This article was written for app developers seeking distribution, however, if you have a website and would like to promote W3i’s applications, go to W3i’s affiliate sign-up form.

Pay Per Install Programs for All Platforms

Every market leading platform, including iPhone, Facebook, Windows, and even Internet Explorer toolbars, has at least one vendor who will sell a consumer app developer installs on a pay per install or pay per download basis.

Cross Promotion Typically the Method Powering Pay Per Install Programs

Most of the pay per install networks utilize some method of cross promotion to drive additional installs while users are installing or interacting with another app.

What Other Distribution Channels Don’t Want You to Know About Pay Per Install Programs

So, how do these pay per install networks, like W3i’s Application Network for Windows apps and browser add-ons, compare in cost to other channels for app distribution such as search, display, affiliate, and OEM?

To answer this question, I had W3i’s Media Buyers examine past campaign performance across these difference channels and tallied up our effective cost per install by channel. The following bar graph is based upon the actual campaign performance which was achieved.

Pay Per Install Programs the Lowest Cost Alternative

As you can see from W3i’s campaign results, pay per install programs can create a meaningful distribution channel while lowering an app developers costs by often as much as one third the cost of other alternatives!

Many app developers have tried search and affiliate programs to promote their app because they are more widely recognized tactics, but have failed to launch and optimize their apps for low cost pay per install networks.

Ask About Compliance & Review the User Experience

Make sure you ask your pay per install program how they adhere to industry best practices, and what care they take in establishing a valued user experience. The engine that powers W3i’s Application Network, InstallIQ, has received the Truste Trusted Download certification and is white listed by Truste.

Get your App on a Pay Per Install Program

Whether you have an iPhone app, a Facebook game, a Windows application, or a browser toolbar, contact W3i to learn how you can launch and optimize your app using W3i’s pay per install network. 

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

The Web has caused the adoption of software plug-ins to proliferate like never before. Millions of users have installed plug-ins and are now getting an experience different than the one contemplated by the original authoring software company. The following are a few examples of popular plug-ins that are leading this change:  

Browser Toolbars: Since coming into the scene, toolbars have taken the Internet world by storm. It was recently reported that over 50% of the web surfing world now has a browser toolbar installed. And boy, are toolbars impactful! According to ComScore, 11% of US searches are generated via toolbar searches. Everyone in the search business understands the impact of the browser toolbar; with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, and Ask all having meaningful entries into the market. The most popular toolbars are the general interest toolbars provided by these companies, which makes sense given the limited amount of real estate on the browser chrome itself.

Layer Applications: This is a newer phenomenon that your average interactive marketing professional hasn’t yet heard of, but this technology solves a real current user problem. Users are running out of space on their browser chrome due to the heavy marketing by the aforementioned browser toolbar players. A layer application is a browser add-on that creates virtual layers that can be edited to create the appearance of having made changes to the underlying website. The functionality is dependent on the website you visited and the layer application that you installed, and therefore doesn’t have to be present on each and every website a user visits. One good example of such an application comes from StumbleUpon, which modifies Google search results page with StumbleUpon’s discover shortcut, user ratings, etc. The key with StumbleUpon’s application is that it provides these additional features in addition to those available to all users who might be running web search with Google that didn’t have the plug-in installed. Another layer application, from a widely recognized communication player, was cited as generating over 5% of this company’s sales, from a credible source I recently spoke with. Based on the size of this communication company, the impact based on my estimate of the layer app, was in the multiple millions annually. These types of applications are no doubt going to have a very high impact for the software and internet media firms who take advantage of their capabilities.

Media Player Plug-ins: Lastly, I wanted to touch on some interesting other plug-ins, as plug-ins don’t simply have to be for the web browser. Several innovative firms have adapted plug-ins for the most common media players. Among my favorites are Soundcrank, which features hi-res album artwork, lyrics, and sharing features for its users. Another favorite is SoundSpectrum, which provides its users with advanced music visuals for iTunes and other popular music software. And the last media player plug-in I wanted to point out is iLike, which has more of a social networking flair. iLike provides concert information, music, and videos from your favorite artists.

If you haven’t considered how software plug-ins can support your software or interactive media strategy, please contact someone at W3i via info@W3i.com and we’d be happy to consult with you.Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over eight, profitable years evolving W3i (owner of Freeze.com) in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.