Is download.com worth the $80?

[honkFactory]

This is the question I recently asked myself .... 7 months too late. In january I posted a program (http://homepage.mac.com/whiteman/POC.html) on a few download site, including versiontracker.com and macupdate.com. Both of these are fine sites with comprehensive listings. I thought about posting to download.com but I was turned off by the fee they charge ($80). What I should have done was look at the # of downloads programs get at download.com. For example, let's look at the game Pocket Tanks, a decent remake of Scorched Earth (with which I am not affiliated). Since January 2003, it downloads are as follows.

download.com 175,024
versiontracker 11,632
macupdate 13,429

If that isn't enough to blow your skirt up I don't know what is. download.com is getting more than an order of magnitude more downloads. If he is getting a 1% (too high?) registration rate download.com is earning him $28K. I'd say that is a fair return on his $80 dollar investment. I'd bet over time macupdate and versiontracker catch up to DL.com but for the time being DL.com looks to be worth the cost.

For reference, since 2001 the PC version of the same game has 1.2 million downloads, which was actually less than I would expect given the PC/Mac ratio out there.

On a related note, does anyone know if it is true that uploading your program to www.info-mac.org will get your program listed at DL.com for free. I've read that but I don't know if its true.

[jSTIN]

It really depends on what your selling. Download.com usually gets more downloads than other places. One game I have has 1,032 on Version Tracker and 2,388 on download.com.

Now if I got 3 registrations from Version Tracker, and I sold it for $15, then If I could expect twice as much from download.com, I'd get my money back.

If your not sure about a product, test it out to see how it sells, then figure if its worth it.

You need to make sure the program is generating enough downloads, and those downloads are generating enough sales.

[FCCovett]

We get a lot more download from the Apple gaming web-site than from MacGameFiles, VersionTracker, and Macupdate combined. If things go well in the first week, then you may want to consider posting to Dowload.com.

[funkboy]

Remember, numbers can be tricky. Here's what could be going on:

* do the Pocket Tanks people have sponsored links or even advertisements on download.com?
* are all Pocket Tanks downloads redirected through the download.com link? For instance, all the downloads at the Pocket Tanks website itself. Some developers do this as an easy way to keep track of the number of downloads... I should probably do it myself.

I have no idea about info-mac.org getting you onto DL.com... never heard of that, anyway.

And a 1% registration rate probably isn't too unreasonable for a game of this polish, popularity, and overall impressiveness. I think for my downloads it's smaller, though.

[Jake]

We get a lot more download from the Apple gaming web-site than from MacGameFiles, VersionTracker, and Macupdate combined. If things go well in the first week, then you may want to consider posting to Dowload.com.

I agree, I wish apple counted downloads for me, but I know I get alot from them. Also, I have gotten all of my games listed for free, 2 i didn't know about and 1 I wrote a nice letter explaining my situation and that I was on the mac platform so I wouldn't get my normal amounts of downloads :)

[funkboy]

I wrote a nice letter explaining my situation and that I was on the mac platform so I wouldn't get my normal amounts of downloads :)

You wrote a letter to the download.com people, and that convinced them to put up one of your games?

If so, here's the gem of the thread, folks!

[Jake]

You wrote a letter to the download.com people, and that convinced them to put up one of your games?

If so, here's the gem of the thread, folks!

Yup, it was a long shot, I also displayed interest in their pay per download program :)

[Max]

Download.com list some games for free. They usually pick the ones that are polished, fun and popular. Download.com listed my games 3-4 weeks after their release. 30% to 50% of the downloads come from that site.

[pbl016]

honkFactory,
If you’re simply looking for a way to increase downloads, an account with Download.com will give those results. On the other hand, adding a D/L link on AOL will probably yield even higher download volumes than you’ll get from C/NET’s web site. If you’re considering using Download.com as a vehicle to increase sales, this becomes an entirely different matter.

I’ve heard from others who have purchased C/NET’s premium account (for $300.00 plus) that they saw no significant returns on sales for their investment. I myself have made the basic ($80) investment and have seen an increase in downloads. However, I haven’t noticed any significant increase in sales.

Download.com can certainly be used as a vehicle for increasing exposure for your product. But, there are certain caveats to keep in mind. Your competitor can use C/NET’s terribly flawed rating system as a weapon against you. How? By creating several free email accounts to spam your product rating with negative reviews. I’ve seen several legitimate and respectable products at Download.com receive questionable reviews where the reviewer claim the product was either “a virus”, “contained a virus” or that the product “behaved like a virus”. C/NET apparently doesn’t audit their review database for questionable or suspect reviews. They also do not provide a way for vendors to respond to negative reviews. So, you need to keep this in mind if you post your product on their web site.

The only real advantage I can see from purchasing their premium account is you can make changes as often as you want and you can add keywords to make it easier for your product to be found on their web site.

If you were looking for a way to increase sales for your product, a better investment would be to get a PPC account at Enhance Interactive (http://www.enhanceinteractive.com). From my own experience, I’ve noticed a significant increase in sales with a modest investment through Enhance Interactive. If you have a limited budget like me, you can set a daily cap on your spending to prevent over spending. They will assist you with setting up keywords that will result in increased traffic being directed to your web site.

Hope this helps…

[Kwerkx]

If I remember correctly that $80.00 is only for one year not a permanent listing. CNET has also changed to allow updates past the 10day grace period.

Their fee makes it more worth while now that they host the file not just link to your site.

> "C/NET’s terribly flawed rating system"
you got that right...


> $80) investment and have seen an increase in downloads. However, I haven’t noticed any significant increase in sales.

I can certainly second that, I cancled my download.com accounts (I'm also discontinuing most of my site and it contents though) as it was just more work with little to no return on investment. I find the best sales seem to come from what googles sends my way. If you can figure out a way to get top listings with them that would be worth it.

[codemattic]

On the other hand, adding a D/L link on AOL will probably yield even higher download volumes than you’ll get from C/NET’s web site.

how does one add a d/l link on AOL? Do you need an AOl account or can anyone do it from their website? How much does it cost?
thanks, Codemattic

[DoG]

Personally, I never look at download.com, because they just suck. period.

Macupdate and Versiontracker are the place where I look for software.

[pbl016]

codemattic,

Getting an account (preferably a temporary one) would be the easiest way to setup a D/L link with AOL. Of course, you would also have to properly choose the AOL forums in which you post your D/L links.

[Carlos Camacho]

I'll like to place a link here to a discussion on Download.com over at iDevApps:
http://www.idevapps.com/forum/showthread.php?p=832

[Najdorf]

If you got a high conversion rate such as 1% ot more, then its definetely worth it. But it's also easy that they list it automatically after a while.

And for PC games, it's a MUST, by far your major source of downloads, probably the only site worth your time submitting to (and paying the money) (pocket tanks PC? 1,398,031 downloads)

[Najdorf]

oh, btw there is also free uploading on download.com, just that you dont get the statistics

[FCCovett]

It's hilarious. Ares is listed as most downloaded game on last week. I bet they decided to allow free uploading after they realized they were not getting the latest shareware submitted to them.

[Najdorf]

yeah it sucks: they take 15 days to upload your request. but even worst is TUCOWS: 64 DAYS!!!! (or 1 day if you pay 50$ each version... cmon...)

In 64 days I usually made 2 new versions...

[beepy]

It's hilarious. Ares is listed as most downloaded game on last week

I wrote Ares, and I agree, that is hilarious. Very very strange.

[Steven]

Waitaminit... is this the same Ares that I bought for my Mac like five years ago? o_O