Author Archives: Mark McDonald

Gram Games: Growing revenue 7X with AdMob’s in-app advertising

While building engaging games was never an issue for Gram Games, promoting and monetizing them was a challenge. Turning to Google, Gram Games found success with AdMob. By switching from a premium model to an ad-supported model through AdMob, Gram Games generated $5K earnings in a single day, increasing their revenue sevenfold. Thanks in part to AdMob, Gram Games is now one of Turkey’s fastest growing startups, producing original mobile games ranging from strategy to casual, mid-core and more. Check out their full story here.


Gram Games’ highly addictive game 1010! Puzzle has over 5 million downloads on Google Play alone. A challenging but simple puzzle game,1010! Puzzle lets users piece together puzzles within 30 seconds and compete with their friends in the process.

Posted by Henry Wang
Product Marketing, AdMob

Source: Inside AdMob


A new look for the AdMob logo

We’re making a few changes to the AdMob logo which you’ll see appearing on the AdMob website, UI and our social channels over the next few days. We’re introducing a larger font and a bolder design that makes it easier to see across devices of all different sizes. Check out the new logo below.

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Posted by Mike Schipper
Product Marketing, AdMob

Source: Inside AdMob


Find answers fast with the new AdMob Help Widget

To make it easier for you to access help while you're using AdMob, we've added a new, built-in Help Widget. The Help Widget lets you easily search and read help center articles directly from within AdMob.
To use the widget, click the “Question Mark” icon .
A pop-up will appear displaying help center content related to your current location in AdMob. You can also use the widget to search for other articles. Click any article you’re interested in, and it will still be shown inside the widget, all without leaving AdMob! Once you find your answer, you can leave the widget open on the side to easily follow the steps listed in the article. If you’re done using the widget, you can close it by clicking the “X” in the corner.
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If you've been to the help center recently, you may have noticed a little box at the bottom of some of the pages. We've listened to your feedback and added a little human touch. In that box, you’ll find a picture of the “androidified” author of the article so you can get to know more about the people who worked on creating this content.Screen Shot 2015-09-22 at 5.33.25 PM.png
Next time you’re reading a help center article, don’t forget to scroll down to take a look at the author and maybe give them any feedback you might have. They'll be able to use your feedback to keep improving the article's content.



Omar Kassem
AdMob Support Specialist


Source: Inside AdMob


AdMob Banner Ad Implementation Guidance

We’ve recently made some updates to our AdMob Help Center to help provide further guidance on implementing banner ads. These best practices, along with examples of what you should and shouldn’t do, are designed to help developers implement banner ads.

Mobile devices have limited screen size, which means that careful planning for your ad placement is especially important. Improper implementation can lead to accidental clicks, and our goal is to build a strong ecosystem that benefits users, advertisers and developers in the long term. 

Close proximity of banner ads to other elements within an app is one of the biggest causes of accidental clicks. To avoid accidental clicks, banner ads should not be placed next to interactive navigational buttons, such as a “next” button or on a game play screen where users are continuously interacting with the app.

For example, separating the banner ad from app interactive elements helps reduce user confusion and the likelihood of accidental clicks. Poor ad implementations often cause high levels of invalid activity due to the proximity of the ad to app clickable elements:


Do This
Don’t Do This
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badAdjacent.png



More examples and details, along with additional visual examples of best practices can be found on the AdMob help center.
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Posted by John Brown
Head of Publisher Policy Communications

Source: Inside AdMob


Bring users back to your app with push notifications

With one simple sentence, a push notification can bring users back to your app more often. If you design notifications with your users in mind, you’ll build loyalty, increase your regular active users and earn more revenue.

It’s easy to design a push notification experience that your users look forward to. Follow these 3 principles and you’ll be pushing in the right direction.

1. Valuable

Users love your app for a reason: you took the time to craft a great experience. Extend that experience outside your app by using push notifications to alert users to something of value, like a special offer, to bring them back again and again. 

2. Personal

Rather than broadcasting one message to all users, be data-driven. Send different notifications according to the user’s time zone, location or past behaviour. Get permission from users: let them control what notifications they’d like to get and how often they’ll receive them. Sending notifications too often could bother users. 

3. Actionable 

Keep title and text short, with one action per notification. Test and measure which notifications result in the most app opens.

Bonus tip: You can manage push notifications and more for free with the powerful Google Cloud Messaging API.

% of app users that would start using an app again given prompts*:
30%
Discount or coupon
24%
Exclusive or bonus content
16%
Notification of new features

You can find more tips to grow and retain your users by reading App Best Practices series.












Posted by Amelia Walkley
Marketing Communication Specialist, AdMob

Source: Inside AdMob


Go local to go global

Making your app and store listing available in the right local languages could improve your app’s discoverability and lead to further download growth. Get your app ready for worldwide users with these simple steps.

Decide where to focus

Check where your traffic is coming from in AdMob geography reporting. If you have users from the top 5 markets downloading apps, you could also focus there.
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Translate those text strings 

Translation doesn’t need to break the bank. Get your text strings localized with one of these easy options:


Free
Google Translate: For simple words or phrases, Google Translate is a quick and free option.
Affordable
Google App Translation Service: Purchase professional translations through Google Play’s Developer Console.

Of course, you can always find your own translation vendor, or see more options in this guide.

Consider the culture

Considering cultural contexts is important when fully localizing your app. Start with your title, description and icon, then test what works best for your users.



How to localize
Title
Make sure your app title fits the local market. Keep your title focused: it should be unique and accessible, avoid common terms, and reinforce what your app is about.
Description
Descriptions should be short and sweet, with the first sentence summing up what your app does and what users will get from it.
Icon
Take a look at different examples in each market you want to target. Users in Asia tend to prefer the cute and the colorful, while for US and European users, keep icons simple and focus on one or two features.

To learn more about app localization, visit Localization Checklists on the Google Developer website. You can find more tips to grow and retain your users by reading App Best Practices series.

Good luck! Bonne chance ! ご幸運を祈ります! 행운을 빌어요 ¡Buena suerte! Удачи! Boa Sorte!


Posted by Amelia Walkley
Marketing Communication Specialist, AdMob

Source: Inside AdMob


Re-engage your users with an app update

When was the last time you updated your app? According to a VentureBeat study, 60% of apps are never updated after release1. Plus 4 in 5 app users prefer updates at least weekly or monthly2. A new, improved version of your app could re-engage inactive users and reignite your app’s success.

App Update Checklist


Features
Read your app reviews
 Ask your users for feature ideas
Understand where users are dropping off or exiting your app


Fixes
Identify technical errors in your app
Key report: Google Analytics Crashes and Exceptions (Android / iOS)


It’s good practice to update your app as often as your schedule permits – aim for once a month at the very least. Once your update is released, remember to describe what’s new in your app.



You can find more tips to grow and retain your users by reading App Best Practices series.


Posted by Amelia Walkley

Marketing Communication Specialist, AdMob

2 Source: AdMob & Parks Associates Research, 2014

Source: Inside AdMob


Celebrate 30 years of Super Mario Bros.!

What were you doing back in 1985? Perhaps you were throwing some moves to Duran Duran, or wished you could time travel like Marty in Back to the Future? More than likely, you spent a good many hours trying to help a hero from the Mushroom Kingdom rescue a princess from a bad-tempered Koopa.

This Sunday marks 30 years since the launch of Nintendo’s iconic platform game, Super Mario Bros. The game, first launched in Japan in 1985, became one of the most popular video games in the world and influenced a generation of game players and game developers! 

Think you know all about Mario and his epic battles with Bowser? Test yourself with our Super Mario Bros. infographic, which tells the story of the game, and its enduring popularity, powered up by Google data. It’s part of our new infographic series, Game Stars (#AdMobGameStars), which takes a look at classic titles through a Google lens.
For more Game Stars, and to stay connected on all things AdMob, follow our Twitter and Google+ pages.

Posted by Mike Schipper
Product Marketing, AdMob

Source: Inside AdMob


AdMob helps Etermax crack the global games market

Question: Which trivia game has more than 160M downloads, making it one of the most popular apps in the world? Answer: Trivia Crack!

Máximo Cavazzani, founder and CEO of Etermax, describes his business as ‘a great ideas company’. One of those great ideas led to the creation of a game called Trivia Crack, and the company’s laser focus on user experience catapulted it to the top of the Google Play Top Apps list. 

Based in Buenos Aires, the team worked closely with Google to build a global business, starting with Google Play to grow their users. Initially focused on Latin America, nowadays 60% of people who play the game are in the US. With so many users spending time in the app, Etermax needed an ad platform that could help them maximize the revenue opportunity with reliable fill rates and innovative ad formats. In May 2015, Etermax announced an exclusive ad monetization partnership with AdMob for iOS and Android versions of the app. Sneak a look into how Etermax builds great apps and works with AdMob in the video below.

You can download the PDF of the Etermax case study from the AdMob success stories page, and stay connected on all things AdMob by following our Twitter and Google+ page.

Posted by Mike Schipper
Product Marketing, AdMob

Source: Inside AdMob


Beautiful New Designs for Full-Screen In-App Ads

Nearly 60% of smartphone users expect their favorite apps to look visually appealing. We’ve always believed that in-app ads can enhance an app’s overall experience by being well designed. So today we’re announcing a completely new look for our interstitial in-app ad formats - also known as full-screen ads - that run on apps in the AdMob network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange.

Inspired by Material Design, the new app install interstitial comes with a beautiful cover photo, a round install button, and matching color schemes. Technology called “color extraction” makes the ads more consistent with the brand's look and feel -- we extract a dominant color either from the cover photo or app icon and apply it to the footer and install button. We found that having a greater variety of designs and colors can improve conversion rate.

Other features include the app’s rating, and a screenshot gallery which appears when a user taps ‘More images’, so users can learn more about the app without leaving the ad.
New Version of Full-Screen In-App Ads
The previous design of our app install ads on the left, and our new version on the right.
Different Examples of Color Matching for Full-Screen In-App Ads
Different examples of color matching.             
Our app install formats have driven more than a billion downloads across Android and iOS. You can use these new designs automatically when you run a mobile app install campaign on the AdMob network in AdWords. That’s right, no extra work required!

Next, our new text-based ads are easier to read, and contain a larger headline and a round call-to-action button that clicks through to a website.
prev_wayfair.png               new_wayfair.png


On the left, the previous text ad interstitial design, and the new version on the right. 

As with other ad format innovations, our ads UI team test multiple designs - ten in this case over the course of a year - to find final versions that increase clicks and conversions for advertisers, and a positive experience for users. Both app install and text ad formats appear within the app and can be closed easily, so users can return to what they were doing with a single tap.

As we announced at Google I/O this year, the volume of interstitial impressions has more than doubled across AdMob since last July, so now’s a great time to get your business in front of more app users.

If you’re a developer looking to learn more about earning with in-app interstitial ads in your app, visit AdMob now. These new designs will also be available to developers monetizing their apps with DoubleClick Ad Exchange.















Posted by Pasha Nahass, Product Manager

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1) Mobile App Marketing Insights: How Consumers Really Find and Use Your Apps, Google & Ipsos Media CT, May 2015

Source: Inside AdMob