Home Grown Software Newsletter "Lockergnome" Now Has 125,000 Email Subscribers

Since its start in 1996, Lockergnome's free Windows 95/NT e-zine has built its subscriber base be being dependable and honest

Imagine your software site goes from getting 300 visits one day to 8,000 the next. Such is the power of the Net, if your software gets reviewed by the right person. Chris Pirillo, editor of Lockergnome, (http://www.lockergnome.com/) carries the tasks of surfing the Web, downloading and testing programs and utilities, and then compiling his findings into a comprehensive e-zine (roughly equivalent to ten printed pages in length). Every two weeks, his 125,000 hungry subscribers find this tome in their e-mail inbox and quickly gobble up his findings, which are filled with humor and honest insight.

The numbers prove that Lockergnome's popularity is not just a passing fancy. "I think it's pretty incredible that a one-man-show like Lockergnome has almost one-third as many subscribers as the C|net Shareware Dispatch," says Joe Burke, Marketing and Distribution Director for TweakDUN, a well-known Internet connection speed tweaker. Indeed, the subscribers' loyalty has contributed to Lockergnome's reputation as a trustworthy source of computing information.

"Lockergnome is not just another self-glorifying e-mail newsletter," says Pirillo. "What I write provides real content for Internet surfers." In addition to bringing substance to the subscribers through e-mail, Lockergnome now offers a File of the Day graphic. This image highlights a 32-bit program accompanied by a short review. Anyone may place this graphic anywhere on their website not only to provide fresh and regularly updated content, but also to keep surfers coming back there to view the latest File of the Day. Site owners may sign up and use this service for free, with details to be found on Lockergnome's website. "I do my best to track down the highest quality programs, utilities, and multimedia," says Pirillo. "Novices and professionals have come to trust my judgment."

Lockergnome's featured site owners and program authors are reaping the benefits of the subscribers' dedication. After being reviewed in Lockergnome, these computer personalities have found a tremendous increase in "hits" on their site, as ravenous subscribers flood their Web spaces in search of Pirillo's recommended downloads. In some cases, the onslaught of Lockergnome subscriber hits has proven to be hazardous to a site's health.

"Does Lockergnome make a difference?" John Cattelin, Product Manager at Radsoft, rhetorically asks. "In March, when we started uploading software, we had 318 page impressions. After Lockergnome reviewed us in April, we had 8216. And then, on May 1 alone, when Lockergnome featured us for a second time, we passed 7,000 impressions in a single day." And now users have another reason to take a look at Lockergnome, as a private set of newsgroups was recently launched. With subject matter ranging from Windows NT Hardware all the way through Internet Discussion, anyone looking for peer help and opinions online will be sure to find them here. As the amount of Lockergnome's free Internet services continues to expand, so will the subscriber interaction.

For more information, visit: http://www.lockergnome.com/