We use a variety of apps all the time, so wouldn’t it be great if there’s a way to make some extra cash through them? That’s exactly what I’ll be talking about today with a program called AppCoiner. Unlike other sites, this one is more low key in promising you huge earnings. Still, it’s worth asking – is AppCoiner legit and should you pay to join? This review will have the answers.
Get Paid to Test Apps – What’s The Deal
The purpose of testing and rating apps is to prove whether the program is functional and live up to the consumer’s expectation. It’s also a way for the creators to make improvements and add value to their work.
Enter AppCoiner, a program that lets you test drive apps and helps you make money doing so. It even has a calculator to project your potential earnings. With an average of $5 to $30 per review, earnings can be projected based on how many apps and how frequent you test them.
According to the calculation, we are looking at about a few hundred per week to five-figures per year. Looks like a lucrative opportunity uh? With so many new apps coming up, I would think so. However, here’s the catch.
- You can only choose apps from their database.
- Chances are, you need to purchase those apps before you can make any reviews.
- You need to post the reviews on a website, not on the app page.
- You will only get paid when the app is purchased by users who read your reviews, not because you wrote and published them.
Essentially, it’s affiliate marketing in action and the way it works is that you’ll earn a percentage commission from any sales that transpire from your reviews. The “$5 to $30 per review metric” – that is most likely the commission range we are talking about here.
Affiliate marketing is a legit business model and reviewing apps is fast becoming a niche on its own as we become more technology oriented. In fact, there are plenty of review sites for phone apps out there, some are public forums that don’t pay and some are private blogs that you don’t have any affiliation with.
So when a program like AppCoiner comes along, it does seem to make reviewing apps for cash a lot easier.
What Are You Getting With AppCoiner
After signing up with AppCoiner, these are what you can expect to get;
- It uses your username to create a subdomain for a WordPress website.
- On the free website, you can write and publish apps that you have tested. It also comes with a few demo pages to show what product reviews should look like.
- There is a small analytic column to show the number of visitors coming to your site as well as the statistics of people taking specific actions after reading the reviews.
- On the dashboard, you’d see a suggestion of apps to download and test and you’d choose from those choices for your reviews.
- Meanwhile, they also encourage you to sign up as a Clickbank affiliate or with JVZoo so you can expect to earn additional commissions promoting digital products from these marketplaces.
Overall, it’s a great concept as it ties in with the online trends of popular apps. If you are truly interested in this type of setup features, the cost of joining is $27. You may get a 10% discount at the checkout and if you sign up through one of the promotional emails at a much later date, Appcoiner will offer up to 50% discount.
What Do I Like About The Program
First, the fact that it uses the affiliate marketing model is appealing here. I have been making money this way for years and still believe that it’s one of the easiest and least expensive ways to start an online business for beginners.
More so if you don’t have any experience in online selling. It takes away the responsibility and headache of creating products. When you are more focused on marketing preexisting brands, you are this much closer to making a profit from sales commissions.
Second, I like that it uses WordPress (not the commercial WordPress.com) and in my opinion, that’s the best vehicle to publish your content online because it enables more people to discover your product reviews through the search engines. Usually, the more content you put into a WordPress blog, the more exposure you’ll get.
Third, the smartphone app niche is fast becoming a popular one online. Savvy consumers are more likely to read reviews before using or purchasing any apps to ensure that their investment is worth the money. Since new products are coming in all the time, you will always have an ample supply of topic ideas to write about.
What I Dislike about AppCoiner
The number one thing I don’t like about this program is the lack of control over the function and appearance of the website. For example, you can’t add different plugins and you can’t customize the designs.
That makes the site looks similar to everyone else’s and less functional in the eyes of Google. The subdomain also makes it look less professional and less memorable when someone visits your site.
And then there’s the app database that you are limited to in terms of product choices. Now, what if some of them are outdated, country-specific or you’re simply not interested in? That would make it a lot more difficult to come up with a review, wouldn’t it?
Speaking about that, Appcoiner doesn’t have any guidelines teaching you how to write a good product review to attract online readers. It doesn’t tell you anything about keyword research or how to structure a content that is engaging to read. All it does is provide a website and some affiliate links and you are left to figure out how to promote the apps.
Another thing I found to be odd is that the program will generate affiliate links to Clickbank and JVZoo products of its own choices and not yours. It may seem like a good additional income stream but in reality, the product is just being placed there to gain an advantage from online traffic and nothing else. Heck, you don’t even know what the products are all about!
Lastly, ever since signing up, I’ve been getting a lot of emails from AppCoiner, not only about the program itself but also to other money-making promotions that are literally bombarding my inbox. Well, they promise not to spam my email so it’s kind of annoying that they did.
My Final Verdict
Overall, it feels like I’m operating a puppet website with Appcoiner. I’m just paying money to use a free website which I have very little control over. There is no in-depth training to show you how to make the best out of it, so I wouldn’t recommend anyone to use this subpar program even though it’s somewhat legit.
As I said, the concept is a good one – leveraging from mobile apps trends, yet a strong foundation in online marketing is completely lacking here. Their features don’t offer any advantage to compete in this thriving industry.
If you are truly interested and want to start an online business, you must first understand a few basic things.
- Reviewing just about any app on the planet will be too broad a subject. You need to be more specific on the type of apps to review so at the very least, you are comfortable writing what you know best and creating topics that are relevant to the targeted audience.
- You need to have an optimized WordPress website that gives you full control on the inside as well as from the outside. If you haven’t used WordPress before, here’s your chance to create one for free. Keep in mind this is not similar to the free site like what Appcoiner has.
- Learn to write in-depth reviews that promote trust and engagement – not something that is pretentious. That way, people would feel more convinced with your recommendation and be encouraged to buy without feeling the pressure.
I know these three steps can somewhat challenging, but I can assure you they are not. If you are someone knowledgeable about apps and have a strong passion in this niche, making money reviewing apps online is certainly possible, even without Appcoiner.
To learn more about this, please check out my recommended training platform for more tips in running a successful affiliate business. If there are any questions or comments, please leave them down below.
I’ve seen some ads for this program and I thought it sounded really good until you mentioned that you can’t really change anything on the website. What a huge drawback. Seems like you don’t have much control over what you are doing. I can’t see how it can turn into anything profitable.
The AppCoiner seems like a promising platform for people who are new to online business, but over time, I can see how the limited options and features available means that likely even the newbie will go elsewhere. There are many ways to write reviews that will earn you commissions, and having control of your own site in terms of content and designs, comes with rewards.
I also do not like that you can’t control over what you promote from JVZoo, as there are some really bad programs (not all) and I would rather show and review offers that are congruent with the rest of my website. Depending on the niche I may be focusing on, that could be a diet, a tool, or a program.
This platform just does not meet my expectations. I do not think it is a scam per se, just not worth an investment of time and energy.
This is a great review of AppCoiner as an online opportunity, especially to those who are new to the make money industry. The application itself is a legit one, a great one actually, but it’s done in a wrong way.
If not wrong, it’s improperly executed to fully see its potential. The ones you wrote are commendable and clear to me, particularly on the cons, which I’m sensitive about. There are many online opportunities out there, but many of the methods aren’t practical.
It seems like a good idea building ready-made websites for promoting apps. But they are forgetting about those who are new to reviewing products. It seems like there is no guidance on how to do this properly online. Everyone can write but not everyone knows how to market online so there’s a need for such training.
There always seems to be a catch, doesn’t there? There is a ton of scam programs lurking on the internet and I guess the real challenge is to differentiate the real opportunities from the, let’s say less legitimate ones.
I was going to call this opportunity a scam, but I do agree with your assessment that affiliate marketing is a good business model and that the app industry is going places.
The opportunity Appcoiner presents appears to be very similar to selling Clickbank style products with predetermined landing pages. I don’t really have a problem with that but I prefer to create a more niche website promoting other types of tangible products.
Hello Cathy, excellent review you have here about Appcoiner. Truly, it is an excellent concept to leverage on the fast developing app industry and making reviews but, it is just way too limited in options offered to the affiliates. How would I not have the freedom to select the apps to review and also over the website I use to review them?
I think if the creators can tweak these setbacks, they may have better success with the platform as a whole.
I think you are right Cathy. I would rather operate my own website and sell products of my choice than to join this opportunity, using their generic website for promoting apps.
I think you have so much more freedom operating your own affiliate marketing business, and although there are some learning curves for beginners, the idea of having control over what to promote is much better for the long term marketing strategy.
It’s a great idea though and well done to the person who thought it up.