Apps can make a lot of money, and app usage is growing every year. So if you have the knowledge of how to build an app or have the right idea, it is a good method to generate revenue.
But how to make money with an app?
How to make an App?
To monetize your app, you need to build it first. So you need a good idea and people who will find it useful and want to download it. If you don’t have a specific idea for an app, you can think about a problem you encountered and find a way to solve it.
Maybe there are any popular mobile apps you like but think could be improved. You can release an app that brings more feature and combine functions.
Planning a money options strategy should be part of your design process. When you, for example, use ads, you need to have space for display banners while designing your app.
Or, for a subscription model, you need to consider the features available to app users and what is only available for premium users.
1. Make a plan
While it might seem easy to find an app idea, it is still an important step because you need to know what your idea will do and what problem it will solve exactly.
You need to research a targeted audience and find out what will appeal to them. A good idea is to look for your competition which means similar apps that are already successful and make money. It is also possible to search for non-competing apps with the same targeted audience.
To select your monetization strategy, you can find out if the competitor offers a free version, which can lead to the conclusion that you might struggle if you release a paid version. It also means such free apps can be monetized through adverts.
2. Choose the app development method
For app development, you need to decide which method is the best option for your idea.
You can find many different App Builders that, depending on your idea, can make it relatively easy to create an app without coding. But keep in mind that you look that the app is also under your license, and there are no hidden fees when you build it on an online platform.
Another method is if you know the right coding language, you can develop it yourself. However, this can take a lot of time depending on your experience, and you also have to really test that everything works together.
If you have the budget, an easy solution is hiring a freelancer who does app development for you. You need to ensure you create a written contract for licenses and provide the features and design as detailed as possible to the developer.
3. Wireframing
When you go for the custom route, you start with wireframing to create the structure of your app. There are many tools to help you with wireframing, like Microsofts Visio and Axure. Make sure to test these wireframes extensively.
4. Design
Now you can begin designing the visual elements of your app. This includes your logo color scheme and any graphics or animations you choose. For this, you can either code it yourself, use an app builder or hire an expert.
Make sure to provide a good user experience and interface so many people download your app.
5. Sorting Back End and Front End
In this step, things can get complicated. First, you should build your app’s back end to ensure your app works as it should.
Followed by designing the front end, which is the interface your users will see.
6. Test your app
When you create an app, you should always test it in different phases. But the final step in app development is to test the finished product.
Test the app on different devices and give it to different people who fit into your targeted audience. It gives data to see what works and what doesn’t. Either you send it to your friends or find a platform where you can hire app testers.
So if there are any problems, you need to fix them before releasing the app.
How to make money with an app
After you know how to create an app, you can look at the different monetization strategies. The option you choose depends on the type of app you create.
Gaming apps often make money through in-app purchases. But software as a service app makes a profit through subscription programs. It is also possible to use ad banners to monetize your app.
There are many examples of successful apps, no matter what monetization method you choose.
Even so, free apps make money you also need to consider what the marketplace you choose for your apps takes. Both Google Play and the App Store have similar pricing structures:
Google play
Takes a 30% cut of all app and in-app products.
30% o all subscriptions in the first 12 months of a customer subscription. Then only 15%.
Developers have to pay one time $25 fee via credit card to open a Google Play developer account.
Apple App Store
30% cut of all app and in-app purchases
like Google it reduces to 15% after an on your customer subscription
Delvepoer needs to pay a fee of $99/year to release an app in the Apple App Store.
Let’s take a look at the six app monetization modes to generate revenue.
1. In-App Adeversting
It is one of the easiest and most popular ways to make money with your app. When you are ready to publish your app, you can decide if you want to show ads on your app.
As the app owner, you get paid for the number of impressions or clicks you get and also the type of ad you are offering.
For a video ad, you can get paid a lot more than for a banner ad. But you need to keep in mind if your users would have the patience to view the video ad whenever they use the app. The duration of a video ad can also make a difference, especially how often you are showing it.
These factors should give an idea of your business model on how you base your advertising.
It is also possible to earn money without showing ads. You can also offer an ad-free version upgrade that users can buy. Their many platforms to do this, like Google Admob.
2. In-App purchases
This revenue model is more relevant from the user perspective as it unlocks some additional features or levels by buying upgrades. In this mode, you can offer any extra bonus, premium content, virtual in-game current, or unlock extra levels.
An in-app purchase can both be consulted like virtual currencies and non-consumable like advanced maps or other virtual merchandise.
Among the most popular apps, more than 50% use in-app purchases to earn revenue.
It is important that you decide this before you create your app if you plan to include in-app purchases. The reason you must design the app is so you can create a logical payment wall.
The strategy is based on the freemium model, where you offer the app for free but include premium features, levels, or access to premium content for an upgrade.
3 Subscription
A highly effective subscription model is quite a fair deal for the developer and the app user. Once you finish your app, you can offer it for free, and they can get access to some content without needing to pay.
When the user begins to enjoy the app and finds value in its offerings, they can upgrade to a paid subscription, giving them unlimited or staggered access to the app content.
A similar model gives users free trial predation so they can enjoy unlimited access to the app for a limited period. Once the time expires, the user is blocked and needs to buy the subscription to use the app beyond the trial period.
4. Paid Apps
As you might spend a whole lot of time, money, and other resources to build your app, it is only fair to put a price tag on the final product. When you offer your app for $0.99 and get 1 million downloads, you almost reach the million-dollar milestone for app revenue.
But there are different views on how effective this is. Statistics indicate that mobile users don’t like buying an app. You can also not make as much money by simply putting a price tag on the app.
5. Sponsorship
Another effective strategy but only works if you can as the app owner can find a sponsor with a similar or the same target market. When you find the right sponsor, you can white label the app and adapt their app design to match the sponsor brand.
The developer needs to customize the app for users on behalf of the Sponsor Company or Brand.
There are two different ways to work out a deal, a revenue split and a monthly sponsorship fee. This can actually be quite a lucrative proposition.
The developer can benefit from the existing web traffic and brand loyalty that the sponsor has to offer. It can help you in promoting the app while expanding your user base.
6. Affiliate Program
A mobile affiliate network is like a mobile platform; it brings the mobile advertiser and affiliates together.
The mobile advertisers can be app owners or a business that sells a product or service through the mobile Web. The affiliates have performance-based advertising for the advertiser.
By joining a mobile affiliate network, you can advertise relevant apps, products, or services offered by affiliates to earn money.
This revenue either is from costs per action where you earn money every time someone clicks your ad, installs their app, or any other desired action.
The other form is giving a certain percentage of revenue that you generate from the advertiser.
When you create an app, you can enroll in any of these platforms.
7. Selling merchandise
Another way to make money with an app is to sell merchandise. It is a great solution to sell your products or services. In this model, you offer a free app download from the app store.
You can combine it with Email Marketing to get your products to your audience.
It is different from in-app purchases, where the user buys virtual goods or premium content. Selling merchandise can even be branded products if the business doesn’t sell any physical merchandise otherwise.
8. Crowdfunding
This is a popular method to raise money to develop a mobile app through crowdfunding platforms like Patreon or Kickstarter. The concept can also be used for causes, charitable organizations, or unique business ideas through the app.
You can build an app for a nonprofit organization or religious institution and organize fundraisers or crowdfunding campaigns for causes. It gives people from all over the world an opportunity to give a helping hand to a cause you are working towards.
Conclusion
As mobile apps are more popular than ever before, people can easily recover their app development costs and even possibly make a fortune.
There are many different ways to make money. You can earn money without users having to pay anything, while you can also generate revenue with paid content and apps.
There isn’t a correct because different methods are right for different requirements.
You need to research and explore all methods and try to find the best one you can use for your app.
