selling web based software

[edal11]

Hi!
I was wondering if you can share your opinion about selling web based software. I mean products like forums, crm systems, mailing lists managers, content management solutions, etc....

Is it really a market to make a good profit?

I want to start my own business, and I have this idea of selling this kind of products (I have previously made some custom ones, so I have some experience).

What are the pro's and con's of selling web-based software (it would be php)? Can a new product make it's way in the market? How can competition be expected?

What are the MUST have for my website?

What does it take? Please share your experience and opinion.

Thanks!!

[Corey Bryant]

There are so many free forums out there - what would make your better that someone wants to pay for it? And actually for almost everything else.

I do not mean to discourage you at all, but there are already so many free scripts out there.

Of course you can also add your scripts to sites like www.scriptsearch.com etc to hopefully help boost your exposure.

[tragu]

Hi! Edal,

There's always a market exists; you just have to find it. If you keep an eye on these forums, you could clearly see what people want. For example, there are many people looking for CMS system with specific features.

Be very specific when you develop your software. Don't just develop a CMS which has the same features that many of the existing ones have. Too many features confuse people.

If you research well, you can find out that there's a hot market for AMS (Article Management System). Many web publishers desperately need one with specific features. Features of CMS confuse them. As far as I concern, there are only two or three good AMS available.

Furthermoe, when you develp your web-based software, take search engine friendly URLs into account. As people become familar with SEO, this is highly demanded.

Spend a lot of time in developing a good web-based DEMO for your software. This is critical as many of us want to try before buy. A good DEMO puts the visitor's mind in buy-now mindset.

Can you provide a good support? This is very essential because most people ask a lot of questions before they buy your software. If you don't answer their questions, you lose the sales?

These comments are not provided in a developer's point of view, but in a customer's perspective.

T Ragu

[edal11]

I know there are so many options out there, that maybe competing isn't just worth the time.
I mean, for forums and cms there are plenty of options out there either paid or free.
But maybe there is more opportunity in other less popular scripts categories.

But anyway....
assume you have a few scripts. And that they can at least be called good scripts. Would you people take a chance with these scripts? would you consider selling them?

[tragu]

If I know that there's a good market for the product that I'm selling, then I would definitely take a chace. However, your decision is influenced by many elements such as time, technical & communication skills, marketing startegies etc.

T Ragu