A lot of app developers and owners always look at producing the next best thing in terms of mobile applications. A lot of time and money can go into the process of app development, and seeing the positive results of this process is the dream of anyone who embarks on it.
Now, when business is taking place online, lots of efforts are being put into developing mobile applications that can make carrying out online business easier. Some examples of these apps include those specifically for:
- Banking,
- E-commerce,
- AI Services,
- Advertising,
- Law and real estate,
- Education,
- Medicine,
- Food and others.
In other words, we live in a world where technology has come a long way and apps have become a day to day companion. To surmise the above statement, there is no doubt that there is a huge market for mobile applications. Simply, the total revenue for the apps industry will reach $2.690 billion by the end of 2018 and this number will only continue to rise in the future.
App monetization using mobile Ads
A lot of time is spent in creating your application. After completing all the stages of app creation, you will be ready to release it to the public. The only problem you might be facing is finding the right way to monetize it.
Ads have made it possible for app creators to finally make money off of the product. The concept is pretty basic:
- Various large businesses can use your application to advertise their goods and services.
- The response to these advertisements will depend on the number of people who are using your application.
- Therefore, a popular application will be very beneficial for both your application and the companies running their ads via your app.
So, how do you monetize an Android app or one that runs on iOS? Use the following tips to monetize your app as the following are the best practices in monetizing apps with ads:
1. Pre-plan the Ad space
The reason why you decided to create your mobile app was to solve a particular problem of the user (and gain profit on it). So, remember that the ad space should always be created during the design phase. This way, you will be ready when the time to monetize apps with mobile ads finally comes.
2. Banner Ads
The truth is that mobile advertising has not really come a long way. A banner ad is by far the simplest ad type for mobile devices. It makes it very easy for designers to find the best place to place mobile ads. However, because it is pretty basic, it will not bring you as much revenue as the others determinants of ad space.
3. Interstitial statistic Ads
In this arrangement, you design the ad to take up all the space on the screen. The user can only move away from the ad by tapping on an ”x” that is located either at the top or bottom of the screen.
The ads in this kind of model are usually more attractive and vivid and have a better reaction rate than others that have limited screen space. When using this kind of ad space, it is important to limit its use. Interstitial statistic ads can be very annoying for app users if they constantly appear on the screen. This will always lead to your app receiving very bad reviews from its users.
4. The expandable Ads
The expandable ads are a little bit more convenient than the previously mentioned ones. In a way, they incorporate the features of both. Ads occupy a smaller portion of the screen and they blow up when the user taps on them so that they can be viewed with more clarity. They are more convenient for both the user and the advertiser.
Expandable ads, however, have a low click rate, especially when compared to interstitial statistic ads. Therefore, you will have a better chance of making more money with an interstitial ad than an expandable one, although it might be more convenient for the user.
5. Animated interstitial Ads
Make sure your application is able to support rich animated media. This is because animation is usually more appealing to a particular viewer than a still image on the screen.
This is the complete opposite to the simple banner ad explained above. This means it is also the most profitable method for monetization of mobile apps. The success of this kind of ad is irrefutable.
That being said, when you are considering this option of app monetization remember that because there is an element of animation coding will be complex. The complex coding may affect the functions of the application causing it to lag in some aspects.
6. Familiarize yourself with your audience
Make sure you know a lot about your audience. This is because advertisers have to know exactly what to show to potential customers. The information you gather about your audience can be of great importance.
When gathering information about your audience, make sure you do the following:
- Make sure you know how big your audience is. This will allow you to come up with a clear number of how much you expect your app to produce in a particular period of time. With this information, try to identify how many active users you have.
- Regional advertising is usually responsible for most of the money an app generates, therefore make sure you break down your audience based on location.
- In order to make sales, advertisers need to understand what their audiences are looking for. If you equip your application with the capability of getting information from your users, you will be simplifying the job of the advertisers.
7. Put your Ad space up for sale
The last step to monetizing your application is actually finding an advertiser to use it. This can easily be done by contacting potential advertisers and different agencies. You should find, connect and use the best networks for finding potential advertisers. Additionally, you can work with the IT providing companies as they also offer apps, tools, and services for better advertising and marketing products, etc.
The last step to monetizing your application is actually finding an advertiser or mobile ads platforms to use it. This can easily be done by contacting potential advertisers and different agencies. You can also find the best networks and potential advertisers.
In reality, the amount of ad space you will have at your disposal will always outmatch the number of contacts on your list of advertisers. Because of this, you are likely to make more progress by using ad exchanges and ad networks.
A good number of ad networks exist and they are specially created to buy and sell ad spaces. Starting with these networks is a great idea especially if you are having trouble with other methods of monetizing your application. Therefore, let us briefly view the main characteristics of other popular networks for the best realization.
Best Mobile Ad Networks for the App
1. Millennial Media
This popular ad network certainly understands how to gain market, and they offer a lot of great opportunities for startups and developing companies differing from topmost firms who provide best game services to indie organizations.
It provides content services, publishing, ads features so you may use all necessary tools to improve your applications. Additionally, you may start allocating traffic via the web.
2. 
This site can help you with integrations, display of your ads, and it guarantees best fill rates on the iOS and Android market. This can happen thanks to that fact Adfonic is operating with global companies like Samsung, Amazon Kindle, etc, in order to show the ads.
3. Chartboost
The Chartboost site is a regular mobile ad network that offers great services when it comes to showing advertising posts on the game titles. Their tools are great options for a game-developing industry. They are string at advertising game ads with great displaying and integration as well as analytics techniques.
On the other hand, they provide many productive decisions with promotional ideas, for example, the team can make better your eCPM and raise the bids to pump out the income.
4. Tapjoy
So, what are the main tactics of the Tapjoy company. First, they can provide you with:
- The possibility to gain virtual currency by making the actual business actions – incentive downloading.
- Secondly, your company can get a superior content, and with over 75 million customers per month, you will get the best fill rates.
Moreover, after analyzing 1K mobile ad networks and $3 billion of mobile ad spend, Singular labs has named Tapjoy as top 20 mobile ad network by ROI.
5. Jumptap
The Jumptap services offer and start its work by optimizing your applications’ performances and it ensures the income reaches the eventual peak. As well, the company is a companion of such data providers as Datalogix so they may ensure great use of inventory. To summarize, Jumptap is a great mobile ad and data platform that touches on the importance of access to mobile network and exchange inventory to fill campaigns.
Additional ways how to earn money with the mobile apps
Ad campaigns are very consistent in providing income; however, there are some additional ways how you can earn money from a mobile application:
- Start an email ad campaign after creating an email list – starting an email ad campaign is one of the best strategies for getting users attention. A larger audience will then increase your chances of making even more money from your app.
- Look for a sponsor or a partnership – creating a partnership or a series of them is definitely a step in the right direction. Remember that the kind of partnerships you create will reflect how well your business and ads may perform. It is advised to look for partners who have a clientele that your business was created for.
- Create a very strong code – if you are looking for the answers to how to monetize mobile apps, the best answer may simply lie in the technicality of your application. Yes, your coding skills can be the platform on which you will build your successful business, how your ad campaign and popups are going to look on the mobile pages, etc.
- Understanding In-App purchases – a lot of apps are downloaded and used for free. However, this does not mean that user cannot spend money within these apps. The concept used to describe these apps with ads is “freemium”, and it is mostly applied to games.
- SMS Marketing – similar kinds of in-app features like the ones used to collect emails for email ad campaign can be used for this purpose as well. With SMS marketing, you will be able to send important notifications regarding any promotions, competitions, and any software update straight to your customers.
Additionally, you can start using different channels like Messenger, Instagram or Telegram services for your mobile ads campaign to make even more money.
Conclusion
It is very important to stick to the basics when it comes to app design with the aim to monetize. Every step in the process is vital to the final result. You have to be ready to put enough investment initially that refers to both time and money. Your application will virtually sell itself if it is well designed.