To make money on your app, there are two things to focus on to make money: Distribution and marketing. Marketing is a complex field, and while developers hope to rely on the viral factor and word of mouth recommendations, having Facebook sharing buttons or newsfeed posts simply will not make it for you if you rely on that alone, thus you cannot get away from spending on marketing – and probably spending quite a bit.
The flip side – increased distribution – allows for your app to be discovered in multiple places, for you to possibly build more SEO, perhaps even get feedback from a smaller group of users on small app stores – allowing you to adjust it before you go out wide. Alternative App Stores (is that an expression to be capitalized yet?), or Alternative Android App Stores (as there are very few iOS listing alternatives out there) are really just what any new organization is trying to be: An editor of content, attempting to present interesting content to you in the best possible manner and make money in the process. They can also be the best avenue for making money, simply because competition is less.
We have tried to do some research to assess which app stores are the best ones, and that is the basis for the current selection of app stores we have selected for our CodeNgo plans . We have also dug up a number of good blog posts on the subject and wanted to share some of them with you:
- Martin Gruner, who has written some excellent case studies on app marketing, warns not to ignore the alternative app stores.
- How-To Geek’s list has some nice screenshots of the mobile versions of the app stores
- The most complete list we have seen comes from the Wireless Industry Partnership. It is somewhat out of date, but still very comprehensive
What about mobile operator stores? Are they still relevant? Yes, probably (although many argue for a limited period of time), but distribution there is often exceptionally difficult (which we hope to address at CodeNgo soon). What we are missing though is a good list of international app stores, i.e. not targeted towards the English speaking world. Besides which stores work best in China, even an overview of international stores in key markets like Brazil and South East Asia are hard to find. If you do know of some, please contact us, share your experiences, and we will make sure to spread the word about them and consider adding them to our plans.
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