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Exposure Tactics
With creativity, imagination and a little bit of boldness, there's very little that can't be achieved. Don't just think of what options are available - make them happen. Setting up a software give-away, where X copies of your software will be sent to X randomly chosen names is sure to create interest, and bring people to your site. People love winning things for free, and so many are hard to come by, expensive and illegal! If it's free, they want it. Make sure your site has more to offer than just information on your software. Would you buy a magazine that only had adverts in it? Probably not. But when content of magazine is good, people will buy it, and see adverts. If your site only contains info about your software, it'll probably get a fairly-fixed number of visitors each month. But throw in some useful information, resources, software giveaways etc. and more will come. Don't go for links pages though - I can't stand them, and when's last time you looked through one properly? Old and outdated - move on.
Information
In a way most neglected of all aspects - internet is one big pile of information. And lots of it can be useful to you. Use it to see what's popular on software and shareware sites, where your own products stand in big picture, and what competition are up to. Chances are you're not getting around to it - but it's useful and worthwhile. On first day of every month I write a report on previous month. Everything. Achievements, failures, wasted opportunities, site statistics, whole thing. If I didn't do this I'd have already thrown away a few opportunities that have proved to be VERY worthwhile. Do you go through your site statistics in detail? If not, you might be missing some invaluable information. Referrer logs alone can be worth their weight in gold.
There's an awful lot of useful stuff out there - use it. Never be content where you are today; be ambitious. Think big. Expand. When you read biography of Bill Gates and Richard Bransons of world they always speak of where they started… but they consistently expand, take risks, think big and move. Diversify, expand, and seek out new opportunities. Don't wait for them to come to you. Seize opportunities that are out there, and start with what's under your nose. Seize internet. Be seen, be sold.
Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UK-based company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet. http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com