Years ago, in an app starved landscape, if you developed an app, people would easily find it on their own, by word-of-mouth. This attitude of “Build it and they will come” is no longer in play – there are simply too many apps on the market that will do the same thing. Even if you are actually able to “build a better mousetrap,” in order for users to find it, there has to be more involved. Most developers think that if they can write and app and grab even 1-percent of that $100 billion industry that they could be rich. The problem with that thinking is that investors today want more than a measly 1-percent…they are think BIG…you know like 40-percent. If you want real success, stop thinking of it in terms of dollar figures – find a great idea that you are passionate about and develop from that model.
One of the first things to do when designing or marketing anything – it doesn’t even have to be an app – know your market. Is there a need for your app, who is your target market, will the market still be viable by the time you build, test and refine your app? App Annie can help you determine how saturated the market is and Flinto allows you to prototype an app without having to build the finished product. You can test it out on friends and family for feedback and once you have a target market, then you can start the real design.
It goes without saying that you need to have a good designer and one who knows the technical specs – for example, Apple will reject your app if you do not meet their technical requirements. A great design could be rejected because Apple or Google do not deem it meeting their criteria, so make sure that the designer knows the rules. One finished, allow a few trusted associates or small groups give it a run through so you can make some final tweaks and polish up your app before you call it finished.
Once your app is ready to sell in the App Stores of Apple or Google, you need to make sure that you utilize what is called App Store Optimization (ASO) – kind of like an optimized Google Search – you want your App to show up near the ‘top of the list’ so that potential customers will see it. There are tricks to it – include keywords in your title so that people will actually be able to find it…it is hard to sell something when users have to hunt all over for your product…it must ‘come to them.’ Developing a successful app is not easy in today’s crowded market place, but if you do your due diligence, you just might develop a killer app…then the money will come automatically as your reward.
Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if you are trying to develop an app – Android Headlines would love to review your app…as always, we would love to hear from you.