend the product to their clients.

Accountant’s software has numbers adding up [news.com.au]

A Gartner poll shows that companies now prefer to choose only the pieces of the software that is needed for their business. This is a shift from the past where Siebel, SAP, Oracle and others provided a shrink wrapped solution that tied a business to one package.

Gartner sees shift to bite-size business software [Computerworld]

Most modern software is written by huge teams of programmers. But there is still room for homebrew coders, at least in some unusual niches

Return of the homebrew coder [Economist.com]
via JoelOnSoftware.com

Many colleges and universities have annual business plan competitions that provide companies with the opportunity to pitch to venture capitalists and business leaders. Some competitions even result in an equity investment in the company that could be as much as $1 million. Forbes profiles several companies that got a boost from a business plan competition, one of which is buySafe which provides escrow services for eBay auctions.

Big Plans On Campus [Business Week]

Many small and midsize businesses can’t afford or don’t need full enterprise level solutions or custom development teams. With most of the businesses in America being small to midsize businesses, there is a lot of opportunity for small software companies to step in and fill the gap.

Evolution Sometimes Favors the Small [Intelligent Enterprise Magazine]

If you are a microISV owner and would like to be profiled on microISV.com, send an email to profile at microisv.com or click the Submit Info link to the right. Please include a link to your product site and your personal site if you would like to make that known as well. Even if your product isn’t completed, or even started for that matter, still submit your information for consideration.

smallbusinessnewz has an article on the benefits of automating your online business as much as possible.

Automate, Automate, Automate