Association of Software Professionals

“Lead with your strongest selling point,” Mark Stevens tells us, “and stay focused on it.”

Stevens is the author of the book “Your Marketing Sucks.” He urges us to not clutter or dilute our sales message with secondary benefits. Less is more, Stevens believes.

I don’t agree.

People aren’t two-dimensional cardboard figures who can only keep one thought in their mind. And prospects come in a huge variety of flavors, with different needs and desires.

I think you have to paint a complex canvas of a better life, with your prospect clearly painted into the picture. Get your prospect to think of herself as a user of your application, and make her understand how your software will make her life more safe and secure, simpler, more productive, more competitive, or whatever benefits your software offers.

- by Al Harberg, the Software Marketing Blog guy

Al Harberg Articles cluttered sales message, software benefits

Lifetime value is much bigger than current sales. It includes your current software sales, plus the sale of updates, plus the income from customers upgrading from the Standard version to the Professional version of your application. Lifetime value includes cross-selling your other software to your existing customers, and selling them the applications that you offer on an affiliate basis. Lifetime value means that these people are inclined to appreciate whatever new products or services you will offer in the future.

Most importantly, lifetime value includes the revenue that comes from current customers’ testimonials and referrals.

You can’t succeed in the software development industry with a “one and done” approach to sales. Your customers are your most valuable assets. Treat them right, and they’ll continue to support your software business.

– by Al Harberg, the Software Marketing Blog guy

Al Harberg Articles lifetime value, total lifetime value

If your software application lets users craft passwords to protect their data, then you have a chance to offer additional value to your prospects and customers. Help your users choose the best passwords, and use that feature to sell more of your software.

According to the “Worst Passw0rds” write-up in the April 2012 issue of AARP Bulletin, online users have an awful track record for picking effective passwords to protect their privacy and security. The most popular password, according to the article, is “password”. Changing the lower-case letter “o” to a zero to form passw0rd is on the popularity list at number 16. The top 25 list also includes awful selections like 123456, 1234567, 12345678, 123123, “qwerty” and “letmein.”

Most computer users worry about their privacy and security. Show your users that you care about them. Don’t let them create low-quality passwords.

“It’s important for developers’ users to protect their data with a long, complex password,” Andrei Belogortseff tells us. “Be sure that they use a mix of upper-case letters, lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols.”

Andrei is the CEO of Utah-based WinAbility Software, a developer of security and password applications. One of WinAbility’s most popular programs is USBCrypt, a program that makes it easy to encrypt and password-protect your drives. USBCrypt has a built-in password recovery feature that lets you recreate lost or forgotten passwords.

On a typical PC, it can take a half hour to recover a three-digit password that contains only lower-case letters. A five-digit password made up of a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, on the other hand, can take two weeks to recover. A 7-digit password that weaves upper- and lower-case letters with numbers and symbols can take an incredibly long time to recover.

If the software that you sell asks users to choose a password, then help them select their password wisely. Start by building a list of ineffective passwords into your software, and don’t let your users select these lightweight choices. Have your software examine the passwords that they’ve created, and encourage them to use longer passwords, with a richer mix of characters.

“Remind your users of the flip-side of using a complex password,” Andrei tells us. “If you forget your password, it will be extremely difficult to recover it.”

Make your helpful password protection information part of your software marketing presentation. By creating keyword-rich web pages that feature your thoughts about privacy, security, encryption, and passwords, you may even get more Google traffic from prospects who include these words when they search for software like yours. Your application’s help file could provide your customers and prospects with an explanation of why passwords are crucial.

Your users will appreciate the guidance, and they’ll be much more inclined to purchase your software. Helping customers choose powerful passwords can be good software marketing.

– by Al Harberg, the Software Marketing Blog guy

Al Harberg Articles password protection, software marketing

The ASPects newsletter is sent to ASP members every month. 25-years of back issues are available in PDF format in the members’ archive, and is fully-searchable.

This month, the first few articles are available to everyone as a free download. The full issue is available to ASP members.

ISVCon 2012 in Reno

by Gianfranco Berardi
After much preparation, last month the ASP hosted its first ISVCon, the new Software Industry Conference, in Reno, Nevada. The rebooted conference kicked off with a Thursday night Welcome Reception sponsored by Digital River’s MyCommerce. It was a great opportunity to meet fellow attendees while enjoying some of the delicious hors d’oeuvrs and drinks provided by the excellent Atlantis Casino Resort Spa staff, a taste of things to come… (page 1)
 

AppVisor/ASP Partnership to Provide Full Update to the ASP PAD Platform
by Joel Diamond
The early beginning of the idea behind AppVisor started around 2008…
    Thus, AppVisor has been formed to support, protect, and enhance the ASP’s PAD platform, the intellectual property of the platform, and the integrity of the platform, and to reinvest in the platform, so it meets the needs of current and future members of the ASP… (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
(page 2)

Dennis Reinhardt Joins ASP Hall of Fame
by Gianfranco Berardi
The ASP Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have helped make the ASP what it is today. During Saturday lunch at ISVCon, it was my pleasure to present the ASP Hall of Fame award to Dennis Reinhardt… (page 4)

The Benefits of PAD Certification
by Joel Diamond
Why does the PAD Platform Require Certification? (page 6)

Interface Guidelines for Mobile/Touchscreen Devices
by Gregg Seelhoff
Several years ago, I gave a presentation at SIC entitled, “Practical Interface Guidelines: Things they did not teach us in programming class”, in which I detailed some best practices for interface design and implementation. While general interface principals remain persistent, the recent popularity and growth in mobile and touchscreen devices demands a revisit; smartphones, tablets, and similar devices have somewhat different interface requirements… (page 7)

Paid Upgrades or Free Upgrades?
by Jiri Novotny
The recent passionate discussion in the ASP newsgroups- “The million dollar question; To charge for updates or not?” inspired me to write this article.
    I would like to offer you my thinking as someone who has experience with free upgrades, paid major upgrades, and upgrade subscriptions… (page 9)

ASP News
Motion: Web forum, Call for volunteer: Member Offers Manager, New SaA: Steve Faleiro, Assistant Don Waterfield (page 11)

Marketing Software to Retirees
by Al Harberg
According to Harris Interactive, 28 percent of people who are 67 and older use eReaders to read books. Based upon the current state of the book publishing industry, I wouldn’t have guessed that 28 percent of many demographic groups read books in any format. But more significantly, the survey points out that retired people are comfortable using technology. And that’s a software marketing message that software developers shouldn’t ignore…

    Don’t ignore the Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation when you’re making your marketing plans… (page 12)

ASP Member News:
Slimbrowser V6 – a Versatile Full-service Browser (page 13)
Digital River Enables eCommerce in in Metro Apps (page 14)

News & Press Corner
ESWC Announces 2012 Software Conference and Epsilon Award (page 14)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter, News

The microISV Research Alliance at Auburn University has opened the third annual microISV Pain Point survey. All microISV owners are invited to participate.

The 2012 survey will feature a prize drawing with more than a dozen, microISV-specific prizes, including:

• A one year membership to the ASP at the Standard level (a $100 value) to new members only.
• A lifetime membership (a $497 value) to the Micropreneur Academy.
• One year of free E-junkie service at the $10/month plan level.
• A five year code signing certificate from K Software (a $365) value.
• And more.

The survey is short and takes only a few minutes to complete. The results are used to locate common areas of difficulty among microISV owners and their daily operations. The results of the survey will be used to guide future academic research with the goal of improving microISV operations and increasing their chances of success.

Aside from the satisfaction of contributing to academic research designed to improve microISV operations, participants can benefit in other ways:

• Survey responses are anonymous.
• Participants can opt-in to be listed on the Respondents’ page.
• Participants get early access to raw, anonymized results data.
• You can win one of many great prizes.

Take the survey now!

Russell Thackston News microisv, research, survey

At the 2012 ISVCon, Dennis Reinhardt was recognized as an individual who went above and beyond the normal levels of volunteerism to contribute to the Association of Software Professionals when he was awarded with the ASP Hall of Fame.

A member since 2000, Dennis has volunteered in many roles and has had a great impact on the organization and the industry. Thank you for your contributions, Dennis!

For a more detailed description of Dennis’ accomplishments and a report of ISVCon 2012, look for the upcoming August issue of ASPects.

Gianfranco Berardi News

The 12th annual European Software Conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Munich City Centre on November 24 and 25, 2012 in Munich, Germany. The European Software Conference is the premiere event for the Independent Developer and the (Micro-) ISV-Industry. The conference blends web, mobile, and desktop into one world of software.

Panel discussions and presentations from software industry professionals will fill the two-day meeting. All of the presentations are in English.

ESWC 2012 will focus on topics that are vital to independent software developers. Seminar subjects include fighting software piracy, software market analysis, application stores and the desktop/laptop market, content management systems, email marketing, Google Adwords, website conversion optimization, developing a software brand, software advertising, development and marketing of smartphone products, software update strategies, and turning website visitors into buyers. Many well-known, successful software developers will share their experiences and advice on marketing and sales.

This year’s European Software Conference will feature the seventh Epsilon Award, an annual recognition of outstanding software for Windows, Mac, and Linux distributions, Chrome OS, and for all major web and mobile platforms. Nominations for the Epsilon Award will remain open until September 4, and voting for the nominated software products will remain open until October 27. Dieter Reiter, CEO of the DLED Munich and Governing Member of the City Council, will speak to conference attendees at the Epsilon Award ceremony.

This year’s Epsilon Award winner will be announced at the conference on November 24. Prizes include a winner`s certificate and trophy of honor, press coverage of their product by the professional Press service of DP Directory, and entry into the Hall of Fame which means free full access for the winner to future ESWCs. Prizes of recognition for the first ten nominees include a nominee certificate by the ESWC e.V.

The registration fee for the two day conference, including lunches, is 225 Euros, or 90 Euros without lunches. Additional information about the Epsilon Award, and about the European Software Conference, can be found on ESWC’s totally redesigned website on http://www.smbdev.eu or on Twitter on http://twitter.com/isvindustry

The conference is organized by the ESWC e.V., a not-for-profit foundation devoted to providing educational opportunities to software developers.

Conference sponsors include Avangate, Alwin Hoogerdijk, ASP, deal United, DP Directory, Globell, Questback, Software Promotions, Wibu, and Emurasoft. For more information about becoming a sponsor, visit http://www.smbdev.eu/sponsor.htm

Al Harberg Announcements Epsilon Award, ESWC, European Software Conference

The program book for the 2012 ISVCon in Reno, Nevada is now available for downloading. If you want to see the schedule of great, business-building sessions, download the 2012 ISVCon program book now.

Jerry Stern News

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Association of Software Professionals, and to celebrate, we’re holding our 25th anniversary discounts promotion!

For a limited time, certain members of the ASP are discounting their offerings by 25% or more!

Interested in saving on the above software? Head to the ASP 25th anniversary page!

Gianfranco Berardi News

The ASPects newsletter is sent to ASP members each month. The entire 25-year history is available in PDF format in the members’ archive, and is fully-searchable.

But this month is different–the July issue is a free download for everyone, not just members of the Association of Software Professionals.

“Welcome to Reno!”
by Gianfranco Berardi

The ASP has changed and grown with the industry in these last 25 years. We promoted try before-you-buy as a marketing method until it became The Way Things Are, we’ve made our interests known and were successful at getting important laws changed that would impact our industry, and most recently we’re hosting an amazing conference… (page 1)

Trade Show Calendar
(page 2)

“The Biggest Mistake You Can Ever Make”
by Jiri Novotny
The biggest mistake you can ever make is to wing it alone.
     Being a mISV is awesome. But I think that doing it all alone and never fully onnecting with other mISVs is not awesome… (page 3)

“ASP Indie Games SIG”
by Gregg Seelhoff
Did you know that the Association of Software Professionals has a SIG (Special Interest Group) specifically for game developers? (page 4)

PAD Specification Update
by Joel Diamond
Plans are being made for a major overhaul to the entire PAD platform beginning this summer. Members will be notified in the very near future with the full plans for both changes and enhancements to the PAD Specification as well as the authoring tools, shortly after ISVCON… (page 6)

How to Capture a Screen
by Jerry Stern
I spent some time looking at software screen shots recently. It was something of an eye opener. As in, it caused considerable visual stress to look at the ugly things. They were, for the most part, worthless…
    It’s not just that these screenshots don’t show what the program can do; they don’t even identify what program we’re looking at… (page 6)

“Customer Relationship Management for microISVs”
by Al Harberg

Customer relationship management (CRM) is good software marketing. CRM is a simple notion that can help software developers sell more of their applications: It costs most businesses less money to generate sales from old customers than it does to find new ones… (page 8)

“Call Yourself!
Are You Impossible to Reach?”
by Jerry Stern

I’m surprised by basic web page failures among microISVs. I follow a link to a product I’ve heard about for years, or was recommended to me, and I see, well, crab grass…
    We run software and technology businesses, and many of us are guilty of liking our technology so much, that we want to just do that…
    The common error in a small business is skipping supervision… (page 11)

“Software Passwords and Software Marketing”
by Al Harberg

If your software asks users to create a password to protect the privacy of their information, then you have an opportunity to offer additional value to your customers. And that can mean increased software sales, additional recommendations, and good will for your company in your marketing niche.
     Help your users choose effective passwords… (page 14)

ASP Member News
Slimbrowser – a Fast and Secure Tabbed Web Browser (page 14)
Affordable Cloud-Based Speed Reading Software for Colleges and College Prep (page 15)
Create Handwriting Fonts In Many Major Languages (page 15)

Jerry Stern ASPects Newsletter