Consider this a victory post and how I would advise my family if they wanted to get into apps. I can't promise you'll be able to replicate what I've done, but I wanted to share my story in case you're able to figure out a way to apply it to your business. Abundance is better than scarcity, so here are my recommendations on how to create an app and make money or click here to sign up for the free app business workshop. Now that the champagne hangover has passed, I wanted to address a question a lot of people asked me.

How would you approach the app market? Even more than that, the market is so different now than it was in October that there is a lot that I would do now that is completely different. What's hard at this point is that there is a sense of urgency mixed with a million different options about how to move forward with apps. In a lot of ways, I am starting over myself. I'm launching new apps with new models. But it's different — I have money to play with now, I'm not beholden to a job or other responsibilities.

I'm 29 and don't have to think about a lot that many of you do, which allows me to roll the dice a bit more. That life of passive income and excitement that grows to a point that can be your full time gig.

Call it app flipping, re-skinning, or just good business, the best way to enter the market is to hit the ground running. In other words, leverage the work that someone else has done by licensing or purchasing source code. My drug of choice is Apptopia because you can get an app in the store immediately before having to re-skin.

If you go to another source code marketplace, you have to re-skin the game before you can launch. It just adds time to your bottom line, although sometimes you can get powerful engines for cheap. There are a few reasons for this:. That's a huge difference. DO NOT try to build something from scratch.

I say again — this is not about pride or being a revolutionary. This is not about your idea being great. This is about making money. Get the full story here Click here. Now you need to strategically place advertisements to maximize your game's value. Without fail, the best place to place advertisements is at the beginning of the game. Use full screens and don't be afraid to layer them. I use RevMob and Chartboost for iOS and launch them at the same time.

The next is to place both these fullscreens on the Game Over action. The user jumps off a cliff and dies…BOOM you serve up both Revmob and CB. Same with when they hit the pause screen and exit back to the main menu. If they're trying to leave the game, try to get them to leave in a way that makes you money.

These ad networks hinge on selling installations of other games so you need to get users to click on the ads, go to the app store, then install the displayed game. Within this framework, you should also be using banner ads. The revenue won't be nearly as good, but it's something. I use iAds and MoPub. I hear OpenX is pretty good too. The trick is display as many ads as possible. Banner ads typically refresh on a second interval, so you need to keep a user playing for about that long OR find ways to increase the number of times banners are served up.

Play for seconds, then end level or die which leads to Game Over screen. That creates a secondary impression for the core user flow. This doesn't work quite as well for CPC cost per click campaigns, but helps a lot of CPM cost per impression campaigns. On the game over screen, make the level score tick up from zero to whatever score they achieved.

That way the user has to wait for seconds while the scoreboard gets to their score…while they stare at the banner ad. Not only does this give the servers enough time to download the ad and increase your fill rate, it will increase your click rates A LOT. I did this on some of my runner games and it crushed it.

When it comes to IAP in app purchase , you're not going to make nearly as much money on these type of games. Even if you put tons of cool stuff in your store, the IAP will be a joke compared to what you make on advertising. People who love the game should pay for everyone else who doesn't have the money or find the value to spend the money.

I'll watch it and update it and do whatever, but after 33 days, I forget about it. Everyone's got their own number, but after the first month, these low quality games really aren't worth your time relative to the value you get from focusing on the next game. Sometimes it's 5 days, sometimes its days. I choose 33 because it's aggressive and forces me to work harder.

This is something I talked about in my App Empire talk. Revmob's top advertisers last summer were Pocket Gems and TinyCo , so I made animal style games that crushed eCPM. Bottom line is that you should choose your theme based on where the money is and where the volume is. When you can match those two together, it's party time. The 1 thing I tell people to do when they ask where to start is to get awesome at publishing.

Publishing is the process of going from having an Xcode project sent to you and then having a live app in the store. You'll find that with the re-skinning model that this is almost always the bottleneck. The better you get at doing this, the more money you'll make. Developers and designers, especially when they are using the same code over and over, can pump out projects for you. Then you have to move them to the store. If you don't know much about publishing, that's totally ok!

You can download it for free in the app business workshop here. Start slow and do it right, then ramp up once you can publish apps like it's a part of your body.

They are total masters at this 5 step process. They have a lot of it outsourced, but only after understanding the mechanics first hand dozens and dozens of times. These efforts will start compounding and you'll find yourself making more and more money. It's SUPER intense for a while and really doesn't get less intense, but it's how you make money with apps when you start with a few thousand dollars not even!

Hope that helps you guys. Everyone I know who's done this makes more money every month than they did the month prior. That's all that matters. Every month has to be more than the last. So how do you re-skin and find the applications that allow us to re-skin? Do you only focus on iphone — ipad apps?

When you buy an app, do you care about the amount of current downloads or are you just concerned about owning the code? I used to, yeah. Did a few on Android. Mostly just owning the code. I love how open and insightful you are. Thanks for all the inside tips. Good luck with your next project! The main question I a missing is how to get the users who will generate the money from CB? I wanted to write this comment so I can look back next year and measure my success following this model.

Thank you Carter Thomas! Always look forward to your terrific blog posts! Terrific insights on getting a handle on the mobile app biz from your perspective! Where on Revmob and where on Chartboost do you see what themes are hottest so you can adapt accordingly? With Revmob, I would just click through the apps when the eCPMs are the highest to see who was paying for it.

That usually worked well. In Chartboost, you can export your campaign analytics to see what apps paid what. Huge smile on my face for you right now. How about copyrights etc.? For example, using Rihannas name in an app, is that Ok?

Or for example Your Gangnam app experiment. I got a few angry emails about the gangnam app. Selling your whole portfolio! A dream come true! Loving how much your success inspires me! Thanks for all you do for the App community at large! I am so pumped to help out the community and provide inspiration. Glad to have you on board! Thanks for sharing your wisdom and knowledge. Like you, I have been in the internet marketing space and looking to transition to the app development space.

I am really excited what this year can bring. Zig Ziglar is the man — definitely has the most epic quotes of all time. As always — thanks so much for the kind words on Apptopia and for an incredibly insightful post. What are the steps to getting an app reskinned?

How do you get the right designer? What are the best practices? A big one at that. Basically you have to re-work the existing graphics files, music, etc into a new game. Do you mind telling me what sort of money do you pay for the games you buy a Apptopia. In other words, great apps that were poorly marketed. They can be simple or complex — all that matters is that you can make twice as much as you spend on every re-skin. Can you give anymore insight or help on the actual re skinning process.

I want to try and do this with some of my ideas but am a little stuck on how to do it. Glad you liked it! With Apptopia, the beauty of it is that you can upload the exact version you buy. No reskin required for app 1.

What might you say to someone starting out in app dev that lacks your experience, rep and portfolio, but matches your other circumstances here-described? Something higher risk and more ambitious? The original question might thus become: Might have to start calling you Francisco d. Really good question, Andrew. A lot of my time was spend on the QA during development and now a lot of my time is spent making deals and doing user acquisition. Even more importantly, by building a portfolio from scratch, then selling it, I realized how to package it from the start to sell in the future.

I guess the only thing that may change is the quality of source codes I worked with. Check out the Unity Asset Store I mentioned this on my FB page a few days ago. This has a lot of high end 3D engines you can use for the app flipping model. The nice piece is that you can export to all platforms from it. Thanks a lot Carter. Great post as always Carter. My plan is to follow your steps on reskinning and work on a few more complex apps as and when money permits.

One day at a time. One app at a time, I guess. Start slow, do it right, then accelerate. Hey Carter, as always another great post. I only tried buying traffic once. All my traffic came from the launch, which indirectly came from the publishing good icon, keywords, screenshot, description. I chose it based on how well I can sell advertising and also how well the game is built.

Good development makes a big difference. Retention is where the long term money is. Sometimes 2 days, sometimes 2 months. Once you find the right source and the right team, the key is to just make as many as you can as fast as you can. What would be the main things to keep in mind built to sell? Setup a separate Apple account with an LLC that you can shift over completely.

Why 2 apps one free and one paid? Why not 1 app with an in app purchase to unlock all features? I do both actually. Hi Cater, Another great article from you which is free of cost and not many in the world would like to share. As I mentioned in my earlier reply you are my true inspiration for app development. It is a free app for kids with moral stories and activities for writing alphabets , numbers and coloring. I Have emailed you a promo code. Depends on the metrics Flurry. For example, runner games had about a 45 second avg session length and people played multiple times.

I would determine that the problem was just the theme. To be honest, I was thinking you were ish. S import duties and what not. Right on man, thanks for the words. Do you know of any books that I can read to learn xcode quickly? Or, are there any programs that teach you how to create games without knowing xcode?

I have done a full google search, which are crummy information, do you have any suggestions? Might be worth a shot. Does the publisher name count towards the keywords for Apple? Answer is yes, as far as I know.

Check out David Janner at makeappmag. He know everything about app store optimization. Then some of them do. Congrats on the exit. Also thanks for unbelievable info that you are spreading for FREE! Quick question if I may: I am working on a Gangnam Style runner starting from a template instead of starting from scratch: How did you deal with that?

Some pointers will be wonderful. Psy brand is kind of special since he do not seems to protect his brand so he can spread like a wild fire! Would LOVE to have your point of view on this since I am sure you have the flesh wounds from apple reviewers to show for!

At the end of the day, it just comes down to how much they want to bury you. As usual, you deliver! I agree, in term of audio, it is really how they music companies feel that day! Actually I was really thinking about the app name and keywords choices and your dealing with Apple reviewers. Any other suggestions in regards to brand names and the App Store? In order to proceed with the review of your app, we require documentation evidencing you are authorized by Lady Gaga to use features from Lady Gaga.

Additionally, it would be appropriate to adjust the title of your application so that the trademarked title is used as a descriptor, but not as part of the product name. For example, the following styles are acceptable formats for names:. This is something I would do. Is there a video that show step 1 to the last step? But it probably worth a lot more, given that this article was already free.

Hey John, app buyers and coders, I was wondering if you are interested in this game I created. I just could not market it well. I have listed it on Apptopia, if you are interested, please follow the link.

By the way, great articles. I have gone through all of them. Great article and thank you very much. Hi Carther, I have a unique app in the app store is possible that I can send a promo code to you and you give me your opinion. Are there any good courses about that? Have anyone bought it?

Elaine is a rockstar. Worth checking out her stuff and her blog link is on the right side of my blog.

Hey Carter, a qucik question about rights, you are using all kind of celeb names in your games. I made a guide for Halo 4 game: Gun Guide for Halo 4 Unofficial. This app is facing this rejection: In order to proceed with the review of your app, we require documentation evidencing you are authorized by Halo to use features from Halo.

My question is… Did you contact Lady Gaga and provide the documentation to the reviewer? What did you do when you get this rejection? What changes did you make to solve this rejection? Thank you for your feedback, Carter. Your blog and ebook, really has became my no. My app business model is emulating app. Man, thank you Carter. I am sorry I did not see your last response until now! I wish they were a notification of response.

It is simply amazing that Apple actually helped you find an acceptable name. I do not know how find the time to answer all these questions but you can be assured that many people here including me of course appreciate your precious time and help.

Earn | Android Developers

Carter, I remember you talked about on one of your blogs that you were going to resubmit and app that was underperforming. How were the results of that process? First, I think, we should identify the KEYWORDS that would help in RANKING the game in the app store. Can you further elaborate on that? If I just buy an game in apptopia, reskin, and push it at AppStore, I am not sure if I will be able to make profit. Steps 3 and 4 are exactly how you add value to a code base. You choose a theme that has volume and then select keywords around that, then publish accordingly.

Here is the big question. Should I wait to see if you make a course or should I go forward with someone else. Of course, I would prefer to see what you have. For your Lady Gaga Runner App… Did you contact Lady Gaga and provide authorization document to the reviewer? There is plenty of how to in regards to developing an App and monetizing it, however it seems the secret lies in how much successful App Developers such as yourself, Trey Smith and Chad Mureta spend on marketing to grow awareness.

When we launched our first App, we put minimal money aside from marketing as all readings suggest that sales happen by contacting bloggers etc and most of them review for free. Most of it was for my Jolly Journey game during Xmas. With larger apps, yes — there is a user acquisition strategy. Please also realize that for every app that does really well, there are apps that totally suck. I have tried to reach you by email about your casino app but I am afraid it got caught in the undesired box.

Can you please confirm that you got it? Carter, sorry about that and I have to contact my mail provider now.. That would be very nice if you could please send me a copy of your reply to the mail address that I use to write this comment. But this license allows me to only skin it once. But the problem is.. Does that make sense? I would love to try out this method but I can just see that this method may not pay off. Am I over thinking too much? Yeah, my initial reaction is that you are stuck in analysis-paralysis.

There are hundreds of other people going into the uber-crowded market of games and they are making a ton of money. Look at what I talk about above — top level, business model type stuff, not nit picky details. Thank you for this great blog! It seems you wrote it just before starting your app business? I tried to comment, suscribe and for some reason it wont let me. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in a matter of months?

There are thousands of contractors waiting for that kind of work all over the world. Sounds like a great plan. I have a good day job right now, so my plan is to do this part-time to test it out, then scale up and quit my job if it works out. RevMob seems to have banner ads now. Why do you recommend using other banner ad systems rather than RevMob?

How did you find out who the top RevMob advertisers were? Is this simple enough to hire an individual developer for, or do you still need a separate programmer and graphic designer? Also I assume you have to hire from developing countries and be really cost-sensitive to keep this model profitable?

Seems less abrasive hard to believe, ha. If my dev team sent me a basic game that they re-skinned, one that I had worked with before, I could get it uploaded and ready to rock in under an hour no problem.

It really all depends. You are talking about monetizing apps here but there is other way you can make money like selling your game or bundling in app purchases those are necessary to complete the game.

There is games out there like Dead Trigger which relies heavily on in app purchases to complete the game and people download it and play it and also take in app purchases. In-app purchases and Paid downloads definitely work, but require much more complicated games to go ROI positive. This model is much more about volume and monetizing volume. In-apps can work really well, but you need to have awesome retention. Actually, one other question. I signed up for the individual developer account, not the company one.

I purchased a certain game source code written by Corona and now was told it only supports revmob. Also as a people knows nothing about codes, how can I know the real value of a game app on Apptopia to ovoid being ripped-off?

I have been reading your article, which is very good, but it does raise one question. Are you re-doing all those graphics by yourself or are you paying someone to update them? If you do pay someone, what can you expect to pay generally for the whole thing? First of all let me say that you are a big inspiration and have definitely given me the push that I needed to start in the app development business.

First app is on the way long live global outsourcing and I also like your ideas on reskinning existing apps.

Bought my first game on Apptopia. Just wondering, do you still recommend price cycling between paid and free every so often? And if so, should I release apps as paid then drop them to free later that day, or release them as free and price cycle later on? Great post and awesome website. I have previously been reading and learning from Chad Mureta, but your information is just as insightful and enjoyable to read. After reading through this post and looking at some of your screenshots, a questions popped into my head that I had been thinking about for a long time now.

It has to do with copyrights, trademarks, etc. What are the guidelines and stipulations to use other peoples names, song titles, etc for an app? It would seem to me that those apps would be denied by Apple due to infringing on trademarks and copyrighting…. I read one of your other posts dealing with Chartboost on iPhone vs Android.

How does the Rhianna Run, Kim Kardashian Run, and all of the Gangnam Style apps in the store get approved? What were your profits on the sale? And why, if things were going so well, would you sell at all? Would you leave it? I would work hours a week building it bigger and bigger. The only way to get extremely rich would be to have about 5, apps or something. Imagine managing apps? Thanks, Carter, got it. Are you getting mentorship or something similar from the buyer?

That sounds like a great opportunity. Thanks for this great article and all of the info you provide on this website. Would they be a good match? When using Elance, do you prefer to pay for this sort of project by the hour or as a set price? Also, do you recommend letting them make changes like adding ads in the places I ask, or should I learn how to do it myself? They did all my reskin stuff. I pay by a set price, always. Just makes it easier for everyone involved.

It will save you time and you can learn on your own while the master code gets uploaded. Thanks so much Carter! Thanks for linking to her site! What do you think? Thanks for all the tips! I just had one quick question. This is my first time creating an app and I currently only have the source code. Do you recommend hiring a graphic designer and giving them the templates in order to properly finish the app?

Great article Carter, Im gonna give this a go myself. You guys in the states have it all worked out. Im from Ireland and know one seems to talk about this type of stuff. I was telling your story to a couple of guys and they thought I was nuts. Thinking about checking out eLance or Freelancer. Do you have any strong preference between the three? How long would you expect an app to be developed given that the developer has a code the code and the designer needs to generate a design?

Anybody know where Carter talks about using the RichForest team? I would like to read it for reference. I stumbled upon your website by accident. I read your blog post and I am interested in the app business. Interesting article and in theory it can work but there are some issues which stop making it as easy at sounds.

The most important aspect of the app store is promotion not so much the game itself, but I see little point in spending money or time trying to push a low quality game. Gangnam put up a little fight, but no one else did. I also did small animals, photo apps, fighter jets, and others. I can design 10x faster than I can code. Someone else might be different.

Not sure where you are getting those numbers. I NEVER spend money promoting small games and they still make money. Get someone on fiverr. Buy some stock photos or use clip art. Another great way to make money online is to take paid surveys. There are a lot of companies that pay you to share your opinion. You simply answer questions about their products and services, and they pay you. A lot of people think that all paid surveys are scams.

Actually that is not right. If you want to find quality and legitimate survey sites and start making money today, follow my tips. That way you will find better results.

4 Steps to Making Money as an Android Developer | Apsalar

That way you will find more information about every site, you are interested in. That way you will make more money. Everybody talks about making money with apps, do you really think and be very honest with me that it is that easy to make money with apps today considering there are so many out there.

I have to express my appreciation to you Carter. There are so many bogus sites online claiming to show people the process of monetizing apps effectively. My research so far indicates that your method and explanations are viable. I read this article dozens of times today so I would completely understand and get what youre trying to say here. I have to say, I LOVE what you wrote and said here. This is completely brilliant. The only thing I need help with is how to do it, lol. Please get back to me asap!

I agree with dFred. Hi I started to trade binary options with special app that copy trades from professional traders to my account. Thanks a lot for sharing with us this. You want to find out more info you should check this out. So many questions for you but my most important concern is that I am IT literate but not X-Code literate at all or much coding for that matter I mean I can do the very basics in Objective C.

How X-Code literate were you when you started and how do you recommend I pick it up, while going through? Taking a separate course my original plan was to look at the code outsource some coding like building in adverts and then see what they did to do it and then learn how to do it myself. If this is a bad idea can you please tell me and what would be a massive help is if you could point me in the way of someone who could get me up to speed with making small changes and integrating adverts etc… E.

Congratulations on your success with this. Is this the case and if so, are the game available in another language? Apologies, I am new to the coding scene. Can you recommend anything for this greeny?? I have never made an app before. However I do not have a job, and would like to make some money via the app industry.

Is there any specific advise you could give me to turn this into a feasible income? I do have to admire the up-front, pragmatism expressed in the article: Games are the best money-making platform in the app world. Then again, you might be able to make an app will millions of users and sell it for a cool billion. Hey, thanks for your motivation, I like the idea but im still a little confused. So im gonna look to see what games are popular but then i have to go buy a code from a different game and try to correct the popular games errors, how can i improve one with the coding of a different game.

Am i thinking the wrong thing? It may help future readers if you put dates on your post! I have no idea when this was posted, or if it even applies today!

I like that you approach things methodically because this is what I found basically gets things done. With how many games out? Any ideas from you guys? I agree with the guy two comments above me. You are a slimy hack and you should be ashamed of how you milk this garbage.

Funny thing is the apps I make are probably better than half the shit most indie developers spend months of their lives on…then go broke. I find nice that you shared this insight info, i wouldnt probably: I know exactly what stands out from that crowded app marketplace. All final design will be delivered to you SLICED same image name and image size and in exact folders as the original Resources folder.

Contact me for any questions or to get started pixelperfectionist yahoo. Here is a quick video of how we use it. I personally do not see the problem with what Carter is doing. And there is an audience out there that wants it. Sorry Carter, but I am allergic to BS. First of all, this is not impressive, because whoever bought your portfolio is mentally insane. Second, if it was this easy, how come everyone isnt doing it? I appreciate your straight-forward thinking, but I pray for the idiots actually listening to you.

True, Carter is a successful business man, but only with the proviso that Aurelie so aptly captured above. So go ahead Carter and be successful in your own way, just make sure you get the hell out of dodge before capitalism collapses on itself.

Hi Carter I am a developer from brazil working already 5 years developing games and software for companies. I work with both android and ios, also PC and Mac too. I am tracking your posts about monetizing games since day one. I really like to ask you something throught email, as a huge fan from your vision i need a little help about getting fast revenue here. I am finishing my new game and liked to use both revmob and chartboost with Iad too. As a developer i know how hard it is to develop nice games and get nothing in return just for the passion.

Please I ask you to contact me so i can ask you a question. Are you purely relying on ASO? Different web services can offer a great number of various apps which can be used in the field one needs. For my apps I used Snappii web service and truthly speaking I got pleasure. Did anybody have the similar experience?

Carter, can you write something on Affiliate marketing? Specially on Amazon affiliates? Any suggestion is welcomed!! There must be a balance between just flooding useless apps out there, and actually making decent apps.

I am not saying this is a bad idea, and hey! But personally I like to know I made the money by creating something of my own. There was definitely a lot of roadblocks and it ended up taking longer than I originally expected but its was definitely worth it.

I learned a lot through this project and am excited to start my next one ASAP. Carter, you did it and you did a great job. This is what every businessman should do. I like your churn and burn strategy.

I have started my own app journey and am making a blog about my progress after buying a number of source codes from you and other websites. You just regurgitate the hard work others have done before you.

I pity you; it must be terrible living life without creativity; without the ability to dream, to imagine. What a sad and unfulfilled life you must lead.

This a laughable con to get people to buy his app codes by first pitching them dreams of fame and fortune. People like you are the reason why the mobile games market is so shitty. I am pretty sure the developers of the new Dungeon Keeper game would love to have you on their team. Bad ethics, you bet.

The comments on this website are likely of the same source — paid shills. Secondly, before you or your company invest in some of the crapware that is being sold here, know a few things — 1 You will have to be able to make morally ambiguous decisions. Be prepared to invest more money in fake reviews and downloads to achieve these results. You will quickly find that they are mostly run out of places beyond the grasp of financial regulation and your lawyers. The ones that are in business long enough to pay you may not actually pay you.

The ones that pay you may try to screw you. You are now either relying on ad revenue from them, or reselling the junk you just bought from this guy. Millions may come your way, but you will have to continually pump out garbage instead of refine a good idea, find investors, and keep users. They may find ways to block you, your apps, and possibly your company did I mention changing company names?

Be aware that your newfound business could be algorithmically erased from the app store at any time. This is a shallow judgment that appears to be based on an incorrect idea about how success may be achieved.

Ask a professional poker player, to get a pure view of this. You can speak expertly of your own experience, but you cannot ever know how much you really relied on luck. I mention professional poker because, in that business, a good player will generally need a conscious understanding of the fact that, in order to do a good job, they must NOT deliberately achieve success i. Instead, they must do something more abstract: Carefully and skillfully maximize the CHANCE of success.

This can be done deliberately and consistently—and still, even if it is done perfectly, every game may end in loss. And, obviously, you are MUCH better than a third person who simply never bothered to play at all and therefore knows nothing about the game.

With respect to quality, though, you set yourself up looking like that third person I mention above. You make garbage, which, yes, is better than some other, uglier garbage. But as a creator of potentially good work, you are far inferior to somebody who at least TRIED to make something good and failed. They gave themselves a higher chance of succeeding at that type of creation than you did. Your chance was always approximately zero. You are nothing compared to many of those failures—in the quality game.

Your article here is about business, not product quality. I get it — you need to make money. But making shallow clones of games just so you can capitalise on them is wrong.

You, and people like you, are the problem with the gaming market. The chickens will come home to roost, Carter. Everyone — thanks for all your spirited comments. Good luck to all of you. I got mixed feeling with the post.

Teaches something about software reusing. I should look for analogies all around the world probably less malicious. However, I understand you aim at dork teens. Somehow like selling drugs to kids. And that you cannot be too honest in this business as in honest reviews as commented earlier. Jeez, this is the most revolving part. Get as much as you can, invest in weapons, long-lasting food and hidden bunkers, and wait for the crash.

And protect your children from people like you. And my professional perspective: Do that and you will make a lot of money: So glad I have adblocker on my browser whilst reading this. This article is deceptive. It sounds like apps being made by you are useless and of no value, to the advertisers or to the users. The market will eventually recognize this and a purge will happen.

Apps should be developed with a purpose and with value. No doubt this aspects of making money is available, but eventually even the advertisers will know that they are wasting their advertising money and will not utilize such service. App flipping is a business just like any other business. No different then flipping condos. An interesting article, and so very true about mobile stores nowadays.

My only difference is that I am a programmer and write all the code myself and do the publishing myself , so it all goes at a much slower pace, and the quality of my apps is much higher. Thanks for the great article! They need tons of crap. To all the haters: Who is playing mobile games anyway?

Still, there are millions of people playing that garbage. If this ads-raping works for them and if their tastes are so low that they can endlessly swallow this garbage, why not make use of it and at least accumulate SOME money which you could later make use of in your other, serious projects. Where is the world going… Idiocracy as it is. He just adapted to it.

I have one question though, how do you go about creating your new themes? And there are apps that are just dedicated to selling on all platforms big and small. Good way to make money but like with everything it probably does not work any more since so many people now know about it.

I am currently a soon to be sophomore in high school looking to start a new hobby creating apps and possibly make some cash doing so. Where do you recommend I start? Do you think I should start by trying to create something on xcode or…? I appreciate your time. No matter what people say here. I thank you for taking the time to share some valuable help and experience.

Agree or not Thanks. Thank you for sharing. They are sharing jealousy and hate. The best is the people who say that apps are supposed to be developed for a purpose. They wrote the universal app law? If I create an app that tell you to go f yourself then that immediately has a purpose. Anything that someone creates has a purpose, but these morons think only their purpose is a valid purpose.

I thank you for your advice and for trying to help your fellow man to achieve what you achieved.

Not only is your work totally ethical but your article shows true initiative and integrity, you are not forcing anyone to buy your apps, they download them at their own leisure and I applaud you for giving people what they want and making a profit on it. Since this post is written in I dont want to spend too much on marketing.

What he does is lame, yes, i agree, and that is because he is a skilless person trying to carve his own way in this world. And why all the hate? That said, it seems to me this is a big commercial for his startup, so i doubt he really got half the success he advertised. Gabriele — Thanks for the comment. I just have a question or if you can give me a clear understanding because right now i am on the process of developing an app, so my question is how can i make money out of my app?

So carter, i just purchase a source code on your website. Well i looked at my bank account and the money was taken. But , i still haven t receive the code!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU CLAIM THAT THE CODE IS AVAILABLE AS SOON AS YOU PURCHASE IT, WELL WHERE IS MY CODE? SO WHAT S GOING ON? ALL THAT TALK YOU DID BUT AS A CUSTOMER I JUST WASTE TWO DAYS OF MY TIME I COULD HAVE USE TO RE-SKIN AND MAKE MONEY. ARE YOU A RIP OFF?

HOW COME AFTER 48 H I STILL HAVEN T RECEIVE MY SOURCE CODE THAT SUPPOSE TO BE AVAILABLE RIGHT AWAY?

PEOPLE SHOULD TRUST YOU? HOW COME THE CODE I PURCHASE IS STILL AVAILABLE ON BLUECLOUD? Noah — thanks for your comment. After we went back and forth a few times on email it turns out:. After you sent an email to Jess, she ALSO sent you the links, you just missed them. What i mean by that is like a free tutorial that show how to reskin.

I know a little bit of c,java but i don t want to have a headache. I just want to change the pic, the d, the music like. So I gave you a full refund, even after you told me you would go buy immediately from a competitor if I did not provide the free tutorial you requested. To all idiots bashing Carter: This guy is offering you people GAME CHANGING and GENIUS advice, and this is how you repay him?

By writing a crap ton of dirty comments? You guys should be ashamed of yourselves! Those of you that are saying that Carter is not creative are probably not creative yourselves. Or at least your not creative enough to realize that what he is doing IS creativity. Thanks a lot for sharing this advice! I am actually thinking of going into some app development as a small, high school job. It sure sounds like a lot of fun XD. Either way, keep up the great work! I really need to get out of the rat race and this seems the most profitable idea I have met so far.

Hi, I am a java developer for 15 years. I have no experience in gaming programming. Is it possible to publish gaming apps in anroid. Am a software engineering major from africa with a lot of passion for app development. Also, app developer accounts are not permitted in my country. Any idea on how i can join the app business with this challengesWolf of Wallstreet. Yes, you made a nice percentage profit. I have my team working on an app based around the stock market. That could potentially change how day trading is performed.

F k what anyone has to say about your ideas, if you think its great put your heart into it. The first programmer I hired told me my idea was absolutely impossible and not feasible what so ever. Haha, if I had listened to that jerk off, I would probably have a real job right now. Thanks for your article and advice. I found it to be informative and helpful. Most of us develop our games for free in hopes of good ad revenue in return. This is a good form of capitalism, to think one wants to work for free is absurd and insulting to suggest it.

Peter — thanks for the feedback! Is that what GreenDragonEmpire. You must be killing it on the deep web, sorry to hear about the Silk Road. Thanks carter nice informative and pointer to the right direction. Everyone wants to make the fast buck in the current latest trend. Whats the harm in spending the money, time and effort in following your steps. What do you need a electric shock or a USB stuck up ur nose to suck up info??? Looks guys — carters not a preaching nor are any of the negative comment writers moral judges.

Screw you if your moral fiber is the size of mount Everest. Now back to working as a developer just to avoid being bankrupt. Well i have 10 years of experience and I report to a 8 years younger fresh college pass out? Irony — NO — Stupidity — YES, I concentrated on the WHAT to do right and not the HOW to do it right. Dude i cant even write my own latest responsive website — cuz i got outdated with the pace of things in tech going up.

After going through things like — Cobol, Extjs, jquery, Jsp, Java, JS, Php, the current html5 trending. I was working part-time and in grad school. The job I was in was entry-level IT but pretty mindless, mostly connected customers to wireless, etc. So on down time I would write stories, poetry and watch programming videos on Lynda.

After telling a few people about my new hobby they looked at me like I was crazy. Especially computer science students that hated programming. Well life happened and I got distracted and ended up quitting the learning process.

But I had a much better understanding of what programming is and a basic understanding of languages like Python and Javascript. I have always wanted to make apps not just games, I have various ideas but I know it takes a LOT of work. We use ALL types of products especially online that have been re-purposed.

But no one is making you do it. Entrepreneurs some of them developers themselves are paying for codes being SOLD by the original developer or re-seller with a license.

Changing graphical elements and in some cases tweaking codes for ads, etc. People complain about wanting something new, but only things that are slightly innovative at most win big.

Or do you think Zuckerburg created social networking? I hope to do this one day, but in the meantime…. Hello carter Thomas or max or someone with app making Skilllls. Would anyone like to help me make my app and help me make some money for my family while you make some also. I have some really good ideas for apps that would make it big. But I need help obviously and I have a lot of questions such as how much do you actually make off a good app.

And how do you get paid and other questions that we can get into if anyone wants to do it with me. My email is Twhartno yahoo. I mean the whole reason for advertising is to get paid, right? In my particular case, my profits get deposited every month into a company bank account. There is such a huge variety of Ad Networks now days, payments come in all forms. Via mail check ,Credit Cards, PayPal… but the most common is bank deposit.

Well, at least we have a guide. People who see value in this will follow the guide and make a bit of money which no one ever complains about. So thanks Carter for the insight.

One question, Carter, I understand choosing games because of their inherent popularity. Do you think the same might work with a utility App, like a chat app, a notepad app or something like that? Games is the most competitive category in the market, but it is also the most lucrative.

There are huge incentives to jumping into subcategories like Utilities, Social Networking, and Productivity, etc. The trick is to first find an area with a demand. Instead a unique app, or an app that has low competition and high demand — Start small, measure everything, and constantly test and update.

Send an email to support bluecloudsolutions. Nice guest blog post by the way! To all those sticking their noses up at Carter. What are skateboard manufacturers doing? Or even donut makers? Thank you so much for this article! This is an insightful snapshot of how the business actually works. I know a little about python as I am a starter but have a degree in business. Where can I go to find programmers and business partners to write up a few apps?

I was wondering if you had a trusted program that gave novices like me in depth lessons on how to enter this market. If not, where could you recommend me? And also, how much money do you think is needed to start slow?

Thank you for your time. If you want coding, you can get awesome courses for iOS or Android here taught by Bluecloud Members: If you want Overall how to get started, you can get that here: Hi… I have just launched a local city shopping app.. My App…Shop Portsmouth…brings branded shops and Independent shops together on a user friendly modern platform..

I have over shops advertised.. Your initial post is from , do you think your strategy could still work today 3 years later? I mean there are so many apps on the app or play store now that if you publish one it might have just zero visibility! Tienow — Short answer — not really.

Longer answer — the principles still work very effectively and yes, there are lots of people in our community who are successful with this if they do it correctly.

The difference is that you have to use templates as a foundation, then add new features to make the app better. This is not very difficult. Hi Carter, Thanks for that prompt answer! Not sure I get the whole idea. What do you mean by adding features to the app? Why updating the app will be make it a viable product, will it really improve the visibility on the app store? Do you have to pay for a copyright for the name of a new app?

Can I use a windows cpu to develop iPhone Apps? I use the same model that you do. How can I reach a million downloads on an app? Make the apps very unique 2. Do lots of app store optimization testing and keyword research around the unique part of the app 3.

Update the apps often to improve them dramatically. In the post you said the golden rule to re-skinning apps was to re-skin the graphics but not the content. Hi Carter, These are some really helpful tips and one can really gain knowledge about the way how all this works. Currently I have two apps in Android Play Store: Thanks, Nivesh Niti http: Are there any updates or is it harder now to get into the business?

Depends on how well each app does. Yes — so you need to change graphics and some functions to make it much more unique 4. Lots of updates, which you can see in earlier blog posts. We also have a group of 1, people who talk about this all the time AND a webinar that explains how the above model is much more about using templates to start with a foundation than a straight money making solution.

HEY CARTERcan you please help me i am 12 years old boy and i have gave very good ideas and wanna a make a game i dont know where to start and how to and how much i can earn if my game reaches a millio download please bro. Thanks for dropping a line. We can help you with this! Make sure you are signed up to our mailing list Visit our homepage bluecloudsolutions. We will introduce you to app development and send you key information to help your app become successful.

Keep reading our Blog Our blog http: To get a ballpark figure of how much it costs to develop an app, check out this blog post http: We also have a helpful infographic you can take a peak at here http: Research App Templates App Templates are packaged up apps that are ready to be published to the app store.

Using templates will save you money, time, and a lot of hassle. We actually have a free ebook that will walk you through how to go about finding and using templates. Get our App Formula Beginners Course If nothing else, I recommend you try our App Formula course we offer a free trial — it will teach you everything you need to know to get started.

Seriously, check this out. I would highly recommend taking our App Formula course — it will teach you everything: I am just getting into the apps world to make money. Do you think it is a pretty safe investment to be an affiliate with a big time app game? Poncho — what do you mean? You mean advertise their games in your app or buy traffic for their app? I have designed a rather complicated health app, but now I need to get it developed using xcode.

I reckon this type of app will cost upwards of 50k. And I reckon it will do well, especially suitable for the Apple Watch. Tom — Crowd funding only really works when people get something in return for their money. The best thing you can do is make a superior product that no one can compete with.

Make Easy Money from 20 Android Smartphone Apps

I make guides and tutorials for random things. Pokemon GO tips and tricks, or how to make money on eBay, etc.

I have nothing to do with games but do you have any tips on increasing revenue for my type of apps? I dont know much about coding or the computer stuff at all.

I know how to access the things I need on the web but thats it. I am old and not a tech savy person. SO I have app ideas and not wanting to put money towards them due to bills and family health issues.

Can you suggest anything? Ed — check out this page on how to make an app: Thank you for providing this resource, I look forward to reading your E-book and trying things out just signed up. As a developer who has spent years creating big business applications but who really wants to work for myself, I am very much interested in finding new ways to generate revenue and I appreciate information such as this. Dear Carter Thomas, My name is Brian and I am a 7th grade student at Roosevelt Middle School in Oceanside, CA.

Our class is working with students from schools in two other states on a research project. We are required to contact an outside expert for help on our research and I am hoping that you or one of your colleagues can answer a couple questions I have about coding and how to create an app.

I was wondering if you can also please help me create a selling app. If you are unable to assist me, or have a suggestion for who to contact instead, please let me know. Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing from you. Im totally a non-tech fresh graduate doctor but Ive always been interested in making my own app. Ill definitely read your e-book and respond back for actual advices. I listed complete portfolio on apptopia but only one buyer replied and the offer he made was not even what i spent for building complete empire.

Bluecloud Solutions — App Marketing. Blog , Case Studies , Skinning. In case you didn't hear, I sold my app portfolio. I totally feel you on all counts. Let's be honest, this post is about how to make money as fast as possible, using apps.

Here's what I would do… Step 1: Buy Low, Re-Skin, Repeat. There are a few reasons for this: Once you have this re-skinnable engine in your hands, move to Step 2.

It's very aggressive, but it makes money. What's the 33 day reference? That bring us to…. Choosing Your Theme This is something I talked about in my App Empire talk. When you choose your theme now, you have a few options: Find the top advertisers on the networks you're using and cater to them casino, mafia, fantasy, young women, etc Capitalize on popular trends I've seen plenty of examples of this being an AWESOME strategy for fast ROI Capitalize on hot apps If Temple Run 2 is coming out, might want to make a game similar….

Capitalize on flashy design No matter how crowded, if you have a sick racing icon and screen shots, it will crush it for a week or two Bottom line is that you should choose your theme based on where the money is and where the volume is. Publishing The 1 thing I tell people to do when they ask where to start is to get awesome at publishing.

Title Screenshots Description Keywords Provisioning Profiles and Archive uploading In-app purchase setup Game Center setup All ad network setup You'll find that with the re-skinning model that this is almost always the bottleneck.

Repeat Do this again. Kick Some Ass And that's it. Get the champagne ready! COMMENTS Andrew February 19, Carter Thomas February 19, Brett Wash February 19, Drew February 19, Drew — go to Apptopia.

You get full rights to do whatever you want. Mike February 19, Nick Walter February 19, Matt February 19, Nick Giovacchini February 19, Hey Carter, Thanks for continually putting out information that others charge a ton of money for.

Judy Wong Dobberpuhl February 19, Jeff Williams February 19, Oliver Saylor February 19, Hey Oliver, With Revmob, I would just click through the apps when the eCPMs are the highest to see who was paying for it. Hope all is well with you guys.

We will have to catch up soon. Peter February 19, Thanks for a new post. Reading them with joy, You write in an entertaining way. Jane February 19, I owe you a beer. Chuck Rayman February 19, Carter, Thanks for sharing your wisdom and knowledge. As the late Zig Ziglar once said, See You At The Top.

Hey Chuck, is the year, man! Good luck to you. Gerry Praysman February 19, Carter, As always — thanks so much for the kind words on Apptopia and for an incredibly insightful post. Carter Thomas February 20, Catch you soon, Carter. John February 20, Hi Carter, Fantastic post with gems of information that others charge good money for… Do you mind telling me what sort of money do you pay for the games you buy a Apptopia.

Once again many thanks for a great and informative post. Hey John, Totally depends. Kyle February 20, Hi Carter, Best article to date! Thank you so much Can you give anymore insight or help on the actual re skinning process. Any direction would be great. Hey Kyle, Glad you liked it! Lat February 20, Another awesome post, Carter!!! Andrew February 20, Ob Oberon February 20, Ob, Glad to hear it, hope you have continued success! Iain February 20, Good luck with your new business.

Iain, Right on man. John Cohen February 20, Hey John, I only tried buying traffic once. Raki February 20, Once again thank you so much for the great and informative posts. Glad I can help! Marc February 20, Hi Carter, great post. Code, Design files, revenue reports, logins, everything. Henry Palma February 20, Have you experimented with this model?

Hey Henry, I do both actually. Nathan February 20, Thank you for your help and support to the app community. Sean J February 20, Carter Thomas February 21, Hey Sean, Depends on the metrics Flurry. Anyways, I gotta say man, your journey has been a huge inspiration. Hope I see you make a million by next year. Lana February 21, Hello Carter, Do you know of any books that I can read to learn xcode quickly?

Hey Lana, Not really, unfortunately. Nick Giovacchini February 21, For instance, if I were to have the publisher name: Top Free Kids Games Would these words in the publisher name count function the same as keywords?

Hey Nick, Answer is yes, as far as I know. Could you explain more abou how use famous people? Do you ask any permission? Carter Thomas February 22, Mo February 22, For all you do here. It all comes down to rolling the dice. Hi Carter, As usual, you deliver! For example, the following styles are acceptable formats for names: John February 22, Hey John, Stayed tuned. Anup Sindagi February 24, Lex February 24,