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Adriana Iordan,
Web Marketing Manager, Avangate

What's Hot In This Issue?

Hi,

What have you been up to this last month? New great features and marketing programs for your software? We were busy working on new exciting releases and we are quite happy with what we did (just a quick peek: advanced renewal and licence options, sales source reports, SaaS implementation, recurring payments). We've been to Infosecurity Europe and met a lot of friends from the old times when we were producing the RAV antivirus.
Next stop on our software conferences agenda:  ISDEF Spring Conference (Independent Software Developers Forum) in Moscow which is planned for 30th May - 1th June, 2008. If you are in Moscow during the event, make sure you meet my colleagues there.

In this issue, I am delighted to welcome John Marshall of MarketMotive in a video interview to explain the concept of search behavior and share his valuable advice on maximizing conversions. You can also read about how to track your software success rate from trial to purchase and download the latest white paper on how to help your reseller-based business move.

We welcome your feedback. If you like to share your thoughts, please don't hesitate to email me directly at adriana.iordan@avangate.com.

I hope you enjoy this newsletter!
Until next time,
Adriana Iordan

John Marshall
CTO and Founder of Market Motive

Guest: John Marshall
I chose conversion optimization, which is a sort of combination of analysis and psychology.

John Marshall is the CTO and Founder of Market Motive US based company, formerly the CEO and Founder of web-analytics-success story ClickTracks Analytics. He has proven educational and practical experience in the software industry, of more than 20 years, especially in subjects such as web analytics, conversion techniques and marketing.

I had the pleasure of interviewing him during the Search Engine Conference in London, while the Google booth was being torn apart - Yes, it's true, even Google booths get destroyed in the end. So check out John Marshall's discoveries on search behavior and embrace his valuable advice on maximizing your results using search tools.

"I have been an entrepreneur for a long time and I have seen online the kind of things that work and those that don't work so well and I am a strong believer in the power of entrepreneurs."

Continue to interview

4 Easy Steps to Track your Software Success: from Trial to Buy
by Claudiu Murariu

One of the biggest issues I encounter when talking to software authors and marketers is the understanding and measuring of:

• the number of visitors who initiate the download of trial versions;
• the number of users who install the trial versions;
• the way the trial users interact with the website during the trial period;
• the number of users that are using the trial and actually end up buying the software.

Is it enough to rely on the old known "industry standard" of 1% download to purchase ratio? Certainly NOT. You need context and specific data you can turn into actions.

Read the full article on how to use Google Analytics for tracking "download to purchase" conversion rate.

Continue to full article

Twitter.com is a free online service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate by answering one simple question: What are you doing? What I like about it is the fact that it works also on the mobile phone, is quite easy to use and quite humorous; you just sign, connect to your friends and they can read your posts. Everything happens in real-time: updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Want to know what my colleague Adriana is doing? Check out her profile.

Techcrunch.com is a weblog dedicated to reviewing new internet products and companies, edited by Michael Arrington and Erick Schonfeld. I am really fond of the news and tips on how to use better different software and web applications. Also, the pollemic comments at the end of the post are truly helpful. The blog started in 2005 and turned out to be a really successful one. What is notable about this website is that you find out news and comments from the people in the IT and web industry.

Grokdotcom.com is a blog belonging to Future Now focusing on "grokking" human reactions to marketing, sales, PR & evolving media. The site drew my attention even from the start: what does its name mean? "Grok" is a word with a belletristic origin, meaning "to drink". The site is a resourceful discussion place for e-commerce and usability also featuring Future Now announcements in the attempt to quench the "thirst" of specialists in usability and e-commerce for new information.

WWDC 08 June 9-13, 2008, USA, San Francisco, Moscone West
The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is the only place where people can meet the developers of Mac OS X Leopard and iPhone OS. There will be more than 150 information sessions and labs giving the opportunity for techies to know all the information they are eager to find out. The conference also has an awards section for Apple design (this year the awards will be "more exciting the ever" according to official statements).

Ad Tech Miami June 3-4, 2008, USA, Miami Beach, Convention Center
Adtech in an event taking place in 11 cities across 7 countries, bringing together brand advertisers, traditional agencies, portals, web publishers and IT providers. Judging by the rapid growth in technology and use of digital media, Adtech offers an unmatched occasion to find out new practices and technologies, and to learn how many of the great names have used the internet as a means of building brand recognition and immersing themselves in digital technologies.

I bet you will find at least one new idea from the articles below:

Deal of the Day Websites 100% Successful?
One day deal is a discount-based selling method invented in order to promote impulsive sales. Is one day deal a sure way to success? Not always, although you may be successful as long as certain rules are followed. An article about how to take the most of one day deals websites.

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13 Tips to Make Good Use of Testimonials
An article about the lending credibility of testimonials and how websites can make the most of them. A testimonial turns a certain customer into a witness of its good or poor qualities. Word of mouth marketing turns out to be really effective.

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