Shareware Download Sites: Notes and Tips

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Shareware Download Sites: Notes and Tips
25-Feb-2003 -- Ralph Mellor

I've recently researched what lists are available and, after submitting a bunch of software to a bunch of sites, have some ideas about the issues to worry about related to those lists. Note that I'm currently using Eric Peckham's SharewareTracker. Apologies for the length, but it seems to me to be worthwhile recording this in detail.

0. PADring will hopefully one day render site lists moot.

I'd be surprised if this notion of humans being involved in picking sites to submit to and then manually (even if it's semi-automated) doing the submissions is still relevant in 10 and maybe even 3 years. But perhaps it will, and we have to market software in the meantime, so...

1. There are zillions of software archive lists out there.

They're kinda hard to find, of very variable quality and scope, and represent a lot of duplicated effort.

Here's two from other ASPers:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/softwaresites.html
http://www.accusolve.biz/stsites.html

Note: the latter list is a barebones version of the one used by SharewareTracker. The list does list all the sites it uses, but doesn't list all the info per site that he makes available via SharewareTracker. I've urged Eric to change that policy, to publish more, because otherwise someone else will do a better job.

Talking of which...

2. Your presentation format is one of the best I've seen.

Maybe add 3 more clickable URLs: site search, register, submit.

Maybe make the Alexa number clickable; make it so that people can easily check the latest Alexa stats even if they don't have the Alexa toolbar.

Maybe add a link to a forum per site to allow people to discuss software submission issues related to that site. (Or suggest people use Alexa comments to do this.)

Add any one of the above and your presentation format would then be the best I've seen.

3. Quality and maintenance are critical!

First, a list should be good quality when one first uses it. If one uses a poor list then one ends up wasting a huge percentage of the time spent doing submissions the first time around.

Second, one really needs a list that is kept up to date. I've seen enough data to know that one can multiply the traffic from many sites one gets per year by several fold if one submits frequent updates. If I use a site list that is not kept up to date (and high quality) I know I'll end up wasting significant time over the long haul. (As an example, I include at the end of this email a typical site list update that I got when I reran SharewareTracker today for the first time in a week or two.)

Third, the list should not include dupes. A dozen sites, each with its own name, domain name, and site look and feel, might use the same archive database behind the scenes. Submitting to one is the same as submitting to all, and submitting to more than one is wasted time. But how do you tell which is which?

Fourth, the sites listed should be really active, not just apparently active. If you spend time submitting to a site that actually ignores submissions, that is wasted time. A site list should regularly remove sites that are not really active.

4. Include foreign language sites.

I believe there's a lot of opportunity to be had in submitting to non-English sites. One of the largest one day download counts I got after recently doing a submission session was from Softonic, an Italian language site (or is it Spanish?).

There are varying shades of this. There are sites that will accept English descriptions, but their sites are not in English. Other sites require translated descriptions, but the software itself can still be English. (Note that users may well expect support in their language even if the software is still in English.) Ideally the site list would include columns that mark which of these variations applies at a given site.

5. Significantly expand the number of sites.

For me the jury is still out on this, but my experience with related promotional activities suggests breadth is important.

Clearly the top 10 is going to get you great coverage. Serif is expecting to get around 100,000 downloads a month from one site alone. But the fact that a site is a leading site doesn't necessarily mean it's going to get good results (in downloads, or, more importantly, measured profit) for a particular piece of software, and, conversely, I expect some fairly obscure sites to give some of the best dollar results, especially for specialist software.

Based on what I've found thus far, I think having a submission list include the top, say, 500 or 1,000 sites is a sensible trade-off in terms of the scale of the task of creating and maintaining the list and that list's utility. Of course, the only way a list of this size is going to be created and maintained with adequate quality is if there is cooperation among submitters and/or authors of submitter tools. Here's hoping.

I also think it's appropriate to include sites that aren't typically seen as archive sites:

Newsgroups:
   alt.comp.freeware
   comp.software.shareware.announce
Directories:
   dmoz
   yahoo
Search engines.
Various other non-obvious locations.

Getting even more radical, I'd prefer to use the same tools (and hence same site list) as I use to submit, to also deal with the hundreds of forums relevant to the software I'm promoting. After all, the process is near identical:
o select forums to visit
o visit the forums
o register if appropriate
o log in if necessary
o search to determine if I need to do anything
o post a message, including pasting in this and that (from a PAD perhaps)
o track what I've done, what version the forum nows about, when I told them, etc.

6. Make it easier to select a good subset of sites.

First, each site should be assigned a relative "strength". Your SpaceTimeRank is a good example. (I think you should add a blurb on why you chose that formula. The use of log(n) makes sense (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/zipf.html) but why 7, not, say, 8?) The site list database table used by SharewareTracker includes a Priority column, which contains a number from 1 to 10 that encodes some combo of Google PageRank, Alexa data, and some other valuations. I would expect Mykola's RoboSoft site database to have something similar.

Second, other columns should be introduced such as 'FreewareOnly', 'Games', 'PopularWithFedGov', etc.

7. Add columns to the list that save time during submission.

Include columns for the key submssion task related URLs for each site. If you use dedicated submitter software, then for most sites it should be just a single click to see if your software is already listed, a click to go to the register URL (if required) and a click to go to the submit form. Maybe also a click to go to a forum that discusses the site. And so on.

It is cool if the list has additional data that helps speed the job and avoid time-wasters. For example, some sites accept binaries of no more than 1MB. Some not only take just freeware, but also refuse freeware that has required registration. It's very helpful if any exceptions like this, any issues of which you need to be aware, are very obvious. (SharewareTracker contains various database columns for this sort of thing plus a notes field he controls in which he writes useful ad hoc things, and another notes field for storing one's own notes. He could be a lot more systematic about how he uses his notes field, and turn some of it into columns, but it's a lot better than having to carefully read every submit page's instructions to determine whether you should even be bothering with a given site, or to improve the chances that your submission is accepted.)

8. Some other notes that aren't directly about site lists, but I think are worth noting here.

First, prepare a PAD. Many sites use PAD to streamline submission. And you pretty much need all the info in a PAD anyway. http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/

Second, make it easy to cut/paste at sites that don't automate use of PAD to transfer information. At the very least, use something like ClipMate. Much better, use one of the dedicated submitter tools that drive a web browser, know the fields in a PAD file, and has a site list database that includes a way to map which fields in the PAD should go in to which fields in each site's submission form. These products then automatically copy and paste for you as necessary. For most sites all you're left with is to review the form and click the Submit button. You can save a lot of time using this!

Third, you want to be able to see where you're at for a given product/site combination (when did I last submit? which version? did I buy an ad? any other issues?), and to record updates as you go. At the very least, use a spreadsheet. Again, tools like SharewareTracker will save you a ton of time.

Further notes related to submitting to foreign sites:

Use automated language converters to translate:
http://www.google.com/language_tools
http://babel.altavista.com/
These are probably sufficient to translate archive site pages such as the submit page, and might be enough to carry out foreign language support. But don't use them to translate any marketing material such as your product descriptions -- ask/pay someone on this group who is reasonably fluent in the target language.

Again, you can boost productivity by using appropriate data and tools to assist with foreign sites. Translate your descriptions and add them to the language tab in your PAD. Add columns in your spreadsheet/database to mark if a site accepts/wants English/local descriptions, English/local software, English/local support.

9. Finally, here's an example of a typical site list update that I got when I reran SharewareTracker today for the first time in a week or two.

Site Updates Report
Tuesday, February 25, 2003 5:21:11 AM

Deleted Sites

BPSoftware.com (http://www.bpsoftware.com)
Brain River (http://www.brainriver.com)
Emerald Dragon 3000 (http://www.ed3k.com)

Updated Sites

@SoftTop (http://www.atsofttop.com)
5 Star shareware.com (http://www.5star-shareware.com)
Down4Free (http://www.down4free.com/modules.php?name=Downloads)
Download-Tipp (http://download-tipp.de)
Easy Trialware (http://www.easycab.com/shareware/Software.htm)
Files32 (http://www.files32.com)
FreeDownloads Center (http://www.freedownloadscenter.com)
Freewareshop, The (http://users.edpnet.be/freewareshop/index.htm)
Grab-A-File.com (http://www.grabafile.com)
Let's Download! (http://www.lets-download.com)
myfolder.net (http://english.myfolder.net)
NetworkingFiles.com (http://www.networkingfiles.com)
Pass The Shareware (http://www.passtheshareware.com)
RocketDownload.com (http://www.rocketdownload.com)
Shareup Networks (http://www.shareup.com)
Shareware Junction (http://www.sharewarejunction.com)
Shareware King (http://www.sharewareking.com/listings)
Simply the Best (http://www.simplythebest.net)
Softonic.com (http://www.softonic.com)
SoftwareSeeker (http://www.softwareseeker.com)
start4all.com (http://software.start4all.com)
TheFreeSite.com (http://www.thefreesite.com)
Topdownloads (http://www.topdownloads.net)
Versions.com (http://www.versions.com)
Webmasters Resources (http://www.webmasters-resources.com)
Win2000 Archives (NTWare.com) (http://home.win2000archives.com)
WinArchives (http://www.winarchives.com)

Added Sites

AbsolutelyFreebies.com (http://www.absolutelyfreebies.com)
DASOUND.COM (http://www.dasound.com)
DownloadsArea.com (http://www.downloadsarea.com)
FindApp.com (http://www.findapp.com)
Iverson Software (http://www.iversonsoftware.com/tabularium.htm)
Mac OS X Downloads (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx)
pocketland.de (http://pocketland.de)
Sandbrook Software Top Sites (http://www.sandbrooksoftware.com/TS/TS2/Soft.shtml)
Sandbrooks Download Land (http://www.sandbrooksoftware.com/SDC/index.shtml)
SoftGuide (http://www.softguide.de)
Software-For-Windows.com (http://www.softwareforwindows.com)
Teoma (http://www.teoma.com)
Top 100 Sites Network (http://top100sitesnetwork.com)
TuDogs (http://www.tudogs.com)
U.S. Computer Corporation (http://www.uscomputer.net/sharewaredb.htm)
Ultra Software (http://www.ultrasoftware.net)

Hth.

--
ralph

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