Jan 23, 2013

How to promote your Android application – The basics

So you have an awesome Android app and you are about to publish it on Google Play.  Now the question is how you get the word out about your great new app.

There are a few basic “Must Do” in order to get Android users to know and download your App.

1.      Develop an awesome app, but off course you have already done it.

 

2.      Choose your app name wisely – When choosing your app name, you have to make sure that the name describes what the app does. For example, if you have developed a chat app, make sure to combine the word “chat” in your app name. It will help users understand what your app is all about, and will pop your app on relevant search results (meaning it will help your in store SEO efforts).

Your app name should also be catchy, memorable and easy to pronounce.

 

3.      Design an awesome app icon – The app icon is the first thing the users will see while browsing for apps on Google Play. Make sure your app icon will stand out and will attract the user’s eye to click on your app. A crisp and cool design can help you get many free downloads.

The app icon should be designed in a similar way to the rest of your app.

 

4.      Write a clear app description – The app description is the text you will upload to Google Play to describe your app.

Before writing your description, make a list of keywords that your app is about. For example, if your app is a chat app make a list like: chat, messenger, im, etc.

Adding the right keywords into your description will help your app appear on more relevant search results on Google Play. Click here for an explanation about app store SEO.

 

Most users will not read your entire description (especially if it’s a free app), so make sure you write a killer first paragraph that will convince the users that clicked on your app icon they have to get your app on their Android!

 

5.      Prepare Killer Screenshots – While uploading an app on Google Play, you are entitled to add 8 screenshots of your app. Choose carefully what you would like to display on your screen shots, and what do you want the users to see about your app in order to get them download it!

Choose the order of the screenshots in a way that best describes your app.

It will also be wise to do A/B testing on the screen shots and see what screenshots get you more downloads.

 

6.      Upload a video to YouTube – On your app page on Google Play there’s an option to add a link to a YouTube video about your app. Try to make a simple and clear video that displays your app, and describes the different features of it. The video can also be a review compilation by users.

 

7.      Use Social Media – Social Media is a great and easy way to get the word out about your app. Create a Facebook, Twitter & Google+ pages of your app and start spreading the word.

Design your social media pages in a similar way to your app page on Google Play, and add links that direct visitors on your page to your app page on Google Play.
 
Be active on similar pages or forums. Let bloggers and other page owners know about your app, and they might share it themselves on their own pages and get traffic to your app page.

Have your own friends share your social media pages and help you spread the word about your app. Get them to click on the +1 button on your app page that will help you rank better and appear higher on Google search results of their Google contacts.
              Being active on Social media channels will cost you only your time.

8.      Promote your app with PPC campaigns – Advertising your app with PPC campaigns is a touchy issue and need full attention in order to get good results. If you don’t know how to manage a PPC campaign on the different mobile ad networks, you should be very carfull or you will lose all your marketing budget for nothing.

On the other hand PPC campaigns are a very useful way to get massive amount of download. Read these 6 Basic tips of how to promote your app on mobile ad networks.

 

It’s getting harder and harder to get the word out about good applications, since there are much more apps available every day. Users are constantly searching for new apps to get on their Android devices, and following these quick steps can help them find your app, and help you get more downloads.

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Jan 20, 2013

ASO – App Store Optimization (SEO)


Here are a few quick and easy tips for ASO – App Store Optimization (or App store SEO).

 
One of the biggest challenges of mobile apps developers is getting their app found by users. Obviously the first mission of the app developer is to create a great app that users will love to use and create an organic user base by word of mouth and app invitations.

 
The second natural thing to do is app marketing by PPC campaigns and social media activities. Last and not least is ASO (App Store Optimization – app store SEO). ASO can be done by a few simple actions in both Apple app store & Google Play.

 
ASO is divided to two key factors:

 
 1.     Category ranking.

 
 2.     In store search results

Category ranking is your app location in the category page on the app store or Google Play. Your locations will differed by geographic locations. For example, your app can be in the top 20 apps in the USA, but not even in the top 100 in the UK. The reason for that (mainly on Google Play) is that the ranking is determined by a few factors like downloads, uninstalls, relevancy for the category etc. this means that the app will rank higher in the regions that has more users of it.

In store search results is the apps list a user gets while searching for a certain keyword in the app store search box. The search results will be affected by the app name and the keywords in the app description.

While choosing the app name, a developer should consider the relevancy of the name for the actual app offers. For example, if it’s a chat app, it might be wise to add the word chat to the app name.

A key factor for ranking higher on the search results is pushing keywords in the description. Before writing the app description you should make a list of keywords that you want your app to appear on those searches. You can also check what the most popular searches on the app stores are and integrate the relevant keywords to your app in your description.

After choosing the most important and relevant keywords, you should integrate them into the description. The integration should be done carefully and wisely. Don’t push the keywords too many times or it will look like you just tried to push keywords without making any sense in the description.

App store SEO is still not a major tool to get a significant amount of app downloads and usage, but in a few short and easy steps you can increase the percentages of your organic downloads and improve your total ROI of the app distribution.

 

6 Tips for mobile apps marketing


Read this blog post to discover 6 useful tips on mobile apps marketing.

Rather it’s an iPhone or an Android application; don’t just waste your mobile marketing budget for nothing!

 
 1.     Choose your strategy – First you will need to define your target. For example, your target may be increasing the download number of your app, or it could be to increase the virtual goods usage in your app. Different targets have different ways to getting them. If it’s usage you are looking for, stay away from incentivized downloads.

 
 2.     Geo target – limit your mobile campaign to specific regions. If you are not focusing on a specific region at least divide your campaigns by countries, because different countries have different CPC/CPI prices. If it doesn’t matter to you where you get your downloads from, test different campaigns in different regions and allocate most of your budget to the cost effective regions.

 
 3.     Track your campaigns– Make sure you have the technical ability to track the success of your campaigns. Tracking usually works by integrating the ad network SDK on your app, or by a server to server solution. If you are advertising an Android app, you can use the Google advertising tools (AdMob & AdWords) and have automatic tracking. Without campaign tracking, you won’t be able to see where you get your downloads from, and where you should invest your budget.

 
 4.     Spread your budget– Start by choosing two ad networks and run A/B testing between them. Don’t just invest your entire budget in one pre picked ad network, because you won’t be able to maximize your results. Once you have found your “A” network allocate most of the budget to it and keep testing.

 
 5.     Test Banners– upload a verity of banners and track which are the ones that have the best CTR & conversion rates. Make sure your banners are clear and that the user will know why he is clicking and why he should download your app.

 
 6.     Do SEO on the App store – Perform simple SEO activities on your app name & description. Doing so will help you rank better on the App store search results and category rankings. Click here to see more details.

 
Follow these 6 simple tips that will help your campaigns perform better, and get you a better ROI on your mobile app marketing budget.