Will it sell?

You have invested hours, days or maybe years developing, refining, testing and triple checking your software.  You will, with little doubt, at some point ask, ‘can I make money from it?’.  Knowing the answer to this question will help you decide whether or not you should invest time further developing the software.

I doubt you will be surprised when I say that every software is different; because of this it is impossible for me to answer the above questions.  Let me upset you further with the following two, often overlooked facts:

1. It is normal for a person to get excited about what they have produced
2. Most people produce what has already been done before

So… be realistic.  But what does ‘being realistic’ mean when you have had no previous experience?

1. Majority of people will make little money from their software. To avoid disappointment, do not think that your application will change your world. Even if you have the best software in its range, it will take time for it to get noticed.
2. It IS possible to make money and even a living from selling software. Further, there is virtually no start-up cost (if you yourself are coding the software and you following the recommendations on this site)
3. Making money from software WILL require time and most of this is taken up with learning new skills.  This site will help you greatly (I hope!)

On a good note, there are exactly three things that can make a product succeed

1. The product is unique - your product has one or more features that is not already available
2. The product is better - even if it not unique, your product can do a better job than those in the market
3. The product is marketed well - i.e. the end users (i.e. your customers) are better aware of your product then those of your competitors

Although point 3 is correct, unless you have experience in marketing, you should NEVER rely on it.  Marketing a product well often costs money. For this reason, it is vitally important that you make your product unique or better than that of your competitor’s.

Now we come to two obvious questions.  Who are your competitors and how should you compare them to your own software?

Your competitor is:

• Anyone selling a product similar to yours.

How do you identify them?

• Search for simpler product on www.download.com - Search in the correct catagory as opposed to through the search bar.  In the case of Color Crazy, I may search under “Development tool”
• Search on a specialist website - e.g. Kidsfreeware.com is an excellent website for finding education titles.
• Do a Google search for similar products – e.g. if yours is a photo-album application, search for something like “photo album windows download” – be creative with the search as it can find many hidden software!

Observe the following.

• Note the number of different applications you find - this gives you an idea of how many you need to compete with
• Note what features these software have - this gives you an indication what your software needs to compete with
• See what people are saying about the various software available – this will help you identify any problems with the software already available. You can then code your software to address these issues.

Based on the above findings, assess whether your software can offer something more.

• Is there a well known freeware application that can already do what your software can - if so, you can consider giving up now!
• Ask yourself - would you yourself download/use/buy the software that you have made or would prefer to use something already available.
• Ask others - would they download/use/buy your software.  You can do this both online and with your family/friends/workmates.  There is often a fear that people will steal your ideas (especially if done online), however, this is unlikely (as people are unlikely to be able to programme nor market software online!).  If you are paranoid, you can consider disgusing your questions so that the exact/the whole nature/main feature is not revealed.  You should discuss on specialist forums dedicated to similar types of software.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, have you thought about giving out the software for free?!  Do not ignore the  following points!

• Think hard, why sell? - For cash on the side? Because of the hard effort? Is it actually ethical to charge for your product?!
• Have you considered donations?
• Have you considered the possiblility of putting adverts to your site as a way of making money?
• Are others giving it out for free?
• Giving software out for free can build up your experience as well as reputation
• Beta test your product by giving it out for free and demanding feedbacks

As a summary, here are some recommendations and warnings.

• Be realistic, aim low!
• Consider giving out for free, especially a beta version.  This will help you develop the necessary experience, to debug your software and to develop a fanbase.
• Make sure your product is unique in some way.
• Small time programmer? avoid taking on the big dogs.
• Just starting out? you should produce a well written, useful, bug free and relatively unique software which appeals to a specific group of people (as it will be easier to target/market the product).
• Investing time learning about the products currently available and do not worry for now about making people aware of your precious software.
• Do not waste your time with a product likley to fail.  If following the advice you still haven’t figured out whether its likely to succeed or not, hear this now and hear it well - dont bother persuing the software for the online world!