Back at it

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Almost two months since my last post. And if we don’t count my “Amazon-Free” updates, the last post about something related to software marketing was 3 months ago. (But at least I caused some commotion with that one).
I haven’t even posted about the new car I purchased in January 🙂

The Amazon-Free project has been taking up most of my time, but I have also spend two weeks on Maui (for vacation and for Perry Marshall’s Adwords seminar).

Anyway, I am back at it. The Maui seminar gave me lots of fresh marketing ideas and we’re working hard to implement all of them. I’ll post updates about the results here, probably in the form of more frequent short “brain-dumps”, as opposed to long articles.

But first things first… the new car… coming up next…

Making Collectorz.com Amazon-Free

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amazon-logo1Let me give you an update on our issues with Amazon and the iPhone apps. First, a quick summary of what the issue is about exactly:

Our Collectorz.com online media database systems use Amazon searches as a fallback, only for items that are not in our own databases yet. Users of our Windows or Mac software can use that downloaded data (*possibly* containing Amazon data) for cataloging their CDs, DVDs, books or video games. Then, if they also have our iPhone app, they can export the data to the mobile device. Our iPhone apps do not access the Amazon data feed directly.

But last week, I received an email from Amazon, saying that we must stop using Amazon data in mobile apps, because it is a violation of their agreement. Or else they would turn off our access to the Amazon data feed. So to play it safe, we removed our iPhone apps from the App Store.
Continue reading →

Amazon killed our iPhone apps

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amazon-logo1Just when I thought things were quieting down here at the Collectorz.com office, I received the following email from Amazon:

Subject: Your Amazon Associates Acount

It has come to our attention that you have created applications for use with mobile devices which use Amazon.com content. The use of a mobile application in conjunction with the Product Advertising API or the Associates Program without our express prior written approval is not permitted.

As a result, we must insist that you cease this use of our services immediately. Moreover, because of this violation of both the Product Advertising API License Agreement and the Associates Operating Agreement, your Associates accounts have been closed and your access key turned off.

We thank you for your understanding and wish you the best of luck in the future.

Continue reading →

Protecting software with Themida

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piracy1Remember my post about fighting software piracy? A quick summary:

Don’t bother protecting your software against piracy. Your software will get cracked anyway.

If your software is protected, it will only take slightly longer before the cracker publishes his crack. Making the cracker’s life harder has no effect whatsoever on the number of users that get access to a cracked copy of your software.

In any case, don’t let piracy irritate you, drain your energy, waste your time or take away your focus from the important stuff: Improving and selling your software.

Well… I changed my mind… Continue reading →

What to focus on: Product, Conversion or Traffic?

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pctThe core message of my Art of Ignoring presentation is focusing on the right stuff and in particular, choosing between working on Product ( = Programming), Conversion or Traffic.

Many developers default to working on their Product, spending most (or all) of their time programming. But that may not be the best way to increase your sales. For example, if you are getting about 100 visitors a day, then adding more cool features to your program is not going to help your sales. (Tip: if this is you, focus on Traffic).

On the other hand, if you are getting thousands of visitors per day, but are only averaging one customer per 1000 visitors, then spending time and money to get even more Traffic may not be the smart thing to focus on. You should improve your Conversion first.

Final example: if you are getting 1 or 2 sales each day, then trying to optimize the Conversion of your check-out process is not a good idea, as you won’t be able to measure the effects reliably.

That’s enough examples of what not to do. Here’s some simple guidelines for deciding when you should focus on Product, Conversion or Traffic. Continue reading →

Web-application Pros and Cons – ESWC 2009

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Here’s the video of my second presentation at last weekend’s European Software Conference in Berlin. This presentation is about web-applications, about their advantages and disadvantages for both users and ISVs and about our first experiences with the Collectorz.com Connect online apps.

Download the slides in PDF format here.

The player will show in this paragraph

The Art of Ignoring – ESWC 2009

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As promised, the slides and full text of my “The Art of Ignoring” presentation at the ESWC 2009 in Berlin. Download it in PDF format here.

(Sorry, no video of this ESWC presentation, but you can watch the SIC 2009 video of the same presentation here.)

artofignoring-eswc-620001

This presentation is about time-management for ISVs, about deciding what to work on at any given time. But more importantly, what to ignore.

Continue reading →

Web-applications : first thoughts

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connectTwo months ago I posted about the launch of our first web application and our reasons for diving into online apps. Last week we launched our second web-app for cataloging books, so I figured I’d let you know my first thoughts about doing online software.
Tip: For the full story, attend my Web-Apps presentation at the ESWC conference in Berlin. Continue reading →