As many of you know, app development is a long, arduous, uncertain process. After all your hard work building and testing this app, you don’t know for sure whether you’ll be making the kind of money you envisioned. However, these five pieces of advice, if followed, will greatly increase your odds of success in this app developing enterprise.

 

  1. Take your work seriously.

App design can be a nice hobby; you spend lots of time developing your app, you take pride in your product, and you feel that wave of excitement when you launch it. Unfortunately, treating this venture like a hobby won’t set you up for any great successes. There are so many other aspects of app development—marketing, networking, planning for future installments—you certainly can’t jump into it without treating it like the business it is. Take time to research these things—learn how to manage your business well. Very few hobbyists actually get anywhere with app development, but by taking your work seriously and professionally, you set yourself up for success.

 

  1. Suspend your ambition.

Yeah, we get it. You have grand visions for your first project. Don’t get carried away though. Always start small. You shouldn’t take too long to come out with your product—that’s a sign that you’re investing too much into your pilot project. Give yourself a small budget too—you want to test the waters first before taking big risks. Marketing is uncertain, and you don’t want to see a ridiculous amount of effort and resources result in nothing.

 

  1. Get your players hooked.

Part of being a successful app developer is building a user base. You need to get users hooked onto your products, so they keep coming back for more. Freemium apps are perfect for this, but it’s certainly not a necessity for a successful app. Get your users’ emails, advertise new products and gain recurring customers. Once again, don’t take too long to come out with a project. To keep your user base hooked, you need to constantly get your products to the market.

 

  1. Learn marketing, carry out campaigns.

Obviously, marketing is essential to a successful game. You need to get the word out even before releasing your app. Don’t be afraid to spend a little money here and there advertising; it pays off in the long run. It’s important to learn proper marketing—research methods, tools, etc. You want to be effective and efficient. Lastly, build a community. Marketing is where your user base is born; network with people, communicate frequently, respond to questions from your users. That way, you’re sure to have success in your apps.

 

  1. Make a series of apps.

You always want to give your audience something more to keep them hooked. One way to do this is to maintain continuity in your future projects. Take advantage of your existing fan base—similar apps that build off of one another will pretty much be guaranteed hits with people who know you and love your products. The continuity in your apps also helps define you as a developer and gives you an identity; this is crucial to making yourself known online.

App development is not for every capable programmer with great ideas. It takes a lot of work and a lot of entrepreneurial know-how to achieve success. Programming isn’t everything, because even the greatest apps can go unnoticed without the right level of exposure. These five tips will surely help you with that, through networking, marketing, and all your future ventures.

 

Special thanks to our team for authoring this article.

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