When looking to distribute free consumer software, there are many different methods of distribution.  Some of the more successful distribution methods are:

• Online marketing promotions
• Affiliate programs
• Physical distribution through retail
• Word of mouth

If you can get all the software distribution you need from the latter, then this blog post probably isn’t for you. But for the rest of us who can’t ever get enough, here’s a tactic that tends to get overlooked -software aggregators. 

There are many benefits to hosting your free software or trial software on sites like Download.com, Tucows.com and Softonic.com.  One of the most important things to look for when researching software aggregators is reputation, look for companies like Softonic.com that are a trusted source of downloads. If it’s not a trusted site don’t use it!  Many software aggregators  offer multiple benefits such as:

• Free listing programs
• Pay per download (PPD) programs at very reasonable rates
• Scalable bandwidth  

Listing your downloads with software aggregators can free up bandwidth.  If your product has a large file size or high traffic influxes, these sites have the ability to provide unlimited downloads to potential users without the worry of servers crashing and bandwidth overage charges.

Working with software aggregators does come with a couple of caveats.  The first is turnaround time.  This problem is mostly caused by us–marketers, developers, etc.  Due to the high volume of requests for listings on these popular aggregators, turnaround times can be days or weeks.  It can also take the same amount of time when you’re trying to remove a product from the site.  Be sure to plan ahead.

The second is the lack of reporting.  You don’t get much visibility into reporting, so before adding this method of distribution to your marketing strategy, be sure to know your Key Performance Indicators (KPI) so you have the ability to optimize.

And now the W3i plug! Apart from software aggregators there is another tool available to you to increase distribution; it’s advertising in the installer.  W3i has created a proprietary Application Network where the advertiser’s popular consumer applications are offered during the installation process.  This distribution method is performance-based and user generated.      

Just like when football coaches tell their players to keep their heads on a swivel, the same can be said for marketers of this generation.  There are many different vehicles of software distribution that you can use to get your software in front of consumers. Just make sure the vehicle you choose fits your marketing strategy and instead of telling you to think outside the box, because I hate that cliché, I will suggest that you work smarter, not harder, when trying to find new vehicles of distribution.

Mitch Bain, Marketing Manager; W3i, LLC
Mitch has 4 years experience focusing on Display Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, and Mobile Marketing, in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

On a regular basis, it’s important to take a look at the application user experience and truly try to understand the value delivered to users.  When this topic comes up, some questions arise:

1. Since this is so subjective, how does one accurately measure value? 
2. How can you be sure your marketing is properly conveying value to end users?
3. How can one quickly and easily measure value?

There are a variety of ways to determine value; listening to your users is a big one, revenue generation can give some insight, but when asserting the value that an app communicates and subsequently provides, there must be a quick and easy way to measure value.  For this reason, we’ve created a tool called the Application Value Matrix.  Two performance indicators are used to determine the value that is communicated and delivered to users: attrition, which is the rate users uninstall an application, and acceptance, which is the rate users decide to download/install an application.  By plotting these two performance indicators, you can easily gauge how well you are communicating and delivering value, understand how these two metrics are related, and subsequently take action to improve.

The Application Value Matrix is divided into four quadrants:

1. Valued:  High Acceptance, Low Attrition
2. Misinterpreted Value:  High Acceptance, High Attrition
3. Unrepresented Value or Niche:  Low Acceptance, Low Attrition
4. No Value:  Low Acceptance, High Attrition

I challenge you to plot your apps onto this matrix.  By doing so, you can determine certain action items necessary to improve the value communicated and/or delivered to users. 

So, what does each quadrant mean?

Valued

This quadrant embodies effective value communication and delivery to users.  Users understand the value that the app provides up-front, thus there is high acceptance of the application.  Users value the application as they use it, thus there is low attrition.   Even if your application falls into this quadrant, it’s important not to stand still.  Continue to deliver value to end users through consistent improvements and by being the best of your breed.  Also, remember that delivering value does not mean piling on new features or adding unnecessary complexities.

Misinterpreted Value

Apps that fall into this quadrant have high acceptance and high attrition.  So what does this mean?  One of two things:  first, it could mean your marketing campaigns communicate value that fails to be delivered to users, thus causing high attrition.  If this is the case, look at your marketing assets and adjust the communication so it properly conveys the true value your app provides.  Second, this could mean (and this is probably rare) that your app is a victim of the “hype machine”.  Perhaps you have a lot of positive press about your app, causing a lot of people to download your application.  However, upon using it, a large percentage of users find that it’s just not for them.  Maybe it does deliver value to a subset of users, great; but seek to understand why the majority did not find value in your app.

Unrepresented Value or Niche

Apps that find themselves in this category have both low acceptance and low attrition.  Again, this can mean one of two things.  First, it could mean that value is not effectively communicated to users.  Look at your marketing campaign and enhance the messaging so it truly communicates the problems your app solves for users.  Second, this could mean your app is niche.  A certain subset of users wants your application and this subset truly values your application.  If this is the case, formulate a plan to enhance your application to improve acceptance for new personas or markets. 

No Value

The meaning of this quadrant is fairly intuitive.  Very few users download your application and of those who do download it, have high attrition.  The good news is that in this quadrant, you have nowhere to go but up.  Ultimately, you need to focus on the value your app provides first before you look at enhancing your marketing assets.  This is not a “chicken or egg” scenario.  There is only one thing that can come first and that is delivering value.  Once you have achieved this, you can quickly follow up by improving value communication for a one-two punch.  To improve value delivery, ask yourself some questions:  Are you properly engaging users?  Are you truly solving a problem that exists in the market?  Is your app easy to understand and use?  Did you design it with yourself in mind and not your users?

I hope you find this tool useful as it is important to effectively create and communicate value.  This tool is not meant to substitute other important ways to measure the value your app provides, such as user feedback and other various performance indicators.  The Application Value Matrix is intended as a supplement, used to quickly and easily identify areas for improvement.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.  

On November 21st over 600 developers and entrepreneurs got together to discuss what’s important to Minnesota tech start-ups. The halls that Best Buy legendary founder, Dick Schulze, built made for a great location for the next wave of Minnesota entrepreneurs to begin spreading their wings.

Several Minnesota start-up thought leaders were on hand including Graeme Thickens of Minnov8, Robert Stephens, founder of GeekSquad, Justin Porter of the University of Minnesota Venture Center, and John Roberts attorney at start-up friendly New Counsel. There were many young Minnesota entrepreneurs on hand including Mynul Khan, founder of FieldNation, and Adam Sellke of Evolve, who was a recent semifinalist at The Minnesota Cup. I was surprised that there were several Minnesota entrepreneurs who had multiple successful companies with exits.

Minnebar co-founder, Ben Edwards, led a very interactive roundtable discussion for web app builders. Ben’s leadership was clearly on display as a large group of primarily independent developers came forward with their questions on how to market the technology they built. It was very interesting to hear a group of developers discuss marketing issues. From my first hand experience as an internet company founder, I know you need to wear a lot of hats.

The most heated discussion of the day was “Bootstrapping Your Tech Start-up” led by Kevin Spreng of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi. Kevin provided tips for bootstrapping entrepreneurs such as hire contractors rather than employees, go without an office, and focus on execution. Near the end of his session, Kevin stated that marketing agencies were a black hole because marketing agencies spend a lot of money, and he advised start-ups to handle their own marketing.  Curt Prins, Executive Director at District 202 and marketing guru, responded with his disagreement and said not all marketers needed a large budget to accomplish results for start-up entrepreneurs.  A rather lively debate ensued (see tweets under #minnebar). Nice work Kevin and Curt in driving a stimulating discussion on the topic of bootstrapping.

Justin Grammens led a packed session on how to develop Android applications.  Justin explained how, unlike iPhone apps, Android apps require no certification or approval. He also created a simple “Mobile Twin Cities” app during the session. I was amazed at how simple creating a basic Android application can be.

Dan Frankowski and Max Harper from Blue Shift Labs led a discussion on coding with Google’s App Engine that intrigued a number of developers. The crowd was very engaged. The scripting seemed pretty straight forward.

Mike Bollinger provided an introduction to HTML5. The tweets that followed said that HTML5 looked “amazing” and that users should stop using Internet Explorer 6 to increase the adoption rate.

Ryan Weber and I provided a summary of the top trends and winners in the application industry. Ryan forecasted that the integration of social and location-based mobile technology would be one of the most significant drivers of growth and change in the mobile app space.

My favorite discussion was the one facilitated by co-founder of Minnebar, Luke Francl, entitled, “Midwestern Startups: What is Possible?” Luke started by asking for those entrepreneurs that had worked in Silicon Valley to compare their start-up experience there versus their Minnesota start-upexperiences. One such entrepreneur answered Luke’s question by saying Silicon Valley start-ups aren’t as afraid to fail as those in Minnesota. Another entrepreneur said the biggest difference was how much deeper the talent pool was in the valley. Finally, someone joked that when he was in Minnesota, whenever someone asked where he worked, he responded with “I work for at a start-up.” When asked the same question while at an iPhone meet-up in Palo Alto, the response was met with laughter. Why? In Silicon Valley, everyone works for a start-up. The discussion next turned to several ideas on how we can make Minnesota a better place to create a tech start-up. Among the ideas identified were creating an incubator fund modeled after Y Combinator, getting the University of Minnesota to raise money to fund local tech start-ups similar to what the University of Wisconsin started a year ago, the creation of a new TechCrunch-like Minnesota focused community site, and taking advantage of Minnesota’s significant number of Fortune 1000 companies to provide a distribution channel for Minnesota-brewed new tech. Michael Gorman of Split Rock Partners, one of the sponsors, closed Luke’s discussion by saying he was looking forward to seeing where we would be in another year. Judging by all of the energy, and the way the Minnesota developer and entrepreneur crowd is starting to support each other, I am confident we will see continued growth in the Minnesota tech start-up community. I am looking forward to Minnebar 2010.

Rob Weber, VP of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over nine, profitable years evolving W3i in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

Please pass more turkey and mashed potatoes!

I am an art lover and an art creator.  Unfortunately, these aspects of my personality often clash with my job, designing banners, much like blaze orange clashes with pea green.  (Shudder!)  In an industry where user “clicks” are the goal, we are sometimes asked to do things that should be illegal; such as using designs that are copy-heavy and garish in color.  Why are users more likely to click on the least artistic banner on a webpage?  Are they honestly more attracted to tacky and gaudy?  Or maybe, just maybe, that designer has figured out how to lure in the unsuspecting user with the use of subliminal messaging saying, “click me… click me… click me…”  (Note to self: search “subliminal messaging conferences” and sign up.)

In the midst of all of this thinking (and contemplating Thanksgiving at the same time), I have come to a conclusion.  Designing “clickable” banners is a lot like planning for Thanksgiving dinner… add as many salads and gourmet goodies as you can, but stop fooling yourself!  People are really only coming for the turkey and mashed potatoes.  They do not care that Great Aunt Ermintrude has outdone herself in her use of Jell-O in the salad this year.  All your family wants is a chance to overdose on grilled turkey and gorge themselves on mounds of creamy mashed potatoes.  This is what I mean: users are looking for the meat and potatoes (the hearty stuff) of an advertisement.  Let them know exactly who you are and what your product is as quickly as you can.  Take out the fluff, take out the pretty.  Get to the heart of the matter so they can decide immediately if they are interested or not.  People don’t want to stare at the Jell-O salad for five minutes, trying to figure out exactly what surprises are in it.

Let’s take, for example, two of our display banners:

Version 1:                                                                      Version 2:

Version 1 outperformed Version 2 by nearly 100%!  At first glance, this may not solidify the point that I’m trying to make.  But what you can’t see in the screenshot is that Version 2 needs time to scroll through the different screensavers and features available before finally getting to the screen that is shown above.  Conversely, Version 1 shows everything from the get-go.  No waiting needed.

Do you see what I mean?  Beautiful is not always better in designing banners.  It may be easier on the eyes.  It may prompt us to hang it on our wall.  But it does not always translate into user “clicks.”  I can only speculate on the reasons for this behavior… Perhaps the user likes to see the branding and product throughout the whole process.  Possibly, loud colors naturally draw the eye and compel users to click on them.  It could even be the voices in their head telling them that the world can be saved by clicking on that banner.  (Have you come across other reasons for users’ actions?)  Whatever the motivator, it doesn’t mean that you should stop fighting for gorgeous designs.  What it does mean, though, is that there should be a way to mesh these two taste palates together.  How can that sprig of parsley be added to the turkey?

Keep in mind when designing banners what the user is looking for; hook them with straight-forward facts and a strong call to action!  Art will not always need to be sacrificed for a concept that works, but strive to simplify your designs and feed your users’ need for information quickly.  In the words of Thoreau, “simplify, simplify.”  Take away the funky Jell-o creations and give them what they want – the hearty stuff that will keep them content and satisfied.

Jessie Schroder, Marketing Specialist, W3i Holdings LLC
Jessie uses her experience in internet marketing, graphic design, and testing to guide W3i’s focus of marketing promotions.

As you know, W3i gives users access to a wide catalog of applications on a variety of unique sites. At the same time, we also create value by connecting users to other apps they might find useful, interesting or relevant during the installation of these applications. As a clear investment in our application network, content discovery and furthering distribution opportunities for our advertising partners, I have the pleasure of announcing the release of a new internal product called Integrated Content Network.

Integrated Content Network (known internally as ICN) improves content discoverability through increased content availability and dynamic categorization on our sites. This benefits both users and advertisers. Users will discover more applications to download thus leading to greater distribution opportunities for our advertising partners, getting more of their applications in front of more potential users. Visit the freshly redesigned Freeze.com to see our first site powered by ICN.

But there’s more: ICN also increases internal efficiencies by leaps and bounds, allowing us to ensure we stay on top of application trends and seasonal changes. Couple that with ICN’s real-time site updates and we’re set to meet users’ needs with great speed.

ICN has a bright future. We have some great things in store for it, providing even further benefits to our partners and users. When these improvements are ready to be rolled out, you’ll be sure to hear about it.

As W3i moves forward, now is a better time than ever to become part of our application network. ICN is a perfect example of our investment in improving user experience and increasing distribution opportunities for advertisers. Looking for distribution for your app or monetizing your current traffic? You’ve come to the right place.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.

This evening I went online to BestBuy.com to pick up a new monitor for my home office PC. My old monitor crapped out a few days ago, and I’ve been meaning to get around to purchasing a new one. I tend to avoid brick and mortar stores for consumer electronic purchases, and BestBuy.com is usually the first website I start with when shopping for consumer electronics. (Apparently, I am like most other online shoppers… I read a recent analyst report that ranked BestBuy.com as the number one in total online consumer electronic sales.)

After using BestBuy.com’s user ratings to sort through and find the best-rated 23-inch monitor, I settled on an Acer H233Hbmid 23 inch Widescreen HD LCD Monitor listed at $209.99.

Thankfully for me, I use a couple of different browser add-ons which provide me with timely shopping related information while I am browsing the web. For this purchase, I followed through a message that came up from PriceGong (http://www.pricegong.com), which I had installed through W3i’s (http://www.W3i.com) Install IQ process a few months back. PriceGong alerted me that CompUSA.com had the exact same monitor for $199.99 with no shipping and handling, and no sales tax.

Later on, I proceeded through the checkout on BestBuy.com just to see what my final total would have been had I purchased this same monitor through BestBuy.com. With $14.99 for shipping and handling, and $16.37 sales tax, my total would have come to $241.35. I saved $41.36 because my installed application, PriceGong, recommended CompUSA.com while shopping at BestBuy.com!

Most tech bloggers talk down about any application that requires an install, such as Windows applications and hybrid applications (like the PriceGong browser add-on). Most tech bloggers are so caught up in the cloud these days that they fail to remember why operating system integration can be so useful. How can the cloud compete with the kind of timely information an installed application can provide?

Rob Weber, VP of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over nine, profitable years evolving W3i in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

Recently the FTC published its guide on endorsements to address the application of Section 5 of the FTC act. This prompted some confusion and questions. Following by way of overview, I attempted to de-mystify the guide.

First, the guide contemplates endorsements and written testimonials. The examples provided in the guide make clear that activity subject to the guidelines must meet one of three criteria:

1. Expression of or appearing to express an opinion by words or acts. This criteria classically applies to the celebrity endorser who appears in a commercial;
2. Compensation to individuals. This criteria applies to the regular Joe who might write a blog post about a product received for free and to blogging services where persons are compensated for posting; or
3. Reviews of products. An independent reviewer who is quoted creates potential applicability if the excerpting of the review does not reflect the substance and thereby distorts the reviewer’s opinion.

Second, the guide generally prohibits the following acts:

1. Presenting an endorsement out of context;
2. Distortion of the original endorsement;
3. Unsubstantiated claims; and
4. Failing to disclose material connections with the endorser.

The specific proscriptions above, notwithstanding liability, accrues where there is an attempt to mislead by presenting as an independent endorsement, or in the alternative, the endorser’s statement is untrue. Note too than an advertiser can be liable for unsubstantiated, unprompted claims (if it does not attempt to refute and halt such claims) made by a paid endorser.

Third, consumer endorsements are scrutinized:

1. Claims made must be substantiated (including where applicable with scientific evidence); and
2. Where the depiction in advertisement implies actual consumers, actual consumers must be used or otherwise there must be a conspicuous disclaimer.

The guide gives attention to consumer endorsements because consumer endorsements are powerful and a significant opportunity for misdirection. Bottom line conspicuous disclaimers where applicable and substantiated claims (results of the endorser must set reasonable expectations) are required.

Fourth, expert endorsements by individuals or organizations require special care:

1. The endorser must have the expertise with respect to the endorsement;
2. The expert endorser must have credibly evaluated the product and the findings must be consistent with the endorsement (e.g. when claiming superiority).

Finally, when there is a connection between endorser and seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight and credibility of the endorsement, such connection must be fully disclosed.

The blogosphere has been uproarious in its critique of the guide requirements, so in closing I note instances where the guidelines do not apply:

1. Employees posting on a company website or blog;
2. Bloggers who post personal opinions without remuneration or connection;
3. Person’s using a clearly demarcated company sponsored Twitter account;
4. Posts to any social network site Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn where the post is associated clearly with a company’s attempt to self-promote.

In the end, the guidelines serve to clarify allowed and disallowed activity and, regardless of where you come down on their efficacy, are intended to promote forthrightness in company promotion to the consuming public. I for one commend the FTC for their attempt.

Hayden Creque, VP and General Counsel, W3i Holdings, LLC
Hayden counsels W3i on intellectual property, Internet law, privacy, and employment law issues. W3i strives to meet or exceed industry best practices. To learn more, click here.

W3i just wrapped up its first, of what will intently be annual, B2B Market Survey. We dubbed it the Application Distribution and Business Model Survey. Our goals were to improve our understanding of the Windows Application Market and its needs as well as broaden our understanding of how W3i can improve its services for both business partners and users.

I want to share three key insights gained from the survey. These insights are macro-level and, if instituted soundly, can provide consistent and copacetic results, fueling growth in the app market.

Insight #1: Know the Market Landscape

One thing is certain; the Windows Application Market is complex. Our survey added clarity into the diversity of verticals, needs, priorities, and anxieties that exist in this marketplace. It’s important to understand the landscape of the market(s) you’re in and to put that information to work. W3i has a unique vantage point in that we see the market across the entirety of application verticals (social networking, shopping, utilities, etc.), and we intend to use this information to better solve problems that uniquely impact the market.

Insight #2: Security and Trustworthiness Rule

Throughout the survey, respondents sent a clear message as to the importance of security and trustworthiness (see Figure 1). In every business partner and user interaction, these two values must be communicated with crystal clarity. Not only that, but your actions must match your words. W3i has a commitment to upholding a secure and trustworthy experience for users and partners. Our TRUSTe-certified InstallIQ is a perfect example of our testament to this.

Insight #3: Invest in Your Business Partners

We are humbled yet proud to have received high marks in the survey for our Business and Operational Support. Business Partner Satisfaction is one of our core corporate values — on a day-to-day basis our team works relentlessly to maximize growth and business partner relationships. Investing in a partner is truly an investment in the entire ecosystem – the entire market. Doing this acts as a direct conduit to improved user experience, improved campaign effectiveness and partner and user problems that get solved.

So there you have it. In sharing a few of the insights gained, our hope is that we can further drive innovation and growth in the Windows Application Market. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLCEric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.

With the next holiday season right around the corner, it is important for businesses to be prepared and enter the season with an online holiday media buying strategy; so when Santa comes down the chimney at the end of the holiday season he is carrying sacks of money instead of coal.

Every company is unique; and because of this, everyone’s media buying strategies are different. There is, however, some common steps that every media buy should possess to ensure success during the holiday stretch, whether your business is connecting people with applications or selling computers. The holiday season is the highest traffic time period on the net, which means it is important that you have a marketing strategy to best help promote your company or product. If you wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to start running your campaigns, you’re going to play catch up and have a tough time being competitive and maximizing your ROI. All this traffic in such a short period of time means there will be a lot of online inventory available. It is important to have a strategy in place so you are putting your product in front of the most valuable and qualified user instead of throwing your money away like leftovers after Thanksgiving.

Below is a graph indicating the increase in traffic during the major holidays. It proves that you need your strategy in place in order to get the best ROI on your media buys because the traffic comes fast and drops off even faster.

 Graph provided by http://www.google.com/trends

Goals
With any good strategy and a holiday media buying strategy in particular, goals must be in place. In order to create accurate goals for your campaign you must set some benchmarks. Do your research and ask yourself these questions: What worked last year? What didn’t? How much was spent? What channels were effective? Was it paid search? Display? An affiliate program? What were the rates? CPM, CPC or CPA? If you can answer these questions, it will not only help you optimize your campaigns with efficiency, it will also help you in determining the precise and most effective window of opportunity when starting and ending your campaigns. The goals you implement into your marketing strategy this year must be based on last year’s results. If you are a startup company and you are approaching your first holiday season, it is important to document and track everything you do this season so you will be firing on all cylinders next holiday season.

Test, Test, Test
Testing is a vital part for any media buy especially during the holiday season. Starting your tests early will give you and your team time to analyze the results and build historical data. It is important to choose which KPI’s (key performance indicators) are important to the particular buy. Once you have chosen which KPI’s to measure you will then need to determine what to test. There are many variations of tests you can run so that’s why it is important to test early.

Deploy and Observe Vigilantly
Deploy and monitor campaigns before the holiday season enters its peak period. This is essential for a variety of reasons, most notably because consumers are beginning to shop online earlier than ever before, according to Shop.org. Prior to the season, identify the newest and hottest trends (examine user browsing behavior, wish list activities, or whatever is important and pertains to your business or product). Observe your buy closely so you can be prepared for any shifts, and you can optimize at a moment’s notice. This is especially important when running display campaigns because they tend to take more time and effort when optimizing.

No Guarantees
There are no absolutes to creating the perfect holiday media buying strategy or any media buying strategies for that matter. These three tips are not the magic bullet and will not guarantee a successful holiday season on their own, but if you add them to your holiday media buying strategy you will definitely increase your chances for success.

Mitch Bain, Marketing Manager; W3i, LLC
Mitch has 4 years experience focusing on Display Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, and Mobile Marketing, in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

St. Cloud, Minnesota – October 9, 2009 – W3i Holdings, LLC announced today that Lisa Nistler was appointed Vice President of Marketing.

Lisa will be responsible for W3i’s marketing strategy and functions including: Owned and Operated web sites, creative services, usability, and client relationships.

Prior to joining W3i, Nistler was Vice President of Marketing and Technology at St. Francis Private School, where she was responsible for all traditional and interactive marketing, as well as technology educator. Lisa has extensive experience leading strategic account teams at technology companies. Before St. Francis, Nistler led Digital River’s strategic account development organization, focused on interactive marketing, optimization, and global ecommerce. Nistler has a broad-based background that spans technology, retail, direct marketing, agency, and academia.

Lisa attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, focusing on interior design, and the Minnesota School of Business, focusing on business administration.

Nistler will report to Andy Johnson, CEO. “Lisa is a key member of our team and is very committed to the growth of W3i. We congratulate her as she takes on new responsibilities in this leadership role,” comments Andy.

About W3i:
W3i, an application network that increases revenue, distribution and engagement for Windows applications and plug-ins, combines the demand for free and trial applications monetized by the distribution of recommended, relevant applications when the consumer is in the installation mindset. The W3i Application Network uses InstallIQ, W3i’s proprietary Windows installation manager, the first installation manager to be certified in the TRUSTe Trusted Download Program. Tested and optimized on over 300 million installs–currently over 9.6 million installs monthly and growing, W3i will prove to be a valued partner in growing your application business. To learn more, visit the W3i Application Network.

Press Contact:
Deborah Manthei
W3i Holdings, LLC.
deborah.manthei@W3i.com
320-257-7571