App Masters · Jan 27This Simple Note-Taking App Makes $20K / Month (and How You Can Build Your Own)
Earns about $20,000 a month from roughly 40,000 monthly downloads (about 50 cents each), all organic, with no ad channels. It ranks number two for "notes" right behind Apple, and its paywall is $15 a year or $30 lifetime.
Tips
- Prioritize distribution over design, onboarding and paywall polish▶ 0:46Notepad has dated 2013-style design and a basic paywall, yet makes about $20,000 a month from purely organic traffic.
- Target generic category keywords and rank top three for them▶ 6:08Notepad ranks number two for "notes", right behind Apple, and one client makes half a million purely organically from number one and number two spots on big generic terms.
- Blend two or three higher-traffic keywords with many low-competition ones▶ 5:50Notepad has only three keywords around 30 search traffic, and everything else is level 5, yet it ranks number one for many terms such as notes for iPhone variants.
- Replace a weak monthly plan with a one-time remove-ads purchase▶ 3:58He says remove-ads one-time purchases have done pretty well in apps he has seen.
- Add a mildly annoying banner ad to push users to upgrade▶ 3:21
- Monetize organic download volume better than 50 cents per download▶ 2:37About 40,000 downloads a month and roughly $20,000 a month in revenue, at about 50 cents per download.
- Offer a cheap yearly plan alongside a lifetime option▶ 2:16The $15 per year and $30 lifetime paywall sits behind roughly $20,000 a month in revenue.
- Trickle premium features into onboarding before the paywall▶ 3:11
- Look for old, organically ranked apps to acquire▶ 1:13Sensor Tower and AppMagic both show about $20,000 a month with no ad-supported channels.
- Cross-check competitor revenue estimates across two tools▶ 1:40Both tools showed similar revenue numbers around $20,000 a month for Notepad.
