First experience on shareware development
steg
share my experience. I've took a lot of advice from the archives of
this newgroup, so I thought I'd give something back,
I had decided to create yet another Screensaver maker (for windows).
But I wasn't going to develop just another slideshow or flash player
type of saver, though. I was inspired by the fact that a lot of the
places I've worked just have logon.scr still as the screensaver on
their computers. I thought it wouldn't be too hard to have their own
logo as a screensaver instead, and I beleive it adds a nice and
professional touch. After about 15 mins on google, I came to the
conclusion that there wasn't much software that already did just this.
Perhaps there's a reason for this, or maybe I didn't look hard enough.
Anyway, that was my research over with. I didn't think too much about
marketing at this point.
So, I got onto the easy part - the development. I had a rough idea of
what features I was going to implement, then I got more ideas as I went
along. At one point I had too many features implement, so I decided to
stop programming more features, leaving them for later releases, and
just get the thing released. I also made the chm manual at the same
time
as developing.
I choose a combination of Visual Basic (for the wizard), and C (for the
savers), not that it really matters much to the end user.
Whenever I got bored with the development, I worked on the website. I
think the only tricky part of this was the payment processing.
After about 4 months, I'm confident that I've made something good
enough
to release. Now for the marketing. First I created a pad, and dished it
out to some software sites. I'm not sure how many people actually use
these sites, but perhaps it will increase my chances in search engines.
I've also got some ads on Google. Just like probably most software
developers, I'm finding this the hardest part. And there's no instant
way of knowing if its worked.
I am aiming low and calling just one sale a success. Money isn't my
main
motivation. If it was, I would definately have concentrated more on my
initial research, and thought about marketing before I even considered
what to do with WM_PAINT.
The money I spent on hosting and adverts was small and expendable, and
my learning experiences is something money can't buy. I'm hoping this
will steer my career back into IT.. perhaps it will give me something
to talk about at interviews.
My software is called Any Logo Screensaver Creator, and you can find it
at
http://www.anylogoscreensaver.com
Let me know what you think.
Steve Grundell.
Scott Kane
news:1166878255.6...@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com...
>I have just developed my first shareware application, and I thought I'd
> share my experience. I've took a lot of advice from the archives of
> this newgroup, so I thought I'd give something back,
Welcome to the world of shareware, Steve!
It was nice of you to post your experiences in public. Very few people do
that. Screen Savers makers are a tough market, there are a lot of them
about. One thing I'd do on your website is switcheroo your right hand
buttons so that Buy Now is at the top, followed by Download and then the
Screen Shots button. You want people to buy, not download, if possible. A
lot of my products have sold on no trial version and it's a good goal if you
can do it. Switching will put "Buy" into the customers mind. Didn't have
time to go right over your site - but it does look pretty clean.
Good luck and seasons greetings!
Scott Kane
Moderator comp.software.shareware.*
Andrew Gibson
>
Have you thought of marketing this to logo design companies? They could
re-sell it for you, since it would make a great bonus for their customers.
Kind Regard
Andrew Gibson
http://www.3d-box-shot.com
Video Box Shots
steg
>
> It was nice of you to post your experiences in public. Very few people do
> that. Screen Savers makers are a tough market, there are a lot of them
> about. One thing I'd do on your website is switcheroo your right hand
> buttons so that Buy Now is at the top, followed by Download and then the
> Screen Shots button. You want people to buy, not download, if possible. A
> lot of my products have sold on no trial version and it's a good goal if you
> can do it. Switching will put "Buy" into the customers mind. Didn't have
> time to go right over your site - but it does look pretty clean.
>
I agree, not many share their experiences.. perhaps they're either too
embarrased, or they don't want to tell the competition something they
already know anyway!
It sounds a good idea swapping those buttons around.. I'll do that
now.
Thanks for your feedback, Scott. I really appreciate it!
Cheers,
Steve.
steg
>
> Have you thought of marketing this to logo design companies? They could
> re-sell it for you, since it would make a great bonus for their customers.
>
That's a great idea!
What I thought about doing was to just exchange links with some of
them, since both services are complimentary to each other.
Thanks, Andrew!
Steve.
brooksr
Just wanted to say thanks for posting and sharing. I'm a month or so
behind you and its enlightening.
Very nice job on the website. What tool did you use to create it?
Brooks
phei...@gmail.com
> After about 4 months, I'm confident that I've made something good
> enough to release.
I'm a little bit curious about your development time. 4 months of
coding in spare time may be too long. I think for a small software
project, 3 months will be enough.
> I've also got some ads on Google. Just like probably most software
> developers, I'm finding this the hardest part. And there's no instant
> way of knowing if its worked.
I'd like to hear more about the result of google ad.
> My software is called Any Logo Screensaver Creator, and you can find it
Did you really see some screensavers with logo in big companies? I'll
tellyou what the screensaver looks like in my company.
It should at least have some slogan, just like vision, mission, value,
of something like that.
So my suggestion is that you add one more step in your wizard to let
users input something
About your website, I don't like your screenshots. I guess people click
on the link of screenshot to see what kind of screensaver you can
create, not the every dialog of your wizard.
steg
> I'm a little bit curious about your development time. 4 months of
> coding in spare time may be too long. I think for a small software
> project, 3 months will be enough.
Well, it all depends on how much spare time you have. I originaly
thought it would take about a month or two to make, but with 3 children
and a baby it took a lot longer than I first anticipated.
> Did you really see some screensavers with logo in big companies? I'll
> tellyou what the screensaver looks like in my company.
> It should at least have some slogan, just like vision, mission, value,
> of something like that.
> So my suggestion is that you add one more step in your wizard to let
> users input something
No, I haven't seen any screensavers used in a company, that's what
motivated me to making the software. But I do like your idea.
> About your website, I don't like your screenshots. I guess people click
> on the link of screenshot to see what kind of screensaver you can
> create, not the every dialog of your wizard.
Yes, I agree with you... but its hard portray what the animation of the
savers will look like with just a screenshot. I am going to list the
animations on the site, and make some example savers.
Brooks: I just used a text editor.
Thanks for your ideas and feedback!
Steve.
robk6364
a screenshot. I am going to list the animations on the site, and make some
example savers."
It shouldn't be too hard to make some flash files to show moving examples
on your site... and I think that would be more likely to grab peoples
attention when they get there. Most people that stumble on your page will
leave within 5 seconds if you don't grab their interest quickly.
Rom
"steg" <goo...@grundell.co.uk> wrote in message
> My software is called Any Logo Screensaver Creator, and you can find it
> at http://www.anylogoscreensaver.com
> Let me know what you think.
Your presentation as it is displayed at
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Search/create_screensaver.html
is included below
As you can see, your software does not stand out.
There is no way you can earn money at this stage
However, on behalf of all shareware sites I want to express
a warm thanks to you (people like you are what makes the world
go around)
(Sorry you have to pay hosting costs. You are so valueable that
of course those sites should have compensated you. Because of
you they can all make traffic revenues)
Thanks again
Kjell
PAD-file writing offered
A nice website is often like a beautifully crafted statue in the attic of
your house
1. Do some PAD-file tweaking and double download rate
2. Price is of increased importance
2. Collect testimonials, including from auction sites
3. Make free trial dependent upon a code and collect email addresses
4. Create two versions of your program, versjon 1 and a newer version 2 -
and offer version 2 as an upgrade to existing custormers
5. Create a salespage and use auction sites
6. Make proper targeting of customers with proper naming of product
7. Focus on one product only even if you have written several ones. Improve
that product till state-of-art - the rest was training
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