Please post about your success in the software biz, I would like to get some tips on how to get things started. Thanks!
Do you mean developing your own software and then selling it directly or joining affiliate programs and selling their software so that you earn a commission.
Selling software on the internet is difficult depending on your niche and distribution model. Search google for indiegamer forums. It's a forum for people developing and selling games, but the lessons and discussions can be applied to general software.
I've had a lot of success selling custom coded software. One of them grossed over 50k in the first month that I released it and it's still making me 5k a month every month. I only advertise through PPC. I have another software that is generating 1k month and I spent under $100 to have it created. Most of my software is geared towards webmasters and online entrepreneurs. If you focus only on this market you'll still rake in a lot of money because they are avid software buyers who have money to spend. The biggest drawback I see in having custom created software is finding a decent programmer who can create your software in time and is there to help you with bugs in the software later on. I recommend having software created that runs on your desktop because they have way less problems than having a script created. You'll have to think about the customer services issues. If your software becomes popular, you may end up spending most of your time dealing with technical and customer support. I've had few less customer support issues when selling desktop applications. Another method of making money from software is to create simple apps and give them away for free. People will pass it around and when they use it, you get free advertising for any of your sites. Here are some ways to generate ideas for software: 1.) Look at www.download.com for ideas. Make yours better. 2.) Study the webmaster forums and find out what common tasks they do that could be automated using software. 3.) Look at the current and past projects from freelance coding sites such as www.scriptlance.com , www.rentacoder.com and www.getafreelancer.com For your first software project, don't make it too complicated. You can add features later on if needed. You should aim to create a software that can be coded within two weeks. Try to spend less than $200 to have it coded and test the market to see if your idea is viable. Give it away and get some feedback. Then improve on it and make it for sale. I have a personal programmer who does all my projects now but when I need new programmers I like to use Rentacoder.com because they have good protection for both programmers and software buyers like myself. The programming language I prefer most is Delphi for desktop apps and PHP for website scripts. It's best to develop a nice user interface for your software so that it doesn't look cheap. You may need the assistance of a graphic designer for that. If you want an example of a nice looking software geared towards webmasters, send me a PM. I sell this software for $49.97 on my site but you can have it for free to see what I consider a nice UI.