ESC's August 2010 Software Marketing Book Club selection

Don't Make Me Think - A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug (published 2000 by New Riders Publishing) will be the Educational Software Cooperative's August 2010 Software Marketing Book Club selection.

Steve Krug reviews websites for usability. He wrote this book for people who can't afford to hire him - or people like him - to review their websites. The book is targeted at web designers, developers, marketing people, and entrepreneurs.

Few people read websites. Prospects skim web pages. If you include uninviting blocks of text, many visitors will ignore them, or lightly skim them.

People aren't necessarily looking for the perfect button to click, Krug tells us. They'll settle for a button or a hyperlink that is close to what they're looking for. The bottom line is that If you make it simple for them to purchase your software applications, you'll make more sales.

Krug knows that web design is complicated, and that there is no one correct way to design every website. Instead, he presents some big-picture principles. And he takes a common sense approach to helping you design your website.

Please join us in the Educational Software Cooperative's Software Marketing Book Club. Read about other Book Club selections.

- from Al Harberg of DP Directory, Inc. - we write and submit press releases for software developers.

What's Happening at ESC

Here's a look of some of the activities in the ESC Members' forum during recent months.

April was membership renewal month.

Spring/Summer Software Marketing Book Club selections:

• April: Negotiate This! by Herb Cohen
• May: Guerrilla Marketing Excellence - The 50 Golden Rules for Small-Business Success by Jay Conrad Levinson
• June: EVEolution - Understanding Women - Eight Essential Truths that Work in Your Business and Your Life by Faith Popcorn and Lys Marigold
• July: The New Positioning - The Latest on the World's #1 Business Strategy by Jack Trout

Tom Guthery, Richard Hart, Harry Keller, Susan Pichotta and Kathy Salisbury ran for the open seats on the board of directors. The official announcement will be made next week at ESC's annual luncheon meeting.

Members discussed the problem of getting your message heard in a society plagued by information overload.

There were a lot of opinions the topic of negotiation and persuasion.

Rosemary West posted an article about how customers may by using our products and websites in ways we don't expect.

Some other topics:

• Defining your market
• Selling solutions vs. benefits
• Using pictures to strengthen your presentation/li>
• Humor in marketing/li>
• Reaching the U.S. educational market/li>
• Getting help from professionals/li>
• ESC's presence on LinkedIn/li>
• The importance of good values

The Software Industry Conference begins July 15 in Dallas, Texas. See http://www.sic.org for information.

For information on joining the Educational Software Cooperative, see http://www.edu-soft.org/content/index.php/join-esc.

Member of the Month July '10

Congratulations to our Member of the Month for July, Gandalf Hudlow, creator of My Kid's Brain. Visit the Member of the Month page to learn more.