It’s money that matters.” – Randy Newman

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The secret’s out – it’s not easy to make money with apps.

Everyone who’s on this blog at some point has watched, read or purchased content from someone talking about how you can make millions of dollars with apps. They talk about how every download you can get is going to make you AT LEAST $1…all you need to do is get apps in the store.

I hate to break it to you, but that’s bullshit.

If you think that you’re just going to sit back, relax, and watch the money pour in, you’re in for a rude awakening. App monetization is not about being in the game, it’s about winning. It’s not about downloads, it’s about dollars.

In fact, if it wasn’t for a few key app monetization networks, I’d be in a lot of trouble. Up until now, making money on apps required a LOT of downloads, much the same way websites require a lot of traffic.

Strategies like in-app purchases, Lite -> Paid up-sells, and CPM advertisting (Admob/iAds) are DYING, yo. Straight up. I know this from first hand experience.

Fun fact – one week 2 years ago the in-app purchases from 3 of my apps made me about $70. The new monetization I’m doing make me over $800.

In-app purchases took me 2 days to program in and $300 in development work. The new services take 10 mins and involve 2 lines of code.

Some people have different results, no question. This can vary from category to category and depend on download volume.

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