monetizing mobile apps
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Monetizing Mobile Apps
By Chris Black@chrisjblack
Background
• I am a(n)…– ActionScript developer– Mobile applications developer– SEO optimizer– Google Adwords consultant
• Can we merge mobile and Adwords to boost app sales?
The Apps
Terry Paton Xavi Vives Chris Black
PRE MARKET CONSIDERATIONS
Types of Monetization
• Direct sale through market– 30% off the top for Google / Apple
• Direct sale through your website– Requires your own infrastructure 100% of sales
• Ad revenue within the app– Get paid for displaying ads
• In app sales (Smurfberries)– 30% off the top for Apple, 10% for Google
Building your App
• Consider…– Screen sizes– Input devices– Variety of processors and RAM– Variety of operating systems
Tips / Tricks
• Use Adobe AIR or Corona to cross deploy apps
Know your Market
• Over saturated markets are harder to sell on
This simple game built by Ebscer on the BlackBerry market has tons of reviews / downloads!
Upfront Costs
• Time to design / build the app• Software to build your app• $99 / year for iOS developer account• $25 one time fee for distributing with Google• $200 for every 10 apps with BlackBerry
– (first 10 are free right now)• Advertising costs
POST MARKET CONSIDERATIONS
Cross Sell Your Apps
• Add a link to your other apps from within your application
• Offer one or two free apps that link back to the market for your paid apps
Tips / Tricks
• Open the mobile market from within your app– Android
• market://search?q=terry+paton• market://details?id=air.com.terrypaton.tc2
– iOS•
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/angry-birds-free/id409807569?mt=8
User Retention
• Listen to users and provide timely updates• Build game play and applications for
continued use• Social media integration
Tips / Tricks
• Allow move to SD for Android– <manifest android:installLocation="auto">– http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/android/mov
e-to-sd-card/• Don’t take up internal phone storage unless
absolutely necessary!
MARKETING YOUR APPS
Social Media
• Twitter• Facebook• Youtube• Both Twitter and Youtube
are now featured on the Android market with your app
Advertisement
• Drive users directly to the marketplace– Google AdWords– AdMob
• As little as $0.03 / click• Thanks to Terry Paton
and Xavi Vives for participating in this experiment
Google AdWords
Google AdWords
Tips / Tricks
• Don’t publish WAP ads when targeting Android or iOS, they don’t abide by device targeting rules and will eat your budget
AdMob
Tips / Tricks
• Use limiting factors to cut down your cost per day
• Geo-targeting the US costs $0.05 / click, the UK increases to $0.15 / click
Comparison
Google AdWords• No minimum daily budget• Some device targeting• Keyword & display network• No OS version targeting• $0.07 - $1.00+ / click
AdMob• $10 minimum daily budget• Great device targeting• Display network only• OS version targeting• $0.03 – $0.25 / click
Google now owns Admob so hopefully we will see the best of both worlds!
Targeting Demographics
• Know your users• Offer a free app to gather statistics• Both AdWords and AdMob support advanced
demographic targeting!• Target by Age, Gender, and Location• Use AppBrain Insights for user data
Terry Paton’s Meteor Storm
Results
• Apps less than $2.99 are very hard to gain a positive ROI through advertisement
• We are making $2 - $4 for every $8 to $10 spent
• Advertising is a great way to boost your application within the market
• Combined with other techniques listed should lead to better results
Special Thanks
• Terry Paton @terrypaton1 • Xavi Vives @xavivives• Paul Trani @paultrani• Mobile Twin Cities @mobiletc• Recursive Awesome @RecursiveAwesum• FITC @fitc
Questions?