Wow... What a Year!

jdgouldjdgould Member, PRO Posts: 114

First off, I need to thank the GameSalad team and everyone here in the GameSalad forum, I would have never been able to accomplish my goal of creating an App business without your support. A special thank you must go out to tshirtbooth, DeepBlueApps, GS Chef’s, Braydon_SFX, and other folks at GS Helper for all of the wisdom, templates and training you provide.

My name is Jeff Gould, I have been creating Apps for about two years now. Over the last couple of years I have had a lot of ups and downs as I tried to figure out how to turn this hobby into a business. When I first started out I was always getting frustrated with my results, the lack of downloads and the little money I made. I would make an app, and then just Publish it in every App Store I could find that would accept it (Sound familiar)?

Over the last 12 months, I experimenting with all types of stuff to try and get more downloads and make more money.

To try and get more downloads I tried:

  • Changing Descriptions
  • Changing App Names
  • Changing Keywords
  • Using Different types of Screenshots
  • Free Apps, Paid Apps, Free with IAP, Convert Free to Paid, Convert Paid to Free, etc...
  • Press Releases
  • Universal Builds, Native Builds
  • Translations
  • Frequent updates
  • Cross Promotions
  • Networking
  • Integrating Social Media
  • Review Sites
  • Etc...

To try and make more money I tried:

  • Affiliates
  • Banner Ads - iAds, Mobclix, Playhaven
  • Free Apps with in App Purchases
  • Free Apps pointing to Paid Apps
  • Interstitial Ads, Mini Popup Ads
  • Outsource and recreate existing apps to experiment with other monetization options
  • In Game Currency
  • Mini Apps within a bigger App
  • Changing my Start Page or Play Page Around
  • More Button, More Games Button
  • Etc...

Over time, after a lot of months of experimenting and trial & error, I figured out what works and what doesn’t. I was able to create a marketing and monetization combination that allowed me to get over 8 million app downloads (and growing) and earn a really nice monthly income from apps. It wasn't easy and required a lot of hard work, but it has been really rewarding. Using these strategies, my apps have reached the top 10 in its category at iTunes, I have reached the #1 Free Kids Game at Amazon, I now have millions of downloads in each of the major app stores (iTunes, Google, Amazon).

After a while, everyone started asking me how I am able to get millions of downloads in all of the major app stores and make so much money with Apps. So towards the end of last year, I started teaching others how to get started with apps and how to use my strategies in their own apps (you might have seen some of my videos teaching you how to make money promoting other developers free games, how to get more downloads, etc…).

Not only have I been successful using these strategies, some of my students have had even better results than me. One of my students was able to use these strategies to earn over $20,000, just a few months after launching his very first app and he continues to do really well.

In addition, I have been hired by some big brands to help them promote their products and brand with Apps. I now spend the majority of my time consulting with other app developers and creating training courses on how they can improve their App Downloads and more importantly how they can Maximize their Profits per download.

As I read post after post in various forums across the web, including this one, I see a consistent theme. Everyone is frustrated with the limited number of monetization options they "THINK" they have available to them, they don't know how to market their apps, and most developers spend weeks and months polishing their apps only to throw it up on the App Store(s) without spending any time focusing on marketing their apps.

Throwing your App up on the App Store(s) without using the newest strategies to market and monetize your app is by far the biggest mistake you are making! You are spending way too much time or money developing your app to just throw it up on the App Store and hope it gets downloads?

As a thank you to everyone here in the GameSalad forum, for helping me achieve my dream of turning my hobby into an app business, I would like to share with you a few of the strategies that helped me and my students become so successful.

Below are a few of the Marketing Strategies you could implement immediately to get More App Downloads:

1. Optimize your Keywords - Use a keyword research tool to find better keywords. Use Sensor Tower, SearchManSEO, AppCod.es, etc... to figure out what your competitors are using as their keywords and update your keywords accordingly

2. Change your App Name - Include at least one, if not more, keyword(s) in your App Name and/or company name

3. Create a FREE App with IAP - Publish a FREE app with locked content and utilize in app purchases for users to unlock additional features or gameplay.

Using Free apps allows you to use multiple sources of income to monetize your apps such as ads, affiliates, etc... along with your IAP.

  • We find that using coins in your app or game makes way more money than a 1 time purchase. Use coins in your in app purchase whenever possible!

Below are a few of the Monetization Strategies you should use immediately to Maximize your Profits per download:

1. Create and use Traditional Affiliate Accounts (Skimlinks for Amazon, PerformanceHorizon, etc...) Create one affiliate link for all geographic locations using GeoRiot. That way, no matter what country or geographic location the user is in you will likely earn an affiliate commission.

2. Create a mini game (A BONUS Game) within your existing app specifically made to capitalize on banner ads. I added a "Plinko" type of game in most of my Apps and it increased my banner ad revenue exponentially. Make sure you include banner ads in your free mini game and set the banner ad to refresh periodically. Also, if you are adding this to an existing game, make sure you tell people you added a bonus game in the update comments to increase the number of people who will update your App when you republish it. We find a huge spike in updates when we announce bonus games.

3. Change the price of your In App Purchases. I experimented by changing the price of my unlock everything from $.99 to $9.99 and was shocked when I dramatically increased my daily profits. Some of my students charge $19.99 to unlock everything and they are doing extremely well at that price. Don't be scared to experiment with pricing, you will be amazed at how much money you might be leaving on the table.

4. Setup a direct affiliate account and start promoting other free games. Candy Crush, Farm Heroes Saga, and other top grossing apps are paying their affiliates anywhere from $2 to $6 per install right now. Don’t wait for RevMob and Chartboost, create your own RevMob using URL affiliate links instead of 3rd party SDK’s.

  • We find using links to webpage redirects from within our apps the best approach as this lets us change the affiliate offer in real-time without needing to publish an app update. For example, one weekend we got an email notifying us that Candy Crush was paying $6 for every affiliate install just over the weekend, if we didn’t use website redirects, we wouldn’t have been able to capitalize on these huge profits.

This is just a small sample of the strategies we use, but these are some of the basics and are the easiest to implement. If you like these tips and you want to learn more about all of the strategies that can help you take your Apps and Games to the next level you might want to check out App Rush Academy www.apprushacademy.com I have a series of free training videos to help get you started.

Again, thank you so much for all that you have done for me. I feel truly blessed to have been able to learn from all of you, and now it is my turn to give back.

Thanks again for everything!

~ Jeff

Founder App Rush Academy

http://apprushacademy.com

Comments

  • tatiangtatiang Member, Sous Chef, PRO, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 11,949

    Clearly, succeeding in the App business is a lot of hard work. I'm happy for your success but I'm also really leery of infomercials. You make a lot of claims but I think what might be helpful is to know which apps you've published and ideally, how much you've made from each individual app and what percentage of that income is from IAP vs. advertising vs. app sales. I suppose you're going to teach me that as part of your App Rush Academy but again, without some tangible evidence it's really hard to trust you. In particular, if you can provide testimonials from other GameSalad users you've helped and provide links to their apps, it might give your post some validity.

    I suspect you're doing a lot of hard sales pushes from your email database since you require people to submit an email address before they can watch any videos on your site. This thread is a slippery slope when it comes to the advertising rules on the forums since you're clearly profiting from people who sign up for your course.

    I'd recommend using a video player that allows for rewinding... I find it frustrating to not be able to control where in the video I want to watch.

    New to GameSalad? (FAQs)   |   Tutorials   |   Templates   |   Greenleaf Games   |   Educator & Certified GameSalad User

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, PRO, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,271

    Glad that you've found success. Best of luck in the future!

  • BazookaTimeBazookaTime Member Posts: 1,274

    Interesting read, I would have liked to have looked into what games you were talking about. Personally, I continue to side step success, I am afraid of being overwhelmed with the stress that seems to come with it.

  • jdgouldjdgould Member, PRO Posts: 114

    @tatiang‌ I can see how this might come off like an infomercial, however, I really am trying to provide value and give back to this great community. For the record, I never made any money off of any information I have provided in this forum. If you and other prefer, I will remove the link in my original post for additional training videos?

    It is true that I sometimes prompt for an email before I give access to some of our training videos, however, that is a fairly common practice to stay connected with others. I also make it real easy to opt out if the value I provide in my emails does not interest you.

    I publish apps under several developer accounts and I don't always find it beneficial to tell people what apps are making me the most money. I prefer to teach people how to fish by giving them the strategies to feed themselves, not just feeding them for a day.

    Having said that, I would be happy to share with the forum where all of the money comes from in a graphical representation (IAP, Direct Affiliates, Playhaven, Banners, etc...). I will prepare those details and post it shortly. I will also post some organic photos of Distimo, App Annie, etc...

    @Braydon_SFX‌ thanks again for all of your insight and contributions. I think there are a lot of people who read your posts and others posts but never post themselves, so you probably don't realize how many people you are really helping in this forum.

  • iamcarteziamcartez Houston, TexasMember Posts: 648

    You can send me a message with some information as I've been studying ASO and App Annie analytics for slow progress. :)

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, PRO, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,271

    @jdgould‌ said: Braydon_SFX‌ thanks again for all of your insight and contributions. I think there are a lot of people who read your posts and others posts but never post themselves, so you probably don't realize how many people you are really helping in this forum.

    I like to think that. ;) I just enjoy helping those here. One of the highlights of my day you could say.

  • izamizam Member, PRO Posts: 503

    Awesome stuff Jeff. Thanks for opening my eyes to this.

  • motorcycle boymotorcycle boy Member Posts: 429
    edited May 2014

    @tatiang‌ I just stumbled across this post whilst doing a search for "website integration"
    I actually am taking Jeff's course. Jeff didn't ask me to post here and doesn't know I am. I can honestly say that what I have learned from Jeff's course has been the biggest asset to date since I got into apps last July. I already knew roughly 25% or so of what is in his course but the rest of the excellent strategies and techniques I would not have thought of that Jeff does with his apps. I have a lot of apps out but these were before I started his course. I actually was talking to Jeff before I started his course and his tips helped me start to make $250 in my first month from my app sales. The next month which is this current month I am seeing the same $250. And that's just from TWO tips for apps that are NOT designed for monetization! I was making nothing before that honestly. The apps I am currently finishing will be the fully monetized apps and everything that I've taken from his course. I am really excited because I have a very popular game, filled with his strategies, and with awesome graphics and theme. I have two of these coming out. Soon as they are out, I will post links where I am able so that you can download to check out if you like. I'm really excited as I have been working on them for about three weeks or so, so that every detail is examined and put in there. Jeff honestly does care about people succeeding and I think makes plenty of money with apps already. He's just taking his business to the next level I think. He's the real deal. I'll say it again, he's been the biggest asset and help so far in my entire app journey. I understand people being skeptical, but I know Jeff is a honest guy who wants to help others through my many emails, and phone calls with him. Most people here know how to make awesome games, but not how to make highly profitable games. Jeff shows you how to do that in ways you wouldn't have thought of. Nuff said.

  • motorcycle boymotorcycle boy Member Posts: 429

    All I have to say is that Jeff is honestly trying to help you guys here man. I won't repeat myself as I've already posted in this thread, but give the man a listen. He's a good guy.

  • Benjamin99Benjamin99 Member Posts: 6

    Came across this - and i've been looking into Jeff Gould's course. However, I can't seem to find any apps he has published in the AppStore. Can anyone link one for me? I'm curious and need to see some real apps out there before I can commit.

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