Slowly but surely, the official app stores of iTunes, Google Play, and Windows Phone Marketplace have transformed into a digital battlefield. App developers have to fight for recognition or otherwise be drowned in an ocean of competing for mobile applications.
I am new to the B4A community, but what I have observed is b4a has a great scope, but most of the apps are not presented up to the marks. Out of more than a million existing apps on Play Store (and much more being added daily), it is getting tough to get more app installs. So, I went forward to write some tips of my own:
Search is Important (Duh!)
First, here is why optimizing your app details page for search is critical on the Google Play Store: search represents 80% of high-quality organic downloads. I’ll admit that “high-quality organic download” is a pretty vague criterion, but still.
How to Optimize Your App Page
The good news is, there are several things you can do so that more users find your app:
Now compare these 2 screenshots:
And
You would go for the second one. Right? Well, 99% people will choose the second app. A simple screenshot can increase in hundreds and thousands of downloads. So, how to make it right?
1. Grab your smartphone and install https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.toastcode.screener It is the best tool for making awesome professional screenshots.
2. Take screenshots of every important screen of your app. Make sure your notification bar is clear.
3. Modify every screenshot on Screener. You can choose from 80 handcrafted device frames. Smartwatch frames are also available on screener.
Also, If you want to be at a whole new level, you can add explanatory texts in your screenshots. Keep it short.
4. Last, but not the least, Make a nice Android mockup of your app. You can google 'Download Android PSD mockups'. You can put your app's screen on any of the best devices out there. Upload this image as your first screenshot of your app.
What about you?
I am new to the B4A community, but what I have observed is b4a has a great scope, but most of the apps are not presented up to the marks. Out of more than a million existing apps on Play Store (and much more being added daily), it is getting tough to get more app installs. So, I went forward to write some tips of my own:
Search is Important (Duh!)
First, here is why optimizing your app details page for search is critical on the Google Play Store: search represents 80% of high-quality organic downloads. I’ll admit that “high-quality organic download” is a pretty vague criterion, but still.
How to Optimize Your App Page
The good news is, there are several things you can do so that more users find your app:
- Putting your main keyword in your app title. According to Fiksu, this could dramatically improve your position (80-100 spots). They even recommend to put your app name on the app icon and use the app name for your keyword. I have mixed feelings about that, because I believe it’s not such a good thing to have words on an app icon and because it poses a branding problem. I’d rather think of an app name that contains the main keyword.
- <blockquote>…</blockquote> to indent a paragraph of text,
- <small>…</small> for a slightly smaller text,
- <sup>…</sup> and <sub>…</sub> for super- and subscripts.
- <font color="#a32345">…</font> for setting font colors in HEX code.
- Using your keywords 5 times in your app description. Unlike on the App Store where the app description is not searchable, on the Google Play Store you want to make sure to repeat with a good frequency your main keywords.
- Having a beautiful design and screenshots. Just like on the App Store, you want to have the best screenshots possible to convince potential users to download your app.
Now compare these 2 screenshots:
You would go for the second one. Right? Well, 99% people will choose the second app. A simple screenshot can increase in hundreds and thousands of downloads. So, how to make it right?
1. Grab your smartphone and install https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.toastcode.screener It is the best tool for making awesome professional screenshots.
2. Take screenshots of every important screen of your app. Make sure your notification bar is clear.
3. Modify every screenshot on Screener. You can choose from 80 handcrafted device frames. Smartwatch frames are also available on screener.
Also, If you want to be at a whole new level, you can add explanatory texts in your screenshots. Keep it short.
4. Last, but not the least, Make a nice Android mockup of your app. You can google 'Download Android PSD mockups'. You can put your app's screen on any of the best devices out there. Upload this image as your first screenshot of your app.
- Having a demo/promo video. That’s an awesome thing on the Google Play Store: you can add a YouTube video to promote your app. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to really show what your app is worth. When looking at an app’s page on an Android Smartphone, the video is in the first screenshot slot.
- Getting (good) reviews. Since ratings are part of the rank and search algorithm (see below), you want to do everything you can to get positive reviews.
- Increase usage frequency. Have an awesome app that users will be addicted to and use on a regular basis. The more people use your app on a regular basis, the better it will rank.
- Focus on the first 167 characters of your app description, for web search. The first part of your Google Play app description also becomes the meta description on your app’s public webpage. Be aware of the web search terms you want to rank for and add them to the beginning of your description. Here’s an example from Boom Beach.
Sources:
stackoverflow
fiksu
apptamin
GooglePlay store
Well, that's pretty it. For me, I gained 500,000 installs on my first Android app in 5 months. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.multiverse.jarvisstackoverflow
fiksu
apptamin
GooglePlay store
What about you?
