Crafting an Income

Over the last year I’ve been working on my Craft Pricing Pro app. The app is useful and the interface is clean and easy to understand. I’ve also added many features including some basic inventory and sales tracking. I don’t know how many people will use those features, but they are there and they do work.

But, writing the app – although it can be difficult – is the easy part. The truly difficult part is the actual marketing of the app. It’s nice to have an app finished and available for sale, but it doesn’t really pay the bills until people start to purchase it. That’s the block I’m currently running into. The app works well and the little bit of feedback I’ve been given has been positive. But, the problem is that it hasn’t really been found by the many people that would find it useful.

Yeah, I know it’s ironic that I wrote an app so people can make more money with their own projects, but I’m struggling to make money with my own. The accounting math isn’t hard for me. It’s the actual selling. How to get people to first of all take a look at the app, and then how can I convince them that it will help them make money? It will, I know it will. When I was selling more crafting items, the earlier version of this app did in fact help me make more money. It’s why I wrote it and it’s why I feel strongly about marketing it.

So, with this I guess my newest effort is to avoid adding features or starting new projects. But, instead work on creating interest and sales in the projects I currently have out there. Yeah, that’s scary and difficult, but here we go.

‎Craft Pricing Pro
‎Craft Pricing Pro
Developer: Ducky Planet LLC
Price: $5.99+
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot

Stepping Back Is Sometimes the Best Thing.

I’ve struggled with posts for the last few days. I suspect that was pretty obvious. So, I think I might step away from a post a day since it’s taking a toll on the projects that I actually need to get done. I have some topics that I want to write about, but they will take more time to write than I want to take up in a day. So, I think for now I’m going to stop trying to post once a day and instead focus on other work.

I still hope to post at least once a week, and perhaps I’ll still try to post on Twitter somewhat regularly. That will still help with some marketing, but it will also give me the ability to focus on the projects that will actually pay my bills. Hopefully, anyone that follows this blog will understand.

Mobile Apps Aren’t a Get Rich Quick Scheme Despite Rumors.

We have all heard stories of apps that have brought their creators a lot of money. We all know of programs and apps that are worth millions. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for most apps out there.

I have personally managed to get apps ranked in the top 10-20 in their categories, yet I am far from rich. It’s kind of like winning the lottery, though to even get to the small winnings takes a lot of work. I have close to a dozen apps for sale that I have written and updated over the years. I am currently working on several more along with some major updates to an existing app, yet money isn’t rolling in.

If you want to get in the top tiers, you need to be ready to work and also find a way to focus on marketing. Marketing is side of app development that I have the most trouble with. I am decent at creating an app that is useful for people and supporting the app. I’m not the best at getting people to find the app in the first place, though. That is a subject that I hope to write about more as the year goes on with some actual solutions.

But, for now, if you are planning to write an app or several don’t be discouraged if the sales don’t magically appear. It takes time and effort. Also, remember for every app that you hear about that is worth millions of dollars, thousands of them bring in at most a few hundred dollars. If you really want to make things work, then you’ll need to find a way to keep pushing even if you aren’t making the money that you hoped that you would make.