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I'm a co-founder at a startup called https://appstorerankings.net https://appstorerankings.net and I talk to app developers about this all day. The biggest prob
by diziet 14y ago
I'm a co-founder at a startup called https://appstorerankings.net https://appstorerankings.net and I talk to app developers about this all day. The biggest problem with smaller app developers is that they do not spend enough time marketing their app or figuring out how their user-base will find them. The standard development path is to spend hundreds of hours on developing an app, then as an afterthought spend a couple hundred bucks on an app icon, release the app hoping that it will do well. Hoping!
There is a reason why companies like Flurry, etc with incentivized app downloads are doing well -- it's because they push apps to a point where they get discovered via organic search. If you really are going to want to launch an app, you'd better hope you have one of these two things: a $X0,000 marketing budget on incentivized downloads or the ability and willingness to slowly grow your app organically via long tail keywords, app store optimization, hounding app review sites to cover you, etc.
Heck, many apps' developers don't put a lot of effort in their screenshots, keywords, etc. There are thousands upon thousands of 'zombie' apps that are otherwise great but sit undiscovered simply because the developers thought that apps could market themselves.
- nanijoe 14y agoDo you have any evidence that getting your app reviewed on one of these review sites make any difference ? If you were a "smaller developer" starting with an app today, how would you ensure that its successful?
- ajlburke 14y agoGetting a good review in AppAdvice completely changed the fortunes of my app, especially because after that Apple started noticing it too. However, AppAdvice is one of the biggest review sites out there, and reviews on smaller sites didn't have anywhere near as much impact. Also, getting that review was really lucky, and I haven't been able to recreate that magic since. That said, as a single-person developer, I've found that I need to spend as much time and energy on hustle and promotion as I do on development and testing - and even with that I've only been moderately successful.
- rfelix2121 14y agoI've definitely had apps reviewed on AppAdvice and not seen a dramatic bump. I think it really depends on the app, what people are currently buying, and a lot of other factors. On the promotion part, I totally agree. What's worked for me on that front is to make friends with people in the press (on twitter, IM, email) way before I need articles written so when I need press it's really easy to get written up because they already know who I am.
- ajlburke 14y agoWell, it was a very positive review. http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/01/remembary-great-ipad-journal-app http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/01/remembary-great-ipad-jour... But yes agreed on getting to know press people - although it's a balancing act to not seem too creepy while being friendly.
- scoot 14y agohttps://appstorerankings.net* https://appstorerankings.net* When you write about your site, you might want to refer to the URL as "https://AppStoreRankings.net https://AppStoreRankings.net. It's obvious to me now, but when I first read your URL, I took a few seconds to parse out the correct word boundaries - I read "apps to re-ran kings" or "apps to re-rank ings" before it became clear. Or maybe it's just me!