Deja Vu all over again

 Given the tools that Firebase and AdMob provide it looks like for now the only solution for generating money with Apps is price fluctuation in the AppStore and Google’s ad platform.  That being said, I just bookmarked 4 more platforms that I am going to try in my apps that are not performing as well.  StartApp, ChartBoost, AdColony and Media.net.  Probably in that order based on the initial pitch of their websites.

 I looked at a few more but was unable to determine if they had a publisher platform or I just didn’t care to try to decode their cryptic product names to find it.  This is the same reason that I won’t use AWS for anything.

 Quick SEO tip for AdPlatforms.  If you have a publisher platform, the link text should be “Publisher” or at least “Developers”.  Capitalize it because it’s easier to read.  By doing this simple thing you will see your traffic to that section of your site go WAY up.  Trying to be cute by calling it ‘Encapsulate’ or whatever other clever thing you think of is like putting a “Closed” sign on your business.  If you don’t agree you are probably the type of person who has a sign that says “Eat” in your kitchen.

 Funny enough in exploring StartApp I discovered that they have an affiliate program.  So if you join use this link: https://ourbigadventure.com/startapp and after you earn $250 through them you get a bonus $50 and I get some money too.  We both win. :)  Then you can refer your friends and we can get the MLM model working for us.

 Ok, backing out on the promise to test AdColony and Media.net and I want to explain why.  AdColony requires me to ‘contact them’ to get started as a publisher.  That suggests to me that they either have a fee or want to review my platforms first and we already covered how well that goes with the affiliate reviews.  So no thanks.  Media.net wants my website, email and phone number to “Get Started Today”.  Why do they need my phone number?  I’m assuming there is a sales call in involved so no thanks.  That leaves me with StartApp and ChartBoost.

 The thing about apps that are no good is that they won’t generate much ad revenue anyway.  Especially at less than a cent per click.  So why bother filtering them when they will filter themselves.  And I’m spending enough time on my apps, time is money, and I shouldn’t have to pay to show ads to my users.  Honestly I think those ad platforms should pay me a base fee to be on my app and also pay me the per click fee.

 So here’s the plan.  I’m going to test the reward ad model first.  Then I’m going to use the reward model on Animal Analysis with all three platforms in the app.  I’ll use the Firebase remote config to allow me to switch reward platforms without sending a new build.  Then for the next three months I will keep everything about Animal Analysis the same except the reward ad network.  That will give me a full month on each platform so I can determine which one generates the most income.  Of course I’ll report on the results.

 * When I wrote this I had no idea that I had already tested StartApp and Media.net.  After I tested them again, I abandoned them again for the same reasons, they were cumbersome to set up and their dashboards offered very little value.