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What happens if I blast a "popular" page?

by Sean Bissell
3 replies
Hey Warriors,

I have a software program that I threw out to a bunch of software directories.

I made it free for awhile to get testimonials.

I'm getting a bunch of links back from these software directories.

But I don't really want to offer my software free any longer.

What happens if I yank the software from my website?

This would effectively create a "bad link."

I would assume that the directories would remove their links to my site.

And it would probably effect my rankings.

Currently the site is a PR3.

But it's still not getting much search engine traffic.

What would you do in my shoes?

I'm almost thinking about keeping the same file there (it's a .zip) and just having the .zip file being a PDF instead of an .exe.

Inside the PDF it would say "This software is no longer available for free... please go here to see more, etc."

Is this a good idea? Or do you have any other suggestions?

Not sure why I can't seem to wrap my head around this one.

Thanks for the help!
-Sean
#blast #page #popular
  • Profile picture of the author Jason Hodgins
    How about a lite version for the directories & some valuable improvement version that you sell separately. Ex: Version 1.1

    Just a thought as the links seem to be of some value to your site.

    Also, although creative I would not personally go the PDF route. One complaint and you may get it pulled anyway. That's my thinking.

    HTH,

    --Jay
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    • Profile picture of the author Sean Bissell
      Yea...

      I don't feel that great about going the pdf route either.

      But it may be necessary if I actually yank it anyhow just to let people know that it's not available free any longer.

      That being said... talking about PDF's...

      I've heard somewhere that you can submit PDF's or similar files to software directories and gain the same link benefit as "actual" software programs.

      Would a good option then be to remove the free software and then create a separate PDF or very small program and resubmit to the software directories?

      Thanks for the help.

      Maybe I need more coffee.

      -Sean
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
    I think most of us would be pretty ticked off if we saw a listing for free software, then the download was just a PDF telling us we fell for a lie.

    Ditto for any software listing where there was just a PDF- a PDF is not software, at least not what people expect.

    Your best bet may be to create a version of your software that is always free, then offer paid upgrades to the full version, or charge for support for the free one.
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