Bob Walsh (MicroISV, author, and consultant), has released a new $19 ebook entitled MicroISV Sites that Sell!.
Let me just start out by saying that for any small software company, spending $19 to potentially improve your sales is just a no-brainer (one sale). If you're generating any kind of income, the time you spend reading and applying the lessons in this book will overshadow the cost. But really, there's enough evidence from the blogs etc. we read each day that at least part of our time really isn't worth that much. ;-)
Like his MicroISV book, this is clear, well-written and very well targeted to the audience (more on that in a moment). As appropriate for the format, this smaller ebook focuses tightly on one thing: the Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
Anyone who has cracked a marketing book will probably be familiar with the concept, but Bob applies it very concretely to the specific domain of software company web sites. Who is your product for? What is the benefit to them? You can see how those translate into very specific elements of your web site. That provides guidance in terms of what to include on your site, and how to do it. Perhaps most importantly, he spends a lot of time discussing why these are so important, in terms of the common mistakes that developers make with their sites, and what effect that can have on your readers.
For many software developers, it's difficult to see things through the eyes of their customers, but this ebook does its best to beat you over the head until you do (that's a good thing by the way). Besides the what to do, what not to do, and why to do it, there are also example sites and conversations with five different MicroISV's (see, people like you delivering the same message, maybe now you'll listen?), as well as a set of quite comprehensive checklists for evaluating or recrafting your site and message. So a single topic, but attacked quite comprehensively from enough different perspectives that hopefully it'll cause a lightbulb to go on.
In terms of metaphor, Bob takes the developer concept of GoF-style design patterns and applies that to developing your USP. For the most literal-minded developer who things marketing and business in general is entirely a fuzzy black art, perhaps this isn't a bad idea. For the rest of us (i.e. anyone who's actually started a business) I think it's best to treat that as humorous hyperbole. The main thing is that people can see the path from "we need this" to "here's how to do it".
If you're running a small software business, go buy this ebook. If nothing else, let it be the trigger and inspiration for a close review of your current website, something you should be doing at least every few months anyway.
As next steps, it would be nice to see a forum where developers can compare notes on their sites, specifically within this framework (e.g. using the checklist). This will probably evolve informally as part of the Business of Software forum, which already generates many requests for site reviews.
Bob also offers site reviews as part of his consulting services; he may want to consider offering a lower-priced, focused review based on this framework. As a prerequisite, developers could complete the checklist, and using that and the developer's site, some specific suggestions on the USP could be made. Of course, the price could then be applied against the cost of a full site review later. Offering that as e.g. a $199 service might be a nice transitional step between the $19 of purchasing the ebook and $700+ for a full site review, and would certainly help Bob build up a very targeted list for that and other products/services.
This is the first of several ebooks that Bob expects to write, which can only be a good thing for the community of MicroISV's. Looking forward to the next one!
Mark, thank you very much for the very kind review! I like your idea of a USP Review and plan to implement it today.
Posted by: Bob Walsh | February 20, 2008 at 09:03 AM