The APP MARKET ANALYTICS App (coming soon...)

How much is gaining an INSTANT audience numbering in the thousands worth to you?

And I don’t mean one-time visitors, either.

I mean the kind of audience that returns over and over again.

A loyal and captive audience . . . one that will buy whatever you have to offer.

But first …

Why 1,706 Visits to Your Website is Better Than 29,912 Visits

No, I didn’t get those two numbers backwards. Having 1,706 visits to your website IS better than having 29,912 visits.

Let me tell you why.

Here’s a screenshot of the January traffic to Ana Hoffman’s Traffic Generation Cafe website:

January 2012 traffic for Traffic Generation Cafe

And here’s a screenshot of the January traffic to one of my affiliate marketing websites (not AppsBlogger):

January 2012 traffic for one of my affiliate websites.

According to Ana, the 29,912 visits to her website generated $2,457.29 in income last month.

And how much income did my affiliate website with a measly 1,706 visits in January bring in? $3,197.30.

First of all, I have to give Ana credit for accomplishing a difficult feat (achieving an Alexa Traffic Rank of

But …

Do you see how having a ton of traffic is not everything? Her Per Visit Value (value of each visit to her site) is only $0.08 while mine is $1.87. Put it another way, if Ana had my Per Visit Value, she would be making over $56,000 a month!

So as much as you obsess over traffic and analytics, what you should really be focusing on are metrics that give you insights into what’s really happening in your business and adjust your marketing activities accordingly.

Highly Targeted Traffic + Conversion = Money

It’s about having the right goals and conversion. If your goal is to get as much traffic as you can to your website with little thought on what type of traffic you are attracting, then you might end up just like Ana whose high traffic is not reflected in her income.

No, your goal should be to get as much HIGHLY TARGETED traffic as you can with the least amount of effort. And once your target audience shows up, you MUST convert. Remember, you are running a business. And traffic without conversion is just a hobby.

Now I didn’t write the above to toot my own horn, because my numbers aren’t that great either. Most of the visitors to my affiliate site come once and never return. This means I’m always chasing new customers instead of building a long-term relationship with existing ones. And as I’m sure many of you have heard by now, it’s much easier to sell to former customers than it is to acquire new ones.

What you want is something in between what Ana and I have. Not thousands of visitors who come but don’t buy. Not one-time visitors who buy yet never return. But visitors who become your loyal customers and are glad to buy whatever you have to offer, time and time again.

So does that mean you should be a slave to your Google Analytics stats? No, but you should certainly pay attention to the right metrics that have an immediate and direct effect on your bottom line.

Think of it as making course corrections based on traffic conditions. Just don’t be overly obsessive about traffic.

My Not-So-Secret Plan for App Market Domination

You know that, though? No matter how much I tell you not to obsess over your traffic, you probably will anyway because it’s sooooo damn tempting.

But you know what’s even more addicting than your traffic stats? Your sales stats.

I used to look forward to waking up every morning and check the affiliate sales I made for the previous day. Talk about a natural high! It’s a good thing this particular affiliate program only update sales stats once a day, otherwise I’d be checking it constantly.

And now that I’m in the mobile apps business, my new obsessions are Google Checkout™ and Google Play stats. Like other app publishers, I will be constantly checking how many people purchased or downloaded my app.

… which brings me to how I came up with the idea for my new Android app.

When I was brainstorming ideas for my new app, I wanted to create an app that my target audience will want to use over and over again. The words “useful” and “addicting” were my guidelines.

What I came up with was an app that fed mobile developers’ (AND my) addiction for sales stats.

So begins the first phase of my plan for app market domination (you know I’m kidding, right? Or am I? … )

Introducing … the APP MARKET ANALYTICS App

Helping others while helping your business.

Kill two birds with one stone.

Whatever you call it, that’s what I’m doing.

I was inspired by the story of Jason Fried and 37signals. They built Basecamp, the very popular web-based project management and collaboration tool, originally for their own internal use. But when they realized other companies have a need for their tool, they turned Basecamp into a product they could sell.

“We built Basecamp because we needed it. I’m a big believer in investing in what you know and what you need. We invested our time, energy, and focus into building a product that we knew we needed to run our own business. When you build what you know, and when you use what you build, you’ve got a head start on delivering a breakout product.” – Jason Fried

That got me thinking that I should develop an app that both my customers and I need. Not only will the app help me understand the inner workings of the mobile apps market, it will also help me connect directly with my target audience: mobile app developers.

Talk about knowing your market. There’s nothing more revealing than to literally put yourself in your target audience’s shoes. I know what marketing challenges app developers face because I AM an app developer.

And what better way to engage my target audience than to provide them with an addictive tool that most app developers would want to use?

Enter . . . the APP MARKET ANALYTICS app.

(Oh, remember how I wanted to sell shovels instead of dig for gold? Well, my App Market Analytics app is the first of many shovels to come.)

Getting 67,550 App Developers to My Site

So, there are currently 67,550 unique developers in the Android Market (now Google Play). And what do they all have in common?

Google Checkout™.

It’s the only payment processor available to developers who distribute their apps in Google Play.

Now with my new app, Android developers can feed their addiction for sales stats . . . on the go.

And the best part? It’s FREE! (I’ve since decided to make it a paid app, though I believe the arguments made below still holds.)

Why not release it as a paid app?

Because the benefits I will receive (both tangible and intangible) are far more valuable than the $4,152.11 I’ve spent so far developing this app AND the small profit I might earn from releasing it as a paid app.

My app is targeted SPECIFICALLY at Android developers. By releasing it as a free app, I have a high likelihood of getting a nice chunk of these 67,550 developers to pay attention. Pure speculation, I know, but one that’s got some common sense behind it.

And what of the developers who decide to download my free app?

I get to have continuous contact with them through regular version updates, feature requests, and app support. These continuous contacts are the basis for building a brand and for establishing a long-term relationship with developers that I will certainly try to capitalize later on.

And once I start implementing my unorthodox marketing strategies, do you think they will pay attention? And when I’ve gotten their attention, you think I’ll attract some attention from the 186,492 iOS developers in Apple’s App Store?

You see where I’m going with this?

Are YOU Paying Attention?

Yes, YOU!

Don’t think what I’ve described above only applies to me and my market.

It applies to you as well. All you have to do is insert YOUR product/services instead of my app.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Can you develop a loss leader to attract AND engage your targeted audience?
• What do you have to offer that will keep your prospects coming back for more . . . again . . . and again?
• Are you thinking long-term, residual benefits or are you only chasing after short-term profits?
• Have you analyzed the Per Visit Value and other metrics for your site? And what is it telling you?
• Are your current marketing activities bringing in highly-targeted traffic that’s willing to PAY for your product/services?

Please share on your Facebook :-)

comments

Tagged as: app market analytics, Google Play analytics