Blogging and micro-ISVs

This morning over a forum I'm a moderator for, a software developer asked about getting their product reviewed by bloggers. I responded over at mymicroisv.com because I think both bloggers and software companies need to understand what works and what doesn't when it comes to blog reviews.

For another take on the intersection of small developers - micro-ISVs - and blogging, here's what Itzy Sabo of Claritude Software had to say in an interview from my book, Clear Blogging , which will be available Feb. 12th at all major booksellers.

(By the way, Itzy's main product, SpeedFiler, is an absolute must-have if you want to get control over your email. Highly recommended, and works fine with Windows Vista and Office 2007.)

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Q. How has your blog affected sales?
A. The blog itself accounts directly for only a small portion of sales. However, it was a crucial tool to get the message out when I launched my first product, SpeedFiler. The blog is indirectly responsible for a much larger percentage of sales. It has drawn the attention of other bloggers to SpeedFiler and seeded numerous posts, which, apart from linking back to the blog, also link to my commercial website and bring me customers.

Q. Where does blogging fit in your overall marketing approach?

A. The blog is a major part of my marketing approach. Being a micro-ISV, I have to divide my time very carefully between marketing existing products and developing future products, and I also have a rather limited marketing budget.

Writing a blog gives incredible return on investment in a number of areas. Take visibility, for instance. Claritude Software is in the e-mail productivity software business. The way search engines work, in order to rank highly for terms such as “e-mail productivity” and “e-mail overload,” apart from using SEO [search engine optimization] techniques in the website, I need links from high-ranking sites. These are difficult to obtain and take a lot of time. It’s much easier to get a blog to rank highly for these terms. It can naturally have much richer content than a product-focused website (richer in good keywords for SEO and also in quality subject matter for the readers), and it’s much easier to get other bloggers to link to the various posts. Both of these qualities have a crucial impact on the rankings. My blog appears consistently “above the fold” on the first page of Google results for “e-mail productivity” and “e-mail overload.” Once people come to the blog, the challenge is then to convert them into customers.

Another area in which the blog helps is credibility. I have a passion for improving all aspects of e-mail, and the blog allows me to showcase this. The blog paints a picture of who is behind Claritude Software and what motivates him. In addition, I publish my photograph and e-mail address on my blog. I don’t believe in hiding behind a corporate veil. I hope that all of this lends an aura of credibility to the product itself.

Thirdly, blogging allows me to keep very much in touch with the market. I treat blogging as a conversation, and I try to attract as many comments and opinions as possible. I learn a lot from my readers about the problems they experience with e-mail, how concerned they are about these problems, and how they go about dealing with them. This is very valuable information when making decisions about new products or features.

Q. Have you ever made a large-volume sale because of your blog?

A. It’s difficult to say whether any particular sale was because of the blog. As I said before, only a small percentage of sales originate from the blog, but it definitely plays a part in many sales. The commercial website links to the blog, and many potential customers subscribe to it before deciding to purchase. If someone is considering a large purchase and they’re the type who does their homework, I hope the blog will leave a lasting positive impression with them.

Q. How do you manage to find the time to blog?

A. I try to devote about 30 minutes each day to blogging and developing ideas for future posts, but it’s a constant battle. Because I try to write original material, the most difficult periods are when I’m channeling my creative energy into developing a new product or feature, and there’s very little left for developing new blog material. So it’s not just a matter of finding the time—I’ve got to have the right kind of energy as well.

Q. Do you have a blog plan, and if so, what is it?

A. I don’t have a long-term master plan. However, when I started the blog, I wanted to give it a decent backbone, so I picked a number of topics and invested significant effort in researching them and writing them up, creating a series of posts with a common thread. Since then, I’ve worked on a couple of other series, but these generally come about because of an idea I had rather than as part of a master plan. I like to work on a number of posts in parallel, and every day I spend a few minutes moving each one forward until it’s ready. Occasionally, I’ll get an idea for a quick post and write it on the spot, but this is not the usual case.
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