Hi guys,
I need to put some ads in a free mac app, but i cant find any new post about this topic on the forum.
How should i do it?
I used to have Google Ads in my free web apps years ago until Google cancelled my account for no reason, no warning, no recourse and never paid me. Also colleagues told me it cheapened the apps I agreed. So, beware.
I put them inside a fixed size HTMLViewer.
As far as i know users nowdays dont like paying for apps. Usually the in app purchases or ads award more, than selling apps.
But if You have any suggestion how to make an app more profitable let me know.
I am not an expert, but I am moving from fully paid apps (where suitable) to free with InApp purchases/subscriptions.
What are you using to create your in app purchases? Xcode? The MBS plugin? Other?
I am registering all my IAP’s both on my web site (in a MySQL database) and within the Apple MAS. I don’t yet know how to create a Windows Store IAP. Depending on whether the App is built for the web site or a Store, I will provide a list of purchasing options (subscription for server space and server processing, and once-off-purchase for an item). Apple offer subscriptions for 1/2/3/6/12 months. The display on screen will ideally be identical whether downloaded from my Web site or the MAS or the Windows Store.
For a WebSite download (Mac, Windows or Linux) I will open up a PayPal browser page. For a MAS download I will perform an MBS IAP. I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with the Windows Store as I haven’t looked into it yet.
I would do a free app to make you be known, and with less possibilities, and a paid “pro” app with all the features.
I would agree, except in the circumstance where my servers are involved. I don’t want anyone to keep demanding a service in 20 years time because they paid $10 back in 2017!
Plus, I’m experimenting to see if IAP’s work!
It really depends on the market and target audience.
We’ve shipped a total of 3 apps that use IAP (and follow Apple’s insane IAP guidelines), probably the worst selling apps in our entire catalogue. So don’t follow the guidelines, they suck!
FREE version and a PAID versions still seem to the be the most successful way (for us), which doesn’t make much sense as there’s very little difference between IAP and split FREE/PAID, but somehow macOS users are more comfortable with that model on the App Store.
FREE with advertising is pretty much dominating on the mobile platform, especially with an IAP option to disable the ads. But I agree it looks cheap on a desktop application.
Apple’s subscriptions model is interesting to me, as it allows for a FREE unlocked trial on the Mac App Store, but I’ve not seen any metrics on how well it performs.
[quote=320196:@Roland Maszlag]As far as i know users nowdays dont like paying for apps. Usually the in app purchases or ads award more, than selling apps.
But if You have any suggestion how to make an app more profitable let me know.[/quote]
Users never liked paying for applications.
And yet customers do… The best way is to have paid upgrades and to make sure that the older customers know that there is a newer version available.
I find with consumer products we see this scenario fairly often, it’s been a lesson that we’ve had to learn. Offering paid upgrades (at discount prices to existing customers) seems to solve a lot of that, somehow people just understand it.
Free with ads is now dominating the Windows App Store and the Android Play Store these days.
I would recommend a separate for-pay app and have free version with ads with a link to pay for your for-pay version.
Only problem I see is that Europe’s new requirements for advertisers to get consent from consumers pretty much leads me to want to create only non-targeted (individualized) version or specify that any ad-supported software is not allowed for use in Europe bc they also require that users be allowed to request the deletion of their data.
Amy
Fastest way for me to delete an app and look for an alternative is to start popping up ads…
and what if you have the pro (paid) version that removes the ads ?
doesn’t matter to me… if I have to suffer thru ads in your demo, I won’t bother looking any farther… but perhaps that is just me
Nope. I think it’s tasteless.
If your app is worth paying for, people will pay for it.
Any advertising done would only show after notice to the user of features that include ads, paired with an option to pay not to see ads and to have additional features,
I’m not telling you to not include ads, I’m just telling you what my (and I’m sure) others reaction would be…
And I’m not sure where “tasteless” applies… I simply find popup ads to be annoying, and if I’m annoyed I go elsewhere
[quote=399632:@Tim Parnell]Nope. I think it’s tasteless.
If your app is worth paying for, people will pay for it.[/quote]
Not everyone can afford to pay for services rendered, much less software. Some of my day job work as a paralegal is done pro bono BTW - criminal defense is poverty-central, even attorneys I know are broker than a church mouse & only do the work bc they hustle side work that offsets the losses of defending the indigent.
So I do keep that segment of the population in mind <3
Tasteless applies to ads in desktop software (I’m agreeing with you).
So, you’re keeping that segment of the population in mind by selling them to advertisers? Often without them knowing what kind of data you’re selling? In my opinion when one chooses ads, they’re choosing to sell people, rather than the product.
[quote=399641:@Tim Parnell]Tasteless applies to ads in desktop software.
So, you’re keeping that segment of the population in mind by selling them to advertisers? Often without them knowing what kind of data you’re selling? In my opinion when one chooses ads, they’re choosing to sell people, rather than the product.[/quote]
Interesting point, never thought of that before. So how would one monetize an app while allowing the impoverished access? The fees on credit card processing would eat up quite a portion of a low-dollar-value order.
You’d mentioned that you’re looking at a poverty-central target, so I wouldn’t expect to be able to monetize very well there. Including ads changes your target market from the people you’re trying to help to the advertisers. You have to then please advertisers first. This is how Google operates. The search results aren’t free, they’re what pleases advertisers with a sprinkling of results that please visitors.
If there is a mass need for the software, someone may step in to help. But if it’s an expensive nice to have, your target audience is the advertisers.
I’d be willing to offer my skills on a pro-bono project if you need help.