I wonder if its worth paying Tucows for

[Dexx]

faster approval?


It used be $25 per submission for 24hr approval, now it's $50 per submission

Or you can get unlimited submissions approved within 24hrs for a full year for $2000 (which you make back after 40 uploads)


If you want to be emailed with the daily download statistics for software thats $9.99 a month or $100 a year.




I'm just not sure how big Tucows' network of syndication is to justify that amount! Maybe I'll try paying the $50 expedited approval for the software that made be $140 last week...then I'll sign up for the statistics subscription and see how much downloads it gets...



I did pay the $9 basic subscription fee on Upload.com for two of my latest software projects and they got approved within 1 business day. Much better than waiting 2 - 3 weeks, and I'm just gonna drop the package back down to free now so I don't have to pay $9 every month!

[Dexx]

Hrmm interesting, just found a post on Tucows and dealing with them!

The Initial Submission (http://www.avianwaves.com/Blog/default.aspx?id=45&t=I-just-submitted-RD-Tabs-to-TUCOWS-See)

and

The follow-up 13 months later (http://www.avianwaves.com/Blog/default.aspx?id=115&t=TUCOWS-Long-Past-Their-Prime)

[Alton]

That is interesting. And, one thing I have discovered when speaking on the phone with many companies is that they are not open to discussion as to how to improve their business and customer relationships. Many of them are quite content doing their business as usual. Of course, if you watch the news on tv, business as usual is what brought the economy down.

Alton

[TigerSoftware]

Dexx, test it out with Download.com first. If it is successful there than test tucows. That way you will have something to base it off.



Thomas

[JKZ]

Since this is my first public posting here, I promise to add something of great value.

You could also try passing it around discreetly via P2P networks/torrents/warez forums.
Just because it is limited does not mean they won't have some reason to benefit your
back-ends.

Joseph's Rule #1 to marketing: Deal with the non-buying market first, as this segment
is ALWAYS going to be larger than your quality buying market will be. Since the version(s)
you are dealing with now are ad-loaded, tip them up just a bit fuller with ad-support.

Case in Reality: China has more people illegally using Microsoft software than makes up the
difference of Microsoft's potential remaining market share outside of China. But Microsoft has
their "Updates" still enabled, or they should, as their updates system has geo-location capabilities
built right in, and China can be served up all sorts of spammy Chinese ads (just like their spammy
sites blast our browsers with) of the CPM or CPA variety.

Joseph's Rule #2 to marketing: Consumers Pay for my ad-free goods; they should freely
download (and dare I say "pirate") my mega-ad-supported goods. Thus, sales versions could
be classified by the amount of ads included.

For example:
Banner-CPA/CPM: 7 in rotation, Multiple splashes in rotation onload/close: software is FREE
Banner-CPA/CPM: 5 in rotation, Single Splash on load/close: software sells for $9.95
Banner-CPA/CPM: 3 in rotation, Single splash on close: software sells for $14.95
No Banner, Single Splash for Parent Site onload/onclose: software sells for $21.95
No Banner, Single Splash during install and on first run: software sells for $29.95
No Banners or splashes (ever): software sells for $49

Now, think about this.

If I am serious about using your software, as a highly-targeted, pre-qualified customer, I am also
two (2) other things:

Not wanting to be delayed in, nor distracted while, using the software.
I am also more than willing to pay the extra for the ads-redux version.

If I'm not so serious a user/customer, what difference are more ads going to make of my user
experience?

None.


Dexx, create multiple flavors of each software, and take the most ads-filled version you can
stand to the free-P2P world. The splashes should only be to upgrade to a less- or non-ads-supported
version. Up-sell them from ads to no ads. Even if they don't take, they are getting your ads... and will
eventually pay for their laziness.

If they do upgrade, you have somehow captured additional market share without really working any
harder than before, since TSB lets you essentially duplicate anything you've ever done before to the
finest detail. Thus, you only need to do the "hard stuff" once, then you simply copy/clone/re purpose
it for the current need.

The whole time the 'underground' is celebrating passing around you goods, they are also marketing it
for you, as most market trends are visible within these areas weeks, months, even years before the
general consumer public even has a clue what is available. You might as well reduce the delays in
converging the two communities (which is called "gaining maximum potential market saturation").

Who do you think really decides what will make it in the market? The answer is: the underground's
desire to have something in ANY FORM increases the perceived value in the future of the item. The
more "cracked", "hacked", or "jacked" copies are being passed around, the more the developer can
charge the rest of the market (and the more they will pay). Do you own Microsoft or Adobe softwares?
If so, you are proof of this concept.

When your measures show a significant number of regularly accessed copies through the P2P channels,
raise the price based upon the increased market demands (which is not a lie) and detail how it requires
your company to upscale many of its internal functions to meet this new demand, such as support,
hosting, web copy, etc.

~ Joseph

[Dexx]

Wowza! Amazing post Joseph!!

I'll digest all that information and give it a try asap!

Thanks :)

[NextDay-Copy]

Well, this is my puny first post -- which I am making to laud your amazing first post, Joseph!

Live JoyFully!

Judy Kettenhofen, Profit Strategist/Copywriter
NextDay Copy