How to Create an App for AdMob?
Everyone dreams of becoming a huge entrepreneur, right? Well, that won’t happen overnight. Unless you’re one of the lucky few, big successes in life come with a vast number of minuscule steps. You need to first set goals for yourself. Then you must put in a lot of hard work to achieve those goals.
On the other hand, some people might say that it is more important to work smarter than work harder. Take those baby steps towards your business goals, but look for smart ways to earn money along the way.
The smartest and simplest way to earn quick money these days is by making your own app. For your app to become successful, you need a flawless idea. We’ll discuss ideas later in this article and how to create an App for AdMob. Let’s first look at why you should invest in mobile apps.
WHY CREATE A MOBILE APP?
According to Statista, currently, there are more than 2.9 million apps in the Google Play Store and around 4.4 million apps in the Apple App Store. Furthermore, eMarketer states that about 90% of mobile internet time is spent on apps. This particular statistic indicates that mobile apps play a significant role in the lives of people. They use them for a multitude of purposes in their daily lives. This means good news for people who own apps or plan on developing one to market.
The increased app usage has led to a growth in revenues people earn through apps. In 2020, the total app revenues from the four quarters amounted to a staggering $111 billion. If you market your app well and think of effective strategies to earn money through it, you can recover your investment and start gaining profit in no time.
Clearly, there is enormous potential in creating a mobile app, and people are beginning to realize this fact, as seen from the number of apps in the app stores. If you want to join the successful app owners out there, hop on the train right now and get your own app developed!
WHAT CAN MOBILE APPS DO?
You might be wondering at this point, what can these mobile apps actually do? Well, the answer is not simple. There is a massive variety in the applications out there. They can be created for hundreds of purposes. You name something, and an app can be made to do it.
Some typical examples include:
- E-Commerce Apps
- Social Apps
- Cab Service and Ride-Sharing Apps
- Live Streaming Apps
- Sports Apps
- Learning Management System Apps
- Language Learning Apps
- Augmented Reality Apps
- Health and Fitness Apps
- Navigation Apps
This list can go on and on to an unfathomable extent. Your brain cannot even comprehend the number of ideas that can be turned into apps. You may choose one from the list above or look at hundreds of other ideas online.
HOW TO GO ABOUT IT?
Do you already have an idea for an app that you would like to put into action? Then here are the next steps for you:
- Research
Once you have your idea, you must spend a considerable amount of time on research. This includes observing similar apps in the market and finding out what’s lacking in them. Try to fill up the gaps and develop your goals accordingly. Watch the trends in the industry closely. Depending on the project’s scope, research can consume a significant portion of your time and resources.
- Listing of Features
Once you know what kind of apps already exist, you can make a list of features you want in your app. This includes any basic features you should have in the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and advanced features that you want to be specific to your app. The cost of development and the time needed will vary according to the complexity of the features you want.
- Monetization Strategy
For earning money through your app, it is necessary to have a top-notch monetization strategy. An excellent strategy will help you recover your investment and earn ROI in a matter of months. It can be worthwhile to seek professional advice on how to go about this. We will discuss app monetization in detail in the rest of the article.
- App Marketing
Identify a target audience for your app. Figure out ways in which you can attract that particular audience. Think of a User Interface (UI) that will provide the ultimate experience to a specific type of people. After you post the app to the App Store or Play Store, you need to spread the word about it on social media. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can also help and you can find out more about it here.
- Design and Development
Once you’ve thought about how you’ll market your app after it’s launched, you need to start the design phase. A designer will first show you simple wireframes for the app. When you approve the design, the Alpha stage of the design process starts. Once that’s approved as well, we move on to the final Beta stage. Designing and developing an app is a tiresome task.
Publishing a fully functional app in the market requires many steps. Turning it into a lucrative business is even more challenging. Out of all the steps mentioned, the one on which we’re going to focus the most in this article is developing a monetization strategy.
TYPES OF MONETIZATION STRATEGIES
- In-App Purchases
A very popular strategy is giving the app free but then providing users the option to purchase items within the app. These can be both tangible and intangible. Tangible items include merchandise or products that are sold on the app. Intangible items can be further divided into things that can be consumed (e.g., Virtual currency such as free coins or virtual credit) and things that cannot (e.g., Advanced levels in games). The In-App Purchase (IAP) strategy is usually preferred by game developers.
In-App Purchases can also be in the form of extra content or more features within the app. Users can buy these features to get a complete experience. The app owner can make a handsome amount of money with this strategy.
- Subscriptions
Subscriptions can be part of a range of In-App Purchase options, or they can be offered alone. If advanced features are offered for only a limited time, users can be asked to pay a subscription fee to unlock them. This fee can be taken monthly or annually. Different packages such as Silver, Gold, and Platinum can be made available to the customers. Each package has its own list of features, and users can choose according to their needs and preferences.
Users can also pay to receive notifications from the app. This is a useful feature for sports apps. Users can go to the app to access the live scores of their favorite sports events, but to receive notifications on their device or SMS alerts, they need to pay a small subscription fee.
- Go Freemium
Another widely used monetization strategy among app owners is the “Freemium Model”. The word originates from a combination of the words Free and Premium. Essentially, users can download the app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store for free.
They can also use all the basic features for free. However, they then have the option to upgrade to premium. This is a kind of status upgrade. The user can unlock plenty of new features, including the removal of advertisements.
However, going for a freemium model instead of a paid app has its disadvantages. The users have not invested any money in downloading the app, and they can uninstall it at any time when they are no longer interested. To ensure that they keep enjoying your app, you need to have an attractive User Interface (UI) that provides a thrilling User Experience (UX).
- Advertisements
Perhaps the most common way of earning money through apps is through advertisements. It is extremely popular because it’s the most profitable way. All you need to do is allow advertisements to be displayed on your app and then sit back and earn hundreds of dollars from the companies to which the advertisements belong.
It can’t get any easier, right? It’s up to the company if they pay you per click, per view, or per customer conversion. There are various formats in which you can display ads on your apps:
- Banner Ads
If you’ve seen small ads at the top and bottom of the screen, you know what banner ads are. They are the most user friendly because people can continue using the app without any hindrance. However, ad engagement is very low as few users actually focus on them. The ad should be really well suited to the type of audience using the app.
- Interstitial Ads
These are pop-up ads that cover the whole screen so that the app’s contents are obstructed from view. Users do not have the option of not seeing them (Unless they opt for a premium version of the app), so they have far better engagement than banner ads. Usually, there are two options when an interstitial ad shows up. The user can click a small cross in the corner to go back to the app screen or click the ad, which usually takes them to an external site.
- Native Ads
Have you ever noticed how some ads are subtly present inside the app? Native ads look like they’re part of the app. They do not annoy the users at all, so that’s why they receive positive reviews and generate more revenue for the app owners. They often appear as sponsored or featured content. The beauty of native ads is how well they’re integrated within the app.
- In-App Video Ads
This is another very popular format for advertising in apps. Video Ads appear on the whole screen. The user has no option but to watch a few seconds of the ad before they’re allowed to skip it. Hence, the first few seconds must be intriguing enough that the user watches the whole video. Sometimes people also watch these ads voluntarily when a reward is associated with them. The reward is mostly in the form of in-app credit.
Now you know why you should develop an app, how you should do it, and earn money from it. The next question is; how do you know what kinds of ads should play in your app for which audience?
That’s where Google’s AdMob comes in.
HOW DOES ADMOB WORK?
Earning money through your apps has been made extremely simple. It’s incredible how you just need to follow a few steps and see the money pouring in. When you create your app, sign up on AdMob at the same time. Then you need to create ad units and allocate space for the ads on your app. You can choose any of the ad formats mentioned above. The last thing you need to do is to set criteria for ads, and Google does the rest.
Google AdMob matches advertisements to your app based on the set criteria. Your users see the ads in the set format, and if there is any interaction, you get paid for it. In some cases, you might also get paid even if there is no interaction. Earning money has never been easier!
WHAT ELSE WILL YOU GET?
By signing up on AdMob, money and success are not the only things you’ll get. It about the complete experience of getting there. You will have a great deal of control over the ads that are playing on your app.
You can use the filters and criteria to ensure that the ads are relevant to your target audience. Specific categories or advertisers can be blocked out. You can also customize how users see the ads.
Another advantage of using Google AdMob is that there is plenty of support available online. You can always consult Google’s own guide on how to use AdMob. They also contain tips and suggestions to help your business to grow.
Finally, Google has a massive database of advertisements. By using AdMob, you’ll have direct access to all these. You can find relevant ads easily, and you won’t even have to look at multiple places for advertisers and then go through the process of building relationships with them.
TO TIE IT ALL UP
You now know the basic steps of creating an app, and you also learned how to use AdMob. However, creating and maintaining an app is not easy. Leave it to the professionals and enjoy your life instead of trying it yourself. If you already have an app idea, discuss it with us. We will try our best to turn it into a million-dollar business!