I haven't set up any of my apps for Iads but am considering it. My question is: the apps are geared to very specific audiences. One, for example, is geared to medical professionals, especially pediatricians. I don't want iads popping up for games or totally unrelated stuff. When I set up Iads with Apple, is there a way to only have medical related ads pop up? Thanks.

Hey Steve, From what I can tell with my iAds experience, the only thing you can do is exclude particular types of ads. There doesn't appear to be any way to designate a particular class of ads. But I'll say, it's probably better than way anyways. If you restrict it to just medical ads, you'll have a much smaller pool of ads to be served than if you just allow everything that comes through. And a smaller pool means smaller revenue. I'm pretty sure Apple has their pulse on the best way to make revenue through iAds, since it benefits them more than us! Mark

Mark, I would guess the best way is to make a copy of an app and make it free. Then everyone has the option of accepting ads or not. One question. if I do make a free copy of, say, MYAPP, since I don't want to have to copy all my BT screens, couldn't I just copy the config file in Xcode, then go to BT, add the ad option to the screens, copy the resulting config file, paste it into Xcode, make the change to the name of this new app now, say MYAPP-Free, compile and send it to Apple with the new name (after setting up the new name with Apple). I guess then in the future if i want to make changes to the non free version, i'll have to make the changes, take out the ads to get the correct config file, compile, etc, then put the ads back in, copy-paste now this new config file, compile, etc. to see the changes in the free version? Is there a simpler way I'm missing? Thanks. Steve

Hi Steve, I think that method would work if you took the app offline, because the Report to Cloud and Configuration Data URLs both need an AppID as part of their URL string. If it were an offline app, it would never check in, and thus never require hitting the buzztouch servers. But, there's probably some hidden caveat here that I'm missing, which is why nobody has done it that way so far. Unfortunately, to create a Lite version of your app, I think you'll have to copy your screens. That's what I did, and ultimately I think it makes things easier to manage doing it that way. Mark

Mark, OK. I'l give it some thought. Do you put ads on all your screens or is that considered overkill and annoying? Obviously it gives the most chance for revenue but on the other hand might turn people off from using the app often. Steve

Hi Steve, I put ads on most of the screens. Some it didn't make sense because visually I didn't like the effect. From what I can tell based on the reports I get from Apple, the best strategy is to put them on pages that people will spend the longest time, because it often takes a second or so for the ad to come up. So, documents and pages with long interaction are good. Menus less good. Stuff like that. So far I've been very disappointed in the ad revenue...I think I've made less than $10 for my AZ Fishing Spots Lite app. I've had more people buy the full app, and tons more download the Lite version, but revenue has been sparse. Mark

Mark, Though I have no data to back it up, it would seem that unless you make a game, where people will spend a lot of time on the app, you make more money from a paid app, even if you just charge .99 Less people will buy it but from what I can make out of Apples revenue scheme, for an app with a limited audience, like mine, I can't see making a free on with ads except for the satisfaction of seeing lots more people download it. Steve

Hey Steve, Yep, I tend to agree with you. My Lite version was an experiment in both ad revenue and conversion to full version. Ad revenue has been disappointing, but conversion has been ok (not huge, but more than I had before). So, for similar apps, I would do two versions again. For your app..which I have seen...I don't see much use for a Lite version. I think the people who want that info will pay for it for sure. Mark

I received an email maybe 4 months ago from a new company that was specializing in serving ads for medical apps. I didn't bother with it since I had plans to get rid of ads altogether. I don't remember the name but if you do want just medical ads you can probably find someone outside of Apple to help you out. Josh

Josh, Thanks for the info, but based on what I can tell about the small amounts of money made for the ads, restricting them even further doesn't seem worth it. I'll think I'll just skip it for the moment. I wonder though, does anyone out there know of paid apps that also include ads since if the cost of the app is small, maybe adding apps to that would not be too intrusive and you'd have the best of both worlds. Steve

From what I've seen having ads in a paid app is discouraged and will likely lead to bad reviews. I can tell you from experience that in my free app (now paid) that had approximately 30-40 downloads/day over the past year, and around 8,000 updates with my last update, the money I made off iADs each month was about enough for a coffee at starbucks.