5 things you should know about free apps

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The Internet is a blessing – there are no two ways about it. It is a single best thing that ever happened to mankind. It might sound a bit too exaggerated – but I guess it is fair to say that Internet became a liberator of men of some sort. The spread of Internet gradually changed every aspect of our lives – the way we manage ourselves, navigate through places, perceive information, communicate.

But the most important change came relatively not long ago – the Internet had transformed the way we make money. Now you don’t need to do your time until the next paycheck with all these overly mundane monotone symphonies – you can start your own thing and profit from it your way.

The Internet made everything whole lotta easier. Now almost any sort of activity online can be monetized. You can just spend all days clicking on something and getting paid for it. You can surf through specific pages. You can endorse some stuff and influence others to use it. You can stream yourself playing video games and convert it into revenue.

But the most lucrative kind of money making online today is in app development. These days, in order to develop an application – you don’t need to spend years in the specialized college, studying the arcane mysteries of the craft – you just need to use the internet. All the vital info on the subject is within a couple of search engine requests. With a click you have: first-hand developer’s guides, handy solutions, you can check out current trends, develop your business strategy, etcetera, etcetera.

Funny thing but in order to make money from applications you don’t even need to make people buy it. You may ask a fair question “How do free apps make money?” – there are other ways of convincing people to spend their money on your product.

Here’s how. Here are top 5 facts you should know about free apps.

Know your Market

The app market is very competitive – you need to be always in the know on the current trends in order to adjust and stay relevant. Research is one of the foremost things you need to do upon inception of the project. You need to know:

• Who are your potential users and what are their needs and demands?
• What attracts and motivates users?
• What your competitors can offer?

Interest is incited through presentation

An audience is key to success. The first and most important thing you need in order to monetize your application is building a solid audience. It is alpha and omega of your project. There is no point of making an app if no one will use and there is no point in going on if no one is paying attention. An audience, its trust, and attention is what makes the application click and tick.
And you need to grab its attention from the very start.

Your page at AppStore must an accurate representation of the product. There three key elements: name, description, and screenshots. Let’s break it down:

• Choose easy to find, memorable name for your product;
• Describe in an appealing manner explaining what it is about and what benefits it provides to the user;
• Show eye-catching screenshots or demo video that presents interface and its primary functions in action.

Users must be subtly nurtured

The key for monetization lies in turning your efforts into a natural continuation of the application. In order to do this, you need to build respectful relationship with the user. Don’t treat them as dumb. This means monetization doesn’t need to be overbearing.

Your goal is to convince the user that the purchase will be beneficial for his experience. It can be achieved through teasing – elaborate “hey, discover this!” – in an informative glimpse of bigger opportunities.

It can be either functional expansion or showcase of a friendly product. Which turns into two viable strategies described below.

In-app purchases / Freemium model

After gathering an audience, you can offer them an expansion of user experience through in-app purchases. In case of games – it can be special abilities, items, new play-modes or bonus levels. In other cases, it may be additional features and extra options. It can also be ad-blocking.

This point can be expanded into freemium model. In this case your app serves as a free sample of the expanded version of this very same app. If users like it they can purchase bigger, better version of the program.

This leads us to another element of monetization.

In-app adverts / Sponsorship

In-app adverts are another method of making money in free apps. This method closely tied with sponsorphip deals. There are several methods of placing advertisements inside an app. It can be a banner in the corner of the screen, a pop-up advert or push notification that covers the screen and it can be seamless part of presentation.

Monetization comes through:

• Ad appearances
• Clicks on ads
• Installations of the advertised products

There many more interesting things about free apps, but these are the groundwork to understanding what to do and how to make it successful. Hope you will find these facts helpful.