There will be times when all you want is to show your own ads, no Google, no AdMob, no nothing. One solution is to run “button ads” — I called them so because, technically, they run as buttons. Yyou get to set up your own ad text and link for the destination web page. Here is an example of the button ad running in my app Musica Italiana Napoletana. (You may want to click here and see for yourself.)
Here is a screen shot in which a button ad appears, with the corresponding control panel:
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You may notice that the placement of the button ad is not standard in this example.
Make Money With House Ads — Button Ads
There are several ways to make money with house ads.
1) Promote your own apps or merchandise
Here, I am promoting two apps of mine, Opera Music and Canzoni Italiane. They both make money through AdMob ads, and the more people download the apps, the more they will be able to earn.
It is also important to note that these apps are related in theme, which is “Italian music” from various angles. It does not make sense to run house ads for dog food from Opera Music.
2) Run affiliate marketing campaigns
This is a huge topic in itself. For these three apps, you can try to link to Amazon.com, iTunes.com and similar shopping centered sites.
You may also use links from your affiliate network and try to sell something from the affiliate sites. If that is the case, make sure that their sites have corresponding mobilized pages, so that users of your app can order and pay directly from your app.
3) Run similar ads
You may observe what kind of ads Google is serving through AdMob campaigns and run similar ads, either directly from the vendor or through an affiliate network.
4) Place button ad wherever you want to
You can place buttons ads anywhere on the screen that you want, you are not limited to the standard sizes of AdMob house ads. You can have an entire menu of button ads, it is up to you.
One added benefit is that Google will not automatically see what kind of house ads are you serving. And of course, you can always run house ads through AdMob. My DS_menuIconsAdMob plugin is especially written to that purpose so if you want to monetize your apps’ screens through AdMob, let me know.