Software bundles are product suites that contain multiple applications. They are frequently used to combine multiple small apps, tools, extensions, or plugins into a single package. For instance, you could purchase a bundle of WordPress plugins or Photoshop extensions.
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Since selling an individual plugin is often not possible, developers will often package multiple tools together in order to make a viable sale. While you can package your own apps and plugins together, it’s often more feasible to work with others when creating your software bundle.
Doing so carries a number of benefits that can give you edge in marketing and monetization.
How?
Here are 5 of the top reasons.
1. New Partners
No developer is an island, and bundles are proof of that. When you work together with other developers, you build connections with other companies and individuals who can be your partners in business.
In marketing there is an awful lot of emphasis on the competition, but sometimes not enough on non-competitors. Forming relationships and pooling resources is sometimes the best way to climb the ladder and become successful.
More successful companies are excellent resources that can help you further your career, while smaller fish help reinforce your own position as an authority in your industry. Besides, who knows how they could help you down the line?
2. Bigger Audience
Another benefit to partnering up and bundling is growing your audience. The more partners who are involved, the more audiences you’ll have access to. Since each partner will undoubtedly let their followers know about the software bundle, you’ll gain exposure to that audience as well.
Promotion is one of the primary reasons you should consider bundling your software. While many developers shun the idea if the bottom line won’t see a big enough impact, it’s often best to look at it as a marketing investment. It’s very unlikely that bundling will hurt your business in any way.
In fact, the opposite is usually true. If, for example, two developers pool their audiences, revenue-share programs can often earn more money for each developer, even if they charge the same price for their bundle as for the individual app. Why?
As mentioned below, a bundle enhances the value of a product. If you include two apps for the price of one and double the audience pool, you are likely to see more than double the number of purchases, due to this enhanced value.
The end result?
3. More Money
If you do your math right, the aggregated demand of your audiences combined with the enhanced value of the bundle will bring in a larger net income. In other words, if you create or join a bundle, you’ll be able to see a return on investment.
On its own, a plugin can be difficult to monetize, unless it has an extensive range of features and provides serious value to the customer.
Given the increased value and demand for a bundle, however, that plugin can potentially earn more money, in addition to the other marketing benefits and networking benefits mentioned here.
4. Portfolio Experience
For new and intermediate developers, extensions and plugins are ideal ways to get your feet wet. And a portfolio piece looks that much better when it has been included in a bundle along with product from other well-established companies. This way, you can point to the project and its reception: the number of downloads, the ratings, the revenue, and so forth.
It can be daunting and difficult to jump headfirst – or even feet first – into software development. And if you don’t yet have the technical knowledge, it makes sense to take baby steps towards that goal. But just because you start small doesn’t mean you have to go unnoticed.
5. Enhanced Value
A sole plugin has much less value than a suite of products. This enhanced value increases the likelihood that you’ll gain all of the above benefits, such as increased recognition and income. Products that are more valuable in a customer’s eyes will also reflect better on your company.
It is for this reason that subscription models like Netflix are so successful. Despite the service’s low monthly cost, it has been able to outstrip the traditional a la carte model used by other movie rental outlets.
A Word of Advice
When you bundle your products, ensure that you are adding value to the complete package. Don’t include software that you yourself wouldn’t use or recommend. If, for instance, there is persistent or annoying software, this could have a negative impact on your business instead of a positive one.
Finally, it should be noted that there is another use of the term bundling. The other usage of “bundling” is almost synonymous with pay-per-install, where you include third-party apps with your main software program and earn income when users install those apps. This is also a common monetization strategy, implemented successfully by advertising industry leaders like CodeFuel.
Software monetization guidelines aren’t designed to help you get rich quick, though that sometimes happens. These guidelines will help guide you toward a sustainable monetization strategy.
Though these guidelines are designed with software developers in mind, if you follow the essence of these guidelines, they can also be applied to mobile apps and even blogs.
The Real Picture
The reality is that software and apps probably aren’t a one-way ticket to financial freedom. It happens occasionally, but there’s a lot of competition out there. The vast majority of software revenue goes to a small percent of developers, and that will probably never change.
That being said, when you do things right, you can turn your software into passive revenue generators. If you launch your software effectively, it can continue to operate and earn income for you while you move on to your next project.
If at first you don’t succeed, don’t get discouraged – just read our blog.
Build Traffic
You need a marketing arm that includes a website, at least one social media account, paid advertising, and perhaps some affiliate marketing thrown in for good measure.
Traffic equals users, and the more users you
have the
easier it will be to monetize your software.
If you’re new to
software monetization
, then brace yourself for small
conversion
numbers. It takes lots of visitors to get only a few click-throughs and downloads.
Assume for the moment that you’re using advertising to power your software; you’ll need to know that an even smaller number of users will click-through any advertising.
Promote with Mobile
Ads power the internet, from Google and Bing to Facebook and Twitter. Ads help you build your traffic, brand awareness, and
audience
. These all build revenue.
When you promote with ads, you’ll want to find out where your audience spends their time. These days, most people spend their time on mobile devices. Soon, over half of all searches will be mobile.
This means you need to – at the very least – include mobile as one of your major advertising and marketing channels. Find out which network is appropriate for your target audience and use it. Additionally, your website should be responsive or adaptive so that users stick around to read about your product.
Mobile
spend
is increasing year over year, so even if you’re developing a desktop product, you’ll want to target mobile.
Analyze Traffic
How are you marketing your software? Through an app store, software directory, or pay-per-install programs?
Track the number of downloads your program gets. If you’re using a pay-per-install program, track your customer’s journey. Find out what they like and add more value to that.
The internet is chock-full of metrics, so you can track your customers through software directories, websites, app stores, pay-per-download networks, affiliate programs, advertising programs, and so on and so forth.
Focus on Optimization
The common wisdom tells you to “create value first,” but once you’ve got value, it’s all about the numbers. Analytics give you those numbers and tell you something more important: what users want.
The best way to earn loyalty is by selling users what they
want but
giving them what they need. A user may want to get rich quick, but what they need is a solid monetization plan, so you sell them a get-rich plan that works practically.
Don’t compromise your product’s value with poor advertising or over-optimization. Instead, realize that your numbers tell you how you can adjust and optimize your product to provide users with a more palatable product. You can still provide the same quality – just adjust the appearance so that your conversions increase, your customer base builds, and your revenue goes up.
Allocate Wisely
No one has infinite resources, so at a certain point, you’ve got to choose. Where do you put your money and time? Building traffic with advertising? Optimizing your current funnels? Improving the quality of your product?
The call can be tough to make, but if you must make a decision, choose
traffic
. You are always free to improve your product and your funnels later on, but if you’re not getting traffic, you’re not getting money.
This can be a tough decision to make, because many developers take pride in their work and don’t want to put out an inferior product. But without incoming traffic, you won’t have anyone to look at your software updates.
Allocate your resources in that order:
1. Traffic Building
2. Product Improvement
3. Funnel Improvement
Why does product improvement come second? Simple. Your product quality dictates how long your users will stick around. In other words, quality products
creates
quality customers.
Improving your funnel through analytics, funnel customization, advertising optimization, and marketing adjustments will help boost the numbers of your existing conversions.
But that only comes after you’ve got a valuable product and an engaged customer base.
Developing software is one thing, but getting software into the hands of your users is something else entirely. When we talk about software distribution, are we talking about deployment, installation, marketing and dissemination, or the actual process and logistics of delivery?
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What is Software Distribution?
There are a couple of definitions of “software distribution,” which can be a little confusing at first. One definition refers to a version or iteration of a software package, such as a Linux distribution – e.g., Ubuntu or Mint.
When used as a verb, however, software distribution just means getting your application into the hands of the user. This process involves several steps, including packaging, delivery, and installation.
Packaging
The efficiency of the deployment process depends greatly on the installer that is used. Good installers can accelerate downloads, decrease deployment time, and enhance the end user’s experience. In the same vein as Software-as-a-Service, third-party installation services often aid app developers who need a distribution solution. InstallFuel, for instance, allows developers to use their installer to distribute, deploy, and install a software package.
Benefits of Third Party Distribution Solutions
Software distribution may seem simple at first glance, but as the internet and the world of technology grows in complexity, so does the development and distribution process. App developers who use third-party distribution solutions can take advantage of a pre-existing digital distribution platform, which can target appropriate users with a customized, branded distribution package.
Packages such as InstallFuel simplify the software distribution process and often help you reach a larger network of users. This means that you can focus on your core business, while the third-party installer helps you reach high-quality, highly targeted end-users.
Another major benefit of such products is the monetization potential. People who ask the question, “What is software distribution?” are usually told that software distribution is getting an application into the hands of the end-user, and that’s true. But this definition ignores the possibility for monetization, and money is why we’re in this business. The distribution phase is a perfect opportunity for software publishers to monetize their software.
Beyond Deployment
There are plenty of resources online that describe deployment mechanics and the logistics of software distribution, version control, and planning the how-to side of things.
But any software publisher who wants to make money on their product should be thinking about more than just how to “get software into the hands of your user.” Software distribution certainly includes the logistics of packaging and installation, but it pays to think about ways to increase your audience. Enhancing your distribution to a larger audience has added benefits, such as increased brand exposure and increased revenue.
Another way to get your software into the hands of more users is through bundling your app as part of a suite of apps. By working with other parties, you can share audiences, which means more exposure, more sales, and more potential for revenue. And that brings us to one of the most important facets of distribution: promotion.
Increase Distribution with Marketing
Assuming you have the logistics handled, and assuming you have figured out a way to monetize your app, then the next step is to get more people to download and use your software. As mentioned, bundling your app into a package can help with both of those angles, but you’ll certainly want to maximize your exposure even more, if possible.
Good old-fashioned advertising is one of the best ways to increase your app’s visibility. This has some definite benefits, since you can get your app noticed quickly, and drive lots of traffic with properly placed ads. If your app has a good monetization system in place and you advertise appropriately, you can turn a profit pretty quickly. However, advertising’s not always an easy game to play, and costs for certain keywords can be expensive and competitive.
Content marketing, such as developing SEO-friendly web content or social media content geared towards your target audience, can be a cheaper way of establishing authority online and building relationships with your audience. Content is a good long-term asset that keeps on giving. The downside is that it’s a slower process and doesn’t always get you the same level of exposure as advertising.
If you charge for your software, joining an affiliate network can be a great way to get others to promote your product for you. Offer a high commission to entice affiliates to help you distribute your product, which will increase your exposure and user base. If you don’t charge for your product, put it up on all the major software directories, which also helps increase exposure.
There are plenty of other ways to monetize and enhance your distribution phase. It often requires thinking outside the box.
When you ask yourself, “What is software distribution?” you should not only be asking yourself how to deploy efficiently, you should also ask how you can monetize, increase exposure, and add to your user base.
There are plenty of smart installers and third-party distribution networks that can help with both.
You created a great application; it has amazing features, is easy to use, and bug-free. Now you need to let the world know about it!. Send your software out to market requires careful planning and the right tools to make your application stand out. This guide will give you what you need to know to effectively market your software.
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What is software marketing?
Software marketing is the group of tools and methods used to promote, advertise and increase the distribution of a software product.
Any software you develop you’re bound to have competition, if not right away, shortly after launch. For an application, with the millions of apps populating the app stores, the task of drawing attention (and sales) to your application gets harder.
There are many methods to market software, but the most popular is inbound marketing, a way that aims to draw customers in a natural way by appealing to their intent and interests. A characteristic of inbound marketing is that focuses on provide value, a real benefit for the user.
Outbound marketingis geared to a general public without or with minimal targeting involved. For example, online banners, text ads can be forms of outbound marketing. Usually, for software campaigns you’ll find a mixture of both methods.
Why Develop a Software Product?
Many organizations will hesitate to see the value in developing their own software product, such as an application or widget. In reality, there are a number of reasons why develop an app or software product can increase your bottom line.
Users want access from anywhere, anytimeThe digitalization of our world means your users want to reach your company online at anytime. Take for example, banking accounts. Account management applications went from a “nice to have” feature to an essential add on for any bank.
A custom app or software can solve specific business problemsThe app is tailored to what your users need, and addresses your brand’s specifications. It solves a specific problem for your users, increasing their engagement with your brand.
Because your software is unique, it will have features that are not available to other organizations in your industry.
Most software applications reduce your workloads by allowing users to self-service. Otherwise time consuming or tedious tasks for your staff, can be now carried out by the users. This frees your staff to focus on more core-business tasks.
While developing your proprietary software may seem more costly than simply buy an off the shelf product, in the longer term you end saving costs. You are investing in your own business model and can even market the solution.
The App Market
Want to know more about the applications market? Here are some mind-blowing statistics:
According to Statista, the total revenue in the app market will reach $437.80 bn in 2022.
The revenue is growing at a CAGR 2022-2026 of 6.58%
The top segments by revenue are Books and reference, Entertainment, Business and Education.
Application marketplaces statistics for 2022
Apple and Chrome store are the most popular application marketplaces where you can market your new app. The app economy is based largely on these two platforms.
Here is some data on application marketplaces for 2022:
Google play store statistics
Google Play has $2.39 million apps and over 400,000 games
Free apps are 96% of the Google Play Store
Games are 15.6% of the Google Play Store.
Apple store statistics
Apple App Store has 3.6 million apps and almost a million games.
Games are close to 22% of the app store
Free apps are 92% of the Apple App Store.
Other app stores
Recently, both companies added more entry-barriers to developers, and disabled millions of applications from their stores, in order to improve quality and data privacy.
This situation drove some organizations to look into alternative app stores, such as the Windows Store, and China’s own app stores, like MyApp and Huawei App Market.
How To Monetize Your Software With Monetization Platforms
Monetization platforms are an excellent way to increase your software revenue. They monetize your software for you, so you can focus on your core business. These platforms, such as CodeFuel, both monetize and promote the application and software.
So, how do you leverage monetization platforms to your advantage? Here are some steps you can follow:
1. First, choose the platform
When choosing the right solution for you there are a number of factors you need to consider:
What are the features and benefits of the platform?
Some of the features you may check include:
Monetization
Promotion
Multiple advertising options
Analytics
Advanced API
Cross-platform compatibility
Integration with existing solutions
2. Check it includes the right tools for the job
Besides features, there are some tools that can help you monetize your software or app:
Search monetization
Targeted advertising
Advanced analytics
3. Evaluate and improve
After you choose your monetization platform, picked the right tools and started your campaign, you need to monitor and test how it is doing.
Leading monetization platforms come with the analytics feature that make this task easier. Track conversions, downloads and abandonment rates. So you can optimize your application functions, usability and features. You can use your monetization platform to develop the entire conversion funnel automatically.
4. Promote your software
That’s a key part of an effective monetization platform. Leading platforms such as CodeFuel, integrate with ad networks and pay-per install networks, which will promote and advertise your software in the relevant media your users frequent.
Ways To Make Money With Your App
Selling The Application
Charging users for the application or software is one of the earliest software monetization models. App and software developers and publishers set a price for the product and users to need to pay if they want to use it.
This method works best with publishers with an already built brand and audience. Unknown publishers can have difficulty justifying the user the need to pay for the app. After all, there are thousands of free applications.
Freemium
You may recognize this monetization model by its other name: “in-app purchases,” as it is one of the most popular. How does it work?
You offer your software or app for free but with limited features. Users that want access to extra features must pay to access them.
Games use this quite frequently and very successfully. For example, gamers who want certain power-ups may purchase those extras for real money.
This allows developers to distribute software for free, vastly increasing the number of downloads. But developers still make money in the process. Though turning freebie-seekers into paying customers can be tricky, the effort often pays for itself in dividends.
In-app Advertising
This is another standard monetization model, which you’re probably familiar with. Ads are placed inside apps, either on a piece of the screen real estate or between screens (interstitial ads).
These ads earn income per thousand views or per click. Revenue then varies based on the ad network, the type of ad being displayed, the audience, etc.
This monetization method is second in popularity to the freemium model. And these two methods are sometimes combined: users can pay to remove ads, for instance.
To earn money with in-app or in-software advertising, you need a lot of users for your app. A more significant percentage of users convert on advertisements than on freemium upgrades, but the revenue per conversion is less.
Paid Products
With so many free apps and software programs online, it’s hard to get people to purchase an app. Customers who will spend five dollars on a latte won’t spend two dollars on an app. And, chances are, you’ll be competing against an app that’s free or freemium.
However, when you’ve got the clout, marketing resources, or market share, this is a top monetization strategy. If, for example, you’re the only company offering a niche product, then charging for the product may make sense. Also, if your company already has a reputation and a solid following, you may be able to charge for a piece of software or an app.
Game sequels or high-quality products are examples of software programs that may benefit from this approach.
Paid per Install
Pay-per-install is trending as one of the most effective advertising, distribution, and monetization methods.
This approach is ideal for making money with software distributed on desktop platforms. CodeFuel’s InstallFuel, for instance, supports Windows and Mac OS X. There are also options for mobile developers.
You integrate your software with a smart installer to monetize with a pay-per-install program. The best intelligent installers aren’t just scripts. However, they’re complete platforms that allow you to customize the installer to meet your needs.
You can tailor the look and feel of an installer, pick and choose the products you promote, and advertise your software through the network’s partners. Analytics gives you a 360-degree view of downloads, conversions, and more.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing isn’t just for websites. Developers can design software and apps around affiliate deals. This can be one of the most lucrative ways to make money from an app or software program. But it can also be challenging and limiting.
In other words, if you want to develop a software program and earn money from affiliate deals, you’ll need to design your software for that purpose.
Travel apps and websites are good examples of affiliate marketing programs to earn money. Websites such as Orbitz and apps such as Hipmunk are simple to travel programs, but each sale earns developers a commission.
As you can probably guess, this can be a virtual cash machine once it’s up and running. But it’s also tough to integrate it with a pre-made software program or app. A language-learning app or video game may better suit in-app advertising or a freemium model.
These are the top five monetization models, though other creative methods of earning revenue include selling analytics or code. Subscription models, when appropriately implemented, can also be a lucrative method of earning revenue.
The significant benefit of all these models is that they operate relatively independently. Once you have an app up and running, you only need to tweak your monetization program and update your app from time to time. Developers can stack up to their apps over the long run: the more apps you release, the more money you’ll make.
All You Need to Know About Software Bundles
Software bundling is a great strategy to reach more users for your software and meet your business goals. How does it work?
You choose another company with a recognized brand or a successful (complementary—not competing) product and negotiate a partnership. When users download the product, they also download yours, getting a deal.
What are the benefits of software bundling?
More Downloads
When you partner with a recognized brand with a solid client base, you drive downloads to your software. Because the other company will promote their software, you’ll benefit from the combined efforts of promoting the bundle.
You will also get more downloads because your clients will feel they get a two-for-the-price-of-one deal. Most bundle strategies offer the package at a better price than the two solutions on their own. Other strategies offer unique features not included in any of the separate tools.
Increased Reach
Creating a bundle also extends the reach of your product since your audience will include your partner’s client base. The other brand’s clients will know about your product via their email lists, social media channels, or website. Additionally, when the news about the bundle spreads, you can attract a wider audience.
More Sales
Finally, more downloads mean more sales. But this is not the only benefit. Users that download the bundle will know your brand better and may become interested in other products you have to offer. Finally, the expanded brand awareness can translate into more sales in the future.
Tips To Increase Your Software Downloads
Developing your software product can bring significant revenue for your company if you do it right. An effective development and marketing plan can help your success. Here are some best practices and tips to increase software downloads.
Build a product that brings value to users
If you want to increase your software downloads, you need to create a good software package that solves your target audience’s needs.
Some best practices you may want to follow include extensive testing to ensure the usability and performance of your application, and refine targeting to adjust your software accordingly.
Focus on your marketing
Carefully target your marketing efforts to your audience. Produce content and ads that specifically target to your audience’s intent and needs. The more tailored your marketing, the higher its effectiveness. Creating a buyer persona can help pinpoint your marketing further.
Run PPC Ads
Monetizing through ads, specifically pay per click advertising (PPC) can be a very effective way to increase your sales. PPC is cost-effective since you only pay for ads the users click on. Google Adwords, Bing and monetization platforms like CodeFuel, can help you place your ads exactly where your users are.
Include a smart installer
How fast your application downloads is key to your users’ experience. If the download takes too longe, users may bounce and look for another solution. By including a smart installer, you can make the download process more effective. Not only your downloads will go faster, but you can use it to monetize your software.
9 Ways to Improve Your Software Monetization
1. Focus on your niche, then build your conversion funnel.
Your audience is unique to your business, and they usually prefer some online media channels above the others. Figure out the type of websites and social networks they visit, and map your niche. Then, you can build a conversion funnel based in solid data.
2. Trust the numbers
We cannot stress enough the importance of basing your marketing efforts in hard data. Everybody, including experienced marketers have opinions and biases. Basing your marketing and advertising decisions on a hunch or what you think it may work for a campaign, it can be inaccurate. Data-driven decisions, based on analytics and user testing can help you find what your audience really wants and how to give it to them.
3. Test, test, test.
Your audience’s interests are always changing, so keep up with their dynamic demands requires adapting constantly. What can you test? Your product design and usability, your user experience, based on the latest user trends. Also test your ads with A/B testing. The data you collect will help you refine your product and pinpoint it to your target audience.
4. Personalize as much as possible
One of the key of a great user experience is personalization. When you develop an app or an extension you can gather user data (under consent). This data can help you understand what your users want, refine and personalize not only your application but your marketing efforts as well.
5. Understand how digital advertising works
The digital world is always evolving, and you should be aware of the latest news so you get an advantage. Learn which monetization options are the best for your product and audience. For instance, you may use an ad network to promote your software or you may use a more complete monetization platform such as CodeFuel to monetize your application.
6. Use display and native ads
Display advertising is increasing. According to eMarketer research, the digital display spending from programmatic advertising, will include 90% of all digital ads in 2022. This means a 29% increase from 2020. You should take advantage of this to use display advertising for your own benefit. Display ads integrate more naturally with your application and your content, enhancing the user experience.
Monetization and promotion platforms such as CodeFuel, enable you to centralize your marketing efforts from a single solution. This reduces your marketing costs, enables you to forecast your ROI and gives you insights to optimize your product and strategy.
8. Automate
Automation is the mark of an effective digital marketing strategy. It is useful for tedious and repetitive tasks that can hinder your productivity. Automation is also useful to keep up with the dynamic digital marketing landscape. What can you automate?
Content posting on different media channels.
Collecting data for analytics.
Real-time bidding
Optimizing campaigns.
9. Check out your competitors
It is always useful to know what your competitors are doing. Track your competition, after all, they cater the same audience. Automated data collection can help you understand what is working for them so you can replicate for your business.
Streamline and maximize your income with Codefuel
Promoting and monetizing your software can be a hassle if you want to do it by yourself. That’s where CodeFuel comes to help. CodeFuel is a complete, all-in-one monetization platform that you can leverage to maximize your income as a software publisher.
The platform uses machine learning and advanced analytics to deliver contextual, intent-based ads to users, enhancing your user experience. By improving the experience, your brand gets more exposure and engagement, increasing conversions and downloads. Advanced monitoring and analytics makes tracking performance and metrics a breeze. Start monetizing with CodeFuel today, sign up.
It’s exciting times at CodeFuel. Not only have we just launched our brand new look website, but we are also proud to release our new monetization video.
The video starts with the question: “What on earth is monetization?” and then quickly takes you on a whirlwind ride showing you how to monetize software or apps.
On top of trying to be the next Steven Spielberg, we at CodeFuel have been busy redesigning our website, which includes a new logo, new look, and feel, as well as lots of new information from the industry’s leading software monetization platform.
Our website includes a new How it Works section, explaining just how we can help you can make money with your software. This section includes information on how simple it is to monetize your app or software. Simply, sign up at CodeFuel and one of our monetization experts will be in touch to discuss your business needs.
Once you have selected your preferred monetization solution our tech team will guide you through the simple integration process. Then once deployed, you’ll receive monthly payments. CodeFuel offers a range of business models including Pay Per Install and Revenue Sharing.
Software Monetization Solutions
CodeFuel provides software monetization solutions for developers, publishers and advertisers worldwide, empowering digital businesses to make more revenue from installs, traffic, display ads, and search.
Our suite of free monetization solutions includes InstallFuel, a smart installer that offers targeted recommendations during installation, and MobileFuel, a new set of monetization solutions for Android app developers – including in-app search feeds that can be easily integrated to fit apps.
SearchFuel is a range of customizable search boxes and other search-based monetization tools. CodeFuel’s search tools are enhanced by its long-term relationships with major search engine providers including Microsoft’s Bing, with which Perion recently signed a new three-year agreement.
Monetize, Optimize, and Analyze
If all this wasn’t enough, the new site also boasts a new cloud-based Control Center that serves as an analytics hub for developers, providing detailed data on revenue, traffic, and installs, as well as real-time reports and A/B testing.
The Control Center also features an updated user interface, revenue analysis, and performance by applications, customizable dashboards, and a campaign manager feature to optimize product inventory and manage capabilities.
Developing your own software can create significant revenue potential for your company. With the right product, you could become the next Microsoft.
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OK, so may you’re not going to become the next Microsoft, but you could definitely create a successful product that will help bolster your business or create a whole new niche for your business. The right development and marketing plan is essential to your success. Here are a few tips for how to increase software downloads to make any new business venture a success:
Create a Great Product
When you create a great product that provides value for your users, it will almost sell itself. Almost. If you want to get a ton of software downloads, you need to create an excellent software package that provides real solutions for your target audience. Test and re-test the software to make sure that it works smoothly and doesn’t have any glitches.
Conduct focus groups to find out ways to strengthen the software and add features you may have overlooked. The more you do to perfect your software, the better it will perform when you put it on the market, and the more downloads you will get.
Conduct Targeted Marketing
The secret to increasing software downloads is the same as it is for selling any product: Create targeted marketing.
You can’t just write content or create ads that talk about how great your software is; you have to write with a specific audience in mind. The more specific you are about who that audience is, the more specific (and successful) your marketing can be. It helps to define not just your audience, but also a specific persona for your audience.
For example, you might decide that you aren’t just targeting female entrepreneurs, but are trying to sell to female entrepreneurs who run a mid-size company and earn a certain amount of revenue each year. By defining the specifics of who your target audience is, you can create more targeted marketing that gets results.
Run PPC Ads
Pay per click advertising (commonly known as PPC advertising) can be very effective advertising since you only pay for ads that users act on, increasing your chances of getting conversions.
You also set the budget for your PPC campaigns in advance, so you can spend only what you want. When most people think of PPC advertising, they think of Google AdWords. While it’s certainly the biggest fish in the sea, it’s not your only option. You can also buy PPC ads for other search engines, like Bing, as well as special platforms, such as browser extensions.
By exploring all your options, you can increase your exposure and increase your software downloads.
Use a Smart Installer
The speed of your software’s download can have a big impact on your conversion rate. If the download takes too long to complete, users will cancel it and move on. In order to increase the number of software downloads, you need to increase the speed of the download.
One way to make the download process more efficient is to use a smart installer. This tool helps downloads go more quickly; at the same time, it gives you the opportunity to monetize your software.
You can display special offers or related products to your users while they are downloading your software. The right smart installer will help you increase your software downloads while also increasing your revenue stream (through both sales and advertising profits).
Bundle the Software
Creating a partnership with another business has long been a promotional strategy for all types of products. Using this strategy is a great way to increase downloads of your software, too. You can bundle your software with a related product to create a special deal that will encourage sales.
By creating a software bundle, you benefit from the established reputation of the company with whom you choose to partner. You reach their customer base, and you benefit from the marketing they do for the software on their own channels. In addition, the software bundle provides two great tools for your customers at one low price, which will help to drive sales.
Make sure you choose the right company to partner with and the right software to bundle to ensure that this strategy is a success. Creating the right marketing plan is essential when you are trying to increase downloads of your software.
While traditional marketing efforts like content marketing and PPC advertising will get you some results, you should also consider alternative strategies such as using a smart installer and creating a software bundle.
You’ll reach far more of your target audience and start meeting your sales goals more quickly. Your next goal: To create more software and continue building the suite of tools to help your customers and grow your brand. You may not become the next Microsoft, but you can still be something great.
