Translator's note: from his rich practical experience in application development and design and a large number of excellent application examples, the author summarizes and refines a series of relevant principles from product concept, design, development to market promotion, to guide mobile developers how to build a successful and profitable application. I hope this article will bring you some insights and help.

Original address: http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2012/11/07/succeeded-with-your-app/

For the first part, please refer to: http://cdc.tencent.com/? P = 7262

3. Development programming

The choice of technical scheme will affect the application experience, and then affect whether the application can succeed at last.

Localization development

The concept of "one development, multiple deployment" is not suitable for small and medium-sized applications. From the beginning, this idea was over deified. Different operating systems have different UI specifications and patterns. In addition to the game interface, this multi platform sharing method will eventually result in each platform can not get a good user experience.

Facebook has been trying to use HTML5 for development in the past few years. When they recently converted to IOS localized development, the performance of the application increased by 200%, and the average score of users increased from 2 stars to 4 stars.

The best case, of course, is to develop and optimize once for each platform. Applications like Zipcar have successfully adopted this method. Zipcar is an exception to this approach. There are several reasons for this:

1) the concept of multiple deployments in one development severely limits the design of applications. This method stifles the innovative design. At the same time, in order to meet the most basic scheme suitable for the whole platform, some specific design details need to be removed.

2) similar to the hybrid technology adopted by phonegap, the application is opened in the browser through the running of JavaScript code. Avoid this option. Because of its slow running, unstable performance, unnatural performance and errors, javascript technology does not fully adapt to the localization experience.

3) similar to appcelerator, the tool application adopts localization development scheme. The performance of this scheme will be improved a lot, but it still lacks flexibility and code stability. Because of the lack of direct access to the code running in the background, it is more difficult to locate and fix various errors. It's also hard to implement all kinds of new technologies immediately, which is an obvious disadvantage compared with competitors who can adopt new technologies at the beginning of their release.

4) bottom line: select appropriate technical scheme based on design, rather than design based on technical scheme. First, we need to design an application scheme that meets the requirements of multiple platforms, and then we need to observe whether there is a scheme like appcelerator. We can avoid abandoning the design for compromise.

Code quality

Clear structure and reasonable planning code will not directly affect the user experience, but it will certainly affect the successful elements of timely release and stable update of these products to achieve sustainable development.

On the contrary, bad code will directly affect the user experience. Users don't care why the app crashes, they don't care why the data is lost, they blame the brand's mistakes.

Hiring developers on an hourly basis can be frustrating. In the same time, a bad programmer can easily write a functional module, while a good programmer can write three robust and stable modules. Once you decide to replace the bad programmer, the successor is likely to spend time rewriting the code, because only the author can understand the legacy code. Code written by good developers is often easier to reuse.

4. Marketing

If your team already has a marketing department, that's good, but grassroots marketing campaigns by developers or designers are often more efficient. Trust me, when I was just starting, no one knew who I was. Now, apple, Mashable, techcrunch, the Huffington Post, Fox News and many other aspects have started to pay attention to my application. Apart from the cost of website construction and maintenance, I didn't spend a penny on marketing activities.

Start early

Many developers think that marketing activities should start after the app is released. But this is not the case.

A well prepared and planned launch is essential, especially for applications with lower prices. If the launch doesn't push your app to the top of the list, it's likely to be swamped with thousands of apps released each week. An app that doesn't appear on the leaderboard is almost invisible to users.

After the launch, the comments left by users are not very helpful to promote the ranking of applications. This is just the working mode of ranking system in app store. The ranking algorithm has been changing, but mainly based on the amount of downloads over a period of time, such as four days up to the same day. This means that the promotion done on that day does not immediately affect the ranking of the next week, and fragmented marketing is meaningless. Only the continuous centralized promotion will bring effect.

As Ken yarmosh, the author of APP savvy, points out, marketing activities should start at the beginning of the product, and then continue with the product development until the perfect hit is made on the day of release.

Make friends

Contacts are a crucial factor. They will make your marketing campaign more effective. No relevant interpersonal relationship means that you can't get the attention of the media, and your application will be submerged in thousands of competitive applications.

I've created a lot of follow lists on twitter, including Apple employees, media people and some well-known IOS developers, which can help me connect with them.

Communicate with Apple employees, technology writers and well-known design and development personnel in the circle. These people are really cool, and they are willing to deal with people who have good products and ideas.

1) find them

Twitter is a good place, and almost all influential people in the industry tweet.

Commenting on well-known blogs or emailing authors are good ways to connect.

Face to face communication is the most effective way to participate in more WWDC and other industry conferences, so that we can recognize many people.

2) fun, but don't post spam

Having the opportunity to communicate with these people does not mean that they will be interested in your application for a long time. First, build meaningful relationships. They will ask you what interesting things you are doing. When you present your work, use a way of seeking advice and feedback rather than advertising. This will bring good results.

3) pay with return

Understanding their ideas and what they need in the process of communication will build meaningful relationships. Maybe you can answer their technical questions on Twitter or express your understanding of their blog views. Be sure to give feedback! Do it a few more times and they will definitely notice you. Finally, remember that people have vanity. When you appreciate their work, you must let them know.

4) release interesting information

Link to some thoughtful articles, even write a blog to share what you have learned. People like to read real journals and application analysis articles. Websites like idevblogaday will recommend your articles to you.

Propaganda

You certainly don't want the results on the day of release to be bad, so you can start to promote a few weeks before the app is launched. This is to build the first group of user fans and ensure that they will be the first people to download the app on the day of release.

Websites like Teaser can help you build expectations and collect users' email addresses.

1) create twitter and facebook accounts for your app. This provides a quick way for your potential users to pay attention to the application. You can publish preview information, update progress, etc. You can even focus on people who might be interested in your application. They will see your concerns and then come to understand your product.

2) create a product preview page and provide forms for users to leave their email. Provide attractive content, such as attractive web design, beautiful screenshots and maybe even a video.

3) create a demo video. There is nothing better than a well made video. Clear's demo video illustrates this very well. It is also a good way to show products to the media.

4) internal test. Your test users will be the first loyal users after the product release. Because they feel connected to the product.

Get recommendations

Since winning the Apple Design Award, my application has been recommended by various technology media, which are all what I dreamed of before. But all of these media together generate less downloads than Apple's official recommendations.

So how can I get Apple's recommendation? Tens of thousands of apps are published every week, and only a few can occupy a place on the front page of app store.

Only a small number of apps can be on the front page of Apple Store

First of all, the application should have points worthy of recommendation. It has to be able to interest apple in some way. Is it exquisite and beautiful enough? Can it reflect the power of Apple platform? Are there any characteristics that other similar products do not possess? Any one of these can be an opportunity for you to get a recommendation. Fortunately, very few products have the characteristics just discussed, which gives you the opportunity to stand out.

Second, you need to get Apple's attention. Making internal contacts with apple is a valuable opportunity. Usually, you need to get Apple's attention through your own efforts before it takes action. Apple has an editorial team. They are looking for applications that are worth recommending, and you need to make your products appear where they are concerned. Based on my past experience, they may pay attention to the applications that are "rushing". Therefore, you should make sure that the product has a good sales volume on the day of release. Each application category requires at least hundreds of downloads to appear on the list. In addition, think about which websites you might be looking for new high-quality applications, which might also be the sites Apple editors are interested in.

The power of the media

Media coverage will help you build product credibility, bring the first downloads, and get exposure in front of celebrities or Apple employees. The media are very busy, at least one or two weeks before the release to get their attention, so as to ensure that relevant reports appear in front of everyone on the day of release.

Getting media coverage is an indispensable part of an excellent marketing strategy.

It's time for you to connect with friends you've known in the media and technology circles. Show them some product previews and see if they are interested in learning more.

After contacting these relationships, make a few phone calls. You can tell a story, keep it short and personal, and don't forget to keep tracking.

Build user base

The most powerful companies have a huge user base. Sonico mobile, which works with us to develop the latest application languages, recently released an application called itranslate voice. They did well with little help from the media or apple. How did they do it? Because sonico has 30 million loyal itranslate users, all they have to do is send them a promotional email about the new product.

Users can easily subscribe to all sonico applications on Twitter or email.

It takes time to build a large user base. Make sure users can easily add your email address, love your Facebook page, and follow your twitter account. In addition, consider releasing a free app for the public to get more users. Like swappit, which provides free advertising services, you can accumulate points and redeem them all on the day of APP release in exchange for app promotion.

summary

There are many measures of success. The first version of my application grade only brought me less than $10000 in revenue, but it was the first step to the Apple Design Award, and it also brought me a lot of valuable contacts in the industry. Now, our company has positioned itself to launch top selling applications like languages, not just to generate more revenue compared to grade.

It's hard to succeed in wealth, but as long as you work hard, it will become easier and easier. As you continue to build quality applications, your brand will gradually be recognized by the media and apple, your team will gain valuable practical experience, and you will build a huge user base. It's a long-term task, but the rewards are incredible. It's great to know that you work hard to please millions of people. Keep learning, don't complain, change the world.

For more articles about "CDC search", please move to: http://cdc.tencent.com/? Category_name = Fanke