Custom Ads in Mobclix

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OK, I feel a little foolish.  Just a quick note in case you made the same mistake I did.  When you are creating a custom ad in Mobclix (I believe it is the same for iPhone and iPad, but I did this for Android) the process has a little trick.

Unlike Admob text ads, or Adsense ads, the “Banner URL” does not refer to the URL that will be displayed to the viewer (either as part of the ad or when the graphic can’t be shown).  Rather, it is the location of the graphic resource that you want to use.  You can self-host it or put it on the web in some other manner.

In other words, rather than uploading your image, you just tell them where to find it.  I don’t know if that causes performance issues or if they cache the ad and serve it.

Either way, I resolved my frustration with the “broken” Mobclix custom ads.

 

 

Admob vs. Mobclix Round 2 – Getting Paid

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The Race is on!

This month I passed the payment threshold for both Admob and Mobclix for my Android app Droid Secret Tips.  Now, that threshold is 5x higher for Mobclix over Admob, but the thing I’m looking for from both is actual payment.  Call me a cynic, but it’s all funny money until I see some payout.  Also note that the higher revenue I’m seeing from Mobclix is responsible for why both reached payout thresholds at the same time.

BTW you might also want to read my previous post on Admob and Mobclix revenue.

Update: Mobclix went into bankruptcy, and had lots of trouble paying developers before that.  Their technology has been acquired by Telefonica, and the new platform is called Axonix.  A review for that network may be coming, but you can poke around here now to find good choices to use instead of Mobclix.

Further Update: Axonix is MIA now, another casualty in the ad network landscape.

Payout Requirements for Mobclix and Admob

Admob: Continue reading →

Amazon Appstore Growing Pains

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After a week of the Amazon Appstore for Android apps being open, I am starting to see a few growing pains.  I’m sure the team at Amazon will sort things out, but here are a few things I’ve noticed.

Your experience may vary, but there are a few things to be cautious about.

My concerns

  • You have to link to Amazon for all market links in your app.  However, since you don’t know when your apps will be released there is a high probability that one app will hit the store and link to… absolutely nothing. Continue reading →

Android Alternate Market Evaluation Criteria

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Market Evaluation

After spending a few months evaluating different alternate Android markets to see where I should deploy my apps, I came up with a few criteria that helped me decide if a site was worth investigating further. I used that criteria in my report on the markets.

Given that there are dozens of markets out there, it’s helpful to have a strategy to decide which one to pursue.  I have seen lots of very pretty and flashy sites that look like they’d be winners, but the numbers showed that I wouldn’t get much traffic from them.  Some are actually dead, and submitting your app puts it into a black hole!

So, there is obviously a need to focus your time and energy on the app markets that will get you the most return.  That can be more downloads, or possibly downloads in a market that you aren’t reaching already.  Some of the markets that I have reviewed show a very different demographic than the main Android Market.

Now, your own criteria may differ from mine – particularly if you speak another language or have staff that can handle activities that require being multi-lingual.

My current criteria to evaluate and Android app market

  • Language – If the site doesn’t have an English version, I can’t currently use it.
  • Download counts: High app download counts indicate an active market. If download counts are unavailable, I can’t measure how my app is doing – it’s like a black hole. Furthermore I can’t estimate if the market is active or not. Continue reading →

Android Market Report Available

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Android Market Alternatives ReportAfter a lot of research for myself, I realized that I should share the information I’ve found about all of the markets for Android Apps.  There are literally dozens of them, and they all have different rules, strengths, weaknesses, and quirks.

I’ll be posting information and insights related to the app markets soon, but my attention has been on getting the data assembled and formatted nicely.  I hope it can help other Android developers save a lot of time in their research, as well as get more income from their apps.

Don’t Skip Out on Extra Income

I’ll give you a hint about what’s within:  if you are only distributing your app (free or paid) from the main Android Market, you are earning far less than you should from your app.

That’s not to say that throwing your app up on any market will get you riches.  Some may increase your install numbers by several percent, and some may not have enough downloads to even notice.  Despite the polished graphics and bold statements of some markets, I don’t think they have had much success in attracting users (and therefore low downloads for developers).

Get in Now!

And then there are the Game Changers.  If you’ve been following my twitter posts, you probably noticed that I’ve been pretty excited by the explosive growth of my app now that it’s available on the Amazon Appstore.  I’ve included a bit of information on Amazon as well.

If you’re interested in the report, it’s available now.