Saturday, July 31, 2004
Promoting Shareware/Freeware
Search engine optimization (SEO) is basically the process of improving search engine results for a site. This can either be deceptive (including false keywords, link exchanges with unrelated sites, etc.) or legitimate (putting up content that's worthwhile). But even with worthwhile content, it's nice to get the word out.
I've been trying to get novusoft.com some increased traffic. (novusoft is our shareware/freeware site) As the SEO effort continues, I'll be posting my experiences here.
One way to get the word out about a software program is to submit it to download sites. Easier said than done. Here's a brief summary of what I found out.
There is a standard called PAD for filling out software information in an xml file. That way, the information can be parsed by download sites without having to manually enter it. I thought that was pretty cool, so I created a PAD file for one of the files at novusoft.
Next up, finding a download site. Two of the biggest sites are download.com and tucows.com. I registered with both of them, but to get software listed they charge a fee. Download.com (actually upload.com for submitting software) has its Listing Options easy to find, but I couldn't find the pricing for tucows unless I went all the way to step four of their Add Software process while signed in. I've already closed the window in disgust, so I don't know the prices. However, it didn't seem to be a listing fee, but rather a pay to get a better place in the review queue. And by the way, upload.com had an easy mechanism for referencing a PAD xml file, but I couldn't figure out if tucows supported it. They didn't mention PAD anywhere.
Disappointed by both of the big download sites, I may have to try the smaller players. Plenty to choose from.
I've been trying to get novusoft.com some increased traffic. (novusoft is our shareware/freeware site) As the SEO effort continues, I'll be posting my experiences here.
One way to get the word out about a software program is to submit it to download sites. Easier said than done. Here's a brief summary of what I found out.
There is a standard called PAD for filling out software information in an xml file. That way, the information can be parsed by download sites without having to manually enter it. I thought that was pretty cool, so I created a PAD file for one of the files at novusoft.
Next up, finding a download site. Two of the biggest sites are download.com and tucows.com. I registered with both of them, but to get software listed they charge a fee. Download.com (actually upload.com for submitting software) has its Listing Options easy to find, but I couldn't find the pricing for tucows unless I went all the way to step four of their Add Software process while signed in. I've already closed the window in disgust, so I don't know the prices. However, it didn't seem to be a listing fee, but rather a pay to get a better place in the review queue. And by the way, upload.com had an easy mechanism for referencing a PAD xml file, but I couldn't figure out if tucows supported it. They didn't mention PAD anywhere.
Disappointed by both of the big download sites, I may have to try the smaller players. Plenty to choose from.
posted by Keith [7/31/2004 04:03:00 PM] - permalink - 2 comments
2 comment(s):
Keith wrote:
More links:
padspec.org - Has the PAD 2.01 Specification with all the fields that can be included and the allowed values for each.
PAD Online Validator - Enter the URL location of a pad file, and it will validate it.
Posted [8/09/2004 10:59:00 AM]
wrote:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
