1. What category you want your product(s) to be in. Each product can appear in only one category.
2. Your product name(s) as you would like them to appear in our list. Note that there's a space constraint here; please don't ask us to cram too much in.
3. The URL for each product — this is the link that any visitor to our site will use to get more information (but it should not contain any discount codes).
4. The retail price for each product — this can be a range, but it needs to be a dollar amount.
5. Our members' price — this can either be a dollar amount or a percent off retail.
6. Ordering instructions — should they call you, send an e-mail, go to a special URL, etc.? Only our logged-in, paid-up Site Members will see these instructions.

   Please give us a complete, step-by-step narrative for your ordering instructions; remember, we're asking people to hand over their money to you, and the process you (and I) describe must offer comfort and credibility.

   For example, it is unacceptable to say, "Call Acme Software." It would be better to say, "Contact John Smith at Acme Software via this e-mail address. Give John this SoftwareCEO Site Members' discount code. Within 24 hours, he will contact you for the details of your order, and will apply your discount at that time."

   If you create a special landing and/or order page for our members, make sure that it shows the discounted price before you ask people to click "submit"; otherwise, they'll often back out before purchasing.

7. Discount code. Regardless of what order mechanism you set up, all SoftwareCEO members must be required to give you a code in order to qualify for the discount. This could be verbal, it could be entered in an online form — it's up to you.

   However, please do not make the code "softwareceo" or some derivative like "softceo" — we don't want people who've simply read about you on our site or in our newsletter to get the members-only discount.

Once you get the answers to those seven questions to us — you can send them to me — we can usually get everything set up within a week. We'll then send you an e-mail with links you can use to test it out.

We regularly mention different examples of Buyers' Club savings in our newsletter, mainly to show people why they ought to join SoftwareCEO. What we choose each week is random and subjective; e.g.; if you offer something that is very specific to the software industry, and the discount is huge, we're more likely to mention it two or three (or more) times. If the connection is distant and the discount tiny, we'll mention it less.

Understand, I consider these to be editorial mentions, which are separate from ads. You can buy ads in the newsletter and on the site if you wish — and we'd love to have you as a SoftwareCEO sponsor — but it won't influence the amount of editorial coverage you get. (Click here for other sponsorship opportunities.)

Now, we should mention one more thing: Please don't expect the SoftwareCEO Buyer's Club to drive hundreds of sales your way. Our site's purpose is not to be a reseller; we aim to be the best all-purpose Web resource for software executives, and ours is a subscription-based business. The Buyers' Club is one of the "lures" we use to demonstrate the value of subscribing.

The real value you'll get from this arrangement is exposure. SoftwareCEO is the world's largest online community of software executives and professionals, and our e-newsletter goes out to many thousands of opt-in subscribers. And, the permanent listing your company gets on our Buyers' Club page should help your results with search engines.

Also, there's nothing final in this arrangement: If you want to make changes later, or remove your listing from the Buyers' Club, just let us know, and we'll honor your request. But we truly believe this is a win-win-win arrangement for all:

You get exposure in front of a very well-qualified audience, we get a richer set of resources to present for our site, and our members save thousands of dollars on great products and services.

Thanks again — we look forward to working with you.


Robert Biddle
CompTIA
1815 S Meyers Road, Suite 300
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

tel: 630-678-8442
e-mail: info@softwareceo.com