About 142 years ago I mentioned that I had submitted Organize365 to Tucows. The first time it took them about four months to get around to evaluating Organize365, and they emailed me to say that they could not evaluate it because my screenshot (you have to send them a link to a screenshot of your product) was not on my website.
The screenshot was on the website, I’m not sure what the problem was from there side, but that’s life.. Despite my best efforts they wouldn’t evaluate it there and then, it had to instead go back to the bottom of the queue of software waiting to be evaluated. About five months later I got another email, this time telling me that they could not evaluate my software because my screenshot was in PNG format, not JPG. I replied by sending them a screenshot (in JPG format) of their own website where it says “The screenshot you submit to Tucows must be in either PNG, JPG, or GIF format”. They didn’t reply. I gave up.
Anyway, it’s now 2006, a new year, new dreams, new opportunities, and all that stuff. So I have resubmitted Organize365 to Tucows. I am now number 3191 in the queue. I must admit that if I were cynical by nature I would wonder if they are perhaps deliberately not evaluating my software because they are hoping that eventually I will get really frustrated with them and will pay them the $2000 that they want for an “expedited submission”. But luckily I’m not cynical by nature. Hmm..
Can I post this on the ASP forum the rep from TuCows hangs out there and my be able to bump you up.
Gary,
I feel your pain.
For years, I couldn’t get them to accept any of my Product Scope programs.
Two rejections AND shortly after the 2nd rejection, they agreed to “evaluate” it for a USD $150 fee!
Finally,
5 Cow rating * * * 21 Jan 2004 – Product Scope 32 PRO, Version 5
However, later in 2004, they informed me not enough downloads, for a fee, we’ll continue to display it. I didn’t pay, it was removed, and Archive.org is the only proof (plus their emails) that I achieved a 5 cow rating.
http://web.archive.org/web/20041010035152/www.tucows.com/preview/340601.html
David
http://www.encouragersoftware.com/blog/
Hi Mike.
Yes please!!! Thanks for the offer..
G.
Hi Dave.
Gees.. I think that rather than making money by frustrating their clients into paying for service that they appear to initially offer for free, Tucows should rather employ more people to evaluate (for free), and then charge a commission on anything that they sell. I’d be very happy to give them 10% if they could sell truckloads of my software for me..
Maybe I should start a business that downloads and purchases software simply to increase stats. So a client signs up with me, I buy hundreds of copies of their software off Tucows, then the client refunds me and covers my bank charges. Tucows then thinks the software is popular, other users see the large number of downloads and are encouraged to buy the software themselves, and boof, mission accomplished!
Hi Gary,
Some of these Internet marketing techniques, while legitimate, remind of pet rocks.
Yes, some people made a small fortune selling pet rocks, BUT could “you” live with yourself creating a market for something essentially useless, or not meaningful, or even minimally helpful for consumers.
Personally, I’d concentrate on Download.com and some of the more popular file listing sites, possibly get Al Harberg to do a press release (http://www.dpdirectory.com/3newsltr.htm) for your program, join ASP (http://www.asp-shareware.org/) and AISIP (http://www.aisip.com/) (Sue Pichotta recently sold this organization according to a recent Sharon Housley blog – http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html).
Consider creating a separate web site for Organize365, with a whole new look. Screen shots, more pizzazz!
You have the talent and inventiveness to take your software to a whole new level, but as you indicated in another blog, marketing, marketing, marketing.
Sell it on Amazon!
Product Description – Amazon.com Listing Publishing, MFG – Great Mind Software
Internet Link – http://www.greatmindsoftware.com/
I tracked sales rankings of Sharon Housley’s FeedForAll on Amazon for a time, and it certainly looked good for that product.
David
Why do you care so much about Tucows? They have never generated much traffic for me anyway, so I tend to focus on search engines instead. Who uses Tucows anyway these days, except for developers trying to submit to them?
Hi David.
Wow!! Thanks for that.. I’ll mull over your thoughts this weekend.. I’ve been thinking about a separate site for Organize365 for some time now, maybe I’ll start on that over the weekend..
Thanks for the input and the kind words, much appreciated..
Best Regards,
G.
Hi Brian.
LOL, good point.. I guess the “5 Cows” rating is possibly perceived as being more valuable to us developers than to our potential clients. I’ve got a number of awards for Organize365 from other sites (www.strategyonline.co.za/organize365/awards.php), but most of them I had never heard of until they sent me the awards..
It’s interesting you say Tucows didn’t generate much traffic for you, I still thought they were the giants in the shareware world..
I agree with Brian: Tucows is one of many similar sites, so move to the ones that are less restrictive.
From the top of my head:
http://www.download.com
http://www.zdnet.com (they claim to be the biggest….)
http://directory.fsf.org – this one offers freeware, so maybe you could create a free version (with limited functionality etc.).
http://www.bitsdujour.com – one day discount offerings
http://www.komando.com – discusses software
Hope this helps.