Monday, May 6th, 2013
Starting out in a new industry you are full of hope and ambition, fantastic, the idea of creating a free Android app using AppsGeyser’s free Android app tools and placing it in as many Android markets as you can sounds ideal. What is even more exciting you are considering charging a nominal $0.99 fee per download for your app and there you go, you will make $$$$. What’s the worst that can happen? Only 100 people will download your app, well, that’s $100 made from 5 minutes app creation work.
STOP
Charging for your app is not the best way to start out in the app industry. There are many reasons why in your first year of app building you should not charge for your Android app.
1: Build Loyalty – The first and most important reason why you should not set out to charge for your Android apps is because it is vital to succeed in the app world that you firstly build up a loyal audience. You need to allow your audience to get to know you and your app quality well enough that they will come back to your app and will download your new apps as and when you release them because they are sure of your app quality. Building loyalty in your audience can take around one year and a minimum of 7 app releases.
2: Competition – It is very difficult to charge for your app with the amount of competition there is in the Android market. You need to be asking yourself, why would someone take the risk, and yes, I know it’s only $0.99, but in app terms this is considered a risk, if they can download similar apps that do the same as yours or something similar to your app?
3: Value for money – We know that most people wouldn’t batter an eyelid at spending $4.99 on a coffee, but believe it or not, more than 75% of people would rather download a free app than pay for an app that they haven’t tried. Apps are not like products in stores that you can see if you like or not before you purchase, purchasing an app is a blind purchase which psychologically people are not willing to do.
4: Quantity – The amount of downloads you have is very important in building your reputation as a good app maker, therefore it make more sense to keep your app free and have more downloads and earn your revenue through other monetary methods. The high quantity of app downloads will build your reputation as a good app maker.
5: Reviews – This leads on from quantity, the more people that are downloading your app, the more likely it is that you will get reviews, the quality of these reviews will again increase your status as a good app makers and will build loyalty.
Whatever you decide to do, it is totally up to you, there are no rights and wrongs, we can only advise you on what we have seen happening in the app world. Take Angry birds for example, it’s a free programme, but they have built their reputation and charge money from other aspects of their business without discouraging the growth of their audience. Good Luck and let us know what you decided to do.
We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter,
If you’re interested in making your own Android apps, start creating apps here.
Tags: appsgeyser, create an android app from scratch, create an app, create an app from scratch, create android app, create free Android app, free android app, free android app tool, Free App Making Tools, make an app, making an android app, monetize, You Should Not Charge for Your Android App, Your Android App, Your Free Android App
Posted in Marketing, Monetize Your App | No Comments »
Friday, April 26th, 2013
People create apps for different reasons, some create apps to help market their current businesses and others create apps as their business venture, becoming what we know in the business as Appreneurs. What both sets of app makers have in common is the right to make money from their free Android apps that they have made, afterall you have put in so much work you should make money from the apps.
Using different forms of advertising on your app is the most common way people make money from their free Android apps, however, do you actually know the difference between private and affiliate advertising and what advertising schemes best work for you and why?
Affiliate Advertising
You have heard the word Affiliate a million times over, and to be totally truthful, not everyone is aware of what this really means. Affiliate advertising is an online marketing channel that promotes products via a third party on your website or app.
There are three main types of affiliate advertisements: pay-per-click, pay-per-lead and pay-per-sale. When you sign up for an affiliate marketing company, such as admob, it is vital that you know which of these channels most interests you. All three of these pay per options will earn you revenue when the consumer does the action required, ie; pay per click means that you earn a small percentage for each click through to an advertisement, pay-per-lead means that you are paid once a customer completes a form, or signs up for an offer and pay-per-sale is quite simple payment upon sale that has resulted from the lead on your website.
Private Advertising
Its quite simple, private advertising you do not have to wait for someone to click on the advert to make any money, it is far more simple, as the app owner you can contact relevant businesses and offer them space on your app for a weekly, monthly or yearly fee. This usually pays better than affiliate marketing, however, don’t be deceived, it takes much more work on your behalf, unlike affiliate marketing, where you are in a no win no lose situation, here the company paying for advertising is expecting to get results from your app and if they don’t they won’t pay again.
Both forms of advertising are popular with apps, and both have their pros and cons. Affiliate marketing lets you sit back and not have to consider the contract again once its sign, however, if the ads don’t match your audience you will be waiting a long time for the money to come rolling in, and the private advertising is a lot more work intensive.
We always suggest that app makers and Appreneurs use a mix of advertising options within their apps, affiliate marketing lets the pennies come in slowly allowing you to continue to focus on other work, while you earn bigger bucks from working that much harder with private advertisers.
Let us know which you have chosen to use and why.
We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter,
If you’re interested in making your own Android apps, start creating apps here.
Tags: free Android apps
Posted in Monetize Your App | No Comments »
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