Promotion of Android applications, ratings and ranking in the tops of Google Play

Welcome all! In my article I want to share my experience and contribute my “five cents” to this rather extensive and confusing topic. On the Internet at the moment there are many articles devoted to this issue, but in fact it turned out that most of these articles operate with standard tips and templates, which today are, to put it mildly, not relevant. Almost all the articles I read are just the tip of the iceberg, its very top. For some reason no one writes about the essence, apparently this is part of corporate secrets that are not spoken out loud.

Retreat
A few words about yourself. In the market of developers of Android applications for 3 years. Starting from the first day, I set myself specific goals and objectives: creating interesting, beautiful and functional applications, maximizing audience reach, earning on Google Play from $ 1000 / month (on application sales). He came up with the concept, logo, uncomplicated name oxsionsoft and started working. All his work was divided into 3 stages: design, programming, promotion. Since I myself am a designer - an advertiser, I put the entire graphic part on my shoulders. Programming was done by a freelance programmer. I was engaged in promotion again, as there were not enough funds to hire another person or contact publishing agencies. And by and large, knowing the whole advertising kitchen from the inside, I was tormented by doubts about the effectiveness of promotion through publishing agencies,

Promotion of Android applications

To begin with, promotion can be external and internal. External promotion is promotion by any means outside of Google Play. Internal promotion is promotion within the Google Play store. I'll start with external promotion. There may be many options. I will not describe where and how to distribute my applications, many articles have already been written about this. And I’ll write about the effectiveness of a particular advertising platform.

● Profile sites
Sites dedicated to the mobile segment. In our case, Android sites. Advertising form - an article about the application, your own or written by a representative of the site. The effect is pretty good, especially if the site has a lot of visitors and is popular. Using an article on a popular site, you can bring good traffic to your application. Of the minuses, frequent updates of news feeds can be noted. Your article will very quickly go to the previous pages. Typically, the conversion is a few days, a maximum of a week (rare cases). Do not omit such a moment as the price of an article. If the price is high, then it is unlikely that it will pay off and pay for itself, since the conversion on average is several days. Also, posting articles on the site can be regarded as a good tool for building up your link mass for search engines.

● Blogs
Mostly blogs are divided into "clubs" of interest. But this does not mean at all that you need to publish only in specialized blogs dedicated to gadgets or Android. You can publish on any blog where there is a large and active audience. Advertising form - article about the application. Typically, a blogger writes an article himself, in the first person. The article is informative and recommendatory in nature. Conversion on blogs is higher than on sites, as the audience of bloggers is more trusting in the published information. The disadvantages are the same as those of specialized sites - quick update of the feed and, as a result, a short conversion time. The prices for publishing on a blog are usually higher than for publishing on a site, but not by much. True, for an article on a very popular blog, they can even request 100,000 rubles. As you know, such an article is unlikely to pay for itself for such money. I will say more. Never pay back. Because you are advertising a mobile application costing $ 1 - $ 2, and not BMW costing $ 50,000.

● Social networks
You can advertise on social networks either your own group, or advertise in other people's groups. Better of course to have your own group to collect subscribers and fans. The differences from sites and blogs are that you have to create the activity of your group. The principle of “wrote and forgot” does not work here. These are social networks - a platform for communication and information exchange, therefore, maximum activity is needed here. By cons, I’ll take the complexity of the promotion and the price. The difficulty is that you have to do everything yourself. If there is already a formed audience on blogs and websites, then you will have to collect this audience yourself on social networks. I also mentioned the price. One activity in the group is not enough, the group needs live people - fans and subscribers. Your group will have to advertise. The most effective is an advertising tool of the social network itself. And this pleasure is not cheap. On average, the cost is higher than an article on a site or blog. Conversion in this case may be higher than with blogs and sites. But the risk of a “zero” conversion is very likely. There is such a thing as “viral marketing” and most often this concept is associated with a social network. It is understandable, not one site can not boast of such an extensive audience. I deliberately do not consider “viral marketing”, as it is expensive, and as a result, “viral marketing” may not work. I would not consider social networks as the main advertising platform. Rather, as a "nice" addition. There is such a thing as “viral marketing” and most often this concept is associated with a social network. It is understandable, not one site can not boast of such an extensive audience. I deliberately do not consider “viral marketing”, as it is expensive, and as a result, “viral marketing” may not work. I would not consider social networks as the main advertising platform. Rather, as a "nice" addition. There is such a thing as “viral marketing” and most often this concept is associated with a social network. It is understandable, not one site can not boast of such an extensive audience. I deliberately do not consider “viral marketing”, as it is expensive, and as a result, “viral marketing” may not work. I would not consider social networks as the main advertising platform. Rather, as a "nice" addition.

● Forums
For promotion in forums they use specialized forums with a specific topic. This type of promotion is free. Waiting for a big conversion is not worth it. An exception may be cases when the administrator, having noticed your application, publishes an informational article in the news feed. But you shouldn’t really count on it. Forums I would refer to a "nice" addition. Since it is free, it will not be superfluous.

● Banner advertising on sites
To date, the most ineffective promotion method for mobile applications. Few pay attention to banner advertising and even more so clicks. And there are places for banners on good sites not cheap. You’ll be charged for 1000 impressions or per click. Which method to choose is up to you. Everything depends on the site. An exception is banner advertising on specialized sites. In this case, the conversion may be, but small. There is still an option when the advertising banner advertises not the application itself, but let's say a contest held as part of an advertising company to promote the application. In this case, the conversion may be good. I would not consider banner advertising as a form of promotion for mobile applications. I think you can take advantage of such advertising,

● Own website You
cannot call a site a separate advertising platform. A site is a collection of advertising sites, or rather, a collection of advertising methods. There can be many options, depending on your capabilities and limited by your imagination. You can just make an information site or make a forum site or a site working on the principle of social. networks or combine different options. You can arrange an exchange of links, arrange various affiliate programs and much more.
But with the promotion of applications through the site is not so simple. First you need to promote the site itself, so that they know about it, learn about it and potential users come to it. Calling the site an ideal advertising platform is also impossible. Nevertheless, the site is an intermediate link between the user and the Google Play market. Therefore, the site should be considered as your business card, this is your face on the Internet. Also, the site can be turned into a stock advertising platform where users will be redirected from social networks, articles, banners, etc., and from the site directly to Google Play. The plus is that a person getting to the site receives all the necessary information in one place (latest news, promotions, contests, description of applications, videos, etc.). In any case, even if your site is not promoted, it is better to have a site than not to have one at all. If you do not take into account the site promotion, then the cost of maintaining the site is not high. And having a website, you will look more solid in the eyes of potential users.

● Motivated and unmotivated traffic
In addition to all of the above, there are other promotion schemes. Such schemes include the purchase of traffic. I can’t say that this is an honest type of promotion, but nevertheless almost everyone comes to this sooner or later. Traffic is the direct instances of your application or game on user devices. Traffic is divided into motivated instals and unmotivated instals.
Motivated instals - when one user installs your application or game on his device once and receives a material reward for this. Those. for you, each such user will cost money. Prices on average from 6 rubles. for instal and higher. In addition to the instal itself, a rating can be set and a review written. In this case, the price will be higher. Traffic growth on the basis of motivated instals is carried out by special companies, of which there are very many. It is enough to use a search engine.
Unmotivated instals - when your application or game is unobtrusively offering a certain number of users (through different channels, for example social networks), and users, in turn, decide to install your application (game) to them or not. The price of a non-motivated instal is on average higher than the price of a motivated instal. This is due to the fact that the output is better traffic, since you are not buying the user directly. Ratings and reviews are at the discretion of users. As a rule, third-party markets or social networks are engaged in building traffic on the principle of unmotivated instals. What kind of traffic to choose is up to you. I would recommend purchasing both types of traffic. If we talk about the effectiveness of such an advertising promotion, then everything is obvious. Buying traffic, you get the instals you need, the more such installers, the higher you will be in the top (see the order of building tops below). Despite the obvious effectiveness, there are still cons. When you buy traffic, you buy users, and the users you buy are not your users, since he does it exclusively for the sake of money (by the principle of buying a woman, she is yours, but only for as much as you pay her). Of course, there may be exceptions. After all, the purchased user is primarily a living person and there is always the possibility that by installing your application or game, he will like everything so much that he (the purchased user) will become your user. and the purchased user is not your user, as he does it solely for the sake of money (by the principle of buying a woman, she is yours, but only for as much as you pay her). Of course, there may be exceptions. After all, the purchased user is primarily a living person and there is always the possibility that by installing your application or game, he will like everything so much that he (the purchased user) will become your user. and the purchased user is not your user, as he does it solely for the sake of money (by the principle of buying a woman, she is yours, but only for as much as you pay her). Of course, there may be exceptions. After all, the purchased user is primarily a living person and there is always the possibility that by installing your application or game, he will like everything so much that he (the purchased user) will become your user.

● Publishing agencies (advertising agencies)
I can’t say anything concrete. Since I did not use the services of publishing agencies. But as an “advertiser” by profession, I can say that in fact an appeal to a publishing agency is all the same about what I wrote above + some additional little things that I did not list. It’s just that they will do all the work for you, and you only need to pay money for the work done. True, there is a nuance. The publishing agency has at its disposal a database of channels for the distribution of advertising and established communications. It’s very difficult to judge the effectiveness of promotion through publishing agencies. I can promise you anything. But in reality it may turn out that the efficiency will be the same as if you yourself did everything, and you will spend considerable money. Here, everyone decides for himself what to choose.

With internal promotion on Google Play, it’s much harder. You will not see official information, inviting banners, etc. Such advertising is expensive or free and not available to everyone. Advertising on Google Play is a variety of promotion options, such as placing the application in the category of "editorial choice", "Google Play selection", "recommended", good places in the tops, etc. For each country, a set of such "topics" is different. Such advertising may be free at the discretion of Google. If you like your application, then you can count on such advertising. Everything that happens on Google Play is controlled directly by Google. Many can argue, saying that this is impossible, everything is honest, etc. Let’s not forget Google Play is a business tool aimed at making profit, it’s the same advertising platform, like everyone else, and therefore it is not worth excluding the commercial component. Perhaps looking at Google Play from this perspective can explain a lot of obscure things that happen there.

I have listed the main advertising methods (platforms). There are many more different options. But basically, these options are based on the main advertising methods or have similar variations.
Summing up, I can say that any advertising company is good in the complex of advertising methods (platforms). Separately, you are unlikely to achieve good results, although of course there are exceptions. You should also not rely on 100% for advertising. It is possible that the advertising company will not bring the expected result or will not pay for itself at all. No advertiser will give you any guarantees. Tracking an advertising company for effectiveness is a laborious process that ultimately does not provide accurate numbers and results. Especially if you are doing a set of advertising campaigns. All that advertising can offer you is to declare itself, and which conversion will be unknown to anyone, you can only guess and make assumptions.

Ratings

Each application has a rating system with quantitative and qualitative indicators. Simply put, grades 1 through 5 and reviews. For several years of close observation and analysis, I came to the conclusion that ratings do not affect the position of the application in the tops. Not at all. Ratings are created exclusively for users who, in turn, according to reviews and ratings, decide whether they should download / download the application or not. But there is one point. A good rating can motivate the user to download / buy this or that application. And by downloading / buying the application we get the same instal we need. Those. in fact, the rating plays a role in the promotion, but is not directly related to the ranking of the application in the tops. Also, ratings (reviews) play a communicative role between the developer and the user. Simply put, through feedback, you can conduct a dialogue with the developer. But my opinion is that this is not entirely correct. Reviews were created to evaluate and express their own opinions about the application, and not for discussion.
For example, the following may be. Two free applications with 100 downloads each, but one application has five fives, and the second has 55 fives, with obvious differences in the estimated indicators, these applications are equal to each other and should occupy the same position in the tops. True, there are several nuances. Namely, from which countries these 100 instals were made (the geographical location of users has a certain influence). But we’ll talk about this a bit later in the chapter on ranking in Google Play tops.

Many are also concerned about the question of how do certain poorly rated applications have certain places in the top? For example, there may be the following (I personally observed this more than once). An application that has a larger number of units (counts) than all other ratings combined is in the top at 32 place in its category. An attentive developer will immediately pay attention to this and will be perplexed as to how it happened. According to all the laws of the genre, with such a rating you won’t even be in the 500th place. And it turned out so pretty simple. This application with countless units (counts) has a certain constant number of downloads, allowing it, the application, to be in that place in the top and the rating has nothing to do with it.
When building the order of applications in the tops, Google does not take into account the quantitative indicators of certain ratings, and even more so reviews. I think this is partly due to the protection against rating markups. But despite the low importance of ratings in the promotion of applications, this indicator should not be neglected. As I wrote above, remember, a good rating can motivate the user to download / buy the application. And by downloading / buying the application we get the same instal we need.

Google Play Top Rankings

As many already know, there are plenty of tops in the Google Play market. There are main tops, there are tops by categories, there are tops of new, recommended, etc. I note that for different countries the set of tops is not the same. Those. For example, in a number of countries there are no tops of new paid / free ones (and over the last year the list of excluded (thrown out) tops has expanded). I also want to note that for each country the ranking of the tops is different. Google made sure that the monopolists did not capture the entire market, and each got its own piece of cake (though in reality everything looks a little different). If in Russia you enter the first 10 in any top, this does not mean at all that in another country you will be in the same 10 in the same top. Most likely in another country you will not even get into the hundred.

Saying "get into the top" - I mean being in the top in a more or less visible place. Those. enter at least the first 50 applications, or at least at least the first hundred, in its category or in the general category.

Top ranking is divided into two types: for paid and free applications. First, about paid tops. These tops include the entire application, which are at any cost. The easiest way to get into the top is new paid in its category, for this it is enough to have several purchases per day. It’s a bit more difficult to get into a regular top in your category, you need to have purchases at least more than 10 per day. To get to the main top without referring to the category is even more difficult, in this case there should be at least several tens of purchases per day (closer to a hundred). Also, getting into the top depends on the country. Those. for example, if you have 10 purchases a day from Russia, then you will be in the Russian top. If you have these 10 purchases distributed by one purchase per country, then you will not get into any top. Another important point is the price of the application. The order of construction in the tops also depends on the price. Rather, not from the price, but from the final amount per day. For example, two applications with indicators of 10 purchases / day. But one application costs $ 1, and the second $ 1.5. With an equal number of purchases per day, the output amount is different, in the first version 10 = $ 10, in the second version 10 = $ 15. And then the application, in which the amount of output is higher will be higher. I note that your figures for all the tops are different, it depends on the category of the top. If you have a demanded category, then the numbers will be slightly higher, if the category is unclaimed, then the numbers will be lower. Thus, the top paid is built on the principle of purchases \ day, adjusted for the price at the exit. If this number is stably large, then the first lines are guaranteed to you, with the reservation for all of the above. and from the final amount per day. For example, two applications with indicators of 10 purchases / day. But one application costs $ 1, and the second $ 1.5. With an equal number of purchases per day, the output amount is different, in the first version 10 = $ 10, in the second version 10 = $ 15. And then the application, in which the amount of output is higher will be higher. I note that your figures for all the tops are different, it depends on the category of the top. If you have a demanded category, then the numbers will be slightly higher, if the category is unclaimed, then the numbers will be lower. Thus, the top paid is built on the principle of purchases \ day, adjusted for the price at the exit. If this number is stably large, then the first lines are guaranteed to you, with the reservation for all of the above. and from the final amount per day. For example, two applications with indicators of 10 purchases / day. But one application costs $ 1, and the second $ 1.5. With an equal number of purchases per day, the output amount is different, in the first version 10 = $ 10, in the second version 10 = $ 15. And then the application, in which the amount of output is higher will be higher. I note that your figures for all the tops are different, it depends on the category of the top. If you have a demanded category, then the numbers will be slightly higher, if the category is unclaimed, then the numbers will be lower. Thus, the top paid is built on the principle of purchases \ day, adjusted for the price at the exit. If this number is stably large, then the first lines are guaranteed to you, with the reservation for all of the above. With an equal number of purchases per day, the output amount is different, in the first version 10 = $ 10, in the second version 10 = $ 15. And then the application, in which the amount of output is higher will be higher. I note that your figures for all the tops are different, it depends on the category of the top. If you have a demanded category, then the numbers will be slightly higher, if the category is unclaimed, then the numbers will be lower. Thus, the top paid is built on the principle of purchases \ day, adjusted for the price at the exit. If this number is stably large, then the first lines are guaranteed to you, with the reservation for all of the above. With an equal number of purchases per day, the output amount is different, in the first version 10 = $ 10, in the second version 10 = $ 15. And then the application, in which the amount of output is higher will be higher. I note that your figures for all the tops are different, it depends on the category of the top. If you have a demanded category, then the numbers will be slightly higher, if the category is unclaimed, then the numbers will be lower. Thus, the top paid is built on the principle of purchases \ day, adjusted for the price at the exit. If this number is stably large, then the first lines are guaranteed to you, with the reservation for all of the above. it depends on the category of the top. If you have a demanded category, then the numbers will be slightly higher, if the category is unclaimed, then the numbers will be lower. Thus, the top paid is built on the principle of purchases \ day, adjusted for the price at the exit. If this number is stably large, then the first lines are guaranteed to you, with the reservation for all of the above. it depends on the category of the top. If you have a demanded category, then the numbers will be slightly higher, if the category is unclaimed, then the numbers will be lower. Thus, the top paid is built on the principle of purchases \ day, adjusted for the price at the exit. If this number is stably large, then the first lines are guaranteed to you, with the reservation for all of the above.

In the top of free, the construction is somewhat different, easier than in paid. These tops include all applications that are distributed free of charge, regardless of whether there is internal content for sale or not. Tops free are built solely on instal \ day. Those. the more your application is downloaded per day, the higher you will be in the top. Free tops work just as well as paid ones, taking into account location, categories, etc. The ratio is approximately the same as for paid applications, only multiplied by ≈ 100. It is important to understand that to keep in one place in the top you need to have approximately the same number of instals / purchases per day. If you lose your position, then you will begin to fall, if you type, then you will rise. But again, all the above should be taken into account.
Summing up the ratings and ranking, I want to note that all the ranking manipulations in the tops are controlled by Google, either automatically or manually. It may happen that without your knowledge, Google will build tops at its discretion, regardless of what indicators your application has. Remember that besides you on Google Play hundreds of thousands of applications, including from top developers. And the first places in the tops are not always associated with the success of the application.

Do not forget that Google Play is a business tool aimed at making a profit. And above all, profits for Google itself. Therefore, priority is given to applications from which Google makes a profit.

Conclusion

Many who read this article may disagree with the above, saying that they wrote an article on such and such a site, did something or something, and after that they got it. Perhaps it is so, or perhaps it is an accident or a combination of successful factors or even more - the help of Google Play itself in the person of Google. If what you have done to promote your application is considered a successful scheme, try to apply the same scheme repeatedly and more than once. If the result is also successful, then a standing ovation to you! If not, then most likely, as I wrote above, this is an accident or a combination of successful factors.

Everything I have written is a purely individual experience, gained over a year of painstaking work and close supervision. In no case should you take the article as an axiom. The mobile application market is very dynamic and what I wrote today may not be relevant or even contradictory tomorrow. In conclusion, I would like to advise you not to adhere to standard promotion models, but to try to experiment and maybe, then you will succeed. Do not forget about the quality of the application itself. Good luck to you!