Author Information

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Welcome Developers and Software Authors !!!
Thank you for taking the time to visit this page. aFreeGo.com was started by developers, so we know how busy you are and how precious your time is. It also means that we know what you want, and if there is something special that you need, we are always prepared to listen and try to help you out.

If you are new to aFreeGo.com, or it has been a while since you updated your software here, then please visit our Getting the Most from aFreeGo.com page. That page gives you vital information to help you make the most of your software listing on aFreeGo.com and get your software seen by as many potential customers as possible. Of course, don't forget to read everything below as well ... it's all there to help you to get customers and make sales.

The information below will help to answer your most frequently asked questions, but if you can't find an answer to your question, please feel free to contact us.

Submission Rules
Free Feature Spot for Contributing Authors
Articles in aFreeGoNews
Free Links in aFreeGoNews
Ratings and Awards
Listing Types
Common PAD File Problems
Press Releases
Privacy

Submission Rules

aFreeGo.com accepts software submissions using PAD (Portable Application Description) files only.  

PAD is a standard developed by the ASP (Association of Shareware Professionals) which is now widely supported by shareware sites.  If you don't already have a PAD file for your application, you can easily generate one (for free) using the PadGen tool from the ASP.  For more information about PAD, and to download PadGen, visit http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad.

Submit your PAD file to aFreeGo.com using the Submit option within the Author Center.

Note that to be accepted on aFreeGo.com, your PAD file must be in English and must be complete.  If required fields are incomplete or missing, we may be unable to list your application.  In particular please check your description fields (all should be complete) and any links to any icons and screenshots.  For some common errors in PAD files, please see our Authors page.  aFreeGo.com reserves the right to alter or delete content deemed not in our best interest to carry.

Your application will be listed in one category only.  If you submit an updated PAD file to a different category than the one your application is already listed in, then your application may be moved to the updated category.  aFreeGo.com reserves the right to list your application in the category which we think best suits your application.

Free Feature Spot for Contributing Authors

Every four weeks, we email all of the subscribers to our aFreeGoNews mailing list. Every issue has a feature article covering an author's software. So, you get your software in front of all of our mailing list subscribers.

To have your software featured in aFreeGoNews is easy ... and free. Just become a contributing author and you will be added to the list to have your software featured. 

Articles in aFreeGoNews

Every issue of aFreeGoNews will now contain an article about our featured software. The free feature spot (see above) will contain this article. So become a contributing author and have your software featured in aFreeGoNews for free.  aFreeGoNews is sent to all of our mailing list subscribers, so thousands of people will get to see your software.

Free Links in aFreeGoNews

Do The Link Thing !  Add a special link to our newsletter signup page from your web site.  Tell us about it, and in return, we will add a link to your web site in an upcoming issue of aFreeGoNews.

For more details, see our Do The Link Thing ! page.

Ratings and Awards

When we come across an application that we like, we often take the time to try it out and give it a rating from 3 to 5.  Applications are rated as 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 or 5 and will receive a Rated Listing with the rating displayed along with the application details.

If we haven't rated your application, it is not because we don't like you.  It is not because we don't like your application.  It is probably that we have a LOT of applications to look at and deal with, and haven't got to yours yet.  If you are desperate to have your application rated on aFreeGo.com, you can contact us and we'll do our best for you.

Obviously, the easier it is for us to use a program, the easier it is for us to give it a rating.  Often, it is a lot easier to rate a program if you provide us with an unlock code.  This is not a requirement for your program to be rated, but if you can provide us with an unlock code, please contact us.

Authors whose applications have been awarded a rating at aFreeGo.com may download the following graphics to display on their site.  (Please do not link to the actual graphic on our site - take a copy and upload it to your site).

Please link the graphic back to either you application's URL on aFreeGo.com, or to http://www.aFreeGo.com itself.

Listing Types

Applications are listed in date order with the most recent first, however Enhanced Listings are listed before Basic Listings.  When you submit your application to aFreeGo.com you will receive a free Basic Listing if your application is listed.  It is easy (and free) to upgrade your Basic Listing to an Enhanced Listing.

Basic Listings

A Basic Listing is free for all applications that are listed on aFreeGo.com.  They appear after all Enhanced Listings have been displayed, so may appear low down on the page even though the release date is very recent.  

You can get your Basic Listing upgraded to an Enhanced Listing for free.  For more details on the easy process involved, see Enhanced Listings below.
 
 
 Enhanced Listings

Enhanced Listings appear before Basic Listings so they are close to the top of the page and will be seen first by visitors to the web page.

Enhanced Listings are given for free to developers whose applications have web pages that link back to aFreeGo.com.  You can get your application listed higher up the list by adding a button link to aFreeGo.com on your application's web page.  Then contact us and we will update your listing to an Enhanced Listing for free.
 

Rated Listings

Rated Listings appear before Enhanced Listings so they are first in the list on the page and will be seen first by visitors to the web page.

Rated Listings are given for free to applications that we have taken the time to try out and give a rating to.  If we haven't rated your application, give us some time.  If we still haven't rated your application, drop us a polite note using our contact form and we'll do our best for you.
 

Common PAD File Problems

The aFreeGo.com team gets to see a lot of PAD files.  The list that follows outlines some of the more common problems we have encountered with submitted PAD files and suggestions for how to fix them.

Description Fields
Too often, only one of the description fields (45 char, 80 char, 250 char, 450 char, 2000 char) is filled in, and the remaining description fields are left blank.

You should fill in all of the description fields using as many characters as allowed for that field.  Remember that some shareware sites may use the 250 character description while others use the 450 character description.  

aFreeGo.com requires all description fields to be present and filled in and we will reject your PAD file if it does not contain enough information.  We endeavor to let you know when your PAD file is not "up to scratch" but this is not always possible.

Press Releases

Yes, please send us your press releases. For information, see our Press Release page.

Privacy   aFreeGo.com treats your privacy with the highest respect. We will not give or sell your private email address of other details to any third party. See our Privacy Policy online for more details.