Since smartphones have become a major part of our lives, more and more people have been making apps that help them use their smartphones for various things. You can't live without the internet on your smartphone, so why not download a location-sharing app that lets you know where you parked your car? Or a calorie counter app that lets you count all the calories you eat daily? Calling a nearby taxi would save you time and money through ride-hailing apps. The list of apps is almost endless.
If you were thinking about different ways in which you could make money through mobile apps, this video is right for you. I know you have seen a thousand if not millions of free mobile apps on the play store or AppStore but you were wondering how they make money. It's not as difficult as you think, and you can also have your mobile app published in the stores and start to make money right away. Now onto the article, here are the simple and easy ways on which you can make money by owning a mobile app.
1. Advertising
Running ads on your app is the simplest and easiest way of earning money through mobile apps. It involves running Ads from various ad networks to advertise the company’s products or services. You will be earning money whenever someone clicks these Ads or see them. What’s more interesting is that your users will be using your app freely without paying for anything, while you will be earning money. Whats needs to be done is, you have to make sure you get a high number of users who actively download your app and use it.
It is very common to see an ad pop up while using a certain app, be it a game or a utility app. These ads are displayed within a mobile app for some seconds or minutes, and when you click or see them displaying, the owner/publisher makes cash.
All that you have to do is to choose an Ad network that connects publishers with advertisers like AdMob, Google Ad Exchange, and Smaato, and then select the right In-App Ad format and Ad pricing model. After that, you are ready to make some cash while you are sleeping.
2. Subscriptions
Have you ever used an app that lets you access its features only for some time? And then wants you to pay to continue to access the features for a certain period? This is how apps like Apple Music, Tinder, or Disney+ make millions of money. Apple Music lets users use their app freely for 6 months then pay $9.99 per month to continue using the app. Tinder gives users more features for $14.99 per month while Disney+ allows you to enjoy unlimited entertainment for $7.99/month or $79.99/year.
In this model, all that you have to do is to create an app that offers a unique value to users and provides the features freely for a limited time as a trial then have users pay to continue accessing the features by charging a subscription fee. Let’s be honest, wouldn’t you pay for a service that solves your needs and pains? Considering that you had already familiarized yourself with its unique features and saw what it's capable of doing.
3. In-app purchases
This app monetization model involves charging a fee to fully access a feature in an app. In this model, users have to spend some money on premium features like game add-ons, power-ups, or other additional features.
Its most commonly used for games. For example, Candy Crush Saga that made $1190 million last year alone, uses this model. Users will have to pay a certain fee to finish difficult gaming levels, have extra lives or add-ons.
4. Sponsorship
Consider you built an app for people who look for nearby hotels in a certain area. Three months after publishing your app it gets 10,000 daily active users. Do you think how many hotels would want to be featured on your app? With this audience.
Well, simply this model involves you as an app owner finding the right companies whose targeted audience is the same as those in your app. Then you can offer advertising space and earn a lot of money from the sponsorship fee that you will be charging directly to the companies.
5. Freemium Upsell
This app monetization strategy involves providing the basic services or features of your app freely and having users pay only to access premium features that are not so important but offer some value. It is quite confusing between the subscription model and Fremium upsell model, but the key difference is that the Subscription model involves using an app only for a limited-time trial while Fremium Upsell you can use the app freely in a lifetime but once you want other additional features you will have to pay.
The good thing with this model is that, you will grow your brand rapidly as after users experience the value it offers, they can tell and advise other people to use your app too.
6. Selling physical goods
You can sell physical goods directly to users and make a handsome amount of money. Take an example of an e-commerce app that sells consumer products, makes money after a user has purchased an item from their online store, and has it delivered to his or her doorstep.
You can also use this model by creating an app that sells physical goods online. The good thing with this model is that it can be combined with other app monetization models like in-app ads and Fremium upsells, which can guarantee you a lot of money.
Well, those are some of the easiest ways to make money with mobile apps. The mobile apps industry has created new ways for individuals to make money. Even though it can be your money-making business, you will need to do a lot of extensive research even before developing an app.
You will need to understand what type of app will solve the needs of your users, identify the competitors who have developed the same app, what do they do wrong? what is their monetization model? And lastly, you need to know about your target audience, who are they? What are their needs? And whether they will be committed to paying for your app services or not.
In conclusion, I will say that the future is bright for mobile app makers. With over 3 billion people owning smartphones, there is always room for growth. I will say that it is important to stay committed to the idea of making money with mobile apps. It is important to remember that not everyone can be a mobile apps millionaire, but if you believe in the idea, you might be surprised at how far you can go.