
How To Make An iPhone App That Actually Sells - rfelix2121
http://observationdeck.net/2013/01/27/how-to-make-an-iphone-app-that-actually-sells/
======
diziet
I'm a co-founder at a startup called <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
Do 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
Getting 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
I'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
Well, it was a _very_ positive review.
[http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/01/remembary-great-ipad-
jour...](http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/01/remembary-great-ipad-journal-app)

But yes agreed on getting to know press people - although it's a balancing act
to not seem too creepy while being friendly.

------
codeka
_> Look at the top sellers, and build things that fall into those categories._

This seems counter-intuitive to me. Just the other day we had an example of
what seemed to be a really well-executed Sudoku game[1], which seems to be
exactly the kind of app that falls in this category: the top Sudoku apps have
10s of millions of installs and hundreds of thousands of reviews. It
definitely _seems_ like the advice here is to "build a better Sudoku, and
you'll do great." and yet the author was seeing hardly any downloads and no
income.

[1]: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5067709>

------
sumukh1
Being successful on the app store involves a bit more than making a great app.
It's how you play the search ranking/rating game. There are quite a few things
that need to be done right.

The way you get ranked in Search plays a huge part in your sales (Unless it's
a top 50 app). Another huge factor is your screenshot. Your leading screenshot
should not be a shot of the launch image. Here's more info on screenshots:
[http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mobile-design-
tutorials...](http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mobile-design-
tutorials/app-store_screenshot-design_iphone-desig/)

[1]: (App Store Optimization Cheat Sheet [PDF]):
<http://www.apptamin.com/ASO_Cheat_Sheet-v2.2.pdf>

~~~
stewbrew
According to this article the screenshots of a performant top office suite are
bad and the screenshots of an admittedly beautiful but otherwise not too
useful once-overhyped app are good. Uhm ... I don't know if I really care.

------
patejam
While he is completely correct, and I don't see this changing at all, I
dislike that this is what app development has become.

~~~
hnriot
Why? App developers look to what's selling and do better at it? Isn't that the
usual software ecosystem at work, just like biological evolution. This is
always how software has evolved, it's just that now, we have tools that
largely do a product manager's job.

~~~
patejam
Oh don't get me wrong, I completely understand why developers do it and
completely respect them for going that route. I just wish there would be more
of an incentive to create apps that are more innovative and complex than
quick-to-produce addictive apps.

~~~
damian2000
In the end, its a big washing machine, the good apps will inevitably rise
above poor ones, but sometimes it just takes a bit longer. I felt he's just
suggesting ways to remove some of the initial obstacles to selling an app.

~~~
rfelix2121
Exactly. Thanks!

------
monkeyfacebag
> Throw away your sexy idea

While I doubt very much that this advice is bad per se, it does seem to run
counter to the spirit of HN. It's true that there's no inherent tension
between pushing the envelope and being successful (read: making money), but I
imagine that most of those involved in the startup world are there precisely
because making money isn't enough for them.

~~~
neverminder
I think that liking the idea is essential to success. You will give up much
sooner working on an idea that you don't really care about.

~~~
rfelix2121
Definitely very true.

------
ja27
All the time, I hear people with ideas and developers with apps where their
plan is to put it in the store and hope it takes off. At best their plan
includes making a video that goes viral, but they've never done that.

If you're targeting a big niche with lots of competition (puzzle games, todo
lists, etc.) you must have some sort of compelling hook to stand out. A great
endorsement / review lined up, an innovative UI, something controversial, etc.

If you're targeting a small niche (bassoonists, bingo card enthusiasts, etc.)
you really should test that niche before investing a lot of time into building
a product for it. Build the minimum app that can provide value and see how it
sells. It's impossible to tell conversion rates for app store searches, but if
your 99 cent app with 20 bingo card designs doesn't sell at least a couple a
week, that niche isn't looking good. If it sells 100 copies a week, I'd go
full steam ahead on the project. You can always pull your niche testing app
later.

------
robomartin
Is there a resource that ranks apps by sales numbers which might also include
some idea of in-app purchase stats? It seems to me that there's a lot that
isn't known from simple popularity or download figures.

The other item that could be interesting is to be able to drill down and have
a view of the sub-categories each popular app "owns" and how it's competitors
are doing.

To beat the Sudoku example to death, maybe Sudoku apps are popular at this
point. However, what I suspect is that one might see a small handful of these
apps doing very well and then hundreds starving to death.

This, to me, would be far more valuable data. If the money is spread around
nicely among top apps in a sub-category it might indicate that users like to
look at other options and experiment. If, on the other hand, you have five
apps that are killing it and 200 that are starving, well, you probably want to
stay away from that segment.

~~~
CedarMadness
Not sure about IOS, but on Android, you can go to the Top Grossing[1] section
to see which apps make the most money.

[1]:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/topgrossing?fe...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/topgrossing?feature=top-
grossing)

------
peterkelly
I think this is largely true, but sad.

There's an overabundance of "me too!" apps that just try to replicate what
everyone else is doing. This is why there's such a lack of apps with the level
of depth and functionality that you find on desktop systems.

I only really consider this a problem for the iPad though, since it currently
has a lot of unrealised potential as a computing device for doing real work.
Apps like OmniGraffle and Textastic stand out as examples of what developers
should be building more of IMHO. The world only needs so many running games
and photo sharing apps.

------
arn
No credentials? It's a bit of a throwaway list without that. I'd like to know
what successful apps he's made using these specific recommendations.

~~~
benatkin
I think it's a combination of having some experience with free apps and being
a bit of a pundit. He doesn't just give his opinions, though, he gives his
reasoning too.

~~~
arn
I don't necessarily disagree with the article, just opening with "I’ve had a
hand in quite a few successful and not-so-successful iOS apps" invites the
question.

------
dmix
Not a bad article.

But why did you specify iPhone? This advice cold apply to Android as well.

~~~
rfelix2121
I've only had tons of experience with iOS apps, (only have one Android app,
and it's "free", tied to a paid web service) so I wasn't exactly sure how my
knowledge applied across the board.

