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Hello!
I´m interrested in Android as well as in the tm G1.
Now the G1 is announced here in Germany for the second of february.
My problem at the moment is, that I have read and heard, that google is collecting data (everything)! So if you read the "terms and conditions", what do you think about that or don´t you care? I mean they have the rights over everything you load/send/post/get....and more!
How do you handle that fact personally for you?
Greetings!
Carter
That's just the nature of the emphasis on cloud computing. Personally my stance is simply to not conduct any business on my G1 that I would mind Google knowing/datamining. Regardless of what companies claim in their privacy policies, the very best way to 100% guarantee your data will be misused is simply to not willingly give it out.
Edit: also keep in mind that the (potentially) datamining portions of Android generally revolve around those apps and services which are closed-source apps provided by Google that are not a part of the Android Open Source Project. These include for example the Market, GMail, GTalk, and so forth.
ok, I get your point, but what is the G1 without Gmail/Calendar etc.
And thats all google.
Because of the poor response on my question I think that the majority doesn´t care about google´s data collecting hype.
In my eyes their acting is scary....imagine the details they know about you and many many other people....
just my opinion...
Greetz!
They don't collect any personal information. Not only that but they don't have people looking at these records. A computer does all the work, and is only used to find keywords.
Look at this site's search (the one on xda not google) it works by taking every word and putting it in a database and when you search the word it shows the corresponding posts. so post1 has wordA and post2 has wordA and wordB, and when you search for wordB you only get post2. The same concept is in place for google... except it goes one step further. The spider takes out words that are not needed. Well they have been using this for your GMail for sometime as well. It is why they have excellent spam control and it is why google is so awesome. They use the same process to check emails when you click links. Basically they are just trying to find out who uses what sites for what reasons. If they figure out all this they can better help you and the company you were visiting.
Chances are if you are on a site that is doing something illegal Google already knows it exisists.
someone can always watch if they want, on a g1 or PC, or anything connected. Just don't do anything dumb.
i think its obscene and absurd how gung hoe they are with it. If you want access to the playstore gawdam they better have every member of your family and every person you've ever met profiled as well as around the clock location tracking with a serial # and every keystroke on your device. And dont you dare make any attempts to disable any of their spyware or you can kiss YouTube apps and the play store goodbye. Its pathetic what they've done to Android and its users. And the reason it pisses me of the most is because I don't even really use free apps. They're all either paid for or open.
I have come to a point where I can no longer sit back and watch our system be bombarded with spam apps. It hurts android as a system and will be its downfall, open or not.
I sent tips to Gizmodo, Engadget, BGR, and all others that have can reach a large audience.
I for one am sick and tired of all the bull**** I see in the market. Open system or not, its getting out of hand. I can't be the only one fed up with the situation. To all android users please voice your hatred of people abusing the rules. Just because its not illegal does not make it ethical or allowable
These are a few links to help people realize how bad this problem is and how bad it will become.
Who cares if we have 50,000 apps and upwards of 15,000 are complete crap. There are 20 real offenders with about 1,000 apps each. 1,000!! each. Thats ridiculous.
Almost 50% of our applications do nothing. Absolutely nothing. I love my N! and have been an Android user since the G1. I have watched our open system is being abused and ransacked by idiots.
Anyone else fed up with this do something to fix it rather than sit back.
I know this is not so much about the N1 than it is Android in general, but I wanted people to see it and spread the word.
These are some websites to look at
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/bwemj/pocket_empires_spamming_android_market/
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=511e1703b32ce3a5&hl=en
http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/02/an...he-day-zeitmann-and-its-deluxe-clock-widgets/
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=608e9ca3fc7a80fb&hl=en
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-635400.html
I'd noticed a lot of reviews mentioning Pocket Empire, all across the Market, earlier today, it's a pain in the arse, and highlights the fact that you really can't read just a few comments left, and assume they'll be accurate.
Yes it is totally our of hand. The Pocket Empire developers have been encouraging their users to go to the market and download any and all Free apps they dont have to pay for. Then to leave feedback score of 5 for the unrelated app with a comment promoting their Pocket Empires and a referral code. So as well as the comments being BS so are the star ratings they are leaving, which do not reflect the underlying application.
Here are some threads discussing it.
Nexusone Stop spamming the Android Market Pocket Empire players
People advertise everywhere for "pocket empires"- can this spam be curtailed somehow?
How about all the people who were getting their knickers in a knot about the sentence "this message was not sent by tapatalk" sink their teeth into this one.
It is of far greater significance and has the potential to undermine the android market. The lack of action by google to date on this issue (ie not banning PE) suggests to me that they want the market to self regulate.
So lets get together and do something about this Pocket Empire mob.
Yeah the stupid spam comments about "join pocket empires and receive 100 credits" is really getting annoying, not to mention the complete random and totally useless apps that have been coming onto the market lately.
You can at least use appbrain as an alternative, because it filters out the vast majority of Spam apps. But it cannot filter all the PE Spam comments.
Well yesterday, the dev of Pocket Empires sent an ingame message out saying the following:
Hey everyone. We are laying down a new "dont spam other games" policy due to the amount of spame that's been being spread around. Starting May 1st any comments past that date will have their referral code banned for a week. Thanks for your assumed cooperation and enjoy!
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Seems like the dev is trying to put a stop to it at least for now.
Sistum Id said:
Well yesterday, the dev of Pocket Empires sent an ingame message.....
Seems like the dev is trying to put a stop to it at least for now.
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Yes but they are just going through the motions of saying the right thing. Crying Crocodile Tears. How do you honestly think they are going to police their threat of one week bans?
If they were serious about it, they would
1) be telling their users to go back and undo the damage they have done. Which would involve removing spam comments left for other apps AND setting ratings stars to average.
2) removing the referral code system altogether, so that once they no longer can Spam the market they do not just move to every other forum know to man. Such as some smart arse adding a PE referral in this very thread which will no doubt happen soon enough.
I would really like to see Google pull PE from the market altogether for some time as a penalty. But probably wont happen as they want the market to self regulate.
POCKET EMPIRES = POX it must be eradicated
Quick add me on pocket empire!
My code is [email protected]
I'll pay that one ;-)
KnightMAREcrow said:
These are some websites to look at
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-635400.html
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Yeah, I opened that thread over there. What bothers me the most is how easy it would it be for google to give us the tools to crush spam.
From where I see it, there are two distinct problems right now:
1) the spam apps (those by Michael Quach, Zeittman, etc).
The easy solution: allow the users to filter out specific words and developers. Then, if a given number of users filter out a developer, consider him "uninteresting" and relegate his apps to the bottom.
2) the PE spam in other apps and games.
The easy solution: if a given number of users report a given number of posts as spam (e.g. 50 individual users report 50 individual messages) consider them spam and filter out every message that is 90% similar to them (e.g. they have mostly the same words but the referral code changes).
These would be completely automatic and would require absolutely no human interaction on part of Google. It's so easy it makes me want to go to their offices and slap the person in charge in the neck.
I reckon a simpler solution to the PE SPAM with referral codes is as follows:
Restrict feedback entries to known words. So if a user enters anything that is not a word, such as a referral code, serial number or email, then it would get rejected. There is absolutely no reason for legitimate feedback to contain any word or string of characters that is not in a dictionary.
logger said:
There is absolutely no reason for legitimate feedback to contain any word or string of characters that is not in a dictionary.
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What about diminutives, etc? Also, What if I want to point to a related app that is better in my opinion? I have done that in the past.
Fair point.
However, for simplicity, blocking non words would go a long way to fixing the referral code issue, while allowing most feedback. It may be better to point out the shortcomings of an application, than to refer readers to an alternative. I know if I was a developer, I would be annoyed if feedback pointed to a competitors product. I trust I got my point across here, using only common words and no diminutives. Common diminutives could be added to the dictionary in any case.
logger said:
However, for simplicity, blocking non words would go a long way to fixing the referral code issue, while allowing most feedback.
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The operative word here being "most". I get your point, but I think self-regulation would be better on the long run. I don't think the best way to fix an annoying situation is to introduce another annoying situation, even if it's less annoying than the first one; and I sure would be pissed if I was writing a comment and the Market rejected it because one of the words I used was not in the dictionary.
logger said:
It may be better to point out the shortcomings of an application, than to refer readers to an alternative. I know if I was a developer, I would be annoyed if feedback pointed to a competitors product
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I would be too, but honestly: I don't write comments to please developers, I do it to give other users good advice. Isn't that precisely the point of the comments system?
http://www.appbrain.com/
If you refuse to use it after I've showed you this, or knew about it already and didn't use it, then don't start another thread like this. You have your out.
And please don't use the "we shouldn't have to use a 3rd party app." This is mother####### XDA, we use what we have to in order to get things done quickly and smoothly.
ATnTdude said:
And please don't use the "we shouldn't have to use a 3rd party app." This is mother####### XDA, we use what we have to in order to get things done quickly and smoothly.
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Yeah, let's leave the rest of Android users on their own. We're mother####### XDA, we don't care about things working right or not if we can make them work for US!
Who cares about the health of the Market? Who cares if it deters people from using Android? We're mother####### XDA!
ATnTdude said:
http://www.appbrain.com/
If you refuse to use it after I've showed you this, or knew about it already and didn't use it, then don't start another thread like this. You have your out.
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Of course we know about appbrain. Before you go sprouting off, Just read some the feedback comments in http://www.appbrain.com/browse/apps/?apps=free for example Shazam and you will immediately see they are not filtered and that the SPAM comments we have been discussing reside there as well.
Any yes I have asked appbrain if they would consider filtering the SPAM comments from their site. Hopefully they will.
In this instance, I believe the market should regulate itself. There has been enormous growth and with it comes the BS. I'm of the mind to believe this will be addressed.
Legalize it. Don't criticize it.
1) the spam apps (those by Michael Quach, Zeittman, etc).
The easy solution: allow the users to filter out specific words and developers. Then, if a given number of users filter out a developer, consider him "uninteresting" and relegate his apps to the bottom.
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i agree.. i think the user should be able add any developer to their personal 'blacklist' that will just simply hide them from view in the market.
also, a more in depth search is needed. filter by keywords you want, keywords you dont want, categories, rating, total downloads, active installs, developers country, downloads to time in market ratio, etc, etc... i mean come on how hard is this to implement when your the top search provider in the entire world.
edit: also, this spam crap is hurting the legit devs. without proper filters or search, it is an uphill battle to not fail. i mean, how will the casual user even know your app exists when 50 apps above it and 50 apps below it are all spam.
It has been brought to my attention that many android application developers have no idea how to properly class their applications by name. Here we will review a few common terms specific to this context.
Here is a list of terms in no specific order which we will review in this document.
Free
Lite / Basic
Standard
Advanced
Proffesional
Premium
Trial
Demonstration
Firstly let me start by saying that the word 'free' should never be in an application title. There are exceptions to this rule. For example a video game might have the word free in its title, such as 'free world defenders.' It should be clear to the developer that the word 'free' should not be used in an application title in reference to the cost of ownership. In practice this is at best unprofessional and untidy.
It may seem to the beginning developer that this would add clarity and destinction to a specific release of an application but this is an unnecessary clarification as most applications are already classified by price categories. At best all the developer has achieved is lengthening the title of the application and flagged it as possibly unworthy of usage. Most people don't expect to get much of anything for free. Keep this in mind when you develop your freeware applications.
I have also found that many developers have taken the word 'professional' entirely out of context. Instead of providing an example just yet, let us explore what the word professional actually means.
pro·fes·sion·al adj.
1.
a. Of, relating to, engaged in, or
suitable for a profession: lawyers,
doctors, and other professional
people.
b. Conforming to the standards of a
profession: professional behavior.
2. Engaging in a given activity as a
source of livelihood or as a career: a
professional writer.
Let's apply this definition in the context of software applications. Joe is a blogger. He blogs all day about his life. In fact there is almost nothing that Joe would not blog about. Joe decides that he could get more blogging done if he could quickly post his thoughts from his mobile. Joe goes to the market and he finds three things: Blogger Free, Captain's Blog, and Blogger Professional.
Joe thinks for a second... He decides right off the bat that he is no ordinary blogger and that he does not want deal with advertisements, so he overlooks Blogger Free without hesitation. Joe thinks that Captain's Blog sounds interesting. He decides to look it over because Blogger Professional sounds like it may have more features than he is really interested in. Joe is happy with Captain's Blog, and it is the first thing he blogs about saying: "I'mma live happily ever after!"
The term 'professional' implies that your application will employ features useful to the individual who requires industry standard adherence to specific guidelines laws, regulations, or operating procedures. Users in this market will have certain expectations. It is important that whenever you use the tagline 'Professional' that you have done your research and tested your product in the field with real professionals.
Usually products that employ groundbreaking features or features that can't be found anywhere else attempt to call themselves professional, but as stated before this term is at best reserved for industry professionals who require specific functionality. The proper tag for this kind of application is 'advanced.' Because it provides advanced functionality.
Some applications are so prolific that they require two tags such as 'professional advanced' or 'professional basic.' Yes, there is a 'professional standard' (no pun intended) as well as many other combinations. use whatever makes sense. I call these titles of prestige.
The term 'standard' implies, that an application meets or sets "the bar" by which applications that perform similar functions must reach to begin to consider themselves competition. It also implies that there is more to come or more to be had from this application and it's descendants or even its competition.
The term 'basic' or 'lite' is essentially the same as the term 'standard' but basic/lite implies the bare minimum required to achieve an acceptable effect. Usually this is an application with reduced functionality in order to meet a restriction on cost, time space, or otherwise.
The term 'premium' implies that your software is giving the best functionality there is, or the best functionality that it has to offer. this term should not be used lightly by any developer who wants to be taken seriously in the world of software engineering.
Trialware implies that an application has either full or limited features on the basis of time or functionality. Trialware is not freeware and should never display advertisements for anything other than itself. It is a platform for you to exhibit your product and the main idea is to sell YOUR full product. This is when you call your product a 'Trial.'
The difference between a trial and a demonstration may seem vague but it is not so. It should suffice to say that a 'trial' can be upgraded or unlocked, and a 'demonstration' can be replaced or succeeded with the final product. A demonstration may also have advertisements for other programs or services offered by the developer or its affiliates.
If you like this paper let me know! This is my first draft. Feel free to comment constructively and chat amongst yourselves with proper regard to the topic.
- Posted via mobile
Here is something else that I had not thought of while drafting this document. The term 'full' is like the term 'free' it is completely redundant or otherwise pointless to state that an application incorporates all of its functionality.
I am not yet sure where I stand on the term 'donator' but I am sure I would like to know what the application is donating to. If it is feeding starving children I would like to pat it on the back and send my donation in as well.
The terms 'plus' and 'extended' were not covered either. These terms are highly acceptable and they imply that the application has extra functionality which is not available in other versions.
These terms work very well with titles of prestige or as new ones. For example: 'proffesional standard plus,' 'standard plus' or 'extended basic.' These can be shortened into abbreviations to create some interesting artifacts such as 'PSP,' 'SP,' or 'EB.'
If you are running a charity, consider using the terms '+,' 'plus,' 'extended,' or the abbreviated forms instead of 'donator.'
- Posted via mobile
Uh, what's the point? We're programmers not English Majors LOL
I'm thinking of calling my next app "Professional Lite Standard Trial Free FartMaker+ Version 0.0019a Beta"
No sarcasm...honest
Rootstonian said:
Uh, what's the point? We're programmers not English Majors LOL
I'm thinking of calling my next app "Professional Lite Standard Trial Free FartMaker+ Version 0.0019a Beta"
No sarcasm...honest
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You should do this, the reviews alone would be great
Rootstonian said:
Uh, what's the point? We're programmers not English Majors
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I failed 7th grade twice and dropped out of high school in the 9th grade. So what's YOUR point?
It's okay I understand you are neither professional nor do you aim to be. I taught myself everything I need to know in the field.
I have over 10 years programming experience and I can program in more than 7 different languages including assembler. My point is if you don't try to do anything better you never will. Good luck with fart maker.
- Posted via mobile
Scientia est potentia.
Knowledge is power. Is it for me to decide what you do with it?
- Posted via mobile
I understood your point was making jokes before you ever made your first post to this thread.
There are exceptions to this rule. For example a video game might have the word free in its title, such as 'free world defenders.'
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Fart Maker PLSTF
Interesting artifact.
datajosh said:
You should do this, the reviews alone would be great
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I agree.
If you like this paper let me know! This is my first draft. Feel free to comment constructively and chat amongst yourselves with proper regard to the topic.
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I don't believe the topic of this thread suggests that the readers are searching for jokes.
Since we are on the topic of making jokes...
Rootstonian said:
"Professional Lite Standard Trial Free FartMaker+ Version 0.0019a Beta"
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Free trial demo (FTD) Would make a better artifact than 'trial free' for this application.
LOL. Try less jokes and more focus.
SERIOUSLY, I'm not kidding
- Posted via mobile
How can I increase downloads on my application without paid promotion? Here is the link https <Remove this space> ://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.random_messenger.android&hl=en
Alexhudson623 said:
Simply just try to offer good and quality apps for users or for website design service[/url] site owners. People do really appreciate good apps. I would like to share an example of the game app Candy crush which is doing just amazing and there are millions of users for this game app for now. And hundred and thousands of downloads have been made. People just love good apps. If you are making great then obviously you'll get liked by every one and the downloads will also increase which is a white hat technique.
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Really? You are saying that just make your game and people will find it if it's good enough? Maybe that was true some years ago, but certainly nowadays it's completely wrong. Optimize your keywords to be shown in relevant searches is one of the keys (ASO), but unfortunately not the only one. Spread the word in alternative channels is also necessary... but it isn't enough neither. Actually, get users without spend tons of dollars in advertising is quite a challenge. I really would like to hear some advices from someone who have experience in this.
By the way, JeanPierreQC, your idea is quite good, but I'm afraid there's many apps which do exactly the same, anyway cool idea, it's a pity you need a lot of users to make it work.
With patience
Unless you get very lucky there is no any simple way to get users fast. The market places are very competitive. Market you apps in social media and internet forums, get all your friends and relatives download your apps. Make many apps that draw users to your other apps. Make so great app that somebody wants to become your partner and does the promotion for you. Simple things like the signature banner below this message can make the difference in the long term.
try to implement the ASO to trigger the app installs
Don't forget that download alone isn't enough. you need the users to be engaged. Having thousands of downloads will not give you higher ranking if everyone simply uninstall it immediately. So be aware from pay per install plan where the users has insensitive to perform the installation. At the end of the day, your app needs to be able to keep the customers with you.
ASO is imho a bit overrated. Having relevant keywords and a nice looking icon and screens, and stuff like that, is simply common sense to me. As long as you have that you have good enough ASO really. ASO isn't some secret trick to get thousands of daily downloads like some people seem to think. There are no secret tricks for that.
To get a lot of download you need to put in A LOT of work, and/or A LOT of money. And have a really good app of course.
Anyway, I good idea that has worked very well for me is localising. If you can't localise your entire app you can at least localise the app description. Adding a few more "big" languages for my app description have almost doubled my downloads, even though the app itself is in english only. It's also cheap as you can get translations for $5 each on fiverr. Sure you won't know how good they are for that little money, but it's basically no money spent and it's probably a lot better than google translate at the very least.
If you are sure that your app is engaging enough for users then try to put as many sharing options as possible within you app like fb,whatapp,twitter. this can boost your downloads.
digibligames said:
Anyway, I good idea that has worked very well for me is localising. If you can't localise your entire app you can at least localise the app description. Adding a few more "big" languages for my app description have almost doubled my downloads, even though the app itself is in english only. It's also cheap as you can get translations for $5 each on fiverr. Sure you won't know how good they are for that little money, but it's basically no money spent and it's probably a lot better than google translate at the very least.
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Hi,
Pretty interesting and good suggestion.
Could you please share some stats or further experiences about with v.s. without localising
Have you tried PR to push your app?
There's a blog post called "State of App Promotion" that you should check out. Can't post the link because I'm a new user, but just search for "DecisiveAds" on Twitter. It's pinned to the profile. Good luck!
AAP -Android App Promotion
Try AAP - Android App Promotion app on playstore as they provide free download exchange services where you download an app and your app gets downloaded in return .You can see the results in daily reports and take appropriate measure while doing so .
I checked the AAP - The idea is good, but the app has only 1 thousand installs, probably no more than 300 active, that means using this app I can drive maximum 300 installs - not serious promotion. Additionally, it is not clear, how google will consider this way of promotion - legitimate or not? So, taking a risk for few more installs worth?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
Hi,
Insensitive install is quiet good for new app, because google don't care too much about uninstall for the first month of launch. Many big company also use insensitive install. But link building, website review, user review, how often user come back to you app is also really important.
dandev99 said:
Don't forget that download alone isn't enough. you need the users to be engaged. Having thousands of downloads will not give you higher ranking if everyone simply uninstall it immediately. So be aware from pay per install plan where the users has insensitive to perform the installation. At the end of the day, your app needs to be able to keep the customers with you.
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Sorry but this is so wrong...
Having thousands of VALID downloads will boost your rankings even if 900 of them uninstalled it a day later. I'm writing from experience and not guessing
website promotion
The ultimate goal of search engine promotion is to increase sales. The more people see the site in high positions in the issue, the more people it visits and theoretically can become your customers. In order for a seo to produce results, it is necessary that the site be properly optimized using tools for a technical audit of the site and its analysis on parameters such as links, content and others.
Hi Fellow Developers,
A little bit about myself. I am part of a group called 'New Rich' . The NR is a group of individuals who make just enough money to fulfill their dreams by doing things that excites them with their free time . Each NR is excited by different things and I find my excitement in teaching others what I have learnt and still learn from the group. I am currently working in India and I teach a lot of youngsters the way of the new rich and enable them to be financially free by blogging, App development E-Commerce and me and my fellow NR's do a lot of free knowledge sharing on this front . I see that a lot of developers develop brilliant apps but fail to get it in front of the market and the app gets lost in oblivion. I hope that I can give my two cents here and be able to help you in promoting your apps. This is my first post and I would not be able to post links here . But will update the post if it proves popular and once I have posted 10 comments.
Warning : Post would be long and will be updated from time to time so feel free to grab a cup of coffee.
The post is based on two principles.
80/20 Principle (Pareto's Law) : 80% of your downloads comes from 20% of the sources.
Pareto's law on income distribution can be applied to just about anything you want . The usually accepted assumption that all the work you do will yield equal result is false. For example : Most of the blogs will have that 10 or 20 posts out of a 100 which gets them more than 80% of the traffic. Only 20 % of what you study will be asked in your examinations. 80 % of your effort on preparation for the exam is useless. So what if you can know that 20 % of your promotion effort which is giving you more than 80 % of your downloads ? Then all you will need to do is spend more time on this 20 % and not waste time on the other 80 %.
Parkinson's Law : Work expands to fill the time available for its completion
After you know that 20% which is giving you the best results. Come up with the things you should do to maximize and DO IT NOW !!! Keep a deadline of 3 hours to complete all your promotion task and call it a day. Don't fall into the trap of reading a hundred posts on promotion and not doing even one . Dont get into the habit of 'paralysis by analysis'. Another suggestion would be not to read something to its entirety. Even this post. Read the part that you really need to do now and the rest when you are ready to execute .
You must be well aware by now that more than 80% of the apps in Playstore get majority of the downloads and consequently more than 80% of the revenue. I don't want to bombard you with stats bore you to death. This is also true with marketing and sales. 80% of your sales will come from 20 % of your sources. Here I want to distinguish between sales and marketing.
Marketing : Where you let a lot of people know about your app . Promotion, Ads, Guest Post are examples for marketing.
Sales : Where you convincing a person who reaches your play store link because of marketing to download your app. Beautiful app Icon, an HD YouTube video explaining your app, screenshots explaining your app features on each screen and not just a plain screenshot are examples of sales.
Our method for app promotion is simple. Find out which 20 % of the events or actions that you do gets you 80% of your success (80/20 Principle) and Do more of that 20 % to get you the best result in the least amount of time spent(Parkinsons Law).
Finding out which 20% of the things you do is getting you 80% of your result
One of the problems is finding out from where you are getting your downloads. So the idea is to measure from which source you are getting maximum downloads. This can be done in three ways.
Whenever you are posting your playstore url ALWAYS use an url shortner(search "Google url shortner" ) and use the short link to post about your apps in forums. This will allow you to track the sources from which you are getting your clicks from and this is very important.
You can now link your app to Google Analytics. This will allow you to track how your downloads are generated. Using this you will be able to better determine the percentage of your downloads which are generated through Organic(People searching for your app or keyword in your app description through Google Search and Play Store) and InOrganic(People clicking on some link you have posted elsewhere and reaching your app) . Google on how you can add your app to google analytics page and its easy.
Another effective method to know if your app was mentioned on any blogs or news is very important to keep track of your app.
Enter your app name in quotes in Google Search(Ex : "FallToid app") and click on "google news" . At the very end of the search list you will have an option to called "Create an Alert" . Set that up once and whenever your app is mentioned on any news or blog you automatically get alerted about it by Google.
If you do the above , you can be rest assured that you are tracking almost all the sources of your downloads. Also I have noted that many people don't trust short-links so it would be better if you add something like (shortened link to play-store) to let people know that it is a play-store link.
Next up, Posting links to your app . I have a list of forums and websites on which I have had success promoting my client's apps and I will post those when I am able to do so. But basically there are two kinds of apps .
Promotion based apps : These are the apps which people don't want currently or don't know it exists but will download them when they come across it. These apps will not get much organic downloads. But can go viral based on the downloads they get. Examples for these apps are most of the games and some of the apps. User sees the link or reads about the app from some website or forum and downloads the app. These apps need more promotion channels including Social network sites.
Need based apps : These are the apps that user goes looking for. Examples of these are popular games like Chess, Crosswords, Scrabble etc or some root apps such as SuperUser, or sim unlock app like SuperSimUnlocker are examples of such apps. These apps will get organic downloads but will need some promotion and acceptance initially.
This post will talk about promotion based apps.
I love forums like XDA for promoting my apps for one main reason . You don't need permission to create a post(like this one) provided that you follow the rules and add some value to its readers. Forums are after all about user generated content and the more good content they get the better it is for them . Plus most of the forums are free. That is why I suggest you begin by writing a useful content for the users of the forums and add value first. I have also seen that many of us will just reply to a thread that talks about an app and spam it with your play store links . This is useless and does not work 80 % percent of the time . Spend most of your time here and it will be worth it .
Next up app review sites , If you can pay 100 bucks for a couple of review sites to review your app it will do wonders to your promotion . Don't look at this as an expense but as an investment. If you have faith in your app then go ahead and spend it . At worst you will at-least know what does not work .
Play store is not the only app market for you you know , Play-store has the highest number of users but also stiff competition . Place your app on all the alternative stores that you can find and this will get you more downloads. The main goal is to get your app in many places as possible and who knows if an influential blogger likes your app then he may spread the word around.
You have already heard it many times that your app needs to have a social presence. But Google+, You Tube is much more important than Facebook and Twitter simply because these are Google Products. Integrating Google + in your app as well as an HD video on YouTube will make Google like you very much . Also if your app is doing very well including GoogleAdMob will get you much much more promotion than using any other Ads platform simply because this is a Google product and it is in the best interest of Google to take care of the app which earns them most.
Add your app in product hunt dot com . This will get you some eyeballs.
I know press release is important but I dont want to spend all my time on it . What I do is spend 50 bucks on pitchpedgion dot com and send my app to over 120 influential bloggers at a time and call it a day.
The last promotional effort that I do is I find the app which is similar to my app. For Ex : If I am doing a calculator app I find out the competitor app and lets say the name of the app is "Calcu" . Then I search for the app on Google along with the quotes. This will give me the list of websites that this app was mentioned in and get in touch with them and use this trail to promote my app in the same places.
I have also noted that many of us just spam comments this actually works for some time . As you can see comments are sorted as latest comment first. So this means that if you add a comment earlier and don't add your comment often then you will get to the bottom of the comments and will be a futile effort.
That is it . Now sit back and analyze from where you are getting maximum downloads and spend more time on it . Don't worry about the least 10 percent since it is not worth your time .
I will post part 2 of this post shortly.
Mods, Please consider this to be a sticky post and if I have broken any of the forum rules please send me a pm allowing me to correct myself. Happy Promoting.
Great read, looking forward for the next part!
It's true 20% of my apps have the +80% of total revenue! Do you think i should focus on promoting those 20% or the others?