Mobile apps seem to be all the rage of late. It seems that every tech startup in recent memory is working on “mobile app X” which they attempt to sell as “the Uber of X” or “the Airbnb of Y”. It would appear that since the invention of the smartphone, the app market has boomed at a rate so big it would rival the growth of the early internet itself. Note that for the sake of the exercise, we have differentiated web apps from websites, as web apps are in their own category.

Mobile apps have definitely grown at a rapid rate, and it is definitely worth noting that mobile is the biggest area of growth and revenue in tech, but mobile is such a mature market that it would be hard for a new app to break in.

If the question remains, should you build an app or rely on web traffic? The answer may surprise you. If you’re thinking of building an app as a source of capturing eyeballs, and eventual revenue, read this first.

The truth remains that mobile app advertising revenue is not a great way to build a reliable stream of cash. Mobile apps are a really difficult way to find enough eyeballs at scale to be able to even find a reliable advertising distribution network. One of the breakout hits of 2015, Flappy Bird would only be able to generate enough revenue to power a small business, or to make one individual a very rich person. Flappy Bird had 700’000 downloads a day for several months, yet managed to generate approximately $15k. Despite these numbers, this type of model would not be considered a sustainable revenue stream for a growing business (just look what happened to Zynga, creator of farmville).

There is no greater truth in online business than “you need a website”. A purely app based business still relies on a website as a significant supplier of the traffic needed for a scalable website. One example of this is Stashd, which although a successful e-commerce app with a swiping mechanism a la Tinder, would still only produce a fraction of the traffic a website like Stylerunnner.com would generate. Combine that with the revenue generated from the traffic and you paint a stark contrast between mobile apps and website traffic.

Mobile devices now account for 56% of traffic online. It is clear that mobile responsive websites tend to attract the most traffic, so the proof is really in the pudding. Mobile websites create a sense of intimacy with the user that a desktop browsing experience does not. A mobile website puts the user at an arm's-length from the company, which often provides a degree of comfort for the user that an app does not. Apps are an invasive strategy, and need a degree of trust in the consumer before they may enter into a user’s phone environment. They also add an extra barrier to entry by making a user download the app, rather than just typing in a URL.

The trick to traffic is not in pure numbers. There is a difference between someone casually browsing your site on the toilet vs a user sitting down and allocating time for themselves to browse your site. Before looking just for traffic, consider finding quality sources of traffic. Realistically speaking the most fundamental strategy for entering into a user’s personal space is to start with a mobile-responsive website as your first port of call. Most of the time a consumer will build trust in the brand from mobile, at which point the world is your oyster. The next traditional port of call is tablet browsing, a greatly underestimated source of traffic. For pure revenue, consider building an app as the icing on the cake.