Before Publishing to App Market

Android Android Development
1

Hi Developers,
I am pretty sure you all must have come across the following Questions in your mind Before publishing your first App in the market.
Please share you knowledge and understanding on following points.

I am struggling to get the answer :frowning: . i am sure it will be very helpful for others have similar situation

  1. Using Admob Mediation and have included couple of Ad networks for Banner ads.
    Do i need to update my Bank details with Admob site OR with all the Ad Networks i am using in Mediation?

  2. Can we Integrate Ads in Application which has IN-APP-PURCHASING involved?

  3. My Application has 2 core features and planning to extract maximum from them.
    Shall i ask users for IN-APP-PURCHASING to unlock those features OR a separate version of Paid App?

  4. While testing my App with Admob mediation(admob ad network only), I clicked few ads by mistake and they are considered in the stats.
    It showed it as some $0.03 revenue as well(Though it was not done intentionally). Will admob block me or i need to inform them?
    My app is still under development and does NOT have any market URL.

  5. How to use “Google Analytics” in Application. why it is required?

  6. Can i Integrate more than one “pay-per-install” ad networks in single app? Any Side effects and Benefits of that?

  7. Apologize for my basic query, My understanding about eCPM was that getting some pre-defined money(say $1) for every 1000 Impressions.
    I was not aware of CLICKS contribution to convert Impressions into money. I have following Sample stats for 3 dates and want to understand how
    revenue is calculated    .

    |Date| |Revenue| |eCPM| |Requests| |CPC Imps.| |Fill Rate| |Clicks| |CTR|
    2013/11/19 $0.17 $2.38 71 71 100.00% 3 4.23%
    2013/11/18 $0.00 $0.00 418 418 100.00% 0 0.00%
    2013/11/17 $0.05 $0.22 206 206 100.00% 3 1.46%

    • Does it mean that Ad Networks does not pay at all for impressions without any Click even if Impressions are huge ??

[NOTE] App is under development and does not have any market URL

2
  1. The networks, they are paying you, not admob.
  2. Yes
  3. in app purchasing. Paid apps do very badly compared to inapp
  4. We all do this by mistake, just don’t do it again. No need to inform them. I use a Boolean that when off, doesn’t show the ads. I turn it on right before publishing.
  5. Not required but do it. I use it to know which languages, countries use the apps. Also screen sizes, device models, app versions etc. lots of stuff not mentioned.
  6. Don’t know.
  7. As far as I know, network banner ads pay per click. Each banner ad may be worth different amounts per click. Some ad clicks will get 1 cent, others maybe 10 cents. 10 gazillion impressions + 0 clicks = $0.00
3
  1. You need to update Bank details with all the Ad Networks including AdMob.
  2. Yes
  3. Depends on the type of app, I suggest IAP for now.
  4. Depends on Google. Try to inform them if possible. But generally they might consider them as invalid clicks. Don’t worry about it.
  5. How to? Search for some tutorials. Analytics tell you all the information about the downloads, countries, users and their interaction with your app.
  6. Depends on the Advertising network, some don’t allow it.
  7. Yes, you only get paid for Clicks, not for impressions. eCPM = Revenue per (1000 impressions)

Got ninjaed by mrBruce :stuck_out_tongue:

4

In my experience, the best thing you can do before publishing an app is testing, testing and testing! Make sure people like your app (is given them value) and that it works as intended in as many devices as possible

5

Big thanks to coolbud012, javaexp, I0OoIolIlO, max1000, godarm for replying to this thread here and in PM.
I will surely be keeping in mind all these valuable suggestions/tips. Since this is my first app and i want to be familiar with necessary do’s/dont’s

Can my “App name” includes the name of famous brands like Sony/Samsung/Philips in its name ?
My Utility App interacts with these devices. Though it does not use any content from them.
Using Brand name in App name may ban it??

I think it is ok as long as i am not cloning their APP(which does not exist)

6

Need your help on admob ad networks mediation placement

I have attached one screenshot from admob and i am really stucked here to understand the eCPM placement criteria.
what eCPM value i should fill in eCPM field in front of each selected ad network?
There is detail listing of the Regions and Countries under them. what eCPM value i should fill there?

I may not be required to know this for the first app. but i want to understand the criteria to choose eCPM for Region or Contries under them.
Please throw some light based on your rich and successfull experience

Attached Image is as below

7

It depends on the brand. It is better to use the name in the description rather than in the application name.

8

I would stay away from using brand names in the app name itself. Most off these brands are trademarked, and using it directly in your product would sure be a violation. I believe Google will ban you for copyright/trademark violation. Like @sisusisu said, I think it is better to add it in description.

9

sounds right !!!

10

My Admob Mediation placement has 5 ad-networks(Inmobi, Millennial media, MobFox, Admob, Appflood)
I want to choose them based on following region traffic. I have set all of them as ON in settings.
[b]

  • Inmobi/Admob for Asia
  • Millennial media for USA
  • MobFox/Appflood for UK
    [/b]

Do i need to configure “Country Targeting” based on eCPM ?
Is it so complex to set the placement ?
Or Admob selects suitable one automatically?

11

admob will select the placement automatically as far as i know , i’ll suggest you use a smaller number of ad networks while mediating , because each network has their own minimum payout price, so until you dont earn enough from each network you dont see the money :slight_smile:

12

and admob and startapp have “steady” ecpm for the most part,so those 2 ill recommend imo

13

@protonsavy
You are right about admob and startapp.
I have integrated startapp for exit ads+PPD and admob for Banners.

Since i have heard lots of buzz on the forum about less, more eCPM, CTR, this and that. so i decided to do little research.
This is the 3rd day i am doing the same whole day except washroom(once in a day) and meals.

Finally i came to know that there are lots ad networks which do good/bad in certain regions.
I focused on regions and selected admob,appflood,MobFox,MM,Inmobi in admob mediation and startapp separately.
Mediated/integrated in admob site and in my java code as well.

After reading lots of good bullshit, i am lost and really wonder if someone could tell me how to place these networks in various regions???

If it is done automatically by admob, then why they have mentioned “Country targeted” option right in front of mediation placement name??

:frowning: :frowning:

14

Thanks for revealing your bowel movement numbers (DBMU - Daily Bowel Movements per User). However, this number is meaningless without DMIU (Daily Meals Impressions per User) and the quality of these impressions - the AFPM (Average Fiber Per Meal). Another factor which heavily influences output is the AWI (Average Water Intake per User) - and is an oft-ignored factor by developers. Success on the Google Play store and the persistent threat of Google bans can sometimes play havoc (aka Google Play Havoc) with the numbers as well.

Sorry for that - but your line just cracked me up (potty counts but no meal counts - horrors!).

On a more serious note … Yes, this is an area which I also wonder if could be done automatically in admob mediation (for example) - by setting different country preferences for each ad network - in essence specifying mediation preferences per country (does Admob allow that ?). BTW, the “eCPM” numbers you specify for admob mediation is just an arbitrary numbers used to rank the ad networks - one place where the eCPM number actually IS used is if you use Admob eCPM floor beta where only ads with an “expected” performance above the eCPM number are delivered. If you specify higher eCPM for that - say above $1.50, then fill rate drops to 15%-20% etc.

15

@adforandroidapps
well my family finds me disgusting farting whole day when they are around.
My “washroom per meals ratio” has dropped drastically for last one week. i find washroom is time waste when i am in the mid of learning something new.
Meals are helplessness otherwise my meals per development ration will go down and no admob will help to recover.

well serious on topic: I have heard so many expert developers talking about different ad netwoks performances in uk/usa/asia/india
etc.
In what context they discuss. Please throw some light on that.

i mean come on help poor guy leaning on laptop for last 5 minutes

16

Could do coding yourself to do geo-targeting and turning on/off ad networks in the app based on some remote settings you set.

But for low-effort route, one would think that if you want to show Admob for U.S. and say mmedia.com for Europe - that type of thing would have to be available in the mediation settings.

So for example Admob mediation settings or if you use MoPub etc. other mediation platform.

Ok, while this was a question I also asked - it seems the answer IS available in admob mediation. Admob Developer Console - hover over Sites & Apps - click on Admob Mediation. Then for each ad network you have in your admob mediation for your app look at the right - click on Edit - and you can set “eCPM” for each region/country.

Now this means you could give a high eCPM for Admob for U.S. - and that would ensure Admob is preferred for U.S. users, while for Europe you can set a higher eCPM for mmedia.com - thus delivering mmedia.com ads to european users.

QUESTION: Is COARSE LOCATION permission required in order to leverage geo-specific eCPM settings ?

But for this to deliver good results - do we need to enable COARSE LOCATION permissions ? COARSE LOCATION only uses the cell data/wifi info to find out location (does not use the GPS) - and it works from indoor locations as well. So it seems like a no-brainer to enable this permission (if one is to ignore Google’s advice to not turn on locations - esp. not FINE LOCATION as that is excessive info - esp. for ad networks as 10 feet difference here or there is not going to affect ad relevance).

While Google does not encourage putting in COARSE LOCATION (and certainly not FINE LOCATION - in a Google talk they badmouthed it’s use - since what is the value of knowing if a person is standing 10 feet here or there) - and only suggests using COARSE LOCATION if that is part of the app’s regular functionality (is a Maps related app etc.).

I have seen many apps which DO use this permission (even though it is NOT required for their app’s regular operation).

Have people seen any impact of adding COARSE LOCATION permission to AndroidManifest.xml ?

Or is the country-information available to the ad network SDK’s without COARSE LOCATION - after all Google Analytics / AppBrain stats etc. ARE able to report “country” and “language” info for users. Is this PURELY based on just the country/language that are specified in Settings by the user ?

What type of location-specificness do ad networks require (country-specific, city-specific campaigns ?).

Location Strategies | Android Developers
Requesting User Permissions
In order to receive location updates from NETWORK_PROVIDER or GPS_PROVIDER, you must request user permission by declaring either the ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION or ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permission, respectively, in your Android manifest file.
Without these permissions, your application will fail at runtime when requesting location updates.
Note: If you are using both NETWORK_PROVIDER and GPS_PROVIDER, then you need to request only the ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permission, because it includes permission for both providers. (Permission for ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION includes permission only for NETWORK_PROVIDER.)

Unrelated to the discussion here, but here is an explanation of how Google is able to reconstruct location from cell tower data (which the phone reports to Google) - this allows Google to build a database of cell tower locations (correlated with GPS data from users of Google Maps etc.) - independent of any info from the cell tower operators/mobile network operators:

Dynamic Cell-ID: Clever way to Block Google, but will it Backfire? | Francisco Kattan

17

Thats really informative , coming to mediation , I’d like to say I’m a little biased against it , I dont like my money being distributed everywhere , and according to me it doesn’t make too big a difference(i rely 95% on paid apps for revenue).

My experience with mobfo has been that they take a long time to verify your app. You dont need this in admob. I havent used inmobi so i cant judge,but for india admob has a good inventory. Please report what ecpm and fillrate you are getting.

Admob has 100% fill rate but lower ecpm… the huge number of ad networks out there add to the confusion, so i tend to stick with big names only.

18

I know how to select the ad network based on region/country location which need few if/else in the java code. just find the mnc-mcc code and you can make out the user location. no need to have gps/internet/wi-fi availablities. only a active GSM connection will do that.

but i feel placing ad networks with this way of code change will make your codebase shit and lengthy.

I was thinking this should be available in mediation website.
else whats the meaning of mediation when we ourself have to distribute the ad traffic. we can separately integrate ad networks without admob mediation ID. why why why mediation Id ia required then??

19

how can you hide a banner , there are view.invisible and view.gone attributes…

20

View.INVISIBLE makes it invisible - but retains the space for the view (so overall layout not changes as you make it invisible).

View.GONE - removes the view - which means the space can be used by other views in layout (so making View.GONE leads to shifting around in the layout). So for example you want your game to take up the full screen space now that the banner ad is invisible and “gone” also.