Database Users

How do you advertise in your apps?

Hi! I'm Dylan, the xda intern :victory:
I'm doing some research on how devs monetize their apps. We're currently exploring ways to help you make more money from your apps and we'd like to find out about what you currently do. If you could please, please take this short survey, it would be much appreciated! We promise to keep everything confidential; in fact, the survey is anonymous.
Thanks again! :laugh:
~dylan

Gave the survey.
Where can i see the results?

ablawle which
Make an account in Admob by google. And read this monetization in developer.android

Forums
Posting on forums or other websites that allow it.

Today in this competitive world whether you have an iPad app...., Android app or any Mobile app you need to advertise to make people know about your app. very important factor for advertising your app is effectively determining where and how to advertise your app.effective app advertising requires mainly 4 key areas....
Brand
Buzz
Balanced opportunity
Social Media support

I have the same problem.
2 weeks ago I published an Android app but very few people tried it.
The market is full of apps so it's hard to acquire visibility.
So I'm looking for websites to advertise it.

admob sucks
I have like 40,000 plus downloads on admob. got like 9 dollars. U don't need to advertise. Just pick a name. They will find it. The market is large

Posting on forums, when allowed
Contacting websites and suggesting the app for review
Using admob for monetization

We tried admob too, no luck there. Posting on forums (where allowed), trying to make a good icon and description and looots of luck
we tried getting some reviews done too, but didn't see any rise in downloads. Also we got into a printed medium too, which didn't seem to have much impact either.

posting it on social network like google+,fb+twitter+forum is way better than admob

Yes idlike to know this
Sent from my GT-I9070 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

One major problem, (for example with google play) is that they dont actually give a chance
for new developers to promote their applications
Our apps hide under a pile of dozen of others.
One sulution
A random application could be featured on the main entry page every hour.
This will balance the major companies promoting their stuff. And if the app is good, it wil get
the hype to climb up
Unfortunately we dont see that comming soon.

carbonpeople said:
One sulution
A random application could be featured on the main entry page every hour.
This will balance the major companies promoting their stuff. And if the app is good, it wil get
the hype to climb up
Unfortunately we dont see that comming soon.
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And why? Because there are lots of crappy apps out there. I'm glad (even from a developer standpoint) that this won't happen.

nikwen said:
And why? Because there are lots of crappy apps out there. I'm glad (even from a developer standpoint) that this won't happen.
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a) Half of the apps in google play are NOT crap. Have you seen them promoted ?
I can point to some excelent apps (better than the well known competition) with
so little downloads that looks suspicius
b) Even imdb has a heuristics system to remove biased/suspicius rankings, so surely
google can do that. A crap-free promoting system can be created
But it seems that
1. Either major companies want to clear out small competition on google play
or
2. Or... some developers created a good highly-downloaded app and had their
idea stollen from somebody else who created a better one, and want
to push new competition out of the way
Either way...

carbonpeople said:
a) Half of the apps in google play are NOT crap. Have you seen them promoted ?
I can point to some excelent apps (better than the well known competition) with
so little downloads that looks suspicius
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Click to collapse
Of course, there are many good apps. I even think that this is the majority.
And I've seen those great small apps, too. (But most of them got lots of downloads within a few months. It took some time but if the app is good and unique, you will get your downloads. )
b) Even imdb has a heuristics system to remove biased/suspicius rankings, so surely
google can do that. A crap-free promoting system can be created
But it seems that
1. Either major companies want to clear out small competition on google play
or
2. Or... some developers created a good highly-downloaded app and had their
idea stollen from somebody else who created a better one, and want
to push new competition out of the way
Either way...
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Click to collapse
I think that it is Google that doesn't want to promote the small apps.
If they did it randomly, most apps (not all!!!) would get less downloads than the bigger ones.
If they selected the small apps by hand, it would be very expensive and they wouldn't know where to start.
If they choose the big ones with many downloads (like now), they can be sure that they will get many downloads. And with downloads comes money.
I don't think it's fair, but I can't think of a better and still efficient method to select the small apps which generates as much income as the system does now.

~dylan said:
Hi! I'm Dylan, the xda intern :victory:
I'm doing some research on how devs monetize their apps. We're currently exploring ways to help you make more money from your apps and we'd like to find out about what you currently do. If you could please, please take this short survey, it would be much appreciated! We promise to keep everything confidential; in fact, the survey is anonymous.
Thanks again! :laugh:
~dylan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, i dont think ist good to use ads in an app anyway. better use "donations" or "Pro" Versions since ads will make your Reviews and Ratings worst.

mynote said:
well, i dont think ist good to use ads in an app anyway. better use "donations" or "Pro" Versions since ads will make your Reviews and Ratings worst.
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A combination of approaches work best. Having a facebook presence helps. Some of the very successful apps integrate with facebook very well. Some games tend to grant more time/lives if you share or like on facebook (Candy Crush, for example).
Depending on the app, limited-time trial versions are quite effective.
Agree that plain ads can be problematic as they can lead to poor reviews.. that in turn can hit your G. Play ranking and lead to fewer downloads.

Hi guys! Interesting discussion. Actually there are number of general ways to monetize an app:
Paid applications. You create an app that will charge a certain amount from the beginning.
Freemium. A software product can be downloaded free (so-called 'lite' version), while its extended, 'premium' features and services are offered for a payment.
Subscription (paid access). This monetization model originates from real magazines and newspapers, and is also very widespread.
In-app purchases.
Ad banners, texts, videos - this monetization model is constantly growing, encompassing the market of free applications.
User base. When the free software you own finally becomes popular, wins an audience, it can also be used for further monetization.

MobiDevCorp said:
Hi guys! Interesting discussion. Actually there are number of general ways to monetize an app:
Paid applications. You create an app that will charge a certain amount from the beginning.
Freemium. A software product can be downloaded free (so-called 'lite' version), while its extended, 'premium' features and services are offered for a payment.
Subscription (paid access). This monetization model originates from real magazines and newspapers, and is also very widespread.
In-app purchases.
Ad banners, texts, videos - this monetization model is constantly growing, encompassing the market of free applications.
User base. When the free software you own finally becomes popular, wins an audience, it can also be used for further monetization.
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And which one do you prefer?

nikwen said:
And which one do you prefer?
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Actually we develop mobile apps for our clients, so it's monetization is their decision.
One of the most widespread one is freemium, but like other models it has its limitations.

Anyone else buying app reviews?

I been hearing and seeing the results of people buying good amounts of reviews/downloads/ratings. Its crazy if you watch closely, im not going to point fingers whos doing it, but its quite obvious. I only buy reviews in small amounts since i develop small apps fast but it seems to be working for me.
Currently i get my app marketing services from buyappreviewsnow.com and i have around 30 apps currently. All with AdMob i might add and making a decent amount.
So if anyone else buys reviews maybe we can swap ideas?
Im new so i hope you found some info in my thread that can help you.
Thanks!

yes, i want to promote my apps, so any recommended web to pay for the reviews(not pay for the 5 star rates)? i received some email saying that they can help me rate my apps, but i didn't try.

dirtyman115 said:
I been hearing and seeing the results of people buying good amounts of reviews/downloads/ratings. Its crazy if you watch closely, im not going to point fingers whos doing it, but its quite obvious. I only buy reviews in small amounts since i develop small apps fast but it seems to be working for me.
Currently i get my app marketing services from buyappreviewsnow.com and i have around 30 apps currently. All with AdMob i might add and making a decent amount.
So if anyone else buys reviews maybe we can swap ideas?
Im new so i hope you found some info in my thread that can help you.
Thanks!
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Click to collapse
I don't know if it was your intention, but this post sounds like a spam Anyways It's broken. I went to that page and when I click the button, nothing happens.

kulisgames said:
I don't know if it was your intention, but this post sounds like a spam Anyways It's broken. I went to that page and when I click the button, nothing happens.
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I've been noticing a lot of spam on here of late. I really had no idea that developers actually bought reviews online for their apps. Makes me wonder if the top apps on Android and iOS have fake reviews. I just think we indie developers just have to support each other, we dont need to resort to buying fake reviews.

If you gonna spend money on marketing, you should spend it on real legal marketing. For example video review from a popular website or participating in admob ad network. In the long run it's more effective and better.

The most interesting detail is how much it costs, isn't it?
And what app store are we talking about?
dirtyman115 said:
I been hearing and seeing the results of people buying good amounts of reviews/downloads/ratings. Its crazy if you watch closely, im not going to point fingers whos doing it, but its quite obvious. I only buy reviews in small amounts since i develop small apps fast but it seems to be working for me.
Currently i get my app marketing services from buyappreviewsnow.com and i have around 30 apps currently. All with AdMob i might add and making a decent amount.
So if anyone else buys reviews maybe we can swap ideas?
Im new so i hope you found some info in my thread that can help you.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I had a look at the prices of some of those services and they where pretty high, IMHO.
Better spend that money on something else (maybe more ethical). For example spend some time developing a web page, social networking, forums etc.
But to have better reviews and more download the best way is making the app better

I think a purchase of downloads or ratings may be useful at very beginning. Without some amount of downloads the application will not go to top of new applications and people just do not know about the app.

Paid downloads and reviews breaks Android Developer Guidelines starting Sept 2013 - Google knows you are gaming the system!
It's fairly easy to do with and android VM, a VPN and some time to create false accounts.

How can I increase downloads

How can I increase downloads on my application without paid promotion? Here is the link https <Remove this space> ://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.random_messenger.android&hl=en

Alexhudson623 said:
Simply just try to offer good and quality apps for users or for website design service[/url] site owners. People do really appreciate good apps. I would like to share an example of the game app Candy crush which is doing just amazing and there are millions of users for this game app for now. And hundred and thousands of downloads have been made. People just love good apps. If you are making great then obviously you'll get liked by every one and the downloads will also increase which is a white hat technique.
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Really? You are saying that just make your game and people will find it if it's good enough? Maybe that was true some years ago, but certainly nowadays it's completely wrong. Optimize your keywords to be shown in relevant searches is one of the keys (ASO), but unfortunately not the only one. Spread the word in alternative channels is also necessary... but it isn't enough neither. Actually, get users without spend tons of dollars in advertising is quite a challenge. I really would like to hear some advices from someone who have experience in this.
By the way, JeanPierreQC, your idea is quite good, but I'm afraid there's many apps which do exactly the same, anyway cool idea, it's a pity you need a lot of users to make it work.

With patience
Unless you get very lucky there is no any simple way to get users fast. The market places are very competitive. Market you apps in social media and internet forums, get all your friends and relatives download your apps. Make many apps that draw users to your other apps. Make so great app that somebody wants to become your partner and does the promotion for you. Simple things like the signature banner below this message can make the difference in the long term.

try to implement the ASO to trigger the app installs

Don't forget that download alone isn't enough. you need the users to be engaged. Having thousands of downloads will not give you higher ranking if everyone simply uninstall it immediately. So be aware from pay per install plan where the users has insensitive to perform the installation. At the end of the day, your app needs to be able to keep the customers with you.

ASO is imho a bit overrated. Having relevant keywords and a nice looking icon and screens, and stuff like that, is simply common sense to me. As long as you have that you have good enough ASO really. ASO isn't some secret trick to get thousands of daily downloads like some people seem to think. There are no secret tricks for that.
To get a lot of download you need to put in A LOT of work, and/or A LOT of money. And have a really good app of course.
Anyway, I good idea that has worked very well for me is localising. If you can't localise your entire app you can at least localise the app description. Adding a few more "big" languages for my app description have almost doubled my downloads, even though the app itself is in english only. It's also cheap as you can get translations for $5 each on fiverr. Sure you won't know how good they are for that little money, but it's basically no money spent and it's probably a lot better than google translate at the very least.

If you are sure that your app is engaging enough for users then try to put as many sharing options as possible within you app like fb,whatapp,twitter. this can boost your downloads.

digibligames said:
Anyway, I good idea that has worked very well for me is localising. If you can't localise your entire app you can at least localise the app description. Adding a few more "big" languages for my app description have almost doubled my downloads, even though the app itself is in english only. It's also cheap as you can get translations for $5 each on fiverr. Sure you won't know how good they are for that little money, but it's basically no money spent and it's probably a lot better than google translate at the very least.
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Hi,
Pretty interesting and good suggestion.
Could you please share some stats or further experiences about with v.s. without localising

Have you tried PR to push your app?
There's a blog post called "State of App Promotion" that you should check out. Can't post the link because I'm a new user, but just search for "DecisiveAds" on Twitter. It's pinned to the profile. Good luck!

AAP -Android App Promotion
Try AAP - Android App Promotion app on playstore as they provide free download exchange services where you download an app and your app gets downloaded in return .You can see the results in daily reports and take appropriate measure while doing so .

I checked the AAP - The idea is good, but the app has only 1 thousand installs, probably no more than 300 active, that means using this app I can drive maximum 300 installs - not serious promotion. Additionally, it is not clear, how google will consider this way of promotion - legitimate or not? So, taking a risk for few more installs worth?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Hi,
Insensitive install is quiet good for new app, because google don't care too much about uninstall for the first month of launch. Many big company also use insensitive install. But link building, website review, user review, how often user come back to you app is also really important.

dandev99 said:
Don't forget that download alone isn't enough. you need the users to be engaged. Having thousands of downloads will not give you higher ranking if everyone simply uninstall it immediately. So be aware from pay per install plan where the users has insensitive to perform the installation. At the end of the day, your app needs to be able to keep the customers with you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but this is so wrong...
Having thousands of VALID downloads will boost your rankings even if 900 of them uninstalled it a day later. I'm writing from experience and not guessing

website promotion
The ultimate goal of search engine promotion is to increase sales. The more people see the site in high positions in the issue, the more people it visits and theoretically can become your customers. In order for a seo to produce results, it is necessary that the site be properly optimized using tools for a technical audit of the site and its analysis on parameters such as links, content and others.

Cheap marketing for your app with @Apps_and_Game

Heya guys, im here to share some news with you all.
I started working with a Marketing Company a month ago, and one of their branches does marketing services for Apps and Games developers, specially for Indies... They have a big community in Instagram with over 20.000 users, being one of the biggest Apps Page on Instagram, their page is called @apps_and_Game.
I proposed to my Boss to do a special offer to our community developers since im from this community and so on, I've found it usefull and could be useful for you guys as well, to shoutout about your games and projects... but more important than that, to do it CHEAPLY.
From my personal point of view as a Game Developer, I've found this Advertising option incredibly good for us around here, specially for mobile developers.... why?
-Instagram is a Mobile Social Network... This means if the user is checking the @apps_and_Game page, and reading about your game, they are doing it through their mobile devices, and if they like your App they will directly download it since they have the device on hand! Its a different effect than getting the advertising while surfing on their PCs.... People are more likely to jump to the Appstores and get the app they just saw in the palm of their hands, even if its awesome or kinda good since there is no need of a big effort.
- Instagram is a combination of Visual and Textual Advertising (since you publish pictures and images) but also text and information can be added, so its a quick method to catch attention of any kind of public.... and you can even ask to publish videos of your app!
- Followers are from your niche.... This means that if you like a page on instagram, you click to "Follow that page", that way the 20k+ community they have on @apps_and_Game are all people that are APP HUNGRY, they want to receive news about...well, apps and games to install them right away
- But the most important... Its economical dude. When i was in my pursuit to advertise my game i found tough options, coming from 50$ to up to 500$ to get a featuring, which is a hard investment when you are starting on this business, but this guys have friendly prices for developers, and much more with the nice discounts i proposed for our community, being as low as 5$ for publishing and talking once about your Product, and you can repeat it as many times as you might need, adapting your strategy to your budget since they show different prices and offers.
Hope this info is useful for you guys, ill also keep you informed around here the following weeks!

I've seen this work well with Instagram and Vine influencers extremely well. However it's more for LIfestyle/Social apps, but still another channel that definitely is underutilized.

GarrettThalamus said:
I've seen this work well with Instagram and Vine influencers extremely well. However it's more for LIfestyle/Social apps, but still another channel that definitely is underutilized.
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thats pretty accurated! by other side , we have looked and performed to have followers from an active gaming niche as well, thanks to the partnering with other influencers and to the hashtags smart strategy.

I am interested. How to get connected with you?

[email protected] said:
I am interested. How to get connected with you?
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Feel free to send an email to [email protected]
Add basic information of what you want to promote so they can reply you with the plans and packages

joraanpe said:
Heya guys, im here to share some news with you all.
I started working with a Marketing Company a month ago, and one of their branches does marketing services for Apps and Games developers, specially for Indies... They have a big community in Instagram with over 20.000 users, being one of the biggest Apps Page on Instagram, their page is called @apps_and_Game.
I proposed to my Boss to do a special offer to our community developers since im from this community and so on, I've found it usefull and could be useful for you guys as well, to shoutout about your games and projects... but more important than that, to do it CHEAPLY.
From my personal point of view as a Game Developer, I've found this Advertising option incredibly good for us around here, specially for mobile developers.... why?
-Instagram is a Mobile Social Network... This means if the user is checking the @apps_and_Game page, and reading about your game, they are doing it through their mobile devices, and if they like your App they will directly download it since they have the device on hand! Its a different effect than getting the advertising while surfing on their PCs.... People are more likely to jump to the Appstores and get the app they just saw in the palm of their hands, even if its awesome or kinda good since there is no need of a big effort.
- Instagram is a combination of Visual and Textual Advertising (since you publish pictures and images) but also text and information can be added, so its a quick method to catch attention of any kind of public.... and you can even ask to publish videos of your app!
- Followers are from your niche.... This means that if you like a page on instagram, you click to "Follow that page", that way the 20k+ community they have on @apps_and_Game are all people that are APP HUNGRY, they want to receive news about...well, apps and games to install them right away
- But the most important... Its economical dude. When i was in my pursuit to advertise my game i found tough options, coming from 50$ to up to 500$ to get a featuring, which is a hard investment when you are starting on this business, but this guys have friendly prices for developers, and much more with the nice discounts i proposed for our community, being as low as 5$ for publishing and talking once about your Product, and you can repeat it as many times as you might need, adapting your strategy to your budget since they show different prices and offers.
Hope this info is useful for you guys, ill also keep you informed around here the following weeks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope it helps

This one's useless
The majority of their subscribers are bots, you can see it from the likes amount on all the posts being incredibly low.

keenmobi said:
The majority of their subscribers are bots, you can see it from the likes amount on all the posts being incredibly low.
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Bots? how can u say that by the likes? engagement comes from content type, not from users amount... and if it was the case, still an average of 600likes and more than 4k views in videos for only 5$ per post is WAY TOO ECONOMICAL for any developer, a single instal costs around 2$ depending the country so do your maths my friend

I do understand all that instagram thing, the average likes per subs percentage is around 5% however yours one is 10 times lower. But yeah perhaps it still provides a bit of effect to your client.
I didn't intend to post more negative things, don't know why you are willing to continue this discussion.

keenmobi said:
I do understand all that instagram thing, the average likes per subs percentage is around 5% however yours one is 10 times lower. But yeah perhaps it still provides a bit of effect to your client.
I didn't intend to post more negative things, don't know why you are willing to continue this discussion.
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Im not continuing the "discussion" im just replying your post because it did seem as a negative post and may affect an honest business reputation, specially if coming from you under a -dont really understand the instagram thing- state, just chill! Only making sure things are clear enough im sure you might understand hehe

Best Tips for Android App Promotion

Hello, I’m here to share my thoughts and tips about the Android app promotion
Here are the most useful tips which I have learnt promoting my Android Apps:
1) Start promoting your App while it’s still developing.
2) Make an announcement about your Application in news break. List its pros, benefits, emphasize strong sides. It helps to warm up the user’s perception and become more loyal to the newly released application.
3) Maximize its effectiveness in your inner market. I mean it must stand out among the similar applications and become visible for users when they type its name in search line. ASO service will help you to be different and recognized – pay attention on title, description, screenshots, and presence of keywords.
4) Use SMM channel. Talk as much as possible about your application in social networks, thematic blogs and forums.
5) Maintain AdWords campaign – it would provide you solely target audience on your App installation.
6) Use incent traffic service which provide you installs and high rate reviews– it cost not much, but ensure inflow of organic audience.
7) If you have several similar application – not use the same marketing campaign – try different channels and test measurements.
8) Run the keyword install campaigns for the cheapest rankings growth and raise your organic traffic
Would be great if people will add their own thoughts/marketing cases here. Concerning the different ad networks/platforms etc:angel:

Check out APPSPIRE.me
If you really want to invest in making your app the next big thing, you should check out APPSPIRE.me, a mobile app marketing agency. They guarantee results and are super easy to work with. To be honest, they are the real deal. If you have a little bit of money to spend to get your app huge, I really recommend that you check them out.

pay attention to your existing users
I may share one more tip
You might have developed an excellent app, but you might be forgetting about retention and loyalty. Observing recent app store algorithm updates, you can see that retention and app usage metrics are getting more important for the app stores than ever. Loyal users are about to be even more value for both Apple App Store as well as Google Play Store Algorithm.