One of the podcasts I listen to is Startups for the Rest of Us. On this week's show, they mentioned a service called AppSumo, which aggregates deals to web-based software and services.
One of the deals this week was to get $100 of Grasshopper services for only $15. This means that my first six months are free, and I only pay $9.95 per month after that. I really could not pass that up.
So now I have a sales phone number on my website! It's currently configured to go straight to voicemail, but perhaps I'll actually start taking calls. I'll just have to feel it out as I go.
Another thing they mentioned is that marketing is not a TASK TO BE COMPLETED, but a CONTINUAL PROCESSES. I totally agree with them. Even though I'd love to have my head in code all day, I just can't push off marketing until the end. It has to happen continually.
In the past two months, I've made some quite simple marginal improvements that have increased my traffic by a factor of at least two, increased by the CTR on my ads by a factor of two, and increased my download rate by about another factor of two. In theory, I should see sales go up by a factor of 8 in the coming months from these changes.
One thing that has NOT changed is my downloads:sales ratio. This is being addressed by creating a web app instead of a desktop app. Changes in pricing will further increase revenue. But really, the point is that all of these changes were small and incremental. It is only over time of continuous improvement that it affects the bottom line.
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