EggMaps HD (my app for Google Maps for iPad) made it into the app store last week. (Hooray! ) …but…
I was foolish enough to think that if people like it, the app would sell itself. People LOVE it. But it is not selling itself, at least not to its potential.
AdWords isn’t a viable way to promote it, unless I get a > 20% conversion rate (which is unlikely).
I’ve tried a few discussion forum websites, but have been warned by a couple about self-promotion (I didn’t read their terms & conditions well enough).
There are loads of app/ apple device sites that review apps, you might try submitting to those. Have you created your own site for the app? App title, description and icon within the app store are important if your app has a lot of competitors - people have a short decision window to choose between apps they find in a search, I’d probably not look twice at an app that has a picture of an egg as it doesn’t relate to anything I’m looking for. I see quite a few app developers now use the description in an ‘seo’ style - deliberate placing of keywords that relate to competitors and search terms, in particular the ‘auto suggest’ phrases that come up when you start typing a search word.
Thanks EastCoast. I’ve submitted it to as many app review and press sites as I can find, and it is like sending information into a black hole.
You’re right about the icon. I already have a new icon design which I’m releasing soon.
The “SEO” style description is a good tip, thanks. I was wary of getting my app rejected if I used them, but now it’s already in the store I may get a bit more brazen.
The App store seems to suggest that it’s free. Is it?
Anyhow, my problem with things like this is, I wonder to myself—“how is this different from Apple Maps or Google Maps?” I don’t feel your description (on your site or in the Store) really convinces me that it’s worth downloading, as it sounds like the same thing (and I don’t want to clutter my device). So I’d recommend more explanation and detail—the hard sell, as it were. In terms of promotion, it might be worth putting up a YouTube video as well.
Thanks ralph.m, and congrats on being staff member of the year!
I’ve made the app free just for today. I’ve heard elsewhere that there are a lot of people who use price-drop monitoring software and websites. So far, this seems to have backfired and killed my #4 app store (navigation) ranking in Australia, at least temporarily.
Both your suggestions are good. Having suffered app store rejection previously, I was pretty cautious about the description this time. I’ll see if I can get some more aggressive marketing in there with the next update. Good advice.
The YouTube video is also a good idea, although I don’t get many visits to my site: most people seem to prefer clicking on an app-store link rather than an unknown website. I’ll see what Apple’s policy is regarding linking to 3rd-party sites from the app metadata.
Thanks for your thoughtful and helpful suggestions so far. I’ve been a bit silly to assume that “if you build it, they will come”.
Yes, with so many apps out there, it’s a wonder some are found at all. I wasn’t necessarily suggesting you link from the Apps page to YouTube. It’s just that if there’s something out there on YouTube, it might get noticed, and lead people to the Apps page or your site. I also see that you do have more description on the Apps page. (I missed the read more link) but all the same, the more the merrier from my point of view. You can put as much as you like on your own site, of course, and I usually check the developer’s site for more info before i buy an app … but maybe that’s just me.
Tweet it out to your twitter following and hope they retweet it. If you have a corporate facebook site, then add a few blogs about it; they’ll get pickup in your connections.
Maybe think about affiliating yourself with an organization that can make good use of your app. Ask them to promote it, they get x number of $ for every app they help sell and you get the promotion. I’m not sure how viable this is, but you still need to try ways to market your app and being creative with this can help.
You can promote your iPad app by contacting different app review sites. Maniacdev has compiled 170+ sites that review apps. Make sure to pitch your app nicely to the reviewers.