You have successfully created a stunning app for your ecommerce business. If you have had enough of providing your app for free for quite a while, you might want to start earning, without charging your consumers, from your amazing creation – your ecommerce app!
The best solution to earn with your mobile app, without charging a penny from your consumers, i.e. the perfect way to monetize your ecommerce app is by using Ad Network; and, Google’s Admob is one of the best such Ad Networks available out there.
When it comes to the monetization of mobile apps, there are many ways by which you can do it. In this blog, we are going to take you through the process of monetizing your ecommerce apps using Google AdMob and the ways to integrate the created ad in your app.
What is App Monetization?
Before getting into the process of monetizing ecommerce apps using Google AdMob and the integration of the ad in the app for app monetization, let us get a clear view on what exactly the monetization of an app is. Well, as the word is self-explanatory, app monetization is a way to generate revenue from a mobile app. And, there is a quite compelling reason for you to consider monetizing your app.
As per the report from Economic Times, an 8% annual growth is expected in the time spent on mobile internet devices from 2018 to 2021. Moreover, mobile internet use is forecasted to record 31% of the worldwide media consumption this year, which will be about 27% more than in 2019. It is not surprising to know that the amount of time spent on mobile devices and especially mobile apps are remarkable.
Another report from Economic Times states that the worldwide downloads across all the mobile app stores are estimated to rise by 20% annually, making about 352 billion by this year. These facts are a few of the major reasons why major ecommerce businesses that thrive on satisfying consumer requirements, are choosing to create ecommerce mobile apps as well as monetize them. If you are in the ecommerce industry, you must note that monetizing your ecommerce apps is something that you must not miss at any cost.
What is AdMob?
It is one of the recent methods used by mobile apps owners to earn money. Admob lets you earn money by showcasing ads in an app. It is a product of Google, the world’s best search engine that creates an amazing opportunity to earn revenue from both, iOS as well as Android platforms.
AdMob implies a performance-based marketing product that aids in publishing banners and video ads for earning revenue. This platform makes the mobile app owner opportune by providing an additional source of income. However, this offer is confined to the owners who have commercialized their ecommerce apps in iOS and Android app stores.
Since these ads are responsive in nature, their size can be automatically optimized to the screen sizes of mobile devices, which eliminates the possibility of creating a negative consumer experience. Everything is under the app owner’s control with AdMob. There are various app filtering options wherein you can determine the ad categories you shall employ, & the time and location of the ad placement. As a result, your consumers would not get distracted by other ads.
The process of monetizing ecommerce apps using Google AdMob
Figuring out how to make money from your ecommerce app plays a vital role in the planning, development, as well as maintenance of the app in the future. It must be noticed that app monetization is not as easy as it seems. As mentioned above, there are a number of ways by which you can monetize your ecommerce apps.
Typically AdMob offers four major types of ads, they are:
- Banner
- Interstitial
- Rewarded Interstitial
- Native
Herein, we shall discuss two of the ads, viz. Banner and Interstitial. The Banner ad shall resemble a small banner that gets displayed on your mobile app screen at the location you choose. When the consumers click on the ad, the Ad Overlay shall be displayed. You can even set the time interval for ad display as well as get the consumers to interact through the banner ad. The Interstitial Ad on the other hand implies a full-screen when your app conjures it. Due to the larger size of such ads, they require more bandwidth as compared to traditional banner ads. Therefore, experts recommend having the apps load the ads in advance in order to ensure that the ad is ready when the time of display comes.
Following is a detailed description of the process of monetizing ecommerce apps using Google AdMob:
- Open the website of Google’s AdMob and click on the Sign In tab. In case you do not have an account, you must click on the Sign Up option and then on the ‘Create New Account’ tab.
- Once logged in, you must click on the ‘Monetize’ tab on the top and then on the ‘Monetize New App’ tab.
- In order to create the app monetization and provide you with the SDK of the app, the AdMob shall require a few details from you including the App Name, the Platform, etc. You can even search for your app if you have already uploaded the same or in case you have added the app in the system, you can select that.
- Select the type of Ad you wish to display and provide the name of the Ad. Also, you would need to choose the type of content you wish to display in your ad from text and image. You can also select both the content options and choose the Refresh Rate for the ad. Note that smaller Refresh Rates shall showcase multiple ads by using more network bandwidth.
- You also have the option to choose from multiple text ad type. You will be shown how the ad shall be showcased in the app by which you get to check the look and feel of the ad you are creating.
- Now, AdMob shall provide you the Ad Unite ID which you need to save for later use.
- Next, you need to add Firebase Analytics in the app that shall help you showcase various types of analytics and reports on user demographics, sessions, revenue, and much more in the Firebase console. Also, note that all these can be done without the need for additional coding.
- Then, you need to download the Google Mobile Ads SDK as well as the Check Integration Guide.
- Now, if you are opting for Interstitial Ads, you need to follow the first three steps and then opt for Interstitial Ads. Since in this ad, there are three types of ads including text, image, and video, you can select any one, two, or even all the options. Next, you need to select the capping.
- The AdMob shall showcase the Ad Unite ID, which is to be saved for later use.
Hence, our AdMob account is registered and our ecommerce app is added for monetization. With this process, we have the Ad Unit ID and AdMob SDK. Now, you need to integrate the AdMob SDK and then provide the Ad Unit ID in order to get your ad displayed in the app.
For implementing the Google AdMob, you can consider using the MTGoogleAdMob library and download the required code from Github.
What are the steps to integrate AdMob SDK in the ecommerce app?
Below are the steps by which you can integrate the AdMob SDK in your ecommerce app:
- You need to create a fresh project using the Xcode.
- Now that you are having the GoogleMobileAds.framework from the steps mentioned earlier, and you can find the GoogleAdsMob.Swift from the Github code, you are given to handle all your AdMob tasks from your app. Therefore, you need to add both these files to the app.
- Next, you need to add connect the outlet and methods in the View Controller class.
- On the GoogleAdsMob.swift page, you have to provide your Ad Unit ID for Banner Ad as well as Interstitial Ad.
- There are two modes in AdMob; if your app is under construction, you need to opt for the Test Ads Unit ID and if not, then the Live Ads Unit ID when uploading the app on the App Store or the Play Store. If not done so, there are chances that your AdMob Monetization request gets suspended.
- Next, you need to initialize the Google AdMob in your AppDelegate file in the DidFInishLaunchingWithOptions.
- Add the codes in your app button’s method and run the app.
- Lastly, you can check other ads and integrate them.
