As I have not slept a year or the creation of a social Android application
Good day, dear habrazhiteli. I work for a large IT company Android developer.
It all started about a year ago. Then, I decided to start my first project. The idea of ​​the application came to me almost immediately. Its original version sounded like this - “I want everyone to know the independent opinion of people all over the world, on the subject of interest.”
I decided to start a story about my interesting way of creating an application from the end, from the stage of its promotion. This is due to the fact that the information I want to share is relevant for the current moment, and will eventually become outdated.
')
In the article there are prices for certain services of sites that I managed to contact.
The main tasks for me were to find out, firstly, the possibilities of each site, secondly, whether my budget would be enough.
As my friend suggested to me, “The more sources, the greater the chance that they will know about you.” Therefore, I started the promotion by searching for sites for publications.
For most sites, editors write reviews themselves. On some, there is an opportunity to save a little by writing a review yourself. For this, you will need the original texts, approximately 1000 and 3000 characters. If you, for whatever reason, cannot do this, then writing a review by the editorial team of the site will cost between $ 5 and $ 140, depending on the site.
With the forums, I did not bother and prepared one review for all.
To help write a review, I advise you to read the article "One sentence that makes us stronger . "
Since the application is localized in 8 languages, the issue with the choice of sites was not. Approached all sites without exception.
1) androidappsreview.com
After ordering a $ 49 review, no reaction followed. As if on this site there are no visitors at all. For myself, I concluded that 10,000 Facebook followers and 6,000 Twitter followers mean nothing.
2) droider.ru
For services accept only Yandex.Money. When I tried to transfer money from Privat24 using Internet banking, the money did not reach Yandex. I had to wait a whole month until they were returned to me.
Most likely it’s just me so unlucky, but I didn’t manage to use this advertising platform.
3) w3bsit3-dns.com
I would like to pay special attention to the site w3bsit3-dns.com and its project "Help our developers." The result of his work was 200 installations per day, 2 days in a row (this is exactly the time that the review hung on the main page)
Among the sites hosting reviews for free I want to mention trashbox.ru, in which, when updating a review (for example, releasing a new version of the application), it moves up the list of its category. Also there it is felt that the site lives.
The site proandroid.net was remembered by writing a good review text.
For more detailed statistics on sites, their potential, the way of advertising and its cost, see the table below.
Among the forums that I tried, remember:
1) forum.xda-developers.com (1625 views);
2) forums.androidcentral.com (666 views).
I managed to try only one group Max android. I chose it because of the largest number of subscribers (~ 108000), which inspired great hopes.
The group offers two review options:
1) Normal post 250 p .;
2) Fixed for two days 500 p.
If the text reviews them, then the price doubles.
I decided to "unwind" in full and chose the second option with my review text.
Waiting for my turn to advertise, I naively thought that my application would finally be noticed. But everything turned out unexpectedly sad. Two days later I received only 40 downloads from the market, which left a negative impression of using the services of this group.
The days of advertising were Wednesday and Thursday.
About registration in other markets is described in detail here .
I tried only 2 markets:
1) amazon.com
I don’t think I’ve recognized all the “power” of this site because I’ve laid out an application for regular Android, not Kindle Fire devices. For the first option, I did not get any installation.
2) androidpit.ru
Adding to the market is free.
The number of downloads here was already 2 more than in Amazon).
Then, I began to find out about how to advertise on their website. The conditions of this market turned out to be not very profitable for me and as for me strange.
Here is how it was. I received a reply to the letter regarding the placement of the application’s advertisement on their website with a description of all the charms of their site and Skype contact.
After some correspondence, already via Skype, it turned out that all of their ads are free, including banners, review texts, etc. The chip was that all links should lead to their market, and I’ll pay for the installation . This begs the question. What prevents them from generating thousands of installations? And for each installation, he asked for $ 1.
Features of this service have already been described earlier here .
At the time of the appeal, they had 29 Russian-language sites from which I decided to start.
As a result, I received 6 letters. Most of which contained the price of paid reviews. Some sites were ready to post a free review with the original text.
This order cost me $ 25.
A complete list of prices can be found on their website.
Council If you order a newsletter only on Russian-language sites, as in my case, fill out forms in Russian. Otherwise, they will suggest refilling.
After completing the order, you will receive an email with screenshots of the completed forms and a request to confirm the execution of the order.
I added the information on the sites that answered me to the table below marked “i”.
The video for YouTube, in my case, was educational in nature. I spent 147 UAH (~ 600r.) On promotion and received 124 views in return. For more information, see the image below.
Ad format - In-Display.
A good way to distribute information about updates. Provided that you have an interesting application. No one wants to sign up for spam.
Thus, the users themselves, advising your application to their friends, will advertise it.
Links to the SDK that I used:
Facebook - developers.facebook.com/android
Vkontakte - github.com/thest1/Android-VKontakte-SDK
Twitter - twitter4j.org/en/index.html
Participation in contests will attract the attention of users and potential investors. Also, if you're lucky, you can win some money for further promotion.
I participated in these:
Tacktrick - devcup.tactrick.com;
Apps4All - apps4all.ru - gave an invitation to the Forum to Moscow for free.
In search of sites for promotion, I explored about 60 sites. Based on the collected data, a table below was formed. The prices listed in the table are relevant at the time of this writing.
When choosing sites for publications, I was guided by the following parameters:
1) Price;
2) Site language (audience);
3) Format of information placement: Website, Forum, Social Networks (Facebook, VKontakte, Twitter, Google+, YouTube);
4) Type of distribution: Direct link to Google Play, APK file.
5) Evaluation: Empirical evaluation of effectiveness. Obtained by comparing sites based on the number of installations of the application. This assessment is valid for the current project and may differ in relation to other applications.
For convenience, we introduce several abbreviations:
RU - Russian-speaking audience;
EN - English-speaking audience;
? - the cost of the service could not be found;
For soc. networks information in the format: Name - the number of subscribers (at the time of writing).
Based on the list of sites, prices for which I managed to find out, you can approximately calculate the cost of the advertising company:
- the maximum option: $ 3094 ;
- the minimum option: $ 1562 ;
Variants are distinguished by the presence of their review, place and type of ad placed.
Note: The androidpit.ru and androidpit.com sites did not take part in the calculations because they charge $ 1 per installation.
Do you think the right way I went? What do you see my mistakes? Would you like to know more about the process of designing and developing my application?
PS I will be glad to your ideas and suggestions for the development of my project and Android applications in general.
1) Free application promotion + results ;
2) One sentence that makes us stronger ;
3) Free ways to promote Android applications ;
4) Publish the application in Android Market .
It all started about a year ago. Then, I decided to start my first project. The idea of ​​the application came to me almost immediately. Its original version sounded like this - “I want everyone to know the independent opinion of people all over the world, on the subject of interest.”
I decided to start a story about my interesting way of creating an application from the end, from the stage of its promotion. This is due to the fact that the information I want to share is relevant for the current moment, and will eventually become outdated.
')
In the article there are prices for certain services of sites that I managed to contact.
The main tasks for me were to find out, firstly, the possibilities of each site, secondly, whether my budget would be enough.
Let's get started
As my friend suggested to me, “The more sources, the greater the chance that they will know about you.” Therefore, I started the promotion by searching for sites for publications.
We write the text of the review
For most sites, editors write reviews themselves. On some, there is an opportunity to save a little by writing a review yourself. For this, you will need the original texts, approximately 1000 and 3000 characters. If you, for whatever reason, cannot do this, then writing a review by the editorial team of the site will cost between $ 5 and $ 140, depending on the site.
With the forums, I did not bother and prepared one review for all.
To help write a review, I advise you to read the article "One sentence that makes us stronger . "
We place reviews on sites and forums
Since the application is localized in 8 languages, the issue with the choice of sites was not. Approached all sites without exception.
1) androidappsreview.com
After ordering a $ 49 review, no reaction followed. As if on this site there are no visitors at all. For myself, I concluded that 10,000 Facebook followers and 6,000 Twitter followers mean nothing.
2) droider.ru
For services accept only Yandex.Money. When I tried to transfer money from Privat24 using Internet banking, the money did not reach Yandex. I had to wait a whole month until they were returned to me.
Most likely it’s just me so unlucky, but I didn’t manage to use this advertising platform.
3) w3bsit3-dns.com
I would like to pay special attention to the site w3bsit3-dns.com and its project "Help our developers." The result of his work was 200 installations per day, 2 days in a row (this is exactly the time that the review hung on the main page)
Among the sites hosting reviews for free I want to mention trashbox.ru, in which, when updating a review (for example, releasing a new version of the application), it moves up the list of its category. Also there it is felt that the site lives.
The site proandroid.net was remembered by writing a good review text.
For more detailed statistics on sites, their potential, the way of advertising and its cost, see the table below.
Among the forums that I tried, remember:
1) forum.xda-developers.com (1625 views);
2) forums.androidcentral.com (666 views).
We use groups in social networks
I managed to try only one group Max android. I chose it because of the largest number of subscribers (~ 108000), which inspired great hopes.
The group offers two review options:
1) Normal post 250 p .;
2) Fixed for two days 500 p.
If the text reviews them, then the price doubles.
I decided to "unwind" in full and chose the second option with my review text.
Waiting for my turn to advertise, I naively thought that my application would finally be noticed. But everything turned out unexpectedly sad. Two days later I received only 40 downloads from the market, which left a negative impression of using the services of this group.
The days of advertising were Wednesday and Thursday.
We use other markets
About registration in other markets is described in detail here .
I tried only 2 markets:
1) amazon.com
I don’t think I’ve recognized all the “power” of this site because I’ve laid out an application for regular Android, not Kindle Fire devices. For the first option, I did not get any installation.
2) androidpit.ru
Adding to the market is free.
The number of downloads here was already 2 more than in Amazon).
Then, I began to find out about how to advertise on their website. The conditions of this market turned out to be not very profitable for me and as for me strange.
Here is how it was. I received a reply to the letter regarding the placement of the application’s advertisement on their website with a description of all the charms of their site and Skype contact.
After some correspondence, already via Skype, it turned out that all of their ads are free, including banners, review texts, etc. The chip was that all links should lead to their market, and I’ll pay for the installation . This begs the question. What prevents them from generating thousands of installations? And for each installation, he asked for $ 1.
Ispreadnews.com service
Features of this service have already been described earlier here .
At the time of the appeal, they had 29 Russian-language sites from which I decided to start.
As a result, I received 6 letters. Most of which contained the price of paid reviews. Some sites were ready to post a free review with the original text.
This order cost me $ 25.
A complete list of prices can be found on their website.
Council If you order a newsletter only on Russian-language sites, as in my case, fill out forms in Russian. Otherwise, they will suggest refilling.
After completing the order, you will receive an email with screenshots of the completed forms and a request to confirm the execution of the order.
I added the information on the sites that answered me to the table below marked “i”.
We advertise video on YouTube
The video for YouTube, in my case, was educational in nature. I spent 147 UAH (~ 600r.) On promotion and received 124 views in return. For more information, see the image below.
Ad format - In-Display.
Create groups in social networks
A good way to distribute information about updates. Provided that you have an interesting application. No one wants to sign up for spam.
Integrating the app with other social networks.
Thus, the users themselves, advising your application to their friends, will advertise it.
Links to the SDK that I used:
Facebook - developers.facebook.com/android
Vkontakte - github.com/thest1/Android-VKontakte-SDK
Twitter - twitter4j.org/en/index.html
We participate in contests
Participation in contests will attract the attention of users and potential investors. Also, if you're lucky, you can win some money for further promotion.
I participated in these:
Tacktrick - devcup.tactrick.com;
Apps4All - apps4all.ru - gave an invitation to the Forum to Moscow for free.
Site analysis for promotion
In search of sites for promotion, I explored about 60 sites. Based on the collected data, a table below was formed. The prices listed in the table are relevant at the time of this writing.
When choosing sites for publications, I was guided by the following parameters:
1) Price;
2) Site language (audience);
3) Format of information placement: Website, Forum, Social Networks (Facebook, VKontakte, Twitter, Google+, YouTube);
4) Type of distribution: Direct link to Google Play, APK file.
5) Evaluation: Empirical evaluation of effectiveness. Obtained by comparing sites based on the number of installations of the application. This assessment is valid for the current project and may differ in relation to other applications.
For convenience, we introduce several abbreviations:
RU - Russian-speaking audience;
EN - English-speaking audience;
? - the cost of the service could not be found;
For soc. networks information in the format: Name - the number of subscribers (at the time of writing).
| Address | Tongue | Cost of | Placement method | Distribution type | Evaluation |
| W3bsit3-dns.com | Ru | Project "Support for our developers": Free; Website: ready text - 8000 rubles., Preparation and publications - 12000 rubles. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Project "Support for our developers"; 3) Forum 4) Twitter - 28297 | Forum: link + APK Website: link | * * * * * |
| xda-developers.com | En | Site: ?; Forum: Free. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Forum; 3) Facebook - 160419; 4) Twitter - 165869; 5) Google+ - 104341; 6) YouTube - 116737. | Link | * * * * |
| androidpit.com | En | Shop: Free Website: $ 1 / installation from their market Forum: Free | 1) Shop; 2) Review on the site; 3) Forum; 4) Facebook - 15587; 5) Twitter - 4360; 6) Google+ - 2648; 7) YouTube - 1132. | Shop: APK; Website: link to their market; Forum: link. | * * * |
| android4all.ru | Ru | Site: ?; Forum: Free. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Forum; 3) VKontakte - 1882; 4) Twitter - 271. | Link | * * * |
| proandroid.net | Ru | Catalog (with their text) - for free; Section "News" with their text - $ 20, with your text - $ 15. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Facebook - 215; 3) VKontakte - 161; 4) Twitter - 161; 5) Google+ - 106. | Link | * * * |
| android-magazine.ru (i) | Ru | Website: negotiated; Review text writing: 1000 p .; Banner: 1000r / month. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Banners; 3) VKontakte - 4613. | Link | * * * |
| android.net | En | Site: ?; Forum: Free. | Forum | Link | * * * |
| android-zone.info | Ru | Is free | 1) Review on the site; 2) VKontakte - 729; 3) Twitter - 40. | Link | * * * |
| androidpit.ru | Ru | Shop: Free; Website: $ 1 / installation from their market; Forum: Free. | 1) Shop; 2) Review on the site; 3) Forum; 4) Facebook - 688; 5) VKontakte - 2218; 6) Twitter - 839; 7) Google+ - 1145; 8) YouTube - 387. | Shop: APK; Website: link to their market; Forum: link. | * * |
| androidcentral.com | En | Site: ?; Forum: Free. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Forum; 3) Facebook - 67419; 4) Twitter - 226091; 5) Google+ - 456937; 6) YouTube - 99274. | Link. | * * |
| phandroid.com | En | Site: ?; Forum: Free. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Forum; 3) Facebook - 46049; 4) Twitter - 59766; 5) Google+ - 33657; 6) YouTube - 20562. | Link | * * |
| android-baza.ru | Ru | Is free | Site Overview | apk | * * |
| androidtalk.ru | Ru | 1) Website:?; 2) Forum: Free; 3) Banners:? | Review on the site; Banners; Forum; Facebook - 164; VKontakte - 19248; Twitter - 290. | Link | * * |
| mobyware.ru | Ru | Is free | 1) Review on the site; 2) VKontakte - 24864. | apk | * |
| androidappsreview.com | En | 49 $ -209 $ | 1) Review on the site; 2) Facebook - 10294; 3) Twitter - 6918. | Link | * |
| androidforums.ru | Ru | Is free | Forum | Link | * |
| hd-android.com | Ru | Is free | 1) Review on the site; 2) VKontakte - 126; 3) Twitter - 5. | Link | * |
| androidcommunity.com | En | Site: ?; Forum: Free. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Forum; 3) Facebook - 25,218; 4) Twitter - 92860; 5) Google+ - 157725; | Link. | ? |
| droider.ru | Ru | 5000r | 1) Review on the site; 2) Forum; 3) Facebook - 6111; 4) VKontakte - 43297; 5) Twitter - 17187; 6) Google+ - 233794; 7) YouTube - 187746. | Link | ? |
| androidmarket.ru | En | 5000r. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Facebook - 50; 3) VKontakte - 614; 4) Twitter - 285. | apk | ? |
| androidtapp.com | En | $ 149 | 1) Review on the site; 2) Facebook - 10115; 3) Twitter - 23963; 4) Google+ - 882; 5) YouTube - 7251. | Link | ? |
| android.mobile-review.com | Ru | Is free | 1) Review on the site; 2) Twitter - 4970. | Link | ? |
| droidtalks.com | Ru | 2500r. | 1) Review on the site; 2) VKontakte - 88. | Link | ? |
| gagagdet.com (i) | Ru | $ 200 (for my application). | 1) Review on the site; 2) Facebook - 2739; 3) Twitter - 2752; 4) Google+ - 21716; 5) YouTube - 5289. | Link | ? |
| android.com.ua (i) | Ru | Review + publication = 600 UAH | 1) Review on the site; 2) Facebook - 2365; 3) VKontakte - 417; 4) Twitter - 1307; 5) Google+ - 732. | Link | ? |
| pdaobzor.ru (i) | Ru | 750 rubles | 1) Review on the site; 2) VKontakte - 1641. | Link | ? |
| apps400.com | En | 19 $ | Review on the site; | Link | ? |
| procontent.ru (i) | Ru | Your review text is free of charge; Their review - 3500 p .; Your text without verification - 2000 p ... | Review on the site; | Link | ? |
| games-android.ru | Ru | $ 9 - $ 40 | 1) Review on the site; 2) VKontakte - 16288; 3) Google+ - 242. | Link | ? |
| android-tehno.ru | Ru | 300 r. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Forum; 3) VKontakte - 266. | Link | ? |
| androidlife.ru | Ru | Review: $ 100; News: not published | News on the site; Review on the site; Forum. | Link | ? |
| androidmag.net | Ru | Site:? | 1) Review on the site; 2) Facebook - 25189; 3) VKontakte - 2094; 4) Twitter - 906; 5) Google+ - 461; 6) YouTube - 1350. | Link | ? |
| android-tornado.ru | Ru | Review: 700r; Banner: 2000 - 6000 p / month; Personal unit: 3500r / month; | 1) Review on the site; 2) Banners; 3) Personal unit. | Link | ? |
| droidnews.ru (i) | Ru | Review (2000 characters): Free - if the application is completely free; 1000 r. - if stimulates the user to spend during use (freemium / donate / subscription, etc.); Writing review text - 500 p. | 1) Review on the site; 2) Facebook - 190; 3) Twitter - 4406; 4) YouTube - 360. | Link | ? |
| facebook.com/AndroidCoolApps | En | Review: $ 50 - $ 1000; (depends on the location). | 1) Facebook - 298251. | Link | ? |
Subscribers Charts
Budget
Based on the list of sites, prices for which I managed to find out, you can approximately calculate the cost of the advertising company:
- the maximum option: $ 3094 ;
- the minimum option: $ 1562 ;
Variants are distinguished by the presence of their review, place and type of ad placed.
Note: The androidpit.ru and androidpit.com sites did not take part in the calculations because they charge $ 1 per installation.
Questions
Do you think the right way I went? What do you see my mistakes? Would you like to know more about the process of designing and developing my application?
PS I will be glad to your ideas and suggestions for the development of my project and Android applications in general.
References:
1) Free application promotion + results ;
2) One sentence that makes us stronger ;
3) Free ways to promote Android applications ;
4) Publish the application in Android Market .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/182138/
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