This article discusses approaches to break into the shareware gaming industry. There are a set of steps most shareware developers take to get their software marketed.

From my own experience with marketing shareware games (Blue Tea Games: Meeklits, Ballmaster), I've devised some steps that will help interested klikers break into the shareware gaming industry:

1. A completed game with a working registration model.
*This is perhaps the most crucial part of being a successful game developer. You can find more resource from other articles or compare your game with other shareware games. I won't dwell on this topic more.

2. Setup a Webpage.
*Find a domain name (no free service from Geocities...): it will boster a professional feel to your company.
*Crucial Buttons: [Buy Now], [Download], [Support], [Screenshots]. These buttons help visitors navigate. The support button gives visitors more trust in your company.
* Get a good host: www.globat.com . This is sufficient enough for bandwidth as well as disk space. The price is also cheap.

3. Upload to major download sites.
* Download.com and Tucows.com are the two big ones out there. Although they may not offer free services, but both these sites can pump up your downloads to over 1000/day.

4. Upload to 100+ smaller download sites.
* Get a software called: Sharewaretracker. It will help you upload your game submission to many smaller sites within minutes.

5. Set up an account.
* You need a way to receive money from users, to do so, there is one particular service I would recommend: www.regnow.com . They will help you set up your registration model as well as offer a strong affiliate network.

6. Get affiliates.
* Some other big name download sites offer affiliates special placements on download section (ie: simtel.net). In return, they may take 30% of the profit. I would suggest using regnow.com to build your affiliates.

7. Get ratings and reviews.
* Good Ratings will bolster your game. You can find some fairly easy reviews such as: Filetransit and Shareup who usually gives 5/5 Stars. Some harder to acheive 5/5 is Tucows and RocketDownload.
* Go online and find review sites and ask them to review your game. Be persistent but not annoying.

8. Advertisements.
* I suggest using GamesBannerNetwork, they offer small banner placement. You can either do a ratio exchange (ie: When 1000 ppl visit your site with the ad, 500 from other sites will see an ad from your site) or spend $300 for 1 million impression. They're pretty effective.

9. General.
* Be persistent: don't give up a game just because it doesn't sell the first 3 months.
* Be open minded about feedbacks and ask people to test you game.

Thats about it! I've been in the selling klik games for over 1.5 years now and I can say its both exciting and rewarding. Good luck!

-Steve