Slides for our "How to Make Money with Apps + ASO" workshop in App Promotion Summit 2018 Berlin. Learn how to build simple niche apps and make money with Google AdMob. Presented by Katerina Zolotareva and Daniel Peris. Contents: - How to choose a profitable niche for the app - Building an app infrastructure, SDKs: analytics, monetization, communication, MBaaS... - How to Market your app with ASO + Growth Hacks - Monetizing and tracking - BONUS: Google AdMob experiment Thanks to everyone who joined us for this workshop :) ENJOY! Are you already using TheTool App Store Optimization tool? https://thetool.io

1. by Daniel Peris & Katerina Zolotareva
December 6, 2018 - APS Berlin
HOW TO:
MAK E MON EY
W I T H AP P S

2. 100% MOBILE
Daniel Peris Katerina Zolotareva
About us

3. Index
• How to choose a profitable niche for the app
• Building an infrastructure
• Analytics, Monetization, Communication - SDKs and
MBaaS
• How to market your app with ASO + growth hacks
• Monetization and tracking
• Bonus: EXPERIMENT
index
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

4. Makin g 2.500€ with
an app with few d ow nload s-
myth or reality?

5. volume
business ofApp business is a
business of volume

6. 1 app
lots of installs
many apps
few installs
more ad impressions
more money
goalGoal:

7. Finding a niche
• Few competition
• No massive demand
• Highly profitable (high RPMs)
find a niche
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

8. Niche AdMob RPM

9. find a nicheFinding a niche
• Search for well-paid topics in AdSense
• Browse the stores and look at most popular apps (installs + ratings)
• Detect trends
• Try launching simple apps to analyze monetization with AdMob
• Select the niche with highest RPM
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

10. tarot
Horoscope
Currency exchange
Hyper-casual games
Mainstream
entertainment apps
Funny videos
Cryptocurrency
Calculators
horoscope
currency
cryptocurrencycalculators
hyper-casual
mainstream
Some great niches for apps:
Tarot
permanent & temporal

11. the appThe app:
• simple cryptocurrency
converter

12. Bui ld i ng an app
and i n f ra s t ructure

13. Basic app infrastructure
Measure user behavior,
active users, downloads
per country & more
Monetize with ads,
formats used: banner &
interstitial
Mobile backend, App
Hosting, Database
Optimization
A free tool to automate
and segment push
notifications

14. Alternatives

15. A pp Ma rket in g &
G rowth

16. solutionApp Store Optimization
is a MUST to get app’s visibility

17. ASOWhat is ASO?
• ASO (App Store Optimization) is the process of optimizing an
app in order to maximize visibility, improve CTR on lists &
conversion rate (to install) and generate installs through
Search and Browse.
• Important: organic installs are FREE and help lower user
acquisition costs (CPI, CPL, CPA).
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

18. solution
• Helps apps get discovered by potential users
• Installs obtained this way are organic and free
• Get more downloads from the existing visitors
• Lower acquisition costs
• Stable cash flow from monetization
ASO is a solution:
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

19. ASO formulaFormulas:
ASO = Traffic + Conversion
Traffic = Search + Browse

20. Keyword Research
Building an extensive keyword set
• Brainstorm to identify your core keywords
• Study the keywords of your direct competitors & look for
inspiration from other apps
• Look for suggested keywords and keyword combinations
(browse the app stores & use ASO tools)
• Analyse Traffic & Difficulty scores
• Define your keyword set to be used for listing optimization
keyword set
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

21. Brainstorm
• WHO needs your app?
• WHAT do they need?
• WHERE and WHEN do they want it
• WHY your app is the best choice
brainstorm
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

22. Step-by-step
• Start with a list of 5-10 keywords in English
• Find top 5-10 apps that rank for each of these keywords
• Analyze the keywords these apps use with Density tool
• Once you have 25-30 keywords, use Keyword Suggest to
find more keywords
• When you have 150-200 keywords, introduce them in
your ASO fields
• Localize your listing to every possible language
step-by-step
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

23. The result
• 250-300 keywords per country
• 10-15 top countries
• Around 3K keywords globally
• Publish worldwide

24. Mistakes to avoid
• Using very generic and high-volume keywords for new
projects. It is better to rank in the top positions for low-
traffic keywords than to rank in top 100-150 for a high-traffic
keywords. The users who search for high-volume keywords
won’t have a chance to discover your app if it’s not ranked in
the top positions.
• Not using enough combinations. Over 75% of your product
page views account for long-tail keywords!
• Targeting too little keywords. On average, your app needs
to rank for A LOT of keywords per country. (iOS apps: 65-110
keywords; Android apps: 60-105 keywords). Target as many
keywords as possible!
mistakes
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

25. G r ow t h H a c k s

26. questionThe question:
How to get downloads?

27. downloads
• Social and display ads - $$ + little effort
• Big Influencers - $$$ + lot of effort
• Micro influencers - $ + lot of effort and time
• Cross promotion - free + little effort
• Social locker - free + no effort
• Organic growth
Ways to get downloads:
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

28. The Growth

29. ratings & reviews
• Extremely important for ASO: impact search visibility and
conversion rate
• Work with MBaaS to set up a rating prompt after X app uses
and Y completed tasks.
• Adjust X and Y to find the best combination (moment of
joy).
Ratings & Reviews
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

30. User feedback

31. push notifications
• Communicate with users to increase app use
• More use - more ad impressions - more revenue
• Start by sending push notifications manually, test with and
without Emoji and find the ones with best open rate.
• Automate the best version with OneSignal or another tool.
Push notifications
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

32. Push notifications
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

33. backlinks
• Backlinks can improve ASO for apps on Google Play!
• Get media publications
• Publish your product on startup boards
• Work with PBN (Private Blog Network)
Backlinks
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

34. Backlinks
bitcoinbtc
btc wallet

35. organic growthOrganic growth cycle:
More downloads and more ratings →
Better visibility in stores →
Further increase in downloads

36. M o n e t i za t i o n

37. formatsThe best performing formats:
interstitials & banners

38. ad formatsAd formats
• Banner in all app views (test above or below)
• Interstitial every X views + manage X from the backend
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

39. Ad formats used

40. App revenues

41. Look for easter eggs!

42. scalingDifficult to scale, but
if we increase the impressions,
RPM will stay high

43. scalingScaling
• Look for countries with high RPM
• If a strategy works, you can create related apps (do not
clone) and apply the same steps to the new app
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

44. RPMs per country

45. Th e ex p e r i m e n t

46. experimentDoes ASO impact
AdMob RPM?

47. Related apps, same configuration + ASO-optimized
Experiment: impact of ASO on RPM

48. Experiment: impact of ASO on RPM
Another related app, same configuration + medium ASO

49. F i n a l t h o u g h t s & t i p s

50. ASO processRemember –
ASO is not a single shot.
ASO is a marathon, a never ending process

51. resourcesResources
• Keyword research Guide > https://thetool.io/2018/keyword-
research-aso
• ASO Ebook > https://asoebook.com/
• PickASO blog > https://pickaso.com/blog-mobile-app-
marketing
• TheTool blog > https://thetool.io/blog
• Google!
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

52. promotion
• Visit our stand and get some gifts
• Drink something with us
• Let’s talk about ASO & Mobile Growth
• TheTool: Get 50% off during 3 months
TheTool Promotion
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018

53. bonus!And - bonus!

54. NEW: Search + Browse visibility
(analysis per channel)

55. Thank you! 🙌
• @DanielPeris + @kat_or_cat
• daniel@thetool.io + katerina@thetool.io
• TheTool.io + PickASO.com
thank you
#ASO #APSBerlin 2018