Self-belief and confidence can play an important part in success, but it’s easy to go too far.
Take the following comments in a well-known forum:
“I tried X, it didn’t work, therefore X is pointless.”
An open mind and a hunger for experimentation can be more profitable than past experience.
I’m getting ready for the Business of Software conference in five days.
“Getting ready” means fighting-off the inevitable pre-conference illness (happens nine times out of ten) and planning to not leave all the packing until the night before (happens ten times out of ten).
Last year I found the experience to be similar to physiotherapy. Initially painful, but extraordinarily beneficial in the long term.
It’s the only event I’ve attended where I found myself unable to sleep at night because of the ideas flying around my head. I was literally pecking away at my laptop throughout the night.
This year there are two of us attending the conference. I hope Aaron sleeps as badly as I did last year; for the same reasons of course…
I’m not an Apple fan. I like some of their products, but that’s as far as it goes.
But Steve Jobs changed the world.
The effects of his genius will outlive all of us, and I think that the world is a slightly less interesting place without him.
As you read this text, your Google AdWords account is wasting money. I guarantee it.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
On Wednesday October 12th 2011 at 9:00 AM Pacific Time (5:00 PM UK, 6:00 Central European) you will have your chance to ask your Google AdWords Questions to Dave Collins.
Who?
Dave is the founder of SoftwarePromotions, and has been working in the software industry since 1997. That’s a long time.
Dave is also a Qualified AdWords Professional and has been handling AdWords accounts for his clients for over 3,000 days. That’s quite a long time too.
Dave has been a prolific and popular speaker at conferences all around the world – in the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom. He has delivered over 70 presentations at more than 25 different events, conferences, webinars, online classes, an accelerator program for startups and more.
Sign-up for the webinar and enter your questions in the Questions & Comments section, or email them directly to Dave at dave@softwarepromotions.com. He doesn’t get much email so you may well make his day.
We will pick the most interesting questions before the webinar begins, and you can rest assured that your private information won’t be shared with anyone. We’ll also answer as many questions that are asked during the webinar as possible.
There’s nothing to lose and an extraordinary amount to gain. I hope you can join us.
The Financial Times have withdrawn their app from the Apple Store in response to Apple’s greed with revenue and customer data.
Apple not only demand a 30% cut of revenues, but also retain full ownership of the customer data.
Apple’s terms may well be acceptable to companies with a relatively unknown name, but the FT’s move may signify the start of an interesting trend.
The key point is that the Financial Times are not abandoning the app altogether. They are simply taking it out of the Apple Store, then offering it to their subscribers via a browser-based web app.
Bypassing Apple in this way enables them to retain all of the revenue and data, and chances are that the move will cost them almost nothing in terms of subscribers.
If the model works, this may prove to be a slowly-devastating blow to Apple, as other companies begin to consider their own options.
This has the potential to undermine the whole concept of the App Store, and turn it into little more than an overpriced portal.
My money is on Google being the first to fill the gap in the market. If they can make it easy for users to find software for their devices, then the playing field will once again be levelled.
Time for Google to intervene and rescue the free market economy.
Microsoft have confirmed that Windows 8 will have an App store, but details are yet to be supplied.
It’s safe to assume that Microsoft are attracted to some aspects of Apple’s model, but until further details are released, it’s impossible to say how far they are prepared to go.
But imagine the following.
Imagine a store where you can buy and install software for your Windows PC with one click. Without multi-level installations with rebooting, without having to decide how and where to install an application, without having to make decisions before the software has even been installed.
A store that will be linked to your email address, allowing you to instantly redownload and install your software when your PC is replaced.
There’s no way of knowing whether Microsoft have the means or desire to setup such a system, but they’re likely to be at least considering it.
If the above scenario were to become reality, how long would it take your company to get your software in the store? And how long would it take your users to realise the advantages of the new model?
How long would it take your sales model to change?
Change is never linear though, especially when other parties have the potential for great loss or gain.
Consider Apple’s App Store. Finding a product by name is simple, if a little awkward. Finding an application by feature, however, is poorly-implemented and surprisingly clumsy.
I suspect it won’t take Google long to adapt to the opportunity, and I’m expecting to see their side nav offering Apps under Everything within the next few months.
Great change may lie ahead for the software industry.
I used to be strongly opposed to using Google Analytics and AdWords together, but I used to be skinny and muscular too. Things change.
My single issue with using Analytics was that it wasn’t free. You paid for the use of Google’s software by supplying them with your data.
If you’re aware of this, and decide that the price you’re paying is worthwhile, then everyone’s happy.
But as is often the case with Google, most users of Analytics aren’t aware of what they’re paying – or even that they’re paying at all.
That said, let’s not overlook the main point. That Google Analytics today is useful and powerful enough to be worth paying for.
So back to the question: can you use AdWords without Analytics?
It’s critical that you use something to analyse what your visitors are doing, as the information that Google give you within your AdWords account isn’t enough.
Imagine you have a daily budget of $500, and are consistantly producing a 15% CTR to use all of your budget each day. Good.
Now imagine that 98% of the people clicking your ads leave your website within three seconds of clicking your ad. Not so good.
You need something to show you what’s happening on the other side of your AdWords data. And unfortunately there aren’t that many options out there.
ClickTracks was our tool of choice for many years, but their support and product development…. let’s say could be improved.
Before our company made the transition from ClickTracks to Analytics, we looked at all the options. Incredibly I wasn’t able to find a single viable contender.
Perhaps not surprising when you consider trying to compete with an ostensibly free server-based enterprise-quality application.
Ultimately you’re stuck with Google Analytics whether you like it or not. But we can at least take some consolation in that it’s a very fine piece of software; even if it’s not free.
When I give instructions to the person who cleans our house, I sound quite different from when I’m talking to a potential client.
Aside from not grovelling as much, I use different language and a different tone.
Most people speak differently depending on the context of who they’re talking to. In fact I recently noticed that when I pay our window cleaner, I subconsciously adopt a more working-class accent. How embarrassing.
When you meet someone for the first time, you more or less scan their appearance and make note of the clothes they’re working, their cleanliness, haircut, displays of wealth/status and so on. I still remember the first time I met one of the investment specialists from our business bank. I noticed his expensive suit and shoes, his expensive car-keys left ‘carelessly’ on the desk, but what struck me most were his slightly dirty fingernails.
It could be that he’d been gardening before work, that he’d had to change a flat tyre or that he’d been rescuing old people from a burning building. But his inattention to his fingernails jumped out as loudly as all the positive signals he sent.
When someone arrives at your website they won’t be meeting you face to face. They won’t be able to judge your clothes, dandruff or how you hold yourself.
But they will notice the appearance of your site. And they’ll certainly notice the tone of your copy.
Your website tone plays a vital part in creating that first impression. Get it wrong and everything else may be overlooked.
Two additional thoughts.
The first is that you probably have a different idea of the right tone than your visitors.
Take a look at some of the text on our main page:
I personally don’t like the tone. But we test all of our content, and we know that this text produces better results than what I would have chosen.
The second thought is that you don’t have to be boring. Too many companies believe that their websites have to be dry to the point of monotone.
They don’t. Amateur and boring aren’t opposite ends of the same scale.
Test your content, increase your sales.
I’m starting to feel that we’re about to enter interesting times.
This far, the history of the software industry has been relatively straightforward: growth of computer usage, growth of PCs, growth in internet usage.
All of which has been very good for software developers, with lower entry barriers, more customers and bigger opportunities.
Yet all of this may be starting to change, with the past few years seeing a number of market-changing developments.
We’re already used to…
1 – “Where can I buy it”
Your customers no longer have to buy out-of-date software from retail outlets, paying for shelf space, in-store advertising, packaging, delivery.
2 – “I want it now”
When your customer hears about your software, they can buy, install and start using it in less time than it takes to find a parking space outside a PC superstore.
3 – “Other options?”
Customers are no longer restricted to the number of applications stocked by their supplier. Choice is a great thing!
What’s started to happen:
1 – “Why should we pay that much?”
Thanks to Apple, customers are starting to realise that you can buy very good software for less than $1.
Yesterday’s PC bargain at $39.99 suddenly looks overpriced.
2 – “What cloud?”
The Cloud has become a reality. Like all great technologies, its main strength is that people don’t know it’s there.
3 – “Web in hand”
It wasn’t so long ago that accessing email on your mobile phone was cutting edge. Today my Dad has the internet on his phone.
What’s starting to happen:
1 - “The playing field is level but the rules are changing”
Apple’s App Store allows software developers to reach a huge number of people. But the hoops to jump through are awkward and restrictive. And you can forget your old pricing model.
2 – “It’s getting hot in here”
Go back a decade and selling software online was an opportunity to reach the world. Today, however, you’re also competing with the world. Standing out from the crowd has never been so difficult and more important.
3 – “The dumb get dumber”
AdWords is no longer an optional extra. You and your competitors are all doing it, and competition is intense. Unfortunately most AdWords account managers waste money and don’t realise it. You’re competing against people who spend too much, so your costs are higher, and your skills need to be sharper than ever before.
And so:
This isn’t the time to sit back and see what happens. You’ll get splinters from sitting on the fence.
The progressive software company needs to be tapping into all of the new opportunities long before they become the norm.
The industry is bloated and natural selection is underway. Make some noise.
As a long-term user of Skype, I’ve grown to depend on it.
I use it daily for video conferencing (work and family), and for making cheap international phone calls when I’m travelling.
I was therefore interested to see what a Skype Premium account would offer.
Nothing.
I don’t have any need for group video, I already have a webcam, and have never needed their support.
As a UK-based user, the Premium version would only cost me around $8 a month. My company should be able to afford that. Yet there isn’t one single compelling reason to upgrade.
Why would I pay $8 for support I shouldn’t need and a webcam I don’t want?
I suspect that Microsoft have plans for Skype, and am expecting to see far more ads.
But Microsoft need to get the balance right.
Too few ads and they won’t monetise the application or annoy enough people into upgrading.
Too many ads and they risk forcing people away from Skype altogether.
The Software industry has an interesting history of dabbling with advertising. Adware worked well until greed kicked in, and today’s users value their private information far more than in the past, mainly as a result of having it regularly violated and shared.
For now I’m going to stick with the free version until Microsoft come up with something a little more tempting.
Google AdWords