Month: August 2014

About six months ago I began collecting the email addresses of folks who downloaded my app, VirtualHostX. This was entirely opt-in. I simply placed a MailChimp signup form on my download page. I promised users who join a three email course introducing them to a few of the major VirtualHostX features and a 10% off coupon for when they purchased. My goal wasn’t to collect their email addresses and, later, market to them. I simply wanted a way to automatically communicate with users new to the software and make sure they got off on the right foot. Setting this up …

Read more

I feel slightly ridiculous even writing this post, but I always appreciate it when other folks review and suggest products that have made their lives a little better. So, here goes. The Tervis 12oz Tumbler is the best coffee cup I’ve ever owned. You would think it wouldn’t matter what sort of coffee cup you use, but after picking one up on a lark from a kitchen store and then ordering four more on Amazon, I can tell you that it absolutely does matter what you’re drinking from. But, first, what’s wrong with a regular old coffee mug? As it …

Read more

After publishing my Mac app financials last month, I received mostly positive comments. But a few people did share with me, over Twitter and email, their displeasure for what I wrote. They seemed to think that I was only writing to jump on Jared’s bandwagon, to grab some cheap, easy traffic, or to show off. One person even gave me the old Gruber fist-eggplant. I completely understand why some people might think that. My post did generate a lot of traffic thanks to Hacker News – 30,000 unique visitors to be exact. And for folks who aren’t as profitable with …

Read more

In this post I thought I’d share my history maintaining mailing lists for my products, how I make the most of them, and what sort of success they have and haven’t brought me. Near the bottom, I’m also going to share some real data about my open rates, etc. To begin with, it took me a long time to become comfortable adding customers to a mailing list. I always worried I’d bother them when I sent an email. But over the past four years, as I’ve seen my open rates stabilize around 70%, I’ve gotten over my fear and come …

Read more

Despite spending three years working in the Yahoo! Marketing department, I’m a terrible marketer when it comes to my own company. I’ll often be in the process of explaining to my wife some new marketing tactic I’m considering trying, when she’ll stop me and say “You sound like you’re apologizing for doing this. You don’t have to be embarrassed for spreading the word about your apps.” And she’s right. For some reason, I’ve got it in my head that my company should sink or swim solely based on the merit of my apps. There’s a gnawing voice in the back …

Read more

One of the challenges of running a small software business is how to turn customers into advocates for your company and products. It’s a challenge because unless there’s a support exchange, it’s entirely possible for your customer to go the entire lifetime of the app without ever having any direct interaction with you. Some customers may want that completely disconnected, self-service relationship. It’s one of the many customer benefits of selling downloadable software – everything’s automated and instant. But for a small business that’s trying to stay afloat and grow, lack of interaction with your customers can keep you out …

Read more

Even after seven years of selling my software, there are still days when I feel like I’m a fraud and have no idea what I’m doing. Those feelings are never more real than on days when I don’t make a sale. I’m lucky that they’re now few and far between compared to when I was just starting out, but when they do happen, they scare the hell out of me. It’s hard to notice that your sales are down until they’ve already been down for a while. I’ll catch myself reviewing the day’s numbers and realize not only did nothing …

Read more

My good friend Mike and I have been discussing a theory about indie developers. I call it The Trap of Your First Success. Our idea is that while it’s incredibly hard to build a successful indie product, it’s even harder to repeat that success because of a trap indie developers often fall into. Let me explain. As I wrote about last week, while I’m not going to retire any time soon, I consider my indie business a success. For a few years it was my only job. And now that my wife isn’t working, it’s serving in place of the …

Read more