A session at Portland Code Camp 2011 about making money with Android Apps.

1. Making Money with Android Apps Nathan Mellor CritterMap Software Signup for links at http://eepurl.com/d9tZj

2. Agenda Motivations: About you About me Ways to promote paid apps: Android Market Paid advertising Internet Marketing How to get this work done Software Tools Human Labor

3. Is this you? “I heard about some high school kid that wrote an app in a weekend and is now a millionaire”

4. Is this you?(licensed from Dilbert.com)

5. Is this you? “I write Android Apps just for fun”. Would it be less fun if you made a profit? “I make $50 a month with my app I spend a few hours a week on” Is your time worth more than $2/hour? “I mostly do apps for the experience” Nothing wrong with that. Getting some experience with marketing apps is also helpful “I have a solid, fulfilling, well-paying day job” Will that always be the case?

6. About me Worked for a major printer manufacturer for 12 years Feb 2009: “routine” meeting with boss Downsizing announced New house, new mortgage. March 27: Last day at work March 28th: Third child born April 2009: “Outplacement” counseling

7. Outplacement outcome My true passion: “Become a successful online business owner”.

8. Getting Started – Nov 2009 Trade ACT reeducation. Enrolled in University of San Francisco’s Internet Marketing program New phone operating system called Android Got a G1 on craigslist. Wrote first lines of Android code

9. Can you write an app this weekend and be rich next week? June 2010: First released to Market I was aiming for 56 sales / day I got 5 on a good day In 2010, I paid zero taxes AND got a refund

10. Would you rather someone else paid you? Fall 2010: some recruiters call. My house Easy commute Nice Android Job Columbia River

11. There is always more marketing to do 400,000 Android activations per day. 1% might be target customers If 100 buy my product, that’s .25% of target Or .025% of Android users

12. Marketing through Android Market You will probably do this.

13. Do you want to be at the top? Factors Total number of downloads/sales Recent number of downloads/sales Active Install Percentage Number of ratings Average rating Number of comments Since December 2010,these factors affect search ranking also

14. To Rank High in the Android Market . . . Sell a lot of apps (you want to do this anyway, right?) Stay installed Keep users happy Keep users engaged.

15. Why the comment system *is* against you. You can’t respond to comments. You won’t get enough information to fix the problem or improve the UI You will be blamed for: Limitations of hardware Glitches in the Android Market Imperfections in Public domain data Etc. But you can always make your app free and get more positive comments, right?

16. Which App would you buy? Buena Vista Mojave Desert The maps are outdated. Poor quality, drains battery. Horrible interface Useless after trial period Stupid Sucks UK map is rubbish <Hawaii App> is better and free. Extremely useful, with many features Best app ever! Well worth the money! Super program Saved me from getting lost Great for UK maps! Better than anything I've found so far

17. To (try to) get good comments . . . Avoid confusion Increase the price? Continually improve User Experience Be clear on what your app does Get more of the “right” people to comment !

18. How can you engage the right people? Have a weekly email newsletter. Subscribe users of your app Can use autoresponders

19. What can you cover in a weekly newsletter? New features you just put out Response to comments in the Market News and topics of interest for your target customer Ask users to take action: Leave a comment in the Market Respond to an important survey See and comment on your YouTube Video Like your fan page on Facebook Etc. It also serves as a reminder to buy.

20. Reaching the top of your category Is it everything? When you do: Take a screen shot – it can fluctuate When you don’t Be sure and complain about the algorithm! Think of it as a lagging indicator of success.

21. Tracking Performance Analytics (Google/Flurry) can track your users behavior For marketing, two things are important: Source of traffic: how the user arrived at installing your app Conversions: does the user take action you want them to take. Subscribe, upgrade, buy extras.

22. Google Analytics for Android Apps Conversions can be tracked as goals. Android Market Referral Tracking – allows you to tag urls that link to the Android Market. Tag your urls: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.crittermap.backcountrynavigator&utm_source=Website&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Download

23. Referal data – Google Analytics (direct)/(none) is traffic from Android Market Tagged urls track through. Boring, isn’t it?

24. After some proprietary hacking . . . We can see the keywords being used to find the app in the Android Market!

25. That’s not all. . . How about. . . Referrals from a Market category (ie Travel and Local) with the position number Referrals from “Just in” Referrals from “Similar Apps” and which competitor they came from! Referrals from AndroLib, AppBrain, BestApps (they tag their urls.)

26. Sources of Downloads- January

27. What can you conclude? ‘Top of category’ *isn’t* everything. Keyword Search generates up to 100 times more traffic. Action items: Don’t fret if you are not top in your category yet. Concentrate on being found for important keywords Make sure the searchers find what they are looking for.

28. What about alternative App Stores I get an email every day about a new one. Mostly a waste of time. Amazon gets about 2% of my sales on Android Market. Most are much less than that.

29. Paid Advertising If you’ve got money to burn

30. Rule of Thumb Don’t spend money if you can’t track the amount of money each customer costs. Not meaningful: “We spent a $1000 on advertising last month and we increased sales by $2000” Meaningful. “Based on our analytics, we are spending $62.67 to acquire each paying customer that buys our app for $1.99 and then spends $4.39. Umm, we better stop.”

31. Avoid: Untargeted Advertising Example: Admob Don’t push this button.

32. Beware: Supposedly targetted advertising Example: Adwords 5% 0%

33. Consider: Pay Per Install Much easier to accomplish the money per customer rule of thumb. Some Analytics will be needed. Consider charging more than .99 for your app. Some options: TappJoy Flurry AppCircle EverBadge

34. Internet Marketing Simplified

35. Web page marketing

36. Keyword Research A keyword is generally a multi word phrase You want keywords that: Are RELEVANT to your product Have lots of TRAFFIC Are ATTAINABLE.

37. Example: Traffic

38. Attainable: The Top Ten Do any spammers contact you and tell you they can get you into the *second* page of Google?

39. An Optimized Page .. Mentions the phrase (ie Android Topo Maps) In the url In the <title> tag In the <meta Description> tag In an <h1> tag In the first sentence In the first sentence of the last paragraph 2-3 times in between the first and last parag Has about 250-750 words (ave 500). That’s all!

40. Getting links The most creative part of internet marketing The best links: Have keywords in the link (anchor text) Are from “important” websites Are from relevant websites Have traffic How can you get them? Article Marketing Social Media Non hosted blogs Guest blogging

41. Getting links The most creative part of internet marketing The best links: Have keywords in the link (anchor text) Are from “important” websites Are from relevant websites Have traffic How can you get them? Article Marketing Social Media Guest blogging Get app reviews Press Release Directories Look for what links your competitor has

42. Check Results

43. Rinse and Repeat Establish a blog with wordpress Add a post every day Get some links At the end of a year, you will have 200+ keywords in the first page of Google.

44. What is the world’s second biggest Search Engine?

45. What is the world’s second biggest Search Engine? YouTube

46. How can you make videos? Camcorder pointed at phone Screencastomatic Emulator Screencast Parody of hitler movie – new subtitles 3D After Effects rendering Cartoon from xtramagic

47. How to optimize them URL

48. Get views and traffic YouTube is a social network. Get your newsletter subscribers to watch and comment Find friends Find subscribers Consider tools like TubeToolbox.

49. Benefits include: Blended search Embedding in other websites.

50. What and how often? Videos can: Be instructional for your product. Discuss concepts related to your product Be fun They should always: Target keywords How often? Once a week would not be overkill.

51. Can you do all this and still have time left to code? No.

52. Getting things done Reduce the amount of human labor OR Increase the number of humans. It’s okay to spend money.

53. Tools Reduce Human effort Wordpress – for blogging MailChimp – email newsletter – in app subscription SurveyMonkey – for surveys Market Samurai – keyword research Link building tools XtraMagic – cartoon videos ScreenCastoMatic – Screencasts Animoto – video creation BaseCamp – Online Project Management Edumobile – online training ZenDesk – online/email HelpDesk.

54. People For the small businessman, usually means outsourcing Is it easier to: Get a contract from a spec and get competitive bids? (ieelance,Odesk,etc) Hire a part time freelancer? (ieOdesk,etc) OR Hire someone fulltime? What would you have them do?

55. Consider hiring someone fulltime. Should you do everything yourself? Last year, I was just one guy working out of my home office I heard that english speaking college educated people were anxious to work for me for as low as $2.50/hour. Of course, I was skeptical . . . This year, I am still working out of my home office . . .

56. My Team Eugie Tech support Help Guides Aspiring Android Developer Richard Experienced Android Developer Jennifer Joyce Beginning Android Developer Rogelone Graphics specialist Icons Layouts Video production Zoraya Content writer Article Marketer Armae Linkbuilder TBH GIS Specialist

57. Summary

58. Action items for you . . . Optimize for keyword search in Android Market Start an email newsletter Encourage the right people to comment and buy Consider Pay Per Install advertising – skip the others Write and link up one web page a day Create and promote a video every week Use some helpful tools Gradually hire an offshore team. To get links, go to: http://eepurl.com/d9tZj