I don't expect anyone to post their web logs, but where is everyone getting their traffic from? I've noticed that most of the discussion here focuses mostly on how to optimize sales from _after_ the user has downloaded the game. The closest I could find was the guerilla marketing thread, and question 1 in a recent thread:

http://www.dexterity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=879&highlight=web+traffic

This thread turned mostly into a discussion on factors that can stunt distribution/ sales (branding, game quality) rather than ways of cultivating distribution. I've had a good response from my first wave of players, so my focus now needs to be on getting people to jump into the download->sale pipeline.

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I launched www.lexaloffle.com at the end of April.

Most of my traffic so far has come from download.com, which accounts for about 80% of traffic from the 60+ download sites I am listed on.

About 25% of my visitors come from other sources - mainly no referrer and links from other game sites (thanks fellas!), but also a trickle from newsgroup announcements and search engines.

I have had a small rise in the number of no referrer hits - hopefully a sign that word of mouth advertising is starting to kick in. More likely an indication of the position of the moon.

The largest spike I had was from a news blurb at avault.com, which generated about 500 visitors over two days. Even small spikes like this are a nice surprise, but I'm guessing it is more important to establish stable long term channels of incoming traffic.

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Also, Thanks! I've been lurking here for a long time now and I've learned a lot. I released 'Neko Puzzle' a while ago, and am about to release 'Zen Puzzle Garden', so hopefully I can gain enough experience in the future to return the favour.

J

Well I did a study of my traffic a while back and here's what I got after several months of tracking it closely... (not including in game links to buy etc...)

Overall
Internet/ Non Specific : 29.5%
Previous Cusomter : 9.8%
From a freind : 12.55%
File Archive : 41.15% (approx 50% cnet)
Internet Search : 4.35%
Web games : 3.9%
Message Boards : 2.9%
Magazine/Demo Disc : 7.65%
Cross Promoting : .95%

That's probably changed a little since then. For instance I think I'm getting more now from search engines than before. Also I should note that this is specifically traffic of purchasers. People who bought. Not just people who visited.

I was considering posting onto download.com but at $79 bucks I am having second thoughts. As I am only selling one title at the moment, I'm not sure if the cost will really bring enough truly interested traffic my way. What have your experiences been with download, did it bring a LOT of traffic? Do you have any idea how many download transfers downloaded your software?

Download.com is now pretty much the only site where I notice a difference in sales. It's well worth the 79$ for me. It's especially good if I get front page coverage or a nice review or blurb, which happens more often than not these days. Perhaps that's the advantage of paying.. less submissions to sift through and better coverage for good titles.

20% Misc referrers (there are hundreds of sites that give me 1-10 refers per day)

25% No referrer at all

25% Search Engines

30% Download sites and affiliates

I am concerned that too much of my traffic is search engine generated because of a couple reasons:
1. Search engine traffic doesn't seem to fetch a good purchase ratio.
2. They often do not download.
3. Most important, you can't base a business on your rank in search engines. Google could change their algorithm and completely kill your sales- and your company.

What would happen if google, like other search engines, went all pay-per-click? My games do not have a high enough conversion ratio to utilize pay-per-click. I am making new versions of all my games to try to raise the ratio- but when you have 3D games, there is still a huge portion of computers that can't run them, which really hurts ratio. On the bright side, people like downloading them :-)

Anyway, although not specifically mentioned at the SIC, it was a real wake up call for me in terms of distribution. I have purposely not published any of my games through other sources, because I didn't want to dilute my brand. That is about to change. Some of the most successful developers there do everything they can to get their products to the highest amount of people.

Creating many streams of revenue is a big step towards creating a highly profitable and stable company long term. So now I am evaluating different publishers and methods of distribution- I'd like to get my games everywhere.

BTW, the SIC is great. I didn't go to as many sessions this year, but instead, talked to other developers. There were barely any game developers, but that didn't matter. The techniques and wisdom of app developers is totally relevant. One game developer who really knows what he is doing is Thomas "Goodsol" Warfield. So read his posts carefully and go through the archives of his blog at http://www.asharewarelife.com. There's good stuff in there.

Errr... just in case anyone checks.. those are rough percentages..might not add up to a hundred or might go a bit over. Just rounded some numbers here in there. Despite that it's pretty accurate.

To Mike Boeh: so in your opinion is far better to give another publisher/affiliate a royalty split (even high ones like 50%) but get the game distributed with them, than continuing to do everything by yourself (selling and distributing only from you site)?
You're doing this because your games are a bit "old" (in terms that they exist from long time now) and need "fresh air" or you could recommend this strategy even to someone (like me !:D) who will release his fist game soon?

Thanks for any advice you'll want to give :cool:

Originally posted by Jack_Norton
To Mike Boeh: so in your opinion is far better to give another publisher/affiliate a royalty split (even high ones like 50%) but get the game distributed with them, than continuing to do everything by yourself (selling and distributing only from you site)?
You're doing this because your games are a bit "old" (in terms that they exist from long time now) and need "fresh air" or you could recommend this strategy even to someone (like me !:D) who will release his fist game soon?

Thanks for any advice you'll want to give :cool:

Yup, I am going to try to go through as many (reputable) sources as possible.

First off, my site is by no means a traffic magnet, but it does get a steady 500 visitors a day. I think that anything that can increase traffic should be tried.

Download.com always provides good numbers when you're on the 1st page. I think you have to pay the $79 listing price at least once to see what it does for you. Just make sure your game is ready.

I get surprisingly good numbers from a sci-fi banner at the bottom of my home page (Starships Unlimited is a sci-fi strategy game). It may be worth testing banner or ring exchanges if you can find one that's themed to your game(s). I've also tried Alawar's Game Banner Network and a Wargamer's ring, both of which did very poorly.

Building a mailing list via a newsletter may help drive traffic and sales. I'm currently trying to build up a mailing list but this is slow going. I'm using YourMailinglistProvider.com and have found that it will often not send a confirmation email to alot of email addresses (double optin). Even my own personal ISP email address has the problem. May need to look elsewhere.

Just paid File Distributor to write and deliver a press release for me. It's expensive but I actually had never sent a press release before. Should get me listed in places I've never been listed before as well. I'll let you know how it affects traffic in the months to come.

Hi Apezone, I looked at your game... really good.
A game similar to Master of Orion series (excluding the third episode which is really a blame) was always in my thoughts.
I've seen you made it first :D
Anyway is good to see such games in this genre. I don't like much puzzles and action games, so when I see a strategy/rpg/simulation shareware I am always looking forward to try it :)
I've noticed that you've been reviewed by some good magazines like PCReview, that for sure was good advertising.
I've also noticed that you made several versions of the game. Surely this has been another smart move, since it must have kept the players interested in future development of your game.
If I may ask, the version you released with Matrixgames was sold in retail or online only? They treated you well?

Hi Jack,
If you have an idea for a similar game, go for it. Just make sure you put your own individual thoughts to the subject. You can never have enough space strategy games. ;)

Yes, game mag reviews help sales alot. I think it helps legitimize the game to potential buyers. Also nice to show friends and family. :cool: Got lucky on these as some also included the demo on their cover CDs.

I didn't plan on making several versions of the game. It really started because the original version was done without any user input at all. I quickly learned the value of user feedback. Having steady updates to this type of game helps build community. It's a heavy price to pay, though. I'll move to a more traditional, pay-for-major-updates model in the future. The internet is a great canvas to try this incremental approach when you develop a somewhat complex game.

The Matrix version was first released a year and 1/2 ago. In that time it started as a mostly online-only product and graduated to a retail product. The experience has been both good and educational. Matrix has treated me the way I expected a publisher to treat a developer. I just prefer the self-publishing (entrepreneur) dynamics. I signed with Matrix at a time when I didn't understand how online publishing works. Since them I've learned alot and look forward to the special challenges of self-publishing. Would I ever sign with a publisher again? Sure, as long as it doesn't blot out my ApeZone.com website.

If you have an idea for a similar game, go for it. Just make sure you put your own individual thoughts to the subject. You can never have enough space strategy games.
Hehe, maybe in future I will try, even if it's hard to come out with really "new" ideas. MO3 was trying that, but the result is horrible from the gameplay point of view.
However, like Rise of Nations has shown to everybody, you can merge together the best from past games in a new kind of game with real-time and good interface.

Your thoughts about publisher are interesting. I do also prefer the dynamic of self-publishing (even if I have even to start :)) but I'd accept a publisher, as long as it is a retail publisher with a NON-exclusive agreement (so it cannot interfere with my online business).

Originally posted by Mike Boeh
Yup, I am going to try to go through as many (reputable) sources as possible.

One caveat is to make sure that any distributor *does not* upload the rebrand to Download.com. I had an interesting talk with CNET at the SIC about rebranding and they said that they have started to remove rebranded programs from their listings. I guess users don't like downloading 10 different card games only to find that 6 of them are the same program with a different name. I am sure that other download sites will soon follow suit.