Den L.

Product Engineer
Learning to build indie apps
Road to first internet dollar

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

So for 100 users I’m spending $171 on ads and receiving ~$120 in revenue

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

Nothing is optimized yet, but here is some apple ads stats to start working with:

Cost per install - $1.71 (not great not terrible I guess)
Conversion to trial - 10%
Conversion to paid - 40%
Annual subscription price - $29.99

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

Instead of ASO optimization I will focus on onboarding and paywall to maximize revenue per install
Layer I will provide numbers

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

That’s it. This is the plan

[Harshil Tomar @Hartdrawss]

$3,800,000,000,000

That's Apple's valuation.

They built a tool that guarantees your app shows up when someone searches for exactly what your app does.

Apple Search Ads.

You don't need to rank organically.
You don't need to hunt for keywords.

Apple Search Ads is the only traffic source on the App Store where you pay exactly when someone searches for what your app does.

No algorithm luck. No viral gamble. Just a marketplace where you bid on intent.

Most indie founders ignore it because they think it's for big budgets.

Here's exactly how to run it profitably with $500.

1. Understand the math

Apple charges you per tap (CPT). Average CPT on low-competition keywords is $0.50 to $1.50.

Your goal is to keep cost per install (CPI) below your app's LTV.

If your app makes $5 per user over 30 days, you can afford up to $5 CPI.

Most apps fail here because they don't know their LTV.

2. Keyword research (skip the obvious ones)

Don't bid on your own app name. You already rank there organically.

Instead, target competitors and category terms.

Open App Store Connect. Go to Apple Search Ads. Create Campaign. Choose Basic.

Add keywords using these sources:

- Your top 5 competitors' exact app names
- Category terms your app solves (e.g. "budget tracker" not "finance app")
- Long tail terms with under 10 apps bidding (use Sensor Tower or manually search)

3. Set up a basic campaign in 10 minutes

Choose Search Results only. Skip Search Tab because it shows ads even when users don't search.

Budget: $20 per day for 7 days. That is $140 to test.

Ad group: exact match keywords only. Broad match burns money.

Screenshot creative: upload your highest converting store screenshot. Apple will A/B test it automatically.

4. The only two metrics you care about

Conversion rate (CR): how many users who see the ad download. Above 15% means your keyword and screenshot match intent.

Cost per install (CPI): what you actually pay. If CPI is higher than your target, pause the keyword.

At the end of 7 days, drop every keyword with a CR under 10% and CPI above your LTV.

Keep the winners. Double the budget.

5. Scale the winners

Now take your top 5 keywords and increase daily budget to $50 per day.

Add broad match for those same keywords. Apple's algorithm will find new variants that convert.

Also create a second ad group with Search Tab ads. Same creatives. This shows your app to users browsing without a specific search.

Watch the CPI. Search Tab tends to be cheaper but has lower intent.

6. The mistake that kills your ad spend

Most founders turn on Apple Search Ads and walk away.

You need to check it every 3 days for the first 2 weeks.

Keywords that worked yesterday can go cold when competitors start bidding.

Lower your bid by $0.10 each time. Keep cutting until the click volume drops. That is your sweet spot.

7. Recycle learnings into organic ASO

After 30 days, look at which keywords converted best.

Take those exact terms and move them into your app's keyword field, subtitle, and description.

Apple just told you which keywords bring paying users. Use that data to improve your organic rankings.

Now your paid traffic and organic traffic compound !

Open App Store Connect. Start a campaign with $50. Run the strategy for 7 days.

You will know exactly what works before your organic strategy even kicks in.

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

@ChadAppDev Are you using 5 different devices?

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

First slideshow passed 1.5K views on TikTok. Not viral, but a good milestone for me

[Will @athcanft]

INCREASE YOUR PRICING

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

My target is $29.99 annual sub. To beat the current price I only need about 5% conversion for annual sub

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

After a few days after I launched my app I just realized that I set prices too low

Next week I will try hard paywall with 9.99 monthly and 29.99 annual

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

@adriamatz Huge! Congrats!

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

I’ve increased my conversion rate to 12% with the SIMPLE trick: DO NOT use competitor names as keywords

If users search for a specific app by its name they will not choose your random app as alternative

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

First day conversion rate. Looks good?

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

First
Trial
Ever
!!!!

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

@poistudioltd That's all about me. Thanks for the post

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

Climbing my keyword to the top 🚀

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

Generated 1 slideshow for tiktok yesterday with claude and gemini:
Spot trend, write a plan and content for each slide - Claude
Generate slides - Gemini

8 slides = 1 dollar

[Joseph Kim @SeoulJosephK]

if you are building mobile apps and dont know this, youre ngmi to $10k+ mrr

paid ads
@athcanft: read all his X articles. he goes into the nitty gritty details (creating creatives for ads, how to set up ads, how to set up mmp, etc.) and will get you up and running right away!
@desmondhth: not active but his youtube videos are helpful. you can find it on his X account
@maubaron: talks abt posting 20-30 organic content per day across youtube, tiktok, instagram. once you identify the winning hooks you run paid ads behind the winners to scale (the current trend)

what youll have to deal with:
-tiktok vs meta ads
-are ads profitable? (cpa, ltv, etc.)
-set up mmp (eg @AppsFlyer. i tried both singular and appsflyer. if youre using meta ads appsflyer wins.)

organic (ugc, ai ugc, founder led content, etc.)
@Superwall: watch every youtube episode. 95% of the episodes are goldmines for ugc/organic marketing.
@dillionverma: watch his episode on superwall. memorable ugc payment structure
@CalebDeannn: watch his episode on app preorders. he was able to get exit offers because of app preorders.
@lottsnomad: watch his episode on building and exiting quickly
@madebycol read her pdf on her X account. talks about sharing codes that created virality, pricing, etc.

growth platforms for organic:
@sideshift_app: helps you find ugc creators and manage them
@trypostedapp: launch a ugc contest and only pay for what you like
@getnoiseapp : run a campaign where you pay for aggregate views (i would say good for testing but not for scale cuz you have to pay for views on shit videos. very easy to get started cuz they help out with creating briefs)

what youll have to deal with:
-warming up account (endless shadow banned vs content sucks talk, ip address, vpn etc. @alexcooldev has a good article on this if youre outside the US.)
-how to post a shit ton of content
-payment structure for ugc
-virality

influencer
@BusDownBonnor: watch his episode on superwall. talks about building apps for influencers' audience. may be a good strategy for devs getting started that know no marketing
@jakecastilloooo: cal ai founder who talks abt influencer marketing.

what youll have to deal with:
-cold dming influencers
-negotiating profitable deal structures

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

Building claude code skill for TikTok marketing: analyze competitors -> generate ideas -> plan campaign -> generate carousel images

What should I use for image generation Gemini or GPT?

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

It should be my wallpaper until I make my first $

[Marc Lou @marclou]

10 years as an entrepreneur and 1 takeaway:

Don't you dare give up.

[Den L. @TheBurningDen]

Leeets gooooo

[Anthropic @AnthropicAI]

We’ve received notice that the Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5.

We'll begin restoring access tomorrow, and will share an update soon.

We’re grateful to our users for their patience, and to everyone who worked with us on redeploying the models.