1. SOLO Server Rock Solid in a Crisis!
2. New SOLO Features and Improvements
3. Changes at SoftwareKey.com
4. Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Service Available to Interested Clients

As many of you may be aware, one of our clients, 321 Studios, was recently involved in a court injunction requiring them to cease selling one of their products by 2/26/2004. During the week preceding that date, the SOLO server was inundated with orders from both individuals and distributors. We are pleased to inform you that the SOLO server bravely weathered the storm. Not one hiccup! It is always difficult to “stress test” a system; load testing software is never the same as a real world situation.

However you can rest easy. At peak the SOLO server processed almost 1/2 Million dollars in orders in one day and almost 450 orders in one hour.

As many of our Instant SOLO users are aware, we have been using two different servers, a testing environment to be used while you are setting up with Instant SOLO and a "real world" system to be used when you had all of your code working correctly. The reason for this was to avoid accidental billing for creation of test licenses.

You may be pleased to know that we will merge the process so that you may test on the real world system and we will globally purge all licenses created using the test credit card number at the end of each month. This will remove any potential billing errors. This process will become effective on 4/30/04.

Other System Changes and Maintenance issues

3/25/04

• Updates to the mailing system
• Multiple improvements to payment plans
• Improvements in the tracking of CC processing
• Improvements to customer unsubscribe process
  

3/16/04

• Improved speed in customer add/create screens
• Multiple improvements in checkout process
• User interface improvements in returns process, FAQs, Order Emails, and Customer Search screens
• Requested improvements in multiple reports
  

2/20/04

• Improvements in shopping cart calculations
• Improvements in “How did you hear about us?” data gathering
• Searching for tickets in SOLO Authors can now return more than 100 records, if a date range is used
  

2/19/04

• Fixes for Paypal overcharging or erroring-out in certain circumstances
• Inclusion of shipping method in invoices
• New “How did you hear about us?” field during customer checkout, and associated report in Authors
• Invoice Details page now sorts licenses by ID, instead of entered date
• Improved checking on customer carts to reduce errors

• Newly Designed Web site
  
  On March 20, 2004, we launched our newly redesigned Web site for SoftwareKey.com. The new site is cleaner and easier to navigate. The button system at the top of this newsletter is from the Web site and fully functional. It includes new features like our Live Chat, The Concept Software Forum and our Technical Support ticketing system. Please drop by our new Web site and take a look.
  www.softwareKey.com
  
  
• Forum
  
  The Concept Software Forum is now available and free to join. Find helpful information about our products, FAQs, and information from our other Instant SOLO Customers. Join the Forum and read posts at:
  SoftwareKey Forum
  
  
• Technical Support Ticketing System
  
  As we have grown, so have the calls and inquiries regarding product support and sales of Protection PLUS and Instant SOLO. Our sales have also expanded dramatically to cover customers in countries all over the world. In order to better serve everyone, we have created our Technical Support Ticketing system. Operable 24/7/365, you can place a request for assistance or ask a question and receive a ticket to track your inquiry. You will be notified by email of your query status and contacted by one of our superb technical support staff as soon as possible. Contact Technical Support at:
  SoftwareKey Technical Support
  
  
• Live Chat
  
  It isn’t always easy to know when you can reach a person at a company, especially when you have an urgent question. If you visit our Web site, you will see a series of icons on the right side of the screen. The icon at the top is our On Line Chat button. It will tell you is one of our staff is available to speak with you at that moment through our Web site. Click on the icon and open a chat window. Additionally, this process allows us to show you examples on our screens or allows us to see the issue that you want to discuss. If Chat is not available it will allow you to leave an email for technical support.
  
  
• Case Studies
  
  On our Web site we have always had a page describing some of our customer’s positive experiences with Protection Plus and/or Instant SOLO. We have modified this page somewhat and added a new feature. Now when we place a case study on our site, we add the customer’s logo and make a link back to the customer’s site. It gives you a degree of exposure and also adds a link back to your site and that helps your ratings on Google. You can contact us at: sales@softwareKey.com to post a case study. See the case studies page at:
  SoftwareKey Case Studies
  
  
• By the way, you can see the people who have been working with you over the past ten years by clicking on the “Contact Us” link on the Web site

We have recently added to our staff, Joseph F Cowan, as Product Sales and Marketing Manager. One of his first projects was a complete Web site redesign and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the site pages. This and better positioning on search engines using Google AdWords and Overture resulted in an immediate increase in site traffic of 250% and a position of #1 on search engine results for our selected keywords.

After reviewing a number of Web sites that offer SEO on a commercial basis we noticed two things:

• It can be very expensive: $5000 -20,000
• Many offer advice on design that Google and other search engines now ban

Consequently, we would like to offer a Marketing/SEO service to our Instant SOLO customers. This would involve:

• Detailed custom analysis of your Web site with sound and practical suggestions for improving your site design so that it yields better results for “organic searches” on Google and other search engines
• Information about the recent changes to Google and Yahoo and how they impact your eMarketing plans
• Advice on the use of Pay-per-click (PPC) services such as Google AdWords or Overture and how to keep your eMarketing campaigns within your budget
• Review and advice on the traffic to your site, both before and after modifications. This requires that you have some method of tracking site-traffic.

With this information you will be able to take advantage of cost effective eMarketing techniques and build your own email campaigns. The more visits you can draw to your Web site, the more you have opportunities for sales.

Please contact us regarding services and quotation at: sales@softwarekey.com