Johnathan D. Nolen has come up with The Open Test for evaluating software companies. Now when he says open, he means open.

A few more microISVs are starting to blog about their experiences. I’ve recently come across the Stuffed Guys, Tom Ballachino, and while Jason Kottke isn’t becoming a one man software company, but you have to give him kudos for quitting his job to become a full time blogger.

Donna Wentworth has commented on several excerpts from a few end user license agreements that she thinks are no good. As software developers and customers, what do you think is the right balance?

Several people posted comments on yesterday’s post asking about what benefit the statistics actually provide. I can only speak for myself so that’s what I’ll do.

My goal as a marketer of software is to get my advertising in front of as many people who are interested in my product at the moment when they would be most inclined purchase my product or at least download the product if they aren’t going to purchase immediately. In short, I feel that the information posted yesterday gives me, at the very least, a benchmark for which times to target in order to reach my goals.

One commenter said that the information was obvious and that we all know that downloads are lower on the weekend. Yes we do, but I’ve been selling shareware for several years and I wasn’t 100% sure that most purchases were made on Tuesday. My sample size isn’t quite equal to that of Thomas Warfield or Nick Bradbury. Why is it beneficial to know that Tuesday is when most purchases are made? Because now I can offer an incentive to purchase on Thursday or Friday and possibly increase my overall conversion ratio.

Since my business is best served by making more money, my time is best spent with ways that will increase my overall profit. Two of the primary ways to do this are to increase sales and decrease expenses. In talking with many shareware developers, I’ve found that most use Google AdWords as a primary method of marketing their product. Now that Google is opening up the AdWords API, my guess is that we’re going to see dozens if not hundreds of apps that will handle scheduling of ads. By scheduling ads to appear at times when people are more likely to download my software, I have a better chance of both increasing sales and quite possibly, decreasing expenses. My other option is to use the API to increase the bids on my AdWords so that they appear first in the list during non-peak times which has the potential to increase sales during times that are traditionally slow. The statistics posted yesterday give me the information on where to start with minimal trial and error and, in turn, less wasted money.

The one question I asked eSellerate that they weren’t able to answer was “What is the average number of days that pass between the time the software is downloaded and the time its purchased?” Because downloads are highest on Wednesday and purchases are highest on Tuesday, then a guess can be made that most people purchase the software 6 days after they download. If this is in fact the case, I’d like to find ways to incent people to purchase the software more quickly. These statistics gave me this information which I may not have known otherwise.

Ways to use the stats:

1. Target ads for peak times
2. Make ads more visible during non-peak times
3. Offer incentives to purchase on non-peak days
4. Decrease the time between download and purchase
5. Focus my marketing efforts with less trial and error
6. Focus my marketing to spend less money to make more sales
7. Print out the pdf and burn it to keep warm for a few seconds

When starting a microISV, many people do marketing the old fashioned way. Trial and error. With that in mind, I thought that many of you would be interested in knowing some statistics on things like “which day is best for downloads” or “on what day are most shareware purchases made”. Hint… its not the same day.

Well now you can know! eSellerate, a leading software commerce provider, has graciously supplied microISV with data gathered over the last six months of 2004. I have compiled this information into charts that I think will be very useful when tailoring marketing campaigns for your software.

The following charts are provided in the pdf:

1. microISV poll - Who is your target market?
2. microISV poll - What type of trial do you offer?
3. microISV poll - When did you last purchase a shareware application?
4. Downloads by hour of the day
5. Downloads by day of the week
6. Purchases by hour of the day
7. Purchases by day of the week

Download the pdf, Shareware Statistics from microISV, and feel free to share it with others who may be interested in these statistics. As always, I’m interested in hearing your feedback regarding information such as this so that I can keep the site updated with what is most useful.

I’m guessing that many of you are like me. You have more ideas than you know what to do with them. UIWEB.com has posted an article on How to Pitch an Idea that may help you when communicating your idea to the person next to you or to the person with the power to make your idea become a reality (if you need more than just yourself).

Step 8, their last step, is Do It Yourself. While this may be the first step for many of us, the other steps can help you focus your idea to get you off on the right foot.

With advancing technology, we have created a world of almost unlimited opportunity to be distracted. The New York Times has an article that higlights several companies that are working to develop software that is less intrusive and is able to predict when someone is busy.

One of those interviewed says…

For the past eight years, Mr. Serotta has used a laptop computer. “That means I can take my ability to dodge serious work everywhere,” he said. “I really depend on small technical distractions to keep me away from the things I dread doing.”

Good thing none of us have that problem!

via kottke.org

Nick Bradbury gives us an inside look on how he develops TopStyle and FeedDemon.

Adam Stiles follows up Nick’s post with an inside look at the NetCaptor development process.

Terri Zwierzynski outlines the Top 10 Business Plan Myths for Solo Entrepreneurs

David, the founder of microISV Reality, has posted about his experiences of jumping into the game as a microISV and starting the microISV Reality website. In the post, he details an email exchange that several people, including myself, were part of where David had many great suggestions for advancing the microISV concept. The responses weren’t exactly what David expected but they helped him make a decision on where to focus his efforts. So in this case, it appears that the less than positive responses were better for him. David’s choice shows that knowing when to stop a project can sometimes be much more important than seeing it through to the end.

Business Week Online interviewed Brian Wu, a Wharton doctoral student who found that an entrepreneur’s overconfidence in their ability is what leads them to start businesses, not their ability to tolerate risk.

Microsoft has an online Small Business Center that has loads of articles, webcasts and services to help you with your business.

Back in April 2003, Carl D. Howe of Blackfriars Inc wrote that the time had come for software companies to offer warranties. His choice to compare the purchase of a $100,000 Mercedes to the purchase of $100,000 enterprise software is not really a fair comparison but I get the point he’s trying to make. The suggestions made in the article now seem dated but its an interesting idea.

What do you think, is a warranty just a formalized support agreement? Is there anything more that you could provide with a formal warranty than what you’re already doing?

Eric Sink has posted his latest Business of Software column titled Tenets of Transparency. The article contains some excellent recommendations for selling software in today’s world and I agree with many of the points he made. What I like most though is the ‘Practicing What I Preach’ section where he changes his 8 year old policy of no refunds. No, I don’t plan to purchase his software and ask for a refund, but I do think this shows two things, you can’t hide your faults and that, quite simply, transparency is easier.

You Can’t Hide Your Faults

Consumers have always had a choice of whether or not to spend their money, but for a long time they had to make these choices based primarily on the marketing of the company selling the product. In today’s world, the company can put out any message they’d like about their products but the truth will eventually be made public by the consumer.

Blogs, Amazon reviews and numerous other websites have made it so that the consumer can be as informed as they choose before spending a dollar. That’s an awesome power for both the consumer and, if handled properly, the company selling their products. Even if there are flaws in a product, a company can be informed quickly and take corrective action before it becomes devastating. There may also be times that the company finds out that they need to go back to square one. In either case, the company can’t hide their faults, they can simply make a decision on how to handle them.

Transparency is easier

While reading Eric’s article, I immediately thought that many people would feel that too much transparency would equate to a loss of control. Transparency, in my opinion, will lead to even more control. You as the business owner can control both the good and the bad by leading the charge. If there is a problem, you can be the first to tell everyone. Many customers will appreciate a company who is the first to say that they have a problem and that they are fixing it. If they have already spent money on your product and you address their concerns quickly, you’re probably going to increase your salesforce rather than creating detractors. This is very powerful when trying to attract new customers.

On the other hand, if you try and keep everything hidden in the back office, you’re going to spend your days trying to control the message about your company and your core business will suffer. By trying to hide anything that’s negative, you’re going to lend it even more credibility, possibly more than its worth, and you’ll be spending your time fighting rather than selling. Its just easier to put it out there for all to see. If your product is good, the positive will quickly outweigh the bad and you’ll have nothing to worry about.

Planware.org provides weekly business planning tips in addition to a host of other information, shareware and freeware.