Version 1.43 of PageFour has just been released. There are no cool new features, no major improvements or enhancements, simply a fix to a single bug. In certain software development circles there is an opinion that the word ‘bug‘ should never be used, that it has a negative feel to it and does little to inspire confidence. The favoured term to replace this three letter word is ‘opportunity.’

This minor release therefore is simply an opportunity to improve the page numbering feature of the product. More details can be found on the What’s New page of the web-site along with a download link.

A few days ago I stumbled across a useful piece of FREE software for creating PDF documents called - wait for it - PDFCreator. It installs itself as a printer driver and allows you to convert any document type quickly to PDF, saving you from passing your hard earned cash to Adobe. This is worth a look, as it hooks in neatly with MS Word as well as PageFour.

What does it say about you that you measure your worth by whether or not a web-site graces you with a red heart every week?

www.download.com is the number one software download site; the site all the cool guys rave about; the site that is supposed to make or break a small software company. Every Sunday, the total number of downloads are added up for each product, and those with a sizeable number are awarded an image of a blood red heart to signify their huge popularity and general worth. No doubt suicide rates amongst the ranks of Shareware authors peak on a Sunday evening.

And what does it take these days to be popular? When products such as SpySweeper and Winzip regularly notch up six digit figures each week you’d be forgiven for assuming the bar to the heart would be great indeed. You’d be wrong.

Twenty downloads. Twenty clicks and this download site amongst download sites flog their good opinion and recommendation to all and sundry.

They’re a cheap date and I’m not impressed. Thankfully I gave up relying on download sites months ago, but I still feel I should be jumping up and down every week over my bloody red heart.

Ten days ago, PageFour was picked up by a series of British computer magazines, nost notably Computer Active, What PC, and Computing. When I say picked up - it featured as a recommendation on their software download sites and appeared in the newsletter they send out to subscribers. This has resulted in a large increase in downloads, sales, and enquiries. My first thought when the figures shot up was that yet another dodgy download site in Hong Kong or Russia had found me.

PageFour ships as a thirty day trial version, so it’s too early to say how effective this push will turn out to be, but even now, ten days on, the download figures remain high and sales keep trickling in.

I played no part in this whatsoever.

Just over a week ago I attempted a marketing push of my own, where I offered free copies to anyone prepared to blog about or mention the product on their web-site. The plan was to generate some sort of buzz around PageFour, as up to now it had had limited exposure, popping up on blogs and discussion boards only rarely.

They succeeded. I didn’t.

The strategy had merit, as other companies had tried similar drives before. A few months ago, a company called Axosoft released their flagship product for five dollars, with all the money going to the American Red Cross. They shipped thousands of copies over a three day period and appeared on the front pages of del.ic.ious and Reddit.

So the question is, why did I fail where Computer Active succeeded? They had little to gain from promoting a small software product owned by another company, whereas I built PageFour and invested much time and energy in making it as perfect as possible.

What it boils down to is that they have a voice that is heard, and I don’t. Sending a targeted newsletter with a list of new software recommendations to people who’ve specifically asked you to do so, is very different from standing on a soapbox in the middle of an empty square and offering your product to a busy world.

If no one is listening, then it doesn’t matter what you say or how loud you say it.