What is the best way to promote free software?

14 years ago

I will tell you the very best thing is making sure you have users that love it. Get that right, and the rest becomes much easier. I would add Hotscripts to your list. A paid add in a popular category can be valuable.

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George Sepich

14 years ago

There is really only one best answer in my opinion. That is submitting PAD files to the software directories. Google PAD files and you will understand.

George

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Matt Morgan

14 years ago

I have done this before, and it does work:

Submit a trial version on download.com and other software directories.

When they click and download it, redirect them with a link on your software to a page where you offer the full version via a sales letter.

A similar principle like them adware remove softwares which offer free versions then pay to upgrade for the full version.

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sidpoudyal

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Matt Morgan

I have done this before, and it does work:

Submit a trial version on download.com and other software directories.

When they click and download it, redirect them with a link on your software to a page where you offer the full version via a sales letter.

A similar principle like them adware remove softwares which offer free versions then pay to upgrade for the full version.

Agreed, this works really well. Also, do a search for IM torrent sites and post your software there. You could also simply post them at high traffic torrent sites.

Make sure to try and include major industry products in your titles like "TheBestSpinner Killer - New Kid On The Block Raises The Bar" or something along those lines. This way you have a chance to channel all the traffic that those products may be getting. Hope this helps.

Kind Regards,
Sid Poudyal

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mywebwork

14 years ago

PAD files, as George already mentioned, are most definitely the way to go. They have been the standard for freeware and shareware software distribution for over a decade.

Portable Application Description (PAD) - Association of Software Professionals

Bill

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duia

14 years ago

Why not try social media marketing? Compared to the strategies that you mentioned above, it is a free but effective marketing strategy.
You can use Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites to promote your free software. As it is a free one, if it can bring big value for the end users, I am sure you can gain as many as users at once.

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bizousoft

14 years ago

great suggestions, thank you!

I've downloaded the official PAD generator, which is free btw from the official ASP web-site. Looks like this has a lot of potential!

Are there any other methods you use to promote your software? What about beta-testing?

Thank you

Thanks

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leesr

14 years ago

what is the best way of promoting it?

Don't know if it's "the best" but you could always...

1) make it viral
2) make it available to Warriors, with Give Away rights.

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-- LeeSr

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petevamp

14 years ago

There are actually a number of ways to promote free software. However you will need a few other free tools to do so.

First thing you will need is padgen. This is a piece of software that generates a pad file for you.

Second thing you will need a pad submitter software. I personally prefer promosoft for this. With promo soft you can also generate the pad files.

Third after you have generated the pad file simply open up promo soft submit the pad file. You can also submitt pad files online at Free Software PAD File Submission

This is all I really do for promoting my free software. Other sites will also pick up the software for you this way. I have found pieces of my free software picked up on sites like squidoo and bloggers.

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Gregster

13 years ago

Originally Posted by petevamp

First thing you will need is padgen. This is a piece of software that generates a pad file for you.

Second thing you will need a pad submitter software. I personally prefer promosoft for this. With promo soft you can also generate the pad files.

Hi Pete,
Can you tell me what is a "pad" file? Is this an acronym? What is the purpose, or necessity of creating such a file? Who (generally) requires this format besides 'Promosoft'?

Thanks

Thanks

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magicmarcus

14 years ago

1. make a youtube video showing what the software does
2. promote it on the keyword closest to the offer
3. make it a WSO free offer

i just did this and its working well
4. put it on software directories
5. make a blog with the name of the software
6. use it as a bonus to products that compliment it
7. get others to give it to thier list as free content

ect...

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ildarius

14 years ago

try to get an influential blogger to promote it for you

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bizousoft

14 years ago

great answers all around, I went ahead and created the file and also purchased Promosoft, looks like their database is updated so it's good news. Anymore advice?

Thanks

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bizousoft

14 years ago

by the way just wanted to share an interesting tip I just learned, if you have a press release you can submit it to web-sites that specialize in press releases for new applications that just came up, here are the ones I found so far:

Write and submit press release about software
SoftPressRelease - Distributing hi-tech news

Pretty cool eh?

Thanks

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JonMills

13 years ago

Originally Posted by bizousoft

Have create a free IM application and was wondering what is the best
way of promoting it?

I'm thinking

- Contacting influential bloggers
- Solo ad blasts
- Adswaps
- PPC

Any other effectve and or original suggestions?

Thank you

P.S: It's basically a multivariant spinner, which allows you to choose uniqueness of your articles, dunno if I can link to it

Sites like download.com freeware

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