The results of this step is where I often come into play and it never ceases to amaze me just how little time and effort some people put into their PAD files. Running a download site requires that I review scores of Shareware submission to my site every week, almost all submitted using PAD files that are generated by program authors. Many programmers worth anything often spend many months or more on making a useful full featured program and then for some unknown reason only spend a few minutes on their PAD files.
Why is a PAD file submission so important? For one thing the information contained in that file is what is used by download sites to list your program. Most sites in fact use only the information in that file to generate your listing on their sites. So if you don’t spend time on your PAD file that lack of effort will show up on your various listings on the sites you choose to submit to by hurting the already limited exposure you are likely to see.
So if your program description is basically a one sentence blurb about how great your program is and your competitor has a multi-paragraph description detailing everything his program does and what sets it apart from the competition, which one do your think they will choose?
Another important aspect of the effort you put into your PAD file is getting your program noticed on download sites. Unless you are paying for better placement on a site or are getting it with partnership agreements with these sites, how is your program going to be found among the sea of thousands of others? Usually your best shot of being found revolves around search engines, either on-site or off.
Most sites have built in search engines to allow their visitors to find what they are looking for, if they don’t you should probably move on, but what most of these on-site search engines use to return search results are what you put in your PAD description and keyword fields. Writing poor descriptions and not choosing the proper keywords will result in your listing being buried among all the other listings with software submitter pro.
You’ve spent countless hours on your program, so why aren’t you putting the same kind of effort when generating your PAD file? If your marketing plan includes submitting to download sites, you can’t afford not to.
