How can we make more money with our mobile app?

The interesting part is my de facto reply always holds true.

Making money with an app involves many of the same things as making money with any business: You have to market it!

I was asked the above question a few weeks ago by one of our clients (which inspired me to write this post). Immediately I went to their company website, looked through all the pages and found no mention of the app anywhere. No link. No badge. No banner. No anything.

In their print magazine there is no QR code that links to their app, no announcement, no information at all that communicates that they have an app to their readership.

As an added bonus, this particular client which publishes content on some really cutting edge technology and sexy luxury items (for boys who like toys) also happens to have among the most arcane websites I’ve seen. The design looks like it was created in 1985.

The business owner insists that their demographic is older and that updating the website doesn’t really matter. This is a bit ironic given they have an iPad app, which is among the most modern / cutting edge things to do. If the audience doesn’t appreciate or want modern, don’t have an app! If you have an app, you are raising the bar of your brand quality, so it makes sense to raise it across the board!

I responded to the client with the following tips:

• Create a marketing plan
• Research how your competition are doing it, and do what the successful ones are doing
• Print magazines / publications should now include a QR Code linking to your app
• Add a badge or banner in a prominent place on your website home page, put it “above the fold” (so people don’t have to scroll to see it)
• Add a link to your app in the email signatures of your employees (use a URL shortener)
• Add a QR Code to your printed business cards, on your invoices, everywhere
• Get a modern website that allows you to blog actively
• Weave in social media (if you don’t know how, contact us and we’ll tell you)
• Do a press release
• The more content you publish online, the more SEO value is created
• Think of your content as part of a whole, and the app as a channel

There is so much that can be done – I could ramble on and on.

But the most simple answers: Do nothing and nothing will come. Take some action, even minor, and make it consistent, and you’ll see results improve. Take massive action and you’ll reap the rewards.

1. Log into iTunes Connect

2. Go to Sales and Trends (see image below)

3. Click on Sales (not Dashboard)

4. Click on Weekly on the left

5. Click on Download Opt-In Report on the right, and be sure to get your Pass Key (click on the bar / button upper right).

This will give you a text file with the names and emails of your magazine subscribers.

Apple keeps 30% of all sales through their store. This includes the sale of apps as well as any in-app content that may be sold.

We recommend registering with Apple directly as an iOS developer, and releasing your app(s) through your own developer account. This costs $99 / year.

The benefits of registering directly are:

• You retain control of your brand and content
• You get paid directly by Apple for sales
• You have maximum flexibility in the future

Learn how to register for an Apple Developer Account here.

PRICING APPS

Pick your price based on

• the purpose of the app
• comparable apps on the market

If the app is for marketing your business or services, then it should be free for download.

If the app is the product itself – a content package, etc. – then it can be a paid app.

If the app is a storefront through which content is purchased via in app sales – then the storefront app itself should be free, with the in app content priced for sale. Apps like our iPad Publisher work like this.

If possible, avoid charging $0.99 for apps as they often wind up competing with free apps.

APPLE SCRUTINIZES PRICING

In order to release an app to the App Store, it has to be submitted to Apple for review and approval. One of the things they look at is pricing. If I charge $3,000 for this app, there is a good chance that it would not be approved.

App pricing has to be within reason, comparable to other apps, with more specialized content driving higher pricing

Read an article about the I Am Rich App that cost $999.

PROVIDING VALUE FOR THE PRICE

Paid apps also get more scrutiny from buyers. People expect a lot for their money.

Under-delivering will guarantee negative reviews. Over-delivering will encourage positive reviews, which in turn helps downloads.

No matter what, there will be “haters”. Don’t worry about a few negative or mediocre reviews. Do worry about a lot of negative reviews.

We are deep into a Web 2.0 world where contemporary design meets social interaction and is mobile-friendly.

The problem with Web 1.0 sites is they are entirely uninviting. They look like ghosts of the Internet past, as if they are the neglected remains of a once active site. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page of this site and you’ll see it was last updated in August 2012. My apologies – no disrespect to the content or the association, but that just might be the ugliest website I’ve ever seen.

Today venture capital is flowing to startup tech companies doing “social analytics”. These companies all have their own algorithm or angle for figuring out who the big social influencers are and the ROI of social marketing. At the end of the day, this means that social marketing is growing in importance. Some experts go so far as to say that traditional marketing is dead already. Check out the article by Bill Lee and additional info here.

Business and brands today must participate in Web 2.0 to be successful. In order for social marketing to be successful, the website and brand must be contemporary, inviting, and feel alive (instead of being a ghost of Web 1.0). It’s like when bell bottoms went out of style, it’s time to let Web 1.0 go. Unlike bell bottoms, however, Web 1.0 is never going to come back.

At this stage having a Web 1.0 site may be more of a liability than an asset.

Just as we finish talking about the importance of Web 2.0, here’s an excerpt of an article about Web 3.0:

An Internet Of Intelligent Machines
Web 3.0, on the other hand, embeds intelligence in anything that exists online…not just a website. It makes use of web robots which are engineered to make decisions, should there be an absence of a user interface. Web 3.0 is about a web of data which often interfaces with itself, such as web applications not necessarily designed for users at all; but instead sometimes designed simply to feed data to other web applications being used by people around the internet. It represents all kinds of content that can be easily understood, no matter which computer program is used. This is done via communicating common semantic meanings as data is being shared.

Read the full Web 3.0 article here.

My name is Manish and I’m the Co-Founder and CEO of Nov8rix.

We started Nov8rix in 2010 and since then we’ve released ~300 apps for Apple iOS and Android. Our apps have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times all over the world.

We have all different types of clients – publishers, magazines, photographers, bands, artists, content creators, for-profit and non-profit businesses etc. We have seen what works and what doesn’t work.

How To Make Money With Mobile Apps

We cover how to

• Build apps
• Buy pre-built apps (“containers”)
• Sell and market apps (and content)

Mobile Web vs Mobile Apps

Mobile Web refers to websites that “fit” on mobile phone browsers (i.e., are “mobile browser friendly”).

Mobile Apps are software applications that are installed on a smartphone or tablet, just like software installed on a computer.

Because Mobile Apps are software, they can be programmed to do all types of cool stuff and are currently better at making the most of the mobile hardware. What does that mean? Well, a smartphone or tablet is a computer with a camera, sensors, etc. Mobile Apps can be designed to use all of the features that the hardware has to offer.

Note: This line is being “blurred” by the rise of HTML5 which is fast becoming a standard way to make websites. In a few years Mobile Websites should be able to do everything Mobile Apps can do in terms of using the mobile device hardware.

Why have a Mobile App?

Consumers are used to paying for mobile apps and in-app content, while they typically expect web content for free (thanks to Facebook and Google).

As a content seller being in the mobile app stores is a great way to get exposure (Apple App Store, Google Play, Android Markets). Every device, iOS or Android, has an App Store app built in and customers often browse through it looking for new and cool stuff.

It is easy for consumers to buy through the app stores. Apple, for example, has sold 100+ million iPads, and 250+ million iPhones and iPod Touch devices. They keep the credit card payment info for all of their customers on file, and they make it really easy for people to buy apps and in-app content. Customers are comfortable buying through Apple and as a seller, you do not have to ask for payment info from would-be clients.

Having a mobile app makes it easier to deliver exclusive content to clients and fans. While it is possible to deliver exclusive web content, customers will still have to go to your website through their mobile browser. It’s a little bit clunky, and might be difficult for people to figure out / setup.

When publishers approach me to discuss interactive editions, I share the following advice:

1. Interactive Editions cost more to produce

The skill set required to make great Interactive Editions of magazines is different than the skills required to do great print layouts: The tools, content organization, and approach is different.

2. Interactive Editions are better suited for digital-only publications

It costs $X to produce the print layout of a publication. If then you wish to create an interactive digital edition, it will cost an additional $Y to produce the same publication as an interactive edition.

3. It’s easy to do Interactive Editions badly

Making a great Interactive Edition means thinking about the user interface and user experience – how software UI designers think.

Example:

I was recently viewing an Interactive Edition of a magazine. Normally I swipe forward in the middle of my iPad screen. When I arrived at a particular page, I swiped forward, but the page didn’t go forward. Instead, the result was the picture on that page changed to a new picture. The design team created an image gallery that viewers swipe through and put it in the exact spot where I (and probably many other) readers swipe to move forward in the publication. Once I realized what was happening, I finally swiped in a different spot on the page to go forward.

Several pages later a I was subjected to a similar experience.

Within 30 seconds the app was deleted off my tablet.

4. Unless it’s really really cool, it’s not that cool

Adding full-blown interactivity such as scrolling columns, games, wiping away layers of pictures to reveal under layers is a lot of work. It’s driven largely by the desire to be cool and modern.

Let me be the first to say: It’s not that cool.

At best: it’s a novelty (one that will wear thin quickly)

At worst: It will be executed poorly (disregarding the user interface / experience aspect) which will turn off readers, and may garner negative feedback on reader’s social media.

5. Interactivity in publications won’t help you sell more

Nobody will recommend your Interactive Edition to their social networks because of the interactivity itself. Would you?

“Jane, you have to check out Magazine X because they have the coolest scrolling columns!”

6. Know your readership

Before jumping into the time and expense of producing Interactive Editions, talk to your readership. Ask them what they want, and make an educated decision!

Why add features that are most likely going to be costly and harder to implement and run the risk of turning off your readership?

7. What matters most is content

Publications are referred because of the quality of the content itself. Adding multimedia should support the content and serve a purpose. Adding things for the sake of adding them, when they serve no purpose, may do more damage than good.

8. Spend your money where it counts!

What matters most is retaining and growing the readership. This is achieved by having great content and marketing the heck out of  the publication! Everything else is a distraction for both the publisher and the reader!

this post about a post on one of their favorite blogs.

Not only did we read TIPM’s take on the post, but we also read the initial post itself (here) authored by Lin Robinson.

Here’s an excerpt:

So it’s not without a certain sense of irony that I write a piece suggesting that the opposite can be a problem: that “experts” online are often worthy of being ignored because they are full of crap, or at least that their expertise in no way applies to the actual situation that contemporary writers face. I think you’ll admit this is a delicate subject to approach, so I intend to just barge into it and make a mess, as usual.

We encourage you to read the full post (both of them)!

iPad Publisher Pro clients can include video with their publications.

There are two options:
A. Include the video with the publication, so it is downloaded onto the users device, and can be played offline
B. Stream the video off the Internet

Option A
- You will need the source video
- Videos should be in MP4 Format
- Please put the source video into your client dropbox, along with your publication
- Optimize the video file size,please watch this tutorial (we can also help with this)

Pros: Offline Viewing
Cons: Videos are large files and can use a lot of space on the users device

Option B
- Video needs to be hosted somewhere
- If the video is on your host, know the URL http://www.YourDomain.com/VideoFile.mp4
- If the video is on YouTube, Vimeo, etc., know the web page URL

Pros: Video not downloaded, it is streamed, so file size is not an issue
Cons: User will need an Internet connection to view

Note: While file size for streamed videos is not really an issue, larger files are slower to stream. So we do recommend that videos be optimized regardlessplease watch this tutorial (we can also help with this).

VIDEO PLAYER VS WEB PLAYER

Videos that are downloaded with the publication (Option A), and hosted videos where you link directly to the file (i.e., http://www.YourDomain.com/VideoFile.mp4) will play in the built-in full screen video player. The player slides open over the publication.

Linking to hosted videos that are on websites like YouTube, Vimeo, or part of other web pages will cause the built-in web browser to open. The videos will play through the browser (which can also go full screen), with the user experience being the same as is watching YouTube videos on a desktop browser.

2 WAYS TO LAUNCH VIDEOS

1. Annotate your Publication PDF (i.e., add a link) to the page that will launch your video.
2. Include the link in the drop down Media Menu Button

 
Adding Links

Links can be added to a PDF during the authoring stage – via In Design, Corel, Pages, any software will let you do it. Links can also be added after the PDF it output using Adobe Acrobat, Mac Preview, and other software.

Links can also be added to text or to an image.

For example, a link can be added to an image that is a video still with a play button on it. When the user taps it, it will follow the link. The image below is an example, it’s an image with a link added to it.

Adding Links to the Media Menu:

To add links to the Media Button Drop Down Menu, you include them on the Publication_Setup Excel Form. The video tutorial explains how to do this.

Link Syntax

For Option A:

If the video will be downloaded to the users device, add links as follows

file://TheVideoFileName.mp4

The “file://” prefix tells the iPad Publisher that the video is on the device. Then you add the filename with the MP4 extension.

NOTE: This also applies to audio, if you want to include audio with the download and play it, you would use file://TheAudioFileName.MP3.  The iPad Publisher supports MP3 audio.

For Option B:

If you are hosting the video and can link directly to it, the link would be

http://www.TheDomainWithTheVideo.com/TheVideoFileName.mp4

The “http://” tells the iPad Publisher to stream the video. Because we know the exact location and can link directly to the file, this video will play full-screen in the media player.

If the video is on YouTube, Vimeo, or web page, the link would be the URL of the page itself, such as

http://youtu.be/-JosmmugD6s

In this case, the link will launch the built-in browser, and the user will play the video via the browser.

NEED HELP?

Contact us, we’re happy to help!

That and some other fun stats brought to you by brainshark.

Content from http://blog.marketingtipsforauthors.com

5 Tips for Marketing Your Book on Twitter
By Amy Harris

Thinking About Marketing Your Book on Twitter?

Twitter is an amazing marketing tool that can launch your book into the public domain, quickly and effectively. At the same time, putting the right Tweets out there will help to expand your network of fans and really get your book talked about. But how do you market your book without it looking like a stream of sales pitches? The following tips can help to get your book out there, right where you want it to be, and keep you out of the danger zone of marketing turn offs.

Five Tips To Make an Impact

When it comes to marketing a book on Twitter, you can gain some real insight from your followers about all sorts of things, from your choice of book cover to things like where to have your next book signing. Use these tips to get started, but remember to keep the communication going, even when you’re on the road.

Read the rest of the post here.