Back to School Stress Reliever (App Sale)!

Back to School.

If you're a teacher or parent and the very mention of these three words causes you to break out in a cold sweat, we're here to help.

This Friday, 8/23 we are giving away our featured App Store writing app, Shake-a-Phrase (normally $1.99), to promote giggle inducing grammar fun.

Ahhhh - don't you feel better already?

The silly sentence maker shakes up wacky scenarios and writing prompts in 5 different themes and includes a quiz mode for playful parts of speech practice.

Check out this teacher's review of the Android version of the app to see how Shake-a-Phrase can be used in your CCLS classroom.

Sure, you could probably use a nice weekend at a spa but what do you expect for free?

Download Shake-a-Phrase for FREE on the App Store - Friday, 8/23

Summer App Promo Results - In Pictures

Mystery Math Town for iPhone in Toca territory - Education Top 10 Free Apps

We'd like to thank everyone who helped to spread the word about our Mystery Math Town for iPhone app giveaway on Friday 6/28.

We let the sale run into Saturday morning to make sure everyone had a chance to download the game.

And the evidence suggests that making your app free for a day continues to be a good way to get the attention of new users.

We're happy to report Mystery Math Town for iPhone was downloaded to over 7,000 devices during the promotion.

That's a lot of fireflies.

Here's what the promo looks like in pictures:

Twitter link clicks peaked the day of the promo

Facebook activity - over 6,000 people talking about the promo (if you believe anything Facebook says)

Blog activity/views peaked the day before the promo

appFigures paid sales - positive trend, even better after the promo

appFigures units downloaded

Get Mystery Math Town for your iPhone - FREE Today!

You say you haven't downloaded Mystery Math Town for your iPhone yet?

Well, we're making it real easy today.

So why don't you mosey on over to the App Store and get yourself a free educational app to keep those math skills sharp this summer.

The Guardian even named it one of the Best 50 Kids Apps of 2013.

Go get it, and tell your friends.

Don't worry, there's plenty to go around.

Mystery Math Town for iPhone - Free Today Only

A Summer App Celebration!

Schools out for the summer!

Now how can we entice you to download our apps?

As makers of educational games, we've come to expect slower overall app sales and fewer spikes resulting from schools who take advantage of Apple's volume purchase program.

Typically, the app dog days languish well into July, like a long summer's nap.

But the arrival of August breathes new life into the educational category as the Back to School buzz rises, reaching a crescendo louder than the song of the 17 year cicadas, in a September app downloading frenzy.

Ahhhhh - summer.

Let's celebrate now.

We've got something special planned for you next week...

See you Friday, June 28th.

Mystery Math Town - Front Page News!

Yes, that's the front page of the iPad App Store.

And yes, that's Mystery Math Town, a Featured New and Noteworthy selection.

It is truly satisfying to be recognized by Apple for our new game, and while we believed all along that Mystery Math Town is special and worthy of distinction, it's another thing entirely to get noticed in a sea of over 300,000 iPad apps.

We've had lots of support from some good people along the way, from a great group of testers who helped us to make the best game possible, to our network of friends, educators and fans, who helped make this the most successful app launch ever for our little company, Artgig Apps.

As our very own Elvis-impersonating crooner, Hank, is fond of saying, it feels like we "have so many fans, even a computer couldn't count them all, baby."

Thanks for all of your help.

We really do appreciate it.

Now we've got a certain Tiger to tangle with at #7 on the Education charts...

Mystery Math Town for iPad

Marble Math App Friday Promo Report

Did you catch our Marble Math app giveaway on Friday 3/8?

How about Saturday?

I really hope you're not one of the 110 people who missed out and paid to download it on Sunday (but if you are, thank you.)

With our new Mystery Math Town app set to launch in a matter of weeks, we decided to run a free promo to give our app titles a jolt ahead of the new release. And what better way to do it than with our old friends at Moms With Apps and the generous support of the App Friday team.

We made Marble Math free (normally $1.99) on Friday 3/8 for the promotion. This is the first time Marble Math has been free since its June release.

Normally, we send a press release to announce our promotions but we decided to run this giveaway with only direct support from our network and social media.

I tried to run a couple of paid/promoted Facebook posts but both were rejected for having too many words in the images (apparently, your image cannot be more than 20% text). I'll have more on this this at another time in another post, but let's just say it was frustrating to say the least.

On the other hand, I feel nothing but love for Twitter and it appears the feeling is mutual. I don't know who told the virtual coupon clippers that we were giving away our app, but they showed up in force on Friday and I salute them, and #freeapp loving tweeters everywhere, for their tidal wave of support. It's really amazing when you can just stand back and watch your SM stream light up with strangers promoting your app for you.

We also got a nice boost from App Advice as they included Marble Math in their Friday Apps Gone Free feature. They asked us to let the promo run an extra day to make sure everyone had a chance to download the app, so we extended the offer through Saturday.

So how did we do?

With over 75,000 apps in the Education category, it's getting harder and harder to make a dent in the Top 100 charts and I was expecting the resistance to Top 5 would be so great it would be virtually impenetrable.

Nevertheless, Top 5 was our target.

Marble Math peaked at #3 on the Education charts (yes, I was up at 5am Sat) with over 20k downloads on Friday.

In other words, we passed Mickey Mouse on the Education charts.

We added another 10k downloads on Sat.

Marble Math Rank Trend - the line marks the Friday promo

Marble Math Junior Rank Trend

Marble Math Multiplication Rank Trend

Even better, Marble Math pulled the rest of the Marble Math family up with it. Paid sales for Marble Math Junior went up considerably and downloads for our free Marble Math Lite: Multiplication also bounced.

Today ranks and sales are settling back to the usual Top 150 to 200 but still better than average for this time of year.

We asked for a jolt and that's exactly what we got.

Hopefully, we can ride this wave right into our Mystery Math Town launch in a few weeks.

Award Winning Marble Math App Free This Friday!

Do we know how to party, or what?
 
Download Marble Math for your iPad or iPhone for free this Friday, 3/8.

Tell your friends!

Download Marble Math

Episode 6 - Developer Diary: Locked Up For The Holidays

How was your weekend?

After a sudden turn of good fortune, we found ourselves strutting around the App Store with the big dogs in the Education category.

It’s exciting to see our marketing strategy and efforts to promote our new app, Marble Math Lite: Multiplication, pay off handsomely in a featured App Store Education window spot.
In an instant, Marble Math Multiply went from New and Not Possible to Find, to New and Noteworthy - and what a difference that visibility makes.

Before the New and Noteworthy feature, Marble Math Multiplication was struggling to stay above the Top 300 fold, averaging around 200 downloads/day, today it’s holding steady at around #40 in Top Free Education apps.

That’s about 1,000 downloads a day.

We also ran our free Alien Buddies promotion on App Friday.

App Friday is a weekly web event and Facebook party, featuring select family-friendly developers and their discounted apps, and it’s been a really good platform for us to mingle with folks who use our apps, as well as other developers.

The simple act of switching your paid app to free triggers the alarm for all of the app price change aggregators, but you also want to reach out individually to reviewers, bloggers and friends in your network ahead of your promotion, to make sure they are prepared to lend social media support.

With the full force of our social media network behind them and a generous push from AppAdvice Apps Gone Free, our little Buddies raced up the charts on App Friday, leaving even Marble Math Multiplication in their dust as they reached exalted Top 10 territory, settling at #7 with only the likes of Mickey Mouse and Toca Boca ahead of them. We waited until Saturday afternoon to manually switch Alien Buddies back to Paid to make sure everyone worldwide had a chance to download the app during the promotion.

Alien Buddies was downloaded over 11,000 times.

It’s always hard to pull the plug when you’re staring at your app in a Top 10 position, and when you do, your app ceases to exist on the charts at all - it falls into a black hole as the charts re-calibrate and that’s when the fear creeps in.

“Will I ever make it back?”

Before the promotion, our Alien Buddies were hanging around in the 250-300 chart range.

Today, they’ve jumped about 100 spots and look quite content around #150.

It remains to be seen whether they can hold their turf higher up the charts. Typically, sales and free promotions are good for a quick rankings injection and a short-lived status bounce, before things settle  back to their natural order.

But sometimes the bounce is just enough to get some extra attention.

With any luck, Alien Buddies will hang on to their new chart territory and Marble Math Multiplication will still be a New and Noteworthy app when the dust settles from the App Store changes this Thursday, before the holiday lockdown.

There it is again - hope.

Without it, we’d be working in a shoe repair shop or delivering pizzas or something.

* The author actually worked in a shoe repair shop and delivered pizzas once upon a time.

Alien Buddies Kids App - Updated & Free This Friday 12/14!

Stock the fridge with eggnog and put out your finest fruit cake, the Alien Buddies are coming to town!

This Holiday Season we’re pleased to offer our award winning Alien Buddies as a FREE download for your iPad/iPhone - 1 Day Only, Friday December 14th.

And thanks to the latest update, these adorable little critters will look their best on your iPhone 5.

Good looking and Free - it really doesn't get much better.

Please share with your friends and followers (human or other).

Download Alien Buddies (but wait until Friday)

Episode 3 - Developer Diary: Locked Up For The Holidays

“Your app status is In Review.”

When I saw the iTunes Store email last Sunday night I was shocked.

On any other day, the email subject “Your app status is In Review” would trigger a harmonious concert of promotional efforts: a press release would fire, app reviewers would receive the signal that something new and exciting had just happened, and our social media army would buzz our network, expertly stoking the fire of anticipation for an attractive upcoming offer designed to boost downloads and get the app on devices.

“In Review” is pretty important - that’s why they use capital letters.

It means your app will be likely be approved or rejected in a matter of hours.

If your app is approved, you’ll get two more emails in pretty quick succession after review, “Your app status is Processing for App Store” followed by the glorious “Your App Status is Ready for Sale.”

I was just finishing dinner with the family when I saw the status for Marble Math Lite: Multiplication change to Ready for Sale.

I didn’t even have a press release ready.

When we huddled a few months ago to map out our strategy aiming for prime App Store Holiday positioning, we decided to launch a new app, Marble Math Lite: Multiplication, and to update an existing app, Alien Buddies.

Marble Math Lite: Multiplication was approved after 5 days in the iTunes review queue.

Alien Buddies v.1.2.2 was also approved after 5 days and went live last night - on a Sunday, just like Marble Math.

This is unusual in more ways than one.

New apps and app updates normally take 7 days for approval, and I’ve never heard of Apple working the weekends for approvals until now.

So instead of longer review times it appears Apple is working overtime to speed things up.

As an app developer you need to learn to sleep with one eye open.

I just finished writing the Alien Buddies press release to go out Friday morning, and we’ll offer the app for free for the day as part of the weekly family-friendly App Friday festivities to boost downloads.

Don’t believe anyone who tells you free promos don’t work.

It’s like an instant shot of app sales adrenalin and can be extremely useful, especially for a quick lift, say the week before Apple locks down the App Store and freezes app rankings.

Just make sure to tip off your social media networks in advance, and make sure you have a solid press release ready to go.

Episode 2 - Developer Diary: Locked Up For The Holidays

Episode 2

Welcome to the second installment of our developer diary, chronicling our efforts to stand out in the App Store during the the Holiday rush and iTunes Connect lockdown.

We're indie app developers making educational games for kids and our apps are consistently ranked in the Top 5% of all Paid Educational Apps in the US.

That's pretty respectable considering there are more than 75,000 active apps in our space.

But we’re still saving for our private island and we still rely on client work to make a living. Our little patch of App Store turf is under constant threat as big brands move in and each day is a fight to hold our rank in the Top 300.

If you’re not in the Top 300, you’re a needle in a haystack and you better be working on your next app.

The Top 100 - these are the big dogs, the Disneys, the Nickelodeons, and the Toca Bocas.

The Top 200 to 300 - this is our turf. We usually have 2 or 3 apps hanging around 200.

And then you have the Editor’s creme de la creme - the collections, the New and Noteworthies, and flavors of the week.

Getting picked can make you an instant big dog.

And guess what.
 
Apple just made their picks for the week.

And we didn’t get picked.

And we’re okay with that because getting picked by Apple for a featured spot is not a marketing strategy. A marketing strategy works on multiple fronts and takes time to cultivate. First and foremost, a marketing strategy needs an excellent product.

Which brings me to our latest app, Marble Math Lite: Multiplication.
 
It’s new and free and we think it’s pretty excellent.

Now pay attention:

People (and Apple) like things that are shiny and new.

People (and Apple) like things that are free.

People (and Apple) like things that are excellent.

Marble Math Multiplication is a free app but it’s also a gateway to our two established paid apps, Marble Math and Marble Math Junior, which we also think are pretty excellent.

We know the Marble Math apps are popular in classrooms, but schools and teachers are often reluctant to pay for apps, even with their educational discount.

Of course we have a demo video on the Marble Math website and we’ve got tons of great reviews from reputable sources like Wired.com and Common Sense Media, and we regularly share news and reviews across our social networks, but some folks really want that test drive.
 
And we want them to play the game.

And we especially want them to play the game over the holidays on their shiny new iPads.

App Store Developer Diary: Locked Up For The Holidays

We’re Artgig Apps, developers of educational apps for kids, and this is our experience marketing and promoting our apps in the App Store leading up to, and during, the holiday break.

The App Store developer portal, iTunes Connect, is closed from Dec 21 to Dec 28th, so expect a mad rush as developers scramble to get new apps approved and rank positions locked up before the Store is locked down.

And when I say locked down, I'm talking Alcatraz.

No new apps, no price changes, and no updates are allowed in this period.

So yeah, you better not pout and you better not cry, but more importantly, you better plan your promotions and maximize your exposure now to plan for extended review periods and possible delays before the freeze.

And remember, your App Store rank on December 28th will be exactly the same rank it is on Dec 21.

So you’ll want to look your best when Apple takes your snapshot before the freeze.

Our holiday marketing strategy features 2 primary promotions:

1 - Launch a new free app
2 - Make an existing app free for a day

We just launched our new free app, Marble Math Lite: Multiplication.

And we’ve got another app scheduled for a free Dec 14th promotion.

Stay tuned as we share the highs and lows of our holiday journey, ending with a January recap.

It’s like reality TV without the TV.

Open Your Goodie Bag - We Got Treats!

I'm sorry, were you under the impression that Halloween was over?

Not while we've still got treats!

We can’t wait to share our new Marble Math and Marble Math Junior updates with you. Both apps now feature international currency options so you can practice counting with Australian, Canadian, Euro, or British money in addition to US coins and bills. You can download the update today from the App Store and it’s optimized for the iPhone 5.

And if you don’t have Marble Math Junior ($1.99), get your goodie bag ready, because you can download the app Common Sense Media calls

“...one of the most fun, customizable, and effective math games available for early elementary school-age kids” 

for Free this Friday, November 2nd!

Like I said, we’re all about treats.

And once you’ve downloaded Marble Math Junior, join the other ghosts and goblins at the Moms With Apps App Friday Facebook Party where you can mingle with family friendly developers and get more great apps on sale (costumes optional).

Perhaps you've heard of the rare double rainbow phenomenon.
Well, today you've witnessed something even more remarkable – the double blog post.

Go on, run off and tell your friends.

And have a happy and safe Halloween!

FREE Apps This Friday!

What better way to follow up a Back to School Sale than with...another Back to School Sale.

I may have to talk to our Marketing Department about this one.

I mean, let's at least call it something else.

Like...

"Return to Learn"

Run with it.

See you this App Friday at Moms With Apps.

Return to Learn Sale This Friday, August 17th!

Back to School App Sale This Friday!

We know it can be tough, dragging the kids back to school after a fun-filled summer.

My suggestion to minimize kicking and screaming?

Trick them.

That's right, give them some educational apps that are actually fun to play.

They'll be too busy earning cool rewards and high-fiving over high scores to realize they're skilling and drilling.

And stuff.

See you this App Friday, with our friends at Moms With Apps.

Artgig Apps - Making Back to School Fun Sale!

Download Marble Math Junior for FREE Friday, June 22!

He-llo Summer!

Our new Marble Math Junior app won't keep you cool...

But it will make you smarter!

That's right, those crazy kids at Artgig Apps are at it again.

We're giving away Marble Math Junior (ages 5-8), tomorrow - Friday June 22, to celebrate launch!

This is also a great opportunity to "try before you buy" for parents and teachers interested in the featured New and Noteworthy Marble Math for older kids.

Join us and Moms With Apps as we kick of the summer with some sizzling app sales - straight from the developers.

And please, share this offer with your family, friends, and followers!

Thanks for supporting Artgig Apps.

Download Marble Math Junior For FREE Friday, June 22