For an application to generate the desired high level of income, it must be properly designed from the beginning. Choosing the right topic is the first step towards impressive downloads and, therefore, the opportunity to make a profit. You can try to create something completely new. Such an app will definitely be a hit and spread among people. The overwhelming majority of popular applications are games, so your options for both developing and software monetization are plentiful.

Despite the temptation, it is risky to occupy a new niche and offer a new product. In this case, you can try to improve something already available. Following trends is also quite a good idea because catching a “hype” on something everybody has heard of is a good way to hit a short-term jackpot.

In general, it is necessary to create a high-quality product, and only then – to select the most suitable way to carry out the promotion of applications and their monetization.

App monetization: common mistakes

When trying to monetize an application, game developers may make many mistakes. Of these, several of the most common can be distinguished:

• Selection of the wrong ad format. For example, the advertising banner in the program is shown before the application is loaded. This is simply counterintuitive and effectively interrupts the ad’s link to the app.
• Choosing an ad network randomly. The mistake here is to select the most popular among the many services and work only with it, ignoring the rest. Each platform has different traffic volumes, uses different methods that should be combined in order for the monetization result to be proper.
• Performing the entire scope of work yourself is another mistake. Thinking over an advertising strategy, planning monetization – all this must be done before the program’s release. It’s difficult for one person to do it fully, so hiring specialists and improving the functionality or design is worth hiring specialists.
• Choosing the wrong monetization model. There are many options you can choose for receiving money from the application. 

Top ways to monetize apps

You can profit from your application using several tactics that have their rate of return and implementation period. The most famous are:

• Advertising placement.
• In-app purchases.
• Paid content.
• Subscriptions.
• Freemium, etc.

Next, we will describe in detail several most effective ways of desktop apps monetization.

In-app advertising

The method is both the most common and the most effective, which is why almost every mobile game developer uses it. Earning is carried out by recruiting the maximum possible number of users. All their actions in the application are recorded, analyzed, and transmitted to advertising platforms that are willing to pay funds.

Downloadable paid content

The model is an opportunity for the user to purchase add-ons to existing content. The visitor has free access to something, gets acquainted with information, chooses a character, etc. Further, in order to continue using certain advantages, to get full access or download something, you must pay the cost.

Freemium

This option refers to one of the main methods of application monetization. The program monetized in this way has separate essential functions (free) and additional ones. The latter becomes available to the user for money only. The main goal pursued by the method is to attract as many visitors as possible to use the application, with free provision of the essential potential. Over time, most users need more functionality, which motivates them to purchase additional functions.

Subscription

The method has much in common with the previous promotion method, but in this case, for payment, the user receives no additional program features but access to content. With the help of a subscription, the user has access to a certain amount of information; after payment, he gets its full volume. As a rule, the payment is valid for a certain time, like a subscription to a magazine.

Paying for downloading

This option does not lose its effectiveness. The program owner simply asks the user for a certain amount of payment for downloading his product. That is, the application is initially paid. This method is actively used when the game is being promoted in the Google Play Market and App Store, which allows platforms to set a price based on the user’s currency.