Some explanation for non-seo folks: PPC (Pay Per Click) allows you to immediately run ads displayed on selected keyword searches but lasts only while you pay. SEO is more of a long-term investment. You hire an SEO agency and invest for some time by paying their retainer fees unless the web site shows up high enough in search engines to cover SEO bills and ultimately bring solid ROI. There is always an option to invest $5,000/month in PPC and get 1,000 visitors to the site (figures vary depending on the cost per click) or hire a SEO agency for $2,000 and get same 1,000 visits half a year after they start working, or 10,000 visits or 100. That’s all about numbers (read economics).

The economics of SEO is very simple yet fundamental. Here is an example:

Say a client engaged an SEO agency to promote his/her web site. After 6 months of work on the site the SEO agency got to the point when it’s delivering 5,000 visits to the web site per month. The monthly bill from the agency is $2,000. Now check the cost of traffic for those particular industry keywords in Google AdWords. Say it is $5 per click. That means if you were to purchase those 5,000 visits you would be paying $25,000 per month. Granted $2,000 monthly bill from the agency is a very cost-effective marketing.

Change numbers a little bit and you will understand why so many SEO agencies don’t deliver or the contracts get terminated. Say the agency delivers 2,000 visits to the site monthly but the industry is not that competitive. Cost per click in Google AdWords is $0.5 for that particular industry. It means that client could purchase the same number of visits for $1,000, risk-free, no investment. But the $2,000 monthly bill becomes unreasonable.

As you see, this is a very simple yet effective method. Two cooperating parties may quickly determine if their cooperation is beneficial. In order to determine the efficiency of an individual SEO campaign, SEO agencies or their customers have to multiply the number of visits delivered from search engines to the site by the average cost-per-click, which is common for a particular industry. If the ROI on SEO is at least 2 fold more than that of a PPC campaign then everyone may be sure that this contract is mutually beneficial and will last long. Otherwise there is no point in SEO because the client could purchase traffic from Google avoiding making and investment and taking a risk.

As you can see on the screenshot, the new pages look much nicer. Instead of being text-heavy Apple is focusing users attention on screenshots of an iPhone application as well as additional information such as reviews. Instead of just one app screenshot being shown, there are now 3.

iPhone developers should immediately adjust to this change. Now that the emphasis is clearly on the first few sentences of the description, developers should be more concise in describing their apps, since that’s all that shown by default. If you click the “…more” link, the area will expand to show all the text, but again, that’s not the default look anymore. Also make sure that first 3 screenshots should make user interested and understand the idea of the application.

I was always advocating the importance of an app icon – it visually represens the application and should be the first factor influencing users decision to click on the app title to learn more. With the latest change the icon became even more important factor since it’s bigger in display size now.

To figure out why start-up developers are so upbeat about their well-doing, you only have to take a look at the figures being mentioned by the main iPhone ad networks. A year ago, for example, Admob cited $30 CPM brand ads suggesting it being the minimum CPM. Likewise, Medialets were proudly introducing their Dockers ads which brought in around $20-30 CPM. And now with pretty tough competition on the advertising market Admob still talks about amazingly high average CPM figures ranging from $12 to $14.

Let’s turn to more realistic figures. The truth is that average ads networks presently pay about 50 cents CPM for the ads. It means that if a thousand of people have seen the ad it will bring you as much as $0.50. Where are those mythical $30 CPM ads that will make you rich? There’re but marketing ploys to attract app developers.

To get an unbiased view ask experienced developers who have been in business for a while. Bo Wang’s Galaxy Impact – a highly popular ad supported application with an army of more than 160,000 fans brought in $0.23 CMP profit. Other app developers cite $0.50-$2 CPM maximum. Average add supported app will scarcely make its developer stinking rich.

Actually, it’s not only about marketing tricks. The fill rate is another main contributor to the misleading statistics. Even if there’s that notorious $30 CPM ad, it’s not likely to be displayed on your app permanently. Quite the opposite, as remnant ad inventory will be shown most of the time.

Moreover, it’s no wonder that any ad network is interested in the great amount of app developers. Now you can understand why they pitch editors and journalists with success stories and real-life examples of developers becoming millionaires by means of high CPM ads. The info they mention in their interviews is mostly abnormal cases rather than regular stuff. Once again, pure marketing fluff.

I don’t intend to accuse ad networks of being deceitful or dishonest, no way. I just want to call all would-be app developers to be wise, empirical, and savvy. Always do your calculations basing on real figures and statistics. Lack of circumspection will leave you with nothing.

Now if you have solid downloads on the iPhone App and want to earn some launch money there we would recommend you sign up with www.adwhirl.com – this ad solution allows you to add the biggest ad networks on the fly and it displays the most high-paying ads automatically. What’s more important is that you can upload your own ads which might be very useful if you want to cross-promote your other apps.

1. Open the developer account at OVI and get it approved. Enter banking information as well as other corporate info as prompted. Only companies will be accepted! In user management area create a ‘developer’ login and pass to developer.

2. Apply for TC TrustCenter Publisher ID here: (cost $200).

3. Once the publisher ID is obtained you need to get certificate and the key out of it. Follow the instructions or ask the developers for help. We know that this procedure is hard for the first-time.

4. Register with SymbianSigned and purchase 1 Express Signed certificate by logging into the account there. Pass the account information to developer. This web site is used for signing applications by Symbian. Please note that Express Signed is the cheapest signing option, the most appropriate way is Certified Signed where a 3rd party test house is performing the testing of the applications for the fee ranging $350-550. Express Signed certificate is generated on the fly with Symbian checking selected applications on a later date. Should Express Signed certificate be revoked the company should sign the 2 following applications using Certified Signed option. *Disclaimer: as a developers we recommend the client to use Certified Signed option and get the app fully tested by a test house selected by Nokia (there are hundreds of supported devices with a variety of software and options). Should you want to save on those fees, we can use Express Signing option but do not guarantee 100% compliance with all the Nokia tests and thus Express Signing certificate note being revoked.

Useful resources:

- Symbian signing guide
- Online Flash Packager for creating .sis out of .swf file and signing it (for Flash Lite apps only)
- Symbian guide on testing applications
- Test the app on a remote Nokia phones
- Sample archive for submission for Symbian Signed
- Advanced Nokia phones feature comparison matrix
- Talk to other developers on Nokia forum

Should you have questions regarding the getting started or signing of the application – feel free to ask in comments.

The smart move for those who had keyword-rich descriptions was not to add ‘keywords’ at all. The ‘description’ would continue being indexed and show up in searches thus driving additional sales.

Today, 3rd of Sept, one month later, we see that Apple removed ‘description’ from search for ALL apps, either having ‘keywords’ or not. It was expected and was only a matter of time. Should you notice other AppStore behavior do let us know in comments. Our take it will soon be confirmed by the official news. Add the keywords to the app asap! Keywords in the description don’t work any more.

P.S. If you are still not aware – don’t add competitor app names as the keywords. Apple will not let those in, you will spend 15-25 days waiting for approval only to discover this.

If you have apps developed for iPhone but think your chances are not high on the AppStore or the platform is not much suitable in itself (e.g. you want to create business-oriented applications) chances are you are considering developing / porting apps for BlackBerry. Want to get more insight on the platform? Here is an inspiring and very detailed read on the topic.

http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/07/13/resistor-products-unites-facebook-and-web-site-gamers-in-disciple-online-game/ Disciple role-playing game debuts Facebook version

http://www.pcworld.com/article/167415/sexy_iphone_app_funds_a_startup.html Sexy iPhone App Funds a Startup

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2009%2F07%2F04%2FBUM618ID57.DTL&type=business SFGate interviews Toby Batton

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-07-14-free-online-games_N.htm USAToday covers Disciple

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0907/gallery.dumbest_iphone_apps.fortune/8.html Drunk Sniper iPhone app made it to the TOP10 dumbest apps according to CNNMoney

Here are some examples of prohibited content:

* Content that is neither free or using Nokia’s billing platform
* Copyrighted material you are not authorized to use
* Pornography, nudity, or sexually explicit material
* Promotes graphic or gratuitous violence
* Ethnic propaganda or other offensive material which attacks or demeans a group or an individual
* Disparaging governments or politicians
* Media showing minors in an exploitative or abusive light
* Displays cruelty to animals
* Shows distressing content
* Encourages illegal, dangerous or harmful activities
* Files that contain viruses or harmful code
* Linking to websites that contain illegal or inappropriate material

I might publish the feedback on other iPhone app marketing methods in future if I see an interest among readership.