How To Make A Small Fortune Giving Away Software!

Go to http://www.tucows.com/ and look up free software called Spyware Doctor 3.2 for Windows. You can download it free, you along with the 500,000 other consumers who download it every week! OK, now go to http://www.download.com and check on the number of downloads for the AVG AntiVirus Free Edition. This title was downloaded 1,126,408 times last week and similar astounding quantities every week!

Consider this: what if you had some popular shareware title that users downloaded over a half million times every week? Can you see a way to make some money here?

Here are a few ideas how you can make money with shareware: First, you need the rights to a universally needed software program. Look for an application that most everyone on the Internet has a need for. However, there are plenty of niche markets with extremely high demand as well. Research the categories that are in high demand.

2. Research your market to see what the competition is doing. If the market is big enough you may decide to spend the time and money to improve on the most popular title out there. Get lots of free publicity with word of mouth advertising by developing a five star shareware program.

The good news is that shareware is a digital product. There are no delivery or manufacturing costs once bandwidth issues are handled. It costs you little or nothing to get your title into the hands of millions of users. Consider this an enormous source of free advertising.

The download numbers for titles like Spyware Doctor are astronomical! Download.com shows over 10,000,000 downloads so far. Sites like www.download.com get so much traffic that their Alexa ranking is among the best of any site on the Internet. If your shareware is listed on hundreds if not thousands of download/shareware sites your download numbers can soar.

My research showed tens of thousands of such sites but there are probably more. Just type in free downloads or free software as a search term in Google, Alexa or Yahoo.com . You could not spend enough money to get anywhere close to that level of traffic. So, why bother? Why even have a web site?

Shareware Millions Most people are unaware of all the ways someone can make money giving away free software. Here’s some ideas Thomas Deedy told me about that might surprise you as much as it did me.

There are several powerful income generators that you could employ. For example, if you create a complicated program that has many applications you may want to offer paid support services. Some developers know the answers to every possible complication in the installation, development or on-going operation of their software. So, they create a powerful trouble-shooting menu tree that any technical person can follow.

Then, they sell support packages at $50 to $150 an hour. The developer installs the trouble-shooting menu tree software on the computers of a support staff. He hires a programmer who may be constantly working to refine and improve the software to manage the support room. He provides the support when the trouble shooting menu doesn’t have all the answers.

When the database of issues is about as complete as it can get the support system can charge, say $10 per issue. But, it will only take the staff a couple of seconds to look up the solution and deliver it. So, they make money all day long.

For example, you could design the support service so that the client calls a 900 phone line @ $5 a minute or he can purchase a full hour of support for $75 and use it in ten minute increments on an “as-needed” basis.

A more advanced approach is to professionally prepare an installation and support video with actual screen shots from the shareware. You can include a troubleshooting menu and sell the training and support package for $250 including a couple hours of live support if needed.

Companies are more than happy to pay $250 for a support package like this. The numbers could get very exciting if your shareware was downloaded 250,000 times and only 2% purchased support.

Do the math: 5000 orders @ $250 each is $1,250,000 in gross sales!

If you outsource the production of the video and support software you have just developed an automated way to monetize your shareware that could make you a millionaire.

Sound interesting? Why not visit www.elance.com or www.Vworker.com? You can enter a project proposal free of charge and have professional coders bidding to work with you within 24 hours. Outsourcing to coders in other countries can be very reasonable.

Once your shareware has been created and tested you own the rights. That means you can license the program to other companies to collect royalties on all their sales or agree that you will provide support services and keep 100% of the revenues from support.

I believe shareware development may be one of the best ways to build a million dollar revenue but you need few technical skills to succeed.

Support is where the big money is but some simpler software programs don’t really have any support issues; they are that good! Developers of simpler software can make money in other ways.

Try it before you buy it shareware puts the software into the hands of the user risk-free. If they like it they can donate or pay an upgrade fee to get a full-functioning version of the shareware. Many such programs install a donate or upgrade button right in the software.

————————————————————————————————————————– ” Please support my efforts to provide users with support and improve this software with a small donation. In return, you’ll receive a link to an extensive tutorial, help files and you’ll be advised when you can download the latest updated version of XYZ software. You’ll receive lifetime updates all for your small contribution of $10 or more.” ————————————————————————————————————————–

I would then include three pay links. To contribute $10 click here. To contribute $15 click here. To contribute $25 click here. I would add a bonus of some really nifty software worth several hundred dollars for those who donate $25.

You can be sure a substantial number of people will contribute $$ but the capturing of the user’s name and email address may ultimately be worth more than the donation. Anyone who can build a massive opt-in emailing list has the potential to earn roughly a dollar per name per month. Major players like Mark Joyner built lists of around a million names. A single email to his list could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.

If you’d like to become a shareware millionaire try and find an application that will have wide-spread appeal. Look at what others have done and then do it better.

Other ways to make money with shareware:

1. Include an upgrade option. Let your customer download a pretty cool basic version for free; then show him that there is a new, improved and five times more powerful version available for just $39.95 that includes lifetime support and upgrades. If you add enough valuable features and show that they can’t really live without the more powerful version your sales will go through the roof!

2. Offer other shareware to users just for subscribing. The bigger your subscriber list the more money you can make. Sell some of your more powerful titles.

3. I created a free lesson creator and reader for students. Then, I set it up so that teachers could purchase a much more powerful lesson creator which would enable them to create Advanced Lessons that they can sell on my site. I share the revenue from these Advanced Lessons. See www.Tutorbug.com

Don’t hesitate to tackle your first shareware project. Use professional coders and be innovative and you’ll soon see that there are many ways to make a small fortune with shareware.

Before you spend big bucks creating software consider becoming a shareware distributor to earn a fee on every paid upgrade. Click on SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTOR for complete details. Unique version for reprint here: How To Make A Small Fortune Giving Away Software!.