Interview with Mike Vallez of CrazyMike’sApps

Posted: March 16th, 2010 | by Tesi Johnson | No Comments »

There are iPhone apps, and then there are iPhone ‘crapps’. What differentiates the two is subject to individual opinion, but if it were up to some iPhone application developers, users would be downloading more apps than there is memory on their handset to store them; even if the said apps are really “crapps” camouflaged by pretty graphics and a name preceded by an ‘i’.

Thankfully there’s someone on the consumer’s side to help identify the ‘crapps’, and instead recommend cool and useful applications for your iPhone that may actually make life easier in some way. Enter stage left, Mike Vallez, or CrazyMike as he likes to be called who shared with Capitalizer the innards of his iPhone app review website CrazyMikesApps.com.

[Q] How did your love for smart phones evolve into an app review website?

[A] Oddly enough a friend told me I should blog, I thought it was stupid and thought Twitter was even dumber. Now I have a strong website, written an e-book, and have a robust social media following.

[Q] What drove Mike to a state of insanity? (What makes Mike crazy?)

[A] I am a retired cop (Tampa, Florida PD), I have 3 teenage daughters & wife, I work on CrazyMikesapps 6 to 8 hours a day and I work for USIS for 8 hours a day as a Social Media Strategist. Mind you I earned my current position due to CrazyMikesapps.com. Oh yea, I am the webmaster, content provider (written, video, and podcast) for CrazyMikesaps.com, almost a 1 man show.

[Q] How does CrazyMike’sApps make money?

[A] Currently we run an advertising revenue model, with paid app reviews (editorial rights still in effect, I don’t do positive reviews for money), banner ads, and social media exposure (package deal) reasonably priced.

[Q] Describe your marketing strategy (seo, ppc, social media etc)

[A] SEO, I have implemented and am implementing new SEO techniques daily as I learn for my real employer. I use social media, Twitter, FB, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, (Twitter clients), Linkedin, GovLoop, YouTube, TubeMogul, and I have a CrazyMikesapps iTunes podcast channel that is rocking. I have been syndicated by Libsyn for my iTunes podcast. (currently averaging 1000 downloads a day)

[Q] A developer launches a new app that piques your interest. Describe the review process?

[A] I get some apps myself, some come from clients, and a large deal come from promo codes. I try to provide a range of review content, not just games, not just entertainment and apps that I feel consumers will be interested in and want to avoid. I release about 5 to 7 reviews a day a combination of written, video, and podcast. Basically, this process is in my Crazy Head.

[Q] Have you ever been contacted by an angry developer whose app you gave a scathing review. How did that exchange go?

[A] Yes and no, never overly angry, but maybe a little uptight. We review based on the experience, we have or some of my review staff has missed the mark a time or two. I feel we have to be respondent to the reviewer, find out what is not working and explain that in the review from an objective manner. I have updated reviews and feel the developer deserves a fair shake. But, and a big but, some developers put some trash out there and that is their intent in the first place. I do not have much mercy on those guys and encourage folks to stay away, you don’t hear from those developers.

[Q] If your iPhone only had enough space to accommodate one application [aside from those that are pre-installed]. Which would you install?

[A] Currently I probably use TweetDeck the most, I have 3 Twitter accounts and can keep track of them and update them all at the same time.

[Q] If you had an unlimited budget to create ANY app your mind could conceive. Describe what it would be?

[A] I would create the ultimate productivity app. One that would include Google Docs (view/edit), Google calendar, Basecamp, Backpack, Skype, Evernote, Goodreader, and the best news feed all in one, and oh yea share functions to all social networking sites.

[Q] Your team members seem to be pretty interesting folks. How did you find them?

[A] Most are co-workers and a couple I met on Twitter. Good, but they have lives and I don’t, I live, eat, and breathe CrazyMikesapps.com

[Q] How do you envision CrazyMikesApps 10 years from now?

[A] Hopefully, we will have branched into all mobile app stores that are relevant at the time. I envision the mobile market to have an explosion of growth over the next 2 to 5 years. I hope to be reviewing apps for all prominent app stores, but I am sure iTunes will still be the leader. Oh yea, I have signed up for an iPad email early notification so I can purchase mine. I will be doing iPad app reviews, very, very soon.

Visit CrazyMikesApps.com

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