How to promote an application in Google Play. Promotion of Android applications on Google Play

It's no secret that today the mobile application market offers a wide range, which is updated every day with new versions of programs. However, few of us have thought about how exactly this system works and what the rating of the products that are presented in it is based on. It must be said that today promoting mobile applications on Google Play is a kind of way to make money, both for software developers and Google Play owners. Now about the main thing. How is the hierarchical ladder of applications on Google Play built, and what principle is embedded in it?

Relevance of earning money in the Google Play application
Where to start making money on Google Play?
How much can you earn on Google Play?

In fact, everything is simple here. There are only three simple but objective indicators. Each of them immediately evaluates the presented product from several points of view. As a result, with a large number of positive ratings for all these criteria, the application will take the highest position in the search results and will have a high rating in a specific TOP. As a result, the mobile application market will be replenished with another worthy new product.

Relevance of earning money in the Google Play application

Anyone who has ever used the Google Play mobile application knows that there are plenty of different ratings and TOPs in it. They can be combined into one small classification according to the following criteria:

by category;
by update;
recommended;
paid application;
free.

We must immediately clarify that such a classification of TOPs takes place only in our country, since in a number of countries there are no tops of new paid or free applications. Also, the ranking of the tops for each country is different. Google, let's say, made sure that monopolists did not capture the entire mobile application market, and each of them got their well-deserved piece of the pie. In general, the ranking of tops and ratings is divided into two categories: paid and free software. To quickly enter the Google Play site, it is better to set some price for your product and get into the new paid category. Then you get fast promotion, traffic and some minimum income.

Where to start making money on Google Play?

In fact, everything is trivial and simple. Anyone can register on the market’s website and immediately create their own, albeit simple, application. Next, you need to upload it to the website, promote it and start selling. In case of free access, your income will be based solely on advertising inside the software. So, the general features that Google Play gives its users:

download free software and earn money from advertising inside it;
it’s easy to sell software for a small amount, but if you take into account the large number of downloads, as well as regular clicks on advertising, then here we are talking about quite decent money and decent earnings;
add paid features to free software.

It is quite obvious that many people do not have even a minimal understanding of how exactly software for smartphones is created, but no one is saying that you cannot simply order software for Android. The price tag for such work will be around $100. Moreover, this basic shell can be used several times, changing only its filling. In this case, orders will cost you less, and your earning potential will only increase.

It is clear that we need to think about the very filling of the shell that we will create. There is room for your imagination: jokes, books, games, instructions, auto codes, etc. That is, everything that is in demand. Well, now let’s calculate how much you can earn from this.

In this section we give out promotional tips for free. We conduct an audit and give a verdict to the applications. BET UP contacted us. This is a social casino. That is, bets are placed on virtual currency, but the odds are real. This is a simulator that allows you to improve your ability to predict game outcomes. The guys asked to evaluate their application, talked about their progress and shared their problems.

Below, BET UP reveal their lowdown. And then we comment on their app. Go!

Business model

Gaming stores are full of social casinos and games that offer users to plunge into the world of excitement, bright colors and big winnings, so that the user does not risk his real money. We decided to look for what was not yet in this niche. Slots, roulettes, bingo, poker, blackjack anddifferent types of card games - all this has been on the market for a long time. However, we noticed that sports betting has no equivalent in the social gaming market. Since they are considered a gambling sport, we decided to implement our idea.

Development took a very long timefor a long time (about two years), the developers changed, the design also underwent changes, even the name changed three times. We invested money that we received from other applications, so the process was delayed. But still, this would not have happened if not for the cooperation with 1XBet, which agreed to provide us with access to matches and odds.

Our target audience is people who live by sports. Mostly these are men. The application is available in different languages, we plan to add new ones. So far, the majority of users are from Russia, since we are closer in culture and therefore it is better to retain them (the company is located in Moldova - approx. PushApp ). But we cannot name only Russia as the target audience. We also expect to get a good percentage of active users from the USA, Great Britain, and Germany. Sports are more popular there, and the income per user is higher.

Monetization model

We are currently using In-App Purchases. Only one place offers video advertising to increase your daily bonus. We don’t install banners and full-screen advertising as a matter of principle. User Experience is more important to us. But now we are considering adding an offerwall from Fyber or Tapjoy, since many users do not want or cannot pay, but would be happy to complete a couple of free tasks to get “betcoins” (our game currency).

Promote strategyapplications

We haven’t done any promotion yet because the metrics are not the best. Eatideas on how to improve them and there are ideas for new content, we are now actively working on this. After a major update, app promotion seems more justified. We are thinking of using Facebook Ads, Adwords. Your motivated one also looks very temptingPushApp traffic, but first you need to be sure that this will not lead tosome troubles from Google Play.

Traffic sources

Traffic is now only organic. 500-1000 new installations per day, of which only 60% of users make their first bet. Russia – 27%, Romania – 5.5%, Spain, Italy, Ukraine (and other countries) 4-5% each.

Problems we face

Very often, users write in reviews or in support: “How can we withdraw money?”That is, when installing, they think that this is a game for real money. Upon registration, a bonus of $5,000 Betcoins is given. They believe they can exchange them for real money. This is probably whyconversion and retention suffer.

Our application is a betting simulator, likeand other social casinos. For example,from large companies like Huuuge, Playtika, Zynga. But we did not notice such expectations from themusers. Everyone plays for fun. For some reason, our users are moreprone to real winnings. Maybe it's due to the wrong design, screenshots, name or description of the application? I would like users to realize before installing that this is a “for fun” game, and to write in capital letters on the screenshots or icon that there are no realwinnings is not true. This can scare away good users, and in otherThere are no such inscriptions in social casinos.

Debriefing | PushApp team comment

Ksenia Burn, head of marketing and PR department at PushApp

Nikita Starozhilov, ASO-specialist

Visual and text optimization

Icon

There is nothing to complain about. It includes both the application logo and text. Concisely conveys the essence - “betting on sports”. Five stars is also a good move. It is associated with a good rating and at the same time hints that the application is of high quality. It also looks good among competitors’ icons and stands out. Good job.

Application page

The screenshots are high quality. Concise text that conveys the main benefits is a powerful tool. The only thing I can complain about is the first screen. “Sports betting in a social format.” It's not entirely clear what you mean? Are we talking about the community and competition within, or the fact that you don’t risk real money? It’s worth clarifying in order to weed out the audience who thinks that the application has a money withdrawal option. For example: “Sports betting with virtual money” or “Sports betting without risk.”

Description

The first paragraph of the description also needs to clearly explain this idea. About 2 out of 1000 people read beyond the first paragraph. This is more of an optimization tool: to place keys and be better indexed in Google Play.

First paragraph of the description of the application “BET UP”

How can you succinctly describe the essence of the application in a couple of lines? For example, like this.

“BETUP is a betting simulator with virtual currency. You're not risking any real money, but you're practicing your skills in predicting game outcomes and competing against other people."

The full description is well laid out and easy to read. There are grammatical and punctuation errors, but overall they are minor. It’s definitely worth correcting the first point. It's confusing. The title is “Virtual money”, and then a mention of the fact that the user will immediately receive $5,500 free of charge into his account. It is not obvious to a new user that this is just a symbol. It must be emphasized that this is not real money. The user looks for an application to place real bets, downloads you, realizes that this is not the case and deletes it. It’s better to immediately cut off unnecessary audiences.

You can download the application.

Do you want an audit of your application? Write:

You definitely won’t be bothered by a look from the outside – kamon.

App Promotion

We don’t allow apps that directly or indirectly engage in or benefit from promotion practices that are deceptive or harmful to users or the developer ecosystem. This includes apps that engage in the following behavior:

Using deceptive ads on websites, apps, or other properties, including notifications that are similar to system notifications and alerts.
Promotion or installation tactics that redirect users to Google Play or download apps without informed user action.
Unsolicited promotion via SMS services.

It is your responsibility to ensure that any ad networks or affiliates associated with your app comply with these policies and do not employ any prohibited promotion practices.

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Metadata

We don't allow apps with misleading, irrelevant, excessive, or inappropriate metadata, including but not limited to the app's description, developer name, title, icon, screenshots, and promotional images. We also don"t allow user testimonials in the app"s description.

Here are some examples of inappropriate text, images, or videos within your listing:

Imagery or videos with sexually suggestive content. Avoid suggestive imagery containing breasts, buttocks, genitalia, or other fetishized anatomy or content, whether illustrated or real.
Language inappropriate for a general audience. Avoid profane and vulgar language in your app listing. If it is a critical element of your app, you must censor its presentation within the store listing.
Graphic vividly depicted in app icons, promotional images, or videos.
Depictions of the illicit usage of drugs. Even EDSA (Educational, Documentary, Scientific, or Artistic) content must be suitable for all audiences within the store listing.

Here are a few best practices:

Highlight what's great about your app. Share interesting and exciting facts about your app to help users understand what makes your app special.
Make sure that your app's title and description accurately describe your app's functionality.
Avoid using repetitive or unrelated keywords or references.
Keep your app's description succinct and straightforward. Shorter descriptions tend to result in a better user experience, especially on devices with smaller displays. Excessive length, detail, or repetition can result in a violation of this policy.
Remember that your listing should be suitable for a general audience.

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Avoid using inappropriate text, images or videos in your listing.

User Ratings, Reviews, and Installs

Developers must not attempt to manipulate the placement of any apps in Google Play. This includes, but is not limited to, inflating product ratings, reviews, or install counts by illegitimate means, such as fraudulent or incentivized installs, reviews and ratings.

Here are some examples of common violations:

Ratings and reviews are benchmarks of app quality. Users depend on them to be authentic and relevant. Here are some best practices when responding to user reviews:
Keep your reply focused on the issues raised in the user's comments and don’t ask for a higher rating.

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Include references to helpful resources such as a support address or FAQ page.

Content Ratings

Our content rating system includes official ratings from the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) and is designed to help developers communicate locally relevant content ratings to users. add

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How content ratings are used

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Content ratings are used to inform consumers, especially parents, of potentially objectionable content that exists within an app. They also help filter or block your content in certain territories or to specific users where required by law, and determine your app’s eligibility for special developer programs.

How content ratings are assigned

To receive a content rating, you must fill out a rating questionnaire on the Play Console that asks about the nature of your apps’ content. Your app will be assigned a content rating from multiple rating authorities based on your questionnaire responses.

If you make changes to your app content or features that affect the responses to the rating questionnaire, you must submit a new content rating questionnaire in the Play Console.

Visit the Help Center to find more information on the different rating authorities and how to complete the content rating questionnaire.

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Rating appeals

If you do not agree with the rating assigned to your app, you can appeal directly to the IARC rating authority using the link provided in your certificate email.

Was this article helpful?

This gave some positive effect, but I want something more.

I thought about it and decided to help them by making an article for other people who are involved in game development and who are interested how to promote your games.

First there will be some digression from the topic, which will explain how I know this question. A little further on there are specific recipes and tips.

My experience;
4pda;
XDA-Developers Android Forums;
reddit;
Publics on social networks;
YouTube channel;
Creative approach;
Natural traffic google play, title;
Optimization of the game itself. Description and test.

My experience

Thinking about how to help the guys, I remembered that I touched on this issue in one of my videos

You can look from 7:10 , if you have time. But the article is better :)

This was the last video in the series where I made a game like SimCity. There was an interesting epic, I made the game from scratch and finally made it. He recorded the whole process and told everything.

Hmm... I thought Google removed my game, but apparently not. It still hangs there:

It was a very interesting experience to take and make a game from scratch, record the whole process and then post it. There really isn't that much of this on YouTube.

In general, I haven’t finished games for a long time, but I once published something:

As you can see, evil Google forced me to remove almost all the games in the end.

A couple more

There were a few tricks, a few subtleties, etc. Let's read how you can get 19 to downloads.

But I'll say right away I put 0 and . into promotion.

How to promote your game for free

Times change. I also posted games 3 years ago(how time flies! Ahhhh!), then the situation was a little different. It was simpler. In the sense that now there are a lot of studios, there are a lot of markups, they can quickly copy your game and easily promote it to the top for money higher than yours. And all the traffic will go there.

Therefore, it’s still better to have a small budget, but if you’ve made a really good game, then don’t skimp on a normal budget. Free promotion is just a base, useful for learning.

Important! Before you promote your game, work on it some more.
Catch all the bugs, run a few more tests, optimize the game page in Google Play to the maximum and what is very important:

Make a trailer video for your game!

Important! Super important! Video clip 1-3 minutes where there will simply be screenshots (if better in static form) and a listing of the main features of your game: its features. The goal is to make sure that after watching the video people want to download it.

This will also give you subscribers on YouTube who will follow the updates and can then download your other games. And from there you can send them to VK, Twitter or wherever you publish news.

If you don’t have such a place (your own public page), then you need to do it. Ideally, for a good game, it is done separate website with forum. But for a small game, a public page or your topic in reddit will be enough. Just give people the opportunity to communicate, discuss, express ideas and suggestions. This is very useful for the game and for you.

4pda

This is the largest site in the CIS about mobile applications, and overall the site is cool.

Make an announcement there, something like this:

They have their own publishing rules, read everything carefully. And before that, it’s better to type some basic 20-40 grades and 100-300 downloads (You can have fake ratings and your friends + your downloads. Just add and delete).

The fact is that if there is no activity in the topic, it can be demolished, so you can also write something there from fakes. In that case, I didn’t do anything like that, I was just lucky and people liked the game. However, when I later tried another game, my topic was demolished.

What will be the benefit of publishing your game on 4pda? Give you 50-500 downloads. Maybe more, it depends on the game. Post the topic yourself and answer all the questions. Post all updates.

A link to Google Play is also embedded there. You can post the apk file there (often they require it), but don’t be afraid. Google itself can somehow link even an apk downloaded in this way and everything will be ok. Make records and achievements in the game, login via Google + (optional) and don’t complain that the game is being stolen.

This will not be a disadvantage for you. They will steal it anyway, especially if it’s good.

These thieving people will give you ratings, promote the topic and give you a basic kick in the ass.

Personally, with this game about a virus, I generally listened to everyone there, they offered me a lot of things there, and I did and implemented almost everything. People like it when you take their opinions into account.

It was also there that I met other developers who helped me with graphics and gave me a ton of useful advice.

Additionally: there are probably more 5-10 similar 4pda sites where you can also upload your game. Search, post everywhere. 5-10 Downloads from the site will be important to you, and these are also backlinks to your game. This is also a plus.

XDA-Developers Android Forums

This game of mine, despite the primitive graphics, is mind blowing in terms of complexity

See how many views my topics have:

The fact that there are few comments there is normal.

A lot of it is downloads.
And I’m still very weak in the matter of announcements; I didn’t do everything perfectly in those days.

What should you write in the announcement?

Briefly: What is your game about? You can just copy what you have in Google Play.

There is no need to describe everything in detail and write a lot.

Help should already be in the game itself.

Describe it point by point. main game features. (features)

I often just list the numbers:

What you can currently do in this game

- Simple fight mechanic. Build walls, recruit soldiers, do raids

- Economy. Extract resources from nearby, produce goods from it

- Do randomly generated quests and trade deals o boost your king's glory

- Manage your king. He can die. Now there are 30 perk which your king can get, most of he have unique effect

- Religion/science. Choose a religion like when you "faith" grows. High faith = bad science

- 6 different technologies to research

- Manage funding (medicine, army, health) and budget. Taxes. You can also do simple trade

- 3 climate zones with different yield for each recourse and unique conditions

Two difficulty level, three climatic zones, six technologies, thirty ruler perks, etc. Write briefly, but cover all the features.

Maybe someone wanted a game where there are religions?

Well, approximately... You may not do it that way

Notice what I did at all. This group is about tyccon (game managers), and not about creating games. But we should have talked about creating games. Nevertheless, 29 pros. Not too bad.

What should be included in the description?

Screenshots;
Link to the game;
Video about the game (trailer), if available;
Write what the game is about;
Whine that you are a noob, don’t know how to do anything, that this is your first game, etc.

I have a funny title. Not the name of the game (City Rush), which no one knows anything about, but - " I made a simple game manager". I made it (one person! Respect already). Simple (modesty is a plus, sometimes) and what a genre.

Reddit is something like our peekaboo (more precisely, on the contrary, peekaboo is simply a clone of reddit).

There gigantic traffic, huge trust and a lot of respect. The site is really cool and this is a great opportunity to promote anything at all. But you need to be able to do this. It is not easy.

However, no one is stopping you from sitting there, reading something, liking something, sometimes writing, sometimes creating new topics (rarely!), and stuffing your teeth. Well, then quietly promote something.

But to promote any purely unique project of yours (even a drawing, video, etc.) is always held in high esteem. This is not Pikabu, where Vangogh's drawings are minus.

Publics on social networks

Here, in principle, I have already said everything. Look for all the public pages about creating games, be active. There are many places where you can submit your work.

Don't work alone. Now my friend has already written to me 5 unique tracks.

helped with graphics. Get together in teams and help as much as you can. For example, I know something about promotion and will help with this as best I can.

But I’m weak in graphics and music, and that’s where their help comes in handy.

If you do everything yourself and without any help, all this will be much more difficult, more expensive and longer. I've done this before. This can also do something good, however:

It's fun to walk through the open spaces together. Across the expanses...

A creative approach to advertising your game

It all depends on how much drugs you threw and your ingenuity and courage.

So... Send them a screenshot from your game and ask:

Mistakes of a beginner game designer? What should I fix?

They may not accept it, but who knows? Try it! If you don't try, you won't know. And there, of course, right on the screen (or even in the game, whatever would be on all and any screens) write the name of your game. It's petty, but write it down. Well they will tell you:

Vasya, everything is bullshit

You don't care. Some people might like it. Someone will find you, someone will download your game. Someone will join your public page, etc. Well, if you tried and did everything right, then real experts there will point out mistakes or, in general, even praise you.

Natural traffic google play, title

How Google Play determines which games to place among those that are gaining popularity, or what your position on a request depends on - I don’t know these points well. But I will give one example that may help you. 17 Now, I'm even surprised how I

years ago I came up with this. It accidentally happened. 13 Remember my game about a virus? I played enough of plague inc, of course. So, having created a game called VIRUS, I took approximately 18 -th position in the search for this request, and for the request ANTI VIRUS I took

th position. I searched for “anti-virus”, isn’t I a genius?
People are looking for an antivirus application. They search often.

But no one ever thought of creating a game called “virus”. This is somewhat reminiscent Leningrad group video - boobs

. I wrote about this here:

Second. It worked before, but now I don’t know. Again, it happened to me by accident.

I made a game and called: Protect the castle

Do you understand? The game is not usually called that, it’s like a genre of games (tower defense) in general.

But I actually got very good traffic there from Google Play.

True, I also picked up some minuses, but not so many.

If you call the game:

And this is your new game (and we will imagine that the “super cell” company does not exist, just like the clash of clans games) then you will get 0 traffic.

Or suppose you name the game: fdfdsj32342 - also a failure, as you understand.

By the way, it is not necessary to limit your thinking only to games and only to Google Play.

Let's say you made a game: "Trump is elected president" and did it even before he won the election. If he wins, in a year you have a ton of traffic. The main thing is to make the game normal and really about Trump. Here, in fact, you can sit and meditate on these things for weeks, the topic is very interesting.

Why did supercell make such a name??

Well, of course, they transfer traffic from clash of clans, you don't have to be a genius here.

And why royale? Quite a stupid word. And this is what many people do, who almost certainly know that their content will receive a lot of traffic. They make a new hashtag or a new topic, they don’t need new people to go to something competitive, they need to recruit as many people as possible for unique requests as quickly as possible.

If they called the game: Clash of Putin (a stupid example, I understand), then even they wouldn’t beat Putin in terms of traffic. Do you understand?

Eventually, how to come up with a good name for a game?
Our example: USSR Soviet Factory

Good name? It's unique, that's a plus. Number one in search results.

But where is our leech?

According to USSR it took approximately 25 -th position This is not bad. It will be even higher later. because the competitors are weak. Soviet andFactory also needs to be analyzed separately.

All in all, a good choice of name. Not very bad. You can sit with google keywords planner and look at English-language traffic, by volume.

On request USSR Soviet Factory there is no traffic, but look at the roleplaying ones. Let's say this is interesting: Russian factory- it’s not that thick in terms of traffic, .

What else is interesting there? Actually, nothing, let's just try: Soviet Factory
Again it doesn't show anything. This is weird.

Let's try: USSR
It's interesting there. For example there is back to ussr- similar request

Of course, these are the legendary Beatles! Paul McCartney