Best way to market sharware...

[Chaz]

I recently completed a program I made entire in Visual Basic and now I'm interested in selling it as shareware. The problem is, I don't know the best way to go about doing this. I'm looking for some feedback. Here's some ideas I was playing around with:

-Relying on nag screens alone... Think it's enough for someone to pay a small fee?

-Timed trials... Nice idea, but too easy to fool?

-Unlock via registration codes... I like this idea, but I'm afraid one person will get a code and post to all over the net... I'd love to have the codes be generated by the person's drive serial #... but then it wouldn't work on a floppy drive, zip disk, or another drive/computer. I don't want that either.

-Use a third party control to lock and unlock... I seem to remember a few of these but I can't think of anything off the top of my head. Anyone know of anything useful?

Can anyone supply help with selling shareware? I have a very nice piece of software that I'd love to sell for a minimal amount of money (hey, college students got to eat too)... but I just can't come up with a good way to do so. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Some additional information... I am planning on putting up a web site up for my product; however, it won't be hosted off my machine.. so in some ways I'm limited to what I can do for registration. I'd love to use the winsock control in my program and have all users conect and register via a server I make.... but that's unfortunately not an option for me. I'll be using a regular ol' pay-by-the-month hosting service to host my domain.

Chaz
[email protected]

[PsyVision]

http://www.activelock.com

Time trials are ok, and 97.6% of your users aren't going to be clever enough to set their clocks back and forward. I personally have my programs expire after 15 days, and have just a few nags during the 15 day trial period.

On a side note, if your going to have a time trial, make sure you have it only count the days that its actually run. Nothing pisses me/your users off more than using a program once and loading it up 2 weeks later that it already expired.

As for ActiveLock, I personally wouldn't use it. Not that I have anything against it but I just have more confidence in something I wrote and can edit later if necessary.

If you need help with the actual selling of the shareware, http://www.RegNow.com/ provides a great service with a sleek owner control panel and an excellent payment schedule. The checks come in like clockwork.

BTW, what kind of product is it?

[PsyVision]

Make a web site.

[Chris]

I don't think you need to paid the money to buy the third party license control like ActiveLock.

Because, you can always write all the information into a encryted text file and store it inside the windows system directory. Which is seldom user will access this folder to look for the licensing file. If you like to store this into window registry it also not a problem, provided you've encryted it.

I personally, feel that the following information is important for a software eveluation/licese control.[*]Date/Time for the application installed.[*]Number to user support (For those application that support multi user.[*]Evaluation days (For those beta version.)

Upon you've logged all this information, your application should check it everytime it start.
Once found that the system date different is greater than the number of given eveluation date, then your application should write a extra data (Like "Expired" word) into this license file to indicated that the eveluation period is over and stop proceed loading your application.

With this method, if the user change the system date, it also won't be able to run your application. Or event they reinstall it. But this method still can be hacked by reformat the PC. This because there was nothing is call Secure in this world.

So, should you think abt this method? I did this in my distributed application. I even create my own license number (Product ID) which included all the information as I need to verified the distributed application.

Cheers.

Chaz ~

Whether you use third-party controls, write your own, time trials, etc.... People will always abuse, resell, pirate, downright steal, share, upload and download your products!

Just check the software section on eBay if you don't believe it happens to the Best of them!!!

Microsoft, Macromedia, Quicken... All the top makers of commercial software are exposed to the same problems you are and they are not getting anywhere with it.

Marketing your product through the use of Shareware is fine... Just don't use it as your only source for marketing your products.

Targetting your market and getting your product in front of them is what you want to do!

Think of your marketing your program much like fishing... You will never catch the trophy fish unless you know where they lurk, live and feed.

Fish off the end of the dock all day long, but to truly succeed, you need to get to where the fish are!

Yes, there are many successful programs sold on shareware basis... Matts Scripts being some of them. But he has developed a market -- and a following -- for his scripts and programs.

There are many who will win the lottery as well. But we're normally not one of them! We need to put the odds into our favor by utilizing some sound technique and principles.

Price your product fairly, offer a few free bonuses, give the support they need, target your market, put your offer in front of those who are hungry and want to buy what you have, and leave those who don't, alone.

Understand that a certain amount of leakage of your product will occur regardless of what precautions you take. Shoplifting still occurrs in the retail stores too! So let's deal with the positives and get out there and sell some programs!

[SteveCRM]

vbMarketer
What would be the best way to sell shareware? I'm not old enough to have bank accounts and stuff like that (Im 15). And a PO box costs too much money. Any suggestions?

[Jamie_Dowd]

Hey Chaz... I have recently taken on the same challenge in writing a shareware program and marketing it. I have signed up with Regnow.com and a few other similiar services. I am currently offering beta testers a free registration code if they download my program and try it out and send me a quick email with feedback. It is a web/file server and might help someone like yourself out who isn't interested in paying an ISP to host your website. Check it out... http://24.66.70.76 is my website and it is actually using the program to host the site and the files you see on it. I'd be glad to give you a reg code if you find it of any use. I use encryption in the registry to deter people from trying to pirate my application. Just find a decent encryption algorithm and encrypt your reg key or starting trial period date.

Jamie Dowd
http://24.66.70.76
[email protected] (home)
[email protected] (work)
http://www.good-advice.net

Steve ~

What I see is far too many programmers write a program they think will sell. You can prove this out by going to download.com or a site similar and see just how many downloads are for each program.

Some are in the thousands like ICQ others are only in the single digits. Ask yourself, "Why is this???"

It's because programmers love to program and are not marketers! The key, Steve, to writing a successful program comes not form the programmers mind. But from the problems others face.

Out of this problem we develop a solution to this problem. Then you are seven times more likely to succeed with a program or a product you are marketing.

Back to fishing Steve! Most programs are marketed like a generic fishbait! Someone comes along and says, "I carved the worlds best balsa wood lure!"

I ask... Is there a need for this new lure??? Has it been tested??? Is there a fish who would jump out of the water for this lure???

What needs to happen Steve is this... The particular fish needs to be studied... It's habits noted... What it feeds on... What it needs to survive on... Much like a finicky flyfisherman will do while fishing for trout!

You tie a squid on the line, toss it into the stream, and the trout will head for cover... But you place the right Fly lightly in front of it... and you have a fish on!

Shareware is similar... Shareware is generic... Shareware is just a technique of tying the knot in the fishing line. What you need Steve, is the right bait.

And you get the right bait from knowing who, and what, you're after.

There is a new website in progress you may just really enjoy Steve. It revolves around selling software! Keep in touch!

[Chaz]

I just wanted to tell you that you've all been most helpful. If anyone else has comments, keep them coming. I really wish the editors of vb-world would write an article on shareware and marketing. Now THAT would be useful.

Thanks again!

-Chaz
[email protected]

[Tomexx]

Hey PsyVision,

I tried to access you website and got the following:


404 - Not Found

The page that you requested has not been found on the server. Please contact the administrator of the server if you have recently uploaded or viewed this page and you cannot acces it now.

---------------------------------------------

PsyVision Renegade Web Server

Try marketing a version, which if some one wants the full product they have to send money for an activation code, which will turn on the really good features.

Have a look at http://www.winfiles.com


You are never too young to open a bank account, get your dad to help you out with it. Depending on what part of the world you live in, some software houses will buy your shareware and market under their own banner, with a commission structure in place. We are about two clauses off reaching an agreement with a major software company to market one of our products in the US and Europe...we don't have the resources to do this ourselves.

vbmarketer is correct, if you are going to market yourselgf you will need a website, generally pretty cheap. Ask around your local ISPs.

[PsyVision]

The reason that you get the current error is because the site does not exist yet because psyvision software shall be launching the site in January 2001. It will feature.

About - About psyvision software
Tech News - Weekly Texh stuff
Products - Mine Plus Others
Downloads - Err let me think
Free Apps - Shareware, freeware etc
Games - News, Reviews freebies, demos
Dev Center - Tutorials, demos, info etc
Forums - Like here
Advertise - Advertise on the site
Author - Write a page for the site
Links - It related links
Ads - Banner ads

Coming January 2001 - Preview At http://psyvision-soft.members.easyspace.com - This is under construction and is updated daily.

[Jop]

Another suggestion is using Adware, it will decrease problems with Serials and registrations, you just show some banners and it stays free for the costumers while you get paid, simple huh?

[joelryan]

I just switched gears on my "shareware" stuff, and I like the change so far.

I use to distribute a shareware program with a 30-day trial that could be "unlocked" with a single password. Sell's were OK.

Lately I've changed to a Trial version of my program. The trial version never expires and is fully functional except that I disable the Save, Load, and Copy buttons. I also physically remove the code for the Save, Copy, and Load buttons so that a crack cannot be created to reverse the trial.

When someone orders the full version I ship them a diskette.

I also use PayPal for all of my payments right now. I do have my own Merchant account, but I find that I get fewer illegal cards through PayPal's service.

Do you also have a web site? Despatching floppies seems a clumsy way of approaching it. Currently we allow download of service packs etc. However we have installers and sales guys for the actual front up sale. Sort of hold the client's hand while going through the process of switching the software on.

[amitabh]

Originally posted by Jop
Another suggestion is using Adware, it will decrease problems with Serials and registrations, you just show some banners and it stays free for the costumers while you get paid, simple huh?

Does it make any sense to use adware when there is so much concern about privacy these days. I am seeing all types of bad reports about adware applications. Anyone having any experience on this matter?

[agent]

I recently uninstalled a shareware program (can't recall the name right now) that had a movable nag screen that remains open throughout the program's session, but gets bigger each time the program is run. While the nag screen can be moved, the entire nag screen remains on the screen (you can't move it halfway off the screen). I tried closing the form with sendmessage. It just opens a msgbox: "So you think you smart, do ya?" and then crashes the computer.

I don't use that program anymore.

---

I noted a previous comment about not having the code in the shareware version that does exist in the commercial version. Instead, try this: myProg generates a serial number and stores it somewhere (during installation). When user does the online registration, he goes through an escrow service to gaurantee that you get your money. User sends the generated serial number to the website, where (if the money has been paid) it is converted into a reg number. This reg number is sent back to the user to input into the program. The program converts the reg number back to the serial number. If they match, myProg goes online and download the locked features as a COM object. To prevent the user from seeing that new files have been added, there are quite a few dlls, and the locked features are stored in dlls that have the same name as one or two dlls that come with the sharewhere version:

mydll.dll v1.0a:
The function SaveData opens a msgbox telling the user that the sharewhere version doesn't support saving

mydll.dll v1.0b:
The function SaveData actually svaes the data.

mydll.dll v1.0a is included with the shareware version of myProg

mydll.dll v1.0b is downloaded when the correct reg number is entered.


The thing about this method is that it keeps people from using this on multiple computers.

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Personally, my favorite copy protection method is a program that looks for a dongle (a hardware lock) and does a crc-32 check on itself to make sure it hasn't been cracked. By the time the program has been cracked, a new version has been released.

Just my $1.35 (after inflation...)