This document answers some of the more commonly asked questions, and was last updated on April 23, 2009.

General

• Do you only work with Shareware?
• I'm a small company. What can SharewarePromotions do for me?
• I'm from a medium-sized company. What can SharewarePromotions do for me?

Google AdWords Services

• Why should I use a third party to handle my AdWords account?
• Why should I specifically use SharewarePromotions to handle my AdWords account?
• What is included in your Google AdWords management?

Our company and services

• Will you work with any software?
• What am I paying for?
• Where are your prices?
• Why do you keep mentioning that availability is limited?

Software and shareware sites

• Is it worthwhile being listed on so many sites?
• Which sites do you submit to?
• Why don't you submit to hundreds of software sites?
• Why do you insist on working with a PAD file?
• What happens when we finish using your services?

Search engine optimisation/optimization

• Do you work with Search Engine Optimisation?
• Are doorway pages dangerous?
• Your spelling is UK based. Will this be a problem?
• And if I have any more questions?

Do you only work with Shareware?

Shareware isn't a type of software. It's a marketing method. Shareware is any form of software that allows the user to try before they buy. Some companies prefer to name their Shareware version a trial application, a demo, a free trial or demoware. All of which fall under the umbrella label of Shareware.

Many of our clients choose not to use the word Shareware on their website. And why should they? The technical term for their chosen marketing method is of as little interest to their customers as your dentist's drill preference probably is to you! No matter how you choose to label your software, we can work with it.

 

I'm a small company. What can SharewarePromotions do for me?

A lot more than you can do for yourself. If you have a good product, then you already know the amount of time that's taken up with customer support, sales issues, maintaining your website, running your business, keeping up to date with trends and technology and so on. And that's before actual product development comes into the picture. And marketing? Who has time for marketing? (Hint: we do!)

Something has to give - whether it's the emails that lie unanswered for days at a time, the fact that the new release is always “about to” come out, or the bad links on your website… there just isn't the time to get everything done.

Let us lighten your workload. As well as submitting and uploading your software versions to the sites, we can raise your profile on the search-engines, on the newsgroups, and within the industry as a whole. We can help you with your product marketing, your link popularity, get you write-ups in the computer press, handle your Google AdWords, SEO and more. This can be as short or long term as you like; if you have the need, then we have the time, experience and capability to carry it out.

 

I'm from a medium-sized or large company. What can SharewarePromotions do for me?

SharewarePromotions knows the industry like no one else. We know how to get your software in front of the right people. We work with press releases, website optimisation, search engine optimisation, Google AdWords and more.

But we don't just work with these areas, we're experts in our field. For example, as an AdWords Qualified Company with three qualified professionals, we now how to setup, maintain, optimise and expand a Google AdWords account, and how to produce the best return on investment possible. We know how to avoid Google's defaults that can waste your money, how to handle the different networks, and how to track each and every ad individually to see precisely what your visitors are doing once they arrive.

We also submit software to the software sites on a daily basis, and know where to go, what to send, and how to make sure your software appears as quickly as possible. If you're not familiar with the rules and regulations of some of the larger sites, we can help and advise you. 

We also carry-out all of our submissions by hand. Why? Because it's the only way to be sure it's done correctly. We aren't interested in short-cuts or time-savers, we're only interested in getting your software seen.

Our working with a large number of clients means that we get to see the bigger picture. We know what works, and what will flop. What consumers want, and what businesses are looking for. We know a good advertising opportunity when we see one, and can save you time and money in ensuring you get the most out of all your advertising and promotional campaigns.

And don't forget that we handle much more than just Google AdWords and site submissions. We can advise on other PPC opportunities, co-ordinate and monitor your advertising, press releases, search engine optimisation, optimise your website as a sales tool, measure advertising ROI, website behavioural analysis, pricing and more.

 

Why should I use a third party to handle my AdWords account?

Google AdWords is a phenomenal system, yet the astonishing fact is that most AdWords accounts are not setup correctly and are wasting money. More worrying still is that most account holders are not even aware of this.

Our company has been working with Google AdWords since 2001. With three full-time AdWords Qualified Professionals, we are the ideal choice to setup, optimise, expand and maintain any sized AdWords account for the best possible return on investment.

With our vast amount of experience and knowledge, we make sure that all of our clients' accounts get the best possible value for their money, take advantage of all possible opportunities, cease wasting money where it is not effective and more.

 

Why should I specifically use SharewarePromotions to handle my AdWords account?

Our company has been working with software on the internet since 1997, and to date have worked with more than 400 companies in 42 different countries. We are a Certified AdWords Qualified Company, with three full-time qualified Google AdWords Individuals, and have worked with a wide variety of industries including dentistry, real estate, prenatal care, tourism, hotels, software, design, technology and more.

We produce the results, and our list of clients and testimonials proves it.

 

What is included in your Google AdWords management?

One of the more popular aspects of us handling your AdWords account is that we take care of everything. We handle the identification of your campaign aims, setup and/or optimisation of your account, keyword research, identification of negative keywords, optimisation of match options, optimisation of existing ads, implementation of URL tracking, application of dynamic titles, creation of new ads, regular and ongoing account maintenance, addition of new keywords, addition of new ads, ongoing bid adjustments, ongoing monitoring of account, web log analysis, detailed activity log in the format of your choice and more.

 

Will you work with any software?

No. We no longer work with games of any kind.

We also reserve the right to refuse to work with any application that we are not comfortable with. This may include (but is not limited to) adult, gambling, lottery, fortune telling, applications that are based on unsound principles, applications promoting violence of any kind, and any application that we deem unfit.

In addition, we will not work with any software that we feel will not benefit from our services. This may include (but is not limited to) software that we feel will not sell, software that is poorly implemented or software offering no competitive advantage.

 

What am I paying for?

The specifics depend on the package of your choice, but as well as the A's, B's, and C's of what we do for you, you'll find us to be a useful source of information, with a knowledge of the industry like no-one else. Just as important as the package components, you get our experience, our professionalism, and our knowledge. If you're wondering what this is worth, take a look at what some of our previous clients have said about us, then decide for yourself.

Even taking into account our reasonable prices, never forget that we generate more than we cost. How else can you explain the number of clients that continue using our services on a constant basis?

 

Where are your prices?

The price for our services depend on how much you'd like us to do for you. To see what services we offer, please take a look at the overview of our services.

 

Why do you keep mentioning that availability is limited?

SharewarePromotions is a small company. At the time of writing this, there are three full-time people, and all of our work is carried out by hand.

We do not use software to automate any of the work that we do, as our experience has shown us that the best results are obtained by hand, with a combination of knowledge, experience and expertise.Our time is therefore limited, and we prefer to reserve as much of it as possible for our paying clients.

We are also careful to ensure that we never take on too much work at any given time, and have occasionally had to open a waiting list for companies wishing to engage our services.If or when you and your company start to use our services, you will appreciate our working methods and priorities.

 

Is it worthwhile being listed on so many sites?

Yes, definitely. There are two main reasons for being listed on as many "good" sites* as possible. First of all, even a low number of sales is worth some amount of effort. Look at it this way. How many sales would you say that a site has to generate in order to be worthwhile? One? Two? In other words if a small site generates only one single sale every month, don't you want to be listed there?

Second of all, being listed on the shareware sites is good for the search engines. Like any other website, shareware sites want to receive as much traffic as possible, and will always submit themselves to the search engines. So when someone looks for a specific type of application, they're almost certain to find some of the shareware sites in their results too. You want to make sure that your software is in there.

*Click here for details of how we choose the sites

 

Which sites do you submit to?

This depends on a combination of different factors - the package that you choose, and the software itself. In general - all the main sites, and many of the better "not-so-main" ones too! More information on how we choose the sites may be found on our site selection information page.

 

Why don't you submit to hundreds of software sites?

Because when you reach a certain level, the time required to submit to the very small sites may be better spent elsewhere. More information on how we choose the sites may be found on our site selection information page.

 

Why do you insist on working with a PAD file?

Because it is simply the fastest and most efficient means of getting your software out there as quickly as possible. It is better for the shareware and software sites, better for you, and better for us. Further details about PAD are available here.

 

What happens when we finish using your services?

When we have completed the work for a company, we send a list of all user accounts, details and passwords that were setup or used on their behalf.

In other words, we do not force you to continue to work with us, nor do we in any way tie you in to our services. The next time you have a new release, should you decide to handle this yourself, you will have all the information you need at your disposal, in one place.

It has come to our attention that some of our competitors force their clients to use their own domain name for the submissions. Our experience has also been that the same companies are extremely unwilling to disclose any account details, even though these have been setup on behalf of their paying clients.

 When you use SharewarePromotions, we will supply all details that you may need to pick-up where we left off. We hope that you choose to use our services again, but prefer you to use the results of the work that we do, as opposed to forcing you to stick with us!

 

Do you work with Search Engine Optimisation?

Yes we do. Despite the overwhelming number of changes that have taken place over the past few years, the Search Engines still offer an extremely cost-effective means of drawing in the most highly-targeted of traffic. We have been working with Search Engine Optimisation for many of our long-term clients for the past few years, and now offer this as a standalone package. Click here for details of our search engine optimisation packages. Or click here to see a case study of one of our clients.

 

Are doorway pages dangerous?

Like many issues related to search engine optimisation, there is a great deal of confusion, and more speculation than fact. On the issue of doorway pages, there are in general two types of doorway pages. Those that are legitimate, and those that are not.

A legitimate doorway page is a page that is setup to address one particular aspect of an application. For example, if the application in question is a network messaging tool, there might be a page detailing the security risks of using a web-based messaging tool versus a network messaging solution. Another page might address the benefits of using internal messaging over email. Another might compare the product in question with ICQ, Messenger and so on.

 In general, we create a very small number of these pages, each covering a very distinct and separate topic, and each built around two or three very specific keywords.

 These pages are not designed to trick the search engines. They are perfectly legitimate content pages that can and should be linked to from within the rest of the site. Upon finding one of these pages, the visitor will be unaware that the page is any different from the rest of the site. The risk of being penalised by the search engines for using one of these pages is zero, as the pages are perfectly standard, genuine content, and do not employ any tricks or specialised techniques to trick the search engine spiders.

 There are other types of doorway pages, those that aim to trick, deceive or "tweak" the search engines. In the past some of these techniques worked very well, but they've had their time, and nowadays range from either harmless and ineffective to high-risk!

 As the search-engines become ever more adaptive to the latest tricks, the only reliable means of performing well on the search engines is good, solid keyword research, substantial content, and effective implementation.

 

Your spelling is UK based. Will this be a problem?

Not at all. We have worked with many US based companies over the years, and in fact tend to tailor most of the work that we do around a US based spelling system. Additionally, half of our team are located in the USA! Bearing in mind that we have been promoting software via the web since 1997, this has never caused a single issue or problem.

 

And if I have any more questions?

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. We take all enquiries seriously, and will usually reply within one working day. You can contact us in any of the following ways:

By email:  Write to dave@sharewarepromotions.com

By phone:  +44 796 759 5911

By fax:  +44 870 442 5271

By ICQ:  19120203 - no authorisation is necessary

 Please understand, however, that we are only a small company with a limited amount of time on our hands; most of which we prefer to devote to our paying clients. Because of this, you will receive a far faster response to an email enquiry than a voicemail message.

If or when you sign up for our services, you'll appreciate this approach!