Experience with submitting software to download portals?

[tomfra]

Do you have any experience with submitting software to download portals?

I'd like to submit the demo version of my software (Identity Cloaker) to them but I haven't done that before so I could use a few tips.

I know how to create the PAD file, but is it worth it to some a mass-type kind of submission service that will submit the SW to those small portals, or just submit it to a few authority webs such as download.com etc?

Thanks!

Tomas

[tomfra]

Anyone? I guess I will have to rely on Google then...

Tomas

[Tim Dixon]

Hi Tomas.

Definitely worth taking the time to submit your demo version to the smaller download portals.

Try using something like RoboSoft which offers an unrestricted 30 day trial to submit it to those and then do a manual submit to places like Upload.com (which is the service that gets you into places like Download.com plus others).

Tim

[Andy Fletcher]

Free PAD submission software. Worked brilliantly for a project I did a few months back -

Ideas!Beta Make $100 per day - My free software to help you

[tomfra]

Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate it! I have already used the Free PAD submission software, seems to have worked, a few submission errors but not many.

I've also applied for an upload.com developer account but they have to manually approve it and this may take a while because of the holiday season.

If you can share any other tips, I am all ears

Tomas

[Brandon Tanner]

Hi Tomas,

I submit to a few of the biggest ones manually (Download.com, Tucows, etc). Then use a PAD file and an automatic submission service for all the others.

Whatever you do, don't make the mistake I did when first starting out and submit to tons of directories manually. Because whenever you update your software you will NOT feel like resubmitting to all those directories again!

Best to just go with the PAD / automatic submission route for the majority of the directories. Then whenever you update your software just change a few lines in your XML file (the PAD output file), and you're good to go.

[tomfra]

Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner

I submit to a few of the biggest ones manually (Download.com, Tucows, etc). Then use a PAD file and an automatic submission service for all the others.

Yes, I've been thinking about doing it this way. The upload.com service seems to distribute the submission to all download portals in the cnet.com family, that's including download.com and shareware.com etc. CNET is apparently the biggest player these days.

But what are the other "biggest ones", except for Tucows, that are not owned by CNET? At Tucows it takes 90 days for a free submission and 30 if you have a paid subscription I believe (not completely sure though) so it's not very "flexible".

By the way, have you used a signed pad file?

Tomas

[Brandon Tanner]

Originally Posted by tomfra

Yes, I've been thinking about doing it this way. The upload.com service seems to distribute the submission to all download portals in the cnet.com family, that's including download.com and shareware.com etc. CNET is apparently the biggest player these days.

But what are the other "biggest ones", except for Tucows, that are not owned by CNET? At Tucows it takes 90 days for a free submission and 30 if you have a paid subscription I believe (not completely sure though) so it's not very "flexible".

By the way, have you used a signed pad file?

Tomas

Yeah, Download.com / CNET is by far the most popular. The other "big ones" (Tucows, Brothersoft, Softpedia, etc) are no where near as big as Download.com, and even though I manually submit to them I'm not sure if it's really worth it. I've gotten better results from Download.com than the other three I mentioned combined. In fact, in the future I will probably manually submit to just Download.com, and automatically submit the rest.

BTW, I use PADGen. Not sure what a "signed" PAD file is?

[tomfra]

Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner

BTW, I use PADGen. Not sure what a "signed" PAD file is?

I use PadGEN too. There are not many other options anyway. Most of the other tools I have tried were seriously outdated (last update like in 2001-2002...), did not run on Vista etc.

In PadGEN when you click on the "Build Options" tab, you will see "Signature PFX file" and "Signature password" there. And on the top you you will also see the options to Verify, Generate, Sign the PAD file.

It's just like signing the software itself with a certificate. But I doubt it's really useful.

Tomas

[jeremiahcork]

How hard is it to make a simple software application>?

I am new to this. I am trying to use media builder. I wish i had some sort of video turorial.

thank you

[Francis Chan]

You may like to take a look at PromoSoft. They claim to be able to submit up to 800 sites.

PromoSoft - fast and accurate automatic software promotion and submission solution