SoftwareProjects - Serious Projects for Serious Bloggers
SoftwareProjects is a Global business-to-business Software Development company, providing Internet Marketing and Web development services to more than 2,000 customers in 14 countries. Established in 1998, the company grew from a small 5 person software consulting business, to an International operation employing 200 Software Engineers, Project Managers, Quality Assurance Engineers, Customer Support Personnel and Account Managers in a wide array of diversified sectors.
SoftwareProjects is launching a new product designed for bloggers and order this ReviewMe review so I can tell you all about it. The product, which incorporates email marketing, hosting, press releases, CRM, payment center and Search Engine Marketing all in one package, is designed for serious bloggers and comes with a serious price tag: $495 per month.
What do you get for that kind of monthly outlay? For starters, you get access to an incredible support team that will help you do whatever you need done. Also, having everything (hosting, PPC marketing, newsletters, etc.) all in one services means no flipping between several isolated systems.
SoftwareProjects set up an account for me and loaded it with five billable hours. That in itself is worth $700. From my control panel, I can order projects, set up PPC marketing, send out newsletters, etc. However, for the life of me, I couldn’t find where to order that $495 blogging package. I can only assume that SoftwareProjects haven’t added it yet but will by the time of this review. Judging by the prices SoftwareProjects charge for their services, $495 per month actually seems reasonable.
Big money Internet marketers and bloggers will want to take a look at all the services SoftwareProjects has to offer. However, I can’t see how SoftwareProjects will be able to help the newbie blogger just starting out with very little cash. Then again, many part-time bloggers work for technology companies that can use and afford the services of SoftwareProjects. Maybe you can sneak in some billable hours for your own project. 
- Posted in Reviews, The Net
- 71 comments what's your take?
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Competition to scriptlance? Looks like they’ve executed it nicely.
Reply to this commentYes, they’ve done a nice job. However, newbie bloggers most probably don’t have budgets to hire programmers. Yet, it may be interesting for small companies looking for outsourcing time consuming tasks.
Reply to this commentIt’s not very applicable for new bloggers from what i see.
Reply to this commentNew Bloggers don’t have cash. They want cash. Therefore they are clearly focused on those who already have cash. When you are in business, you need customers with cash.
They won’t be interested in me because I have no cash because I am Not John Chow! http://www.notjohnchow.com
Reply to this commentI agree with this Teo. New bloggers can’t even make $30/month, how can pay that much. Obviously this only John and a few more top bloggers can afford. But then again, when they are already top bloggers, they don’t bother having such service.
Reply to this commentWhat’s going on John? Your comment system block my comments. Look like I got into your spam box? How come no warning?
Reply to this commentha. their biz is in biz and high paying folks. alot of chows readers are starting cheapos.
Reply to this commentThank you Steve!
ScriptLance is great, but unlike ScriptLance, with SoftwareProjects all work is done in the US and we offer firm deadline guarantees.
Reply to this commentWow! That’s great! I like that you keep it inside the US and also offer the firm guarantee. That is impressive.
Reply to this comment$495/month is a little too expensive for me. Maybe you can buy it for me John!
Reply to this comment$495 a month would be expensive for most bloggers, it is a huge “investment” for a blogger, but some bloggers like John or Jeremy , they can afford that.
Reply to this commentContest 1 off John!
Hahaha.
Reply to this commentyea I don’t think I’m up to that point yet. price is waaay too high for me atm. I bet it’s worth it though judging from what I’ve heard.
Reply to this commentI always thought half the fun of trying to make money online was managing all that sort of stuff yourself?
Reply to this commentNo, not really.
Reply to this commenthmm no…your goal is doing less but making more… and having help can get you focus on something else to earn more !!! it is all about auto-pilot …
Reply to this commenthmmm no…I actually like working. If I wanted to do nothing then why not just live happily ever after from the interest of my savings account? All that stuff, creating websites, writing web applications, developing software, SEO, managing press releases is what I enjoy about working for myself. Now if they just wanted to deal with the stupid customer complaints/enquiries then I might be interested.
Reply to this commentI would love to hire them, but I don’t think I can afford them.
Reply to this commentha. ridiculous pricing. this was a waste of time review for them.
Reply to this commentThis is a great service! Any idea how much the PER HOUR cost is for programming?
Reply to this commentRich - you can find all available hour blocks here
Submit a project, get quote and purchase the matching hour block. After you do that, send us an email and mention you were referred by JohnChow.com and you’ll get 30% credited back to your SoftwareProjects account. Offer available for new customers only. One-time use. Expires January 1st, 2008.
Reply to this commentOver $100 per hour? Yeah right…
Reply to this commentWhat’s wrong with over $100/hr if they are good then it might be worth it. It seems a lot of SEO companies charge $100+ per hour. But if they consult on more than just SEO etc then it would be worth the price now wouldn’t it?
Reply to this commentHmm. So do they charge you extra for doing PR etc on top of the $49.95 per month? It seems like the business model is unclear and the software hasn’t gone through enough usability testing since you couldn’t find out how to sign up for the package! Maybe account you were setup with is already the $49.95 account.
Reply to this commentMoneyNing -
Software Projects has 3 divisions:
* Software & Web Development (Pay by the hour)
* Web Services (Pay per use)
* Lead Generation & Affiliate Marketing (CPA)
The particular service John Chow was referring to is one of 81 Web Services we offer. Since John did not include a link to our BlogControlPanel service, we’ll save that for another review. If you subscribe to our RSS feed, you’ll be among the first to learn about it.
Reply to this commentGreat. I look forward to hearing about it!
Reply to this commentWow, thats a lot of money per month.
Reply to this commentFor a newbie blogger like me its certainly out of the question.
What I would like to know is it worth the money?
Regards.
Wow, it’s monthly basis? I didn’t know that…that certainly makes things different.
Reply to this commentDang $495 per month! I’d have to be making some serious buck before I’d use an ongoing service such as that.
Reply to this commentGreat program but the monthly fee is quite expensive for a newie.
Reply to this commentYea, I agree too expensive.
Reply to this commentWhoa. expensive. Maybe in time a majority of us can afford this…
Reply to this comment$495/month is quite a bit of money. Obviously it for established bloggers like John Chow.
Reply to this commentThe rich get richer..
Reply to this commenttrue that.
Reply to this commentI am not much biased. May be useful for marketing websites that makes good money. Not for blogs for sure. $495/month is a high price tag! Not many blogs make 495 per month.
Reply to this commentJohn, I would love to have you review my site, but not write about it, that way you could give me some advice. Maybe instead of asking for people to pay for reviews, ask if they want you to just give them some advice on their blog(still pay ofcourse). If I knew that my blog would truely gain from this product I would buy it.
Reply to this commentI totally agree that this service sounds like it is geared more towards bloggers who are already established, and that it would be very difficult for the newbie blogger to afford this. Then again, maybe this newbie blogger could already be quite well-off financially and this service could help jump-start his or her blog. The company’s growth is pretty impressive.
Reply to this commentDid anyone else notice that they’re charging $499 for the exact same website templates that you can pick up at templatemonster.com for under $100? I’m concerned how many of their services may be repurposed and marked up like that.
Also, if you look at the “become a Software Project professional” they clearly subcontract all the work to freelancers, something you could do yourself for much less. And do you see mention of any existing clients by name? Any success details given that you can actually track?
John’s income (based on October’s numbers) is just enough that it makes sense to pay someone else $100 bucks an hour to do something rather than to do it himself. But that’s no excuse to spend stupidly. This is an old-school model designed to bleed big companies of their web budgets ($1,750 a month to manage a PPC campaign?!) but an experienced web entrepreneur should know better. The #1 rule for web business is DON’T BE LAZY! Figure it out for yourself and you won’t be beholden to some collective of freelancers charging an exorbitant monthly fee.
Reply to this commentHi Anonymous
Web templates - you might want to check the price of exclusive templates with TemplateMonster once again. When you buy an exclusive template from Software Projects, we also throw in installation and customization as opposed to just dumping some .PSD files on you.
As for your comment about our hiring process - if you have the time, budget and expertise to hire US based professionals, train them, manage them and guarantee deadlines, then you’re right - you don’t need our help.
Onwards and upwards!
Reply to this commentSounds like a good product. The question is, is it worth that much you’d use it Mr. Chow?
Reply to this commentYeah $495 is up there but its christmas time… why not?
Reply to this commentClick for Nick - Amex Wish List 2007
I’m having an epileptic seizure. John, the ad on your RSS feed with the 120 point type red blinking letters is really really hideous. Just my two cents.
Reply to this commentJohn should hold a contest where the winner wins a free month of this service!
Reply to this commentIs this review really $400 value?
I think the recipient has been a little short-changed here./
Reply to this comment$495 is $495 more than I can afford. I pass on this
-Mike
Reply to this commentThat is some very audacitic enterprising ‘SoftwareProjects’. I think thats way cool! Way to shoot for it, I hope you guys make it big.
Reply to this commentA case of sepnding a little to make a little, or spending a lot to make a lot in some peoples eyes, either way its a risk you need to consider.
I thought the same too Jonk, i`ve forgotten the post already!
Reply to this commentThank you Neil - Good feedback.
This is our first experiment with ReviewMe. While it’s a pity the target URL was not mentioned here, driving all traffic to our home page instead, the review has already more than paid for itself.
We’ll just have to be more specific next time. Thanks again for your feedback — Love your Japan blog.
Reply to this commentAnyone who thinks it is cheap to hire professionals to do things for you in the software world obviously hasn’t. A good IT pro’s salary alone is over $500 a day. You can easily charge $100 if you are any good.
That being said, I would have to understand the market this service is going after. The great thing about blogging is the low cost of entry. For new bloggers, such a service is impossible. For a small sized business the expense is much more palatable.
Reply to this commentWow, my comment is all sorts of broken. I meant to say “obviously hasn’t worked in the software industry” and that if you are good “you can easily charge$100/hour” .
My comment sounds like nonsense otherwise.
Reply to this commentWow, how much did they pay for this plug from the Chowster?
Sign me up.
Reply to this commentJohn, sorry for the OT comment, but I think you should post about agloco. I’m sure there are a ton of your readrs who would like an update on their situation.
Reply to this commentAs great as having a team of people at your back is, the top sites will always have those willing to learn how to do the work themselves behind them. Nobody cares about your site as much as you do. Learn!
Reply to this commentWith the internet these days everyone should be able to do some self study and blog for themselves…why pay so much for someone to do it for you?
Reply to this commentPlease see my comments on John’s main post. I agree with you that this is not for small bloggers like us. The big ones doing with multiple servers and staff and large revenues, this should be a great help.
Reply to this commentHow about providing an example of what 5 billable hours can provide? Anything substantial?
Reply to this commentThank you Steve!
Reply to this commentHow many hours of work per month is provided for $495?
You can outsource to places like India and get some pretty good work done for $5 - $6 per hour.
Mark
Reply to this commentCan you give some contact details? Most obliged.
Reply to this commentTraffic Assistants. Google that name.
I just started using them but they came highly recommended from a very reliable source who has had great results.
One tip: with outsourcers you have to be VERY specific with regards to what you want done and try to format your “to-do” list in a step-by-step fashion if possible.
Then take it one step at a time.
Hope this helps,
Mark
Reply to this commentIf you can get “some pretty good” Internet Marketing & Web development work done for $5 per hour, go for it!
Reply to this commentJohn, can you find out when tthe blogger software is going to be implemented into this “Software Project” and maybe they can lower the Monthly fee too.
Reply to this commentJohn, can you find out when tthe blogger software is going to be implemented into this “Software Project” and maybe they can lower the Monthly fee too.
Reply to this commentSTEEP STEEP STEEP!! Maybe I’ll just make myself some money first
Reply to this commentThe only downside to this is that I can get a full time staff of 4 web developers for just 4,000 USD a month… Course they’re in India but that’s the rate I’ve been quoted before.
Reply to this commentBased on 160 hours per month that rate seems about right for India.
Mark
Reply to this commentFor small bloggers with limited or no income, this is a non starter. They should seriously look at this large segment with low priced products which will give high volumes.
Reply to this commentnice post
Reply to this commentYes very good job, keep good work
Reply to this comment