When advertising your iPhone app, you want to be where your potential customers are – online. Internet marketing offers you many ways to spread the word and boost your sales, even on a small budget. The advantages of online marketing for iPhone developers include:

• It’s low cost: You don’t need a huge budget – there are many online marketing tactics that work well even on a modest budget. The point is to keep your eye on the prize: make sure your ad dollars are coming back to you in the form of increased app sales.
• It’s cost-effective: For some types of online marketing, you only pay when your customer takes the action you want. For example, when you place an advertisement on Google, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad and is sent to your website.
• It’s targeted: You can reach only the people you want to reach. Target your advertising toward the people most likely to buy your app. There is no need to waste time or money with ads for a general audience.
• It’s easy to get started: You can start your online marketing any time, and many tactics allow you to get up and running quickly. You might already visit web sites that could help your marketing efforts, such as discussion forums that you could participate in or app reviews sites that you could submit to.

A lot of the most effective advertising is done online, which is perfect for promoting your app. Paid search advertising (also called search engine marketing or SEM) is a good example of how internet marketing can help you make money from your apps.

Paid search ads are the sponsored links you see on Google or Yahoo, that are purchased by advertisers. On Google, they show up on the top and right-hand side of the page.

Here is how search engine advertising gives you all the advantages listed above:

• Paid search ads are low-cost: You set your own budget when you place ads on search engines. You can also set a daily maximum spend, so you know that you won’t pay more than a certain amount. You’re in control, and you can start with even a small budget.
• It’s cost-effective to use paid search ads: When you use search engine marketing, you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad and is sent to your website. Unlike many other forms of advertising, like newspapers or magazines, where you pay a fixed amount but don’t know how many people actually see your ad (let alone do something such as visit your website), paid search advertising is highly cost effective.
• Paid search ads can be targeted: You make a specific type of app, and you want to show your ad only to a specific type of person (people who are most likely to want to buy your app). It’s possible with search engine advertising. You can show your ads only to people who have shown interest in what you’re selling. How do you know this? Because they typed something in the search engine, such as your type of app or a problem that your app solves. Targeting your paid search ads saves you money by not wasting money on ads that are shown to people unlikely to buy your app.
• It’s easy to get started with paid search ads: You don’t need an ad agency or a degree in marketing to get started advertising on Google. They’ve made it easy with a self-serve website that walks you through it, meaning you can be up and running quickly.

Spreading the word about your app online (in addition to your efforts inside the App Store) can be one of the best ways to raise awareness and increase your profits. There are many ways to market your app, including paid search advertising, that can help you turn your app into big profits.

Paid search ads on search engines like Google or Yahoo can be an inexpensive and easy way to drive people to buy your app. But is it right for you? Learn the ins and outs of search engine advertising and how you can start boosting your app sales today using this powerful tool.

What is search engine marketing?

Paid search gets a lot easier once you realize all the names you have been hearing for it are the same thing. Paid search may also be called search engine marketing (SEM), search engine advertising, or pay per click (PPC), but they are all basically the same thing: you pay to place text ads on search engines.

When someone does a search for a keyword you have chosen, your ad shows. You only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad, making it a cost-effective way to drive traffic to your app’s website.

(Google will not let you link directly from a paid search ad to your app in the App Store, so you must have a stand-alone website in order to use search engine marketing.)

Where can I advertise?

The three major search engines each offer search engine advertising. Here are links to more information about placing ads on the search engines:

• Google – with Google AdWords
• Yahoo – with Yahoo Sponsored Search
• Bing – with Microsoft Bing Search Advertising

Many app developers start out advertising with Google because it has the largest audience by far, but the choice is yours. The best way to get started is to sign up for an account and try a small advertising campaign as a test.

Is search engine marketing right for advertising my app?

While advertising in search engines can be a powerful tool for finding new customers for your app, it may not be right for everyone. You will not really know until you have tried a small campaign, but here are some tips on when search engine marketing might make sense for you.

Paid search might be helpful if you…

• Have more than one app featured on your website
• Offer a specific type of app people are looking for (like “cooking apps” or “tours of Paris”)
• Sell paid apps

Paid search may not be the best choice if you…

• Do not have a website
• Only offer free apps

Search engine advertising can be a powerful tool to help you promote your app. Because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, it can be ideal for advertisers on a tight budget.

Would you like more helpful tips on marketing your iPhone app, including using search engine advertising to boost your sales? Sign up for our email newsletter today and you will get easy, powerful tips written just for app developers like you. You will also receive two free guides to help supercharge your app profits.

Selling your app is not the only way to make money in the App Store. Putting advertisements in your app can be an easy way to turn your free app into a profit. But how do you get started inserting ads in your app?

We will show you the basic steps to show ads in your app, and offer helpful links to companies that sell ads for you. Several mobile advertising companies have made it simple to put ads in your iPhone apps and start making money. Here is how you can insert ads in your apps and make the most of this prime opportunity.

Step 1. Choose a mobile ad service

If you are developing an iPhone app or already have created one, your first step to inserting ads in your app is to choose one of the many companies that will sell ads on your behalf. They line up advertisers to put messages online and share a part of the profits with you, the app developer.

Here are some options to consider:

• AdMob
• Medialets
• Smaato
• Mobclix
• Tapjoy

Signing up with these companies is like having a full-time ad sales force working you around the clock. You do not have to find sponsors, deal with billing, or insert each ad in your app. They do the work for you.

Step 2. Insert code into your app

Once you have signed up with one of the mobile ad providers, your next task is to choose where the ads will appear in your app.

You usually just put some lines of code in your app that says where the ad should appear. For example, someone at Mobclix showed how to insert the code in just a minute and other companies offer equally easy set ups.

Many times, you get paid based on how many times your ad is shown to users or clicked on by users, so it is important to choose a good location for your ads. On the other hand, you do not want the ads to distract too much with the operation or enjoyment of your app. You might want to test several different sizes and locations for your ads over time to see which ones work best in your app and yield the biggest profits – that is step three.

Step 3. Test and tweak

Once you insert the code, users who download your app will start seeing the ads – but your job is not done. To make your ads perform their best – and boost your profits – you will need to keep an eye on them and make any tweaks necessary.

The service that provides ads probably offers you a way to track their results. Take the time to learn how to use the reporting interface and what all the charts mean.

Then, start experimenting to see what works best with your users. You could decide to change the size or location of ads. Maybe you want to show ads only after every other startup or when the user takes a specific action. Keep on testing and tweaking for best results.

If you have a free app in the App Store or you are developing one now, consider placing ads in your app. It may not be right for every app, but the three basic steps we shared with you make it easy to get up and running today.

If you are interested in learning more about making money by having ads in your app, keep checking this blog for more tips. And, for the latest articles and advice, sign up for our email newsletter today.

Many developers wonder, can I really make money by selling iPhone apps? Just look at the numbers: by 2013, Americans will buy $4.2 billion in mobile applications according to the Yankee Group. Make this year your time to start cashing in on this exploding opportunity – we’ll show you how.

Your opportunity to profit from iPhone apps is growing as more people buy an iPhone or iPod Touch, which can both run the apps you will make. Over 30 million iPhones have been purchased so far, meaning you have a large and growing audience of potential customers.

2010 looks to be another huge year for the iPhone as the leading smart phone continues to soar in popularity. This means that you will be able to make more money by selling your app to more people.

The first step to making money with iPhone apps, is to create your app. The most important part of the development process is to have an original idea for an app that will help people in their everyday lives. Ask yourself, what problem does my app solve? Making money really comes down to solving your customers’ problems, and the best developers know that they can only profit from an idea that truly helps make their customers’ lives easier (or at least a little more fun).

Next, get your app listed in the App Store. As 2010 starts, there are over 100,000 apps for sale in Apple’s superstore. How many apps there will be at the end of the year is anyone’s guess, but you want to make sure yours is one of them if you want to start cashing in.

Before you start making money with iPhone apps, though, spend some time thinking about your marketing plan. How will people find your app? Why would people want to buy it? What is the right price for my product? These are all critical questions to ask yourself before launching your app – and to keep asking yourself while you are selling it.

We would like to make it easier for you – sign up for our email newsletter and receive our new App Marketing Power Pack for free. It is stuffed with helpful tips to help you boost your profits. Plus, each newsletter will show you the simple shortcuts to increase your sales. Sign up today

There are many helpful articles and wonderful tools out there to help you promote your iPhone app, but how do you find them? It’s a question we get asked often here at Marketing Your App, so we put together a list of essential app marketing resources you will want to bookmark.

Check out our Ultimate List of iPhone App Marketing Resources for 73 websites, blogs, articles, tools, tips, and yes, even apps that can help you boost your sales.

Use this huge list of resources to inspire your app marketing and make publicizing your software easier. Let your developer friends know, too. See the best tips, tools, and articles in our app marketing resource list.

Stay on top of the latest iPhone news to help with marketing your app. We round-up new articles from this blog and beyond with tips and advice for selling more apps and boosting your app profits.

Open and free ad management platform .app/ads launches public beta. A new way to offer advertising in your app makes it a new way to make money.

Do this today to sell your iPhone app like a pro. Our new article show you the insider secret to convincing App Store shoppers to buy your app.

Want new customers for your app? How iPod Touch users are outpacing iPhone users. When you make an iPhone app, don’t forget your audience is larger than you think. More and more people are using their iPod Touch to buy apps, meaning you have a perfect opportunity to boost your profits.

Is it better to have an app that’s perfect or finished? See what Wired says. Maybe it’s better to just launch your app. Of course, you do not want to launch your software before it is ready, which could frustrate users who find bugs. But you also do not want to keep tweaking your app until it is “perfect” because you miss out on money-making opportunities.

Want more App Store shoppers to buy your app? The 4 secrets for success. How you describe your app in the App Store can make or break the sale. Discover what to write to set yourself apart from the pack.

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