5 Simple Steps to Get your App Discovered
At inneractive, we are big believers in the mobile advertising industry. It is what we do best. Having said that, whether you choose to monetize your mobile app using in-app advertising, in-app purchases, or pay per download, traffic and downloads are the first step to success. Except there is one problem. How do you even get your app noticed among the hundreds of thousands of others? This is an issue that troubles even the biggest mobile developers and that many companies are hard at work trying to solve.
Meanwhile, there are some basic tips every developer should implement if they want to get their app discovered and downloaded. Some of the tips might be obvious to you, others less, but if you follow all these guidelines, you are sure to increase your app’s traffic significantly.
- Design: The way your app looks is probably the most important part of its success. Not because looks are what matter most, but because if your app is designed well, it will generally be easy to use. An app that is easy to use is an app people want to share with their friends, especially when it fills a real need. Instead of focusing on adding as many features to your app as possible, it is more effective to provide users with an app that fills a gap, does it well, and takes less than ten seconds to figure out.
- Beta Testers: Having people test your app prior to release is a very effective method of killing two birds with one stone. First and foremost, you can get real feedback about your app and how it works before it hits the market. This is crucial since the app landscape is super saturated and an app that does not work like it is supposed to, is an app that the user will delete from their device. The second advantage of having testers is that assuming they like your app, they will become your evangelists once the app is released. Of course, to have people who are influential testing your app is even more effective, but given the potential of the social Web, anyone can become an influencer.
- Updates: Statistics show that most apps are used once and never opened again. One way to increase eyeballs on your app and have users coming back, is by offering frequent updates. In fact, you might want to consider intentionally leaving out features in version one in order to release an update with that feature. The master of this technique is of course Rovio with all the versions of Angry Birds. This method causes users to download the update and in many cases, open the app to see what’s new. Of course, updating your app often is a way to increase user engagement and if Twitter has taught us anything, it has taught us that people like to be engaged.
- Discovery Tools: As I mentioned above, many companies are addressing the issue of app discovery from different angles and as a developer, it is worth it to utilize the benefits of all these companies. To name a few, Appboy has a nice check in feature, which enables users accessing your app to check in and share it with their friends. Appsfire has a great site and mobile app to help users discover mobile apps, that is also worth checking out. Chomp and Appolicious are two other solutions in the discovery space, both worthy of your attention.
- Networking: Yes, we are aware that every person talks about social media and how amazing it is. The truth is, sites like Twitter (follow us here) can be very effective tools to spread the word about your new mobile app, but only if used properly. The last thing you want to do is use social tools to spam people and get them to click on a link leading to your app. That will only cause you harm. What you should do is follow some key people in the world of apps and engage them. If relevant, lead the conversation to the topic your app addresses and build a relationship using these tools. Of course, your profile should include a link and description of your app or development company, which with the help of a large network, will drive traffic in and of itself.
These five tips are of course just the tip of the iceberg, but if followed and implemented carefully, can surely bring you the exposure you need to get noticed by the right people. From there on, the sky is the limit.
Do you have any additional tips for mobile developers to stand out? Please share them with us in the comments or on Twitter and Facebook, where we are always listening.
Please share your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter, Google+, or Facebook where we are always listening.
In addition, to sign up with inneractive and start monetizing your free apps now, click here.
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Comments
There are no comments on this entry.