Ten steps to teach you to build a best-selling app

Absrtact: Chad Mureta had a car accident two years ago, and after a long recovery in the hospital, a friend gave him an article about app marketing, and after that, Mureta started designing and developing app apps. It took only two years for Mureta to set up three app public

Chad Mureta A car accident two years ago and a friend gave him an article on app marketing after a long recovery in the hospital, after which Mureta began designing and developing app apps.

In just two years, Mureta set up three app companies, earning as much as $ millions of trillion. He has developed more than 40 app apps, downloading more than 35 million times. According to Mureta, 90% of the apps he developed were very successful and profitable.

By using a working method called "four hours a week," Mureta all the work done on his iphone and does not work more than five hours a week.

How did he do it? The answer is, Mureta has mastered the following 10 steps:.

1. Market-sensitive

No matter what industry, success is closely related to your understanding of the market. Apple's App Store and Google Play are the top two applications for the app industry. The best way to understand the Apple App Store is to learn the "tricks". App Strore will show in real time the paid app rankings, the free app rankings, and the total download rankings, and Apple will provide these three rankings in each app type.

Review the charts often and mark the potential trends in your notebook. If you keep doing this regularly, you will have a lot of help with your app design, marketing, and pricing models.

2. Your idea should be consistent with those successful apps

How do you know that the market needs your app application? Look at the app ranking chart, is the app you want to develop similar to one of those? If yes, then you are a potential winner. If not, then continue to pay attention to it, it is so simple.

"I must stress that it's important to imitate existing app apps," Mureta said. "It's easy to indulge in ideas, even if the market is out of tune with the idea," he said. But your own thoughts often make you pay a heavy price on the road to success. ”

The emoji application developed by Mureta is an example that mimics its competitors. To develop this app, he first downloads apps for all of the mainstream affective characters. "I'm all right about what I see, but I've found that these apps use very few emoticons and very limited functionality." "What I want to do is how to improve these existing app apps and provide a emoji keyboard for these limited emotional characters," he said. ”

Mureta has developed an app that will not only run the emoji keyboard, but also include an extra 450 emoticons, which can be shared via SMS, email, Facebook, and so on. He spent two weeks developing emoji applications and offering free downloads (with program purchase options). The app is quickly ranked first in the App Store Productivity application category and has been in the 12th place in the free application for six days, quickly earning nearly 500 dollars a day.

3. Design the user experience of app application

Now it's time to put the theory into practice.

In order to properly turn your ideas into reality, Mureta suggests that you can simply spend a few drawings. Some people like to use digital tools to complete this step, such as Photoshop or draft. Whatever tool you choose, you must give the programmer the most detailed information they need as much as possible. To make the design process simple, Mureta looked at the app store for apps and gave them a reference to the programmer's final expected effect.

"For example, I would say, ' download so-and-so apps, I want to do something similar to them, see screenshots of other app apps, try to make some changes, '" Mureta explains, "We're going to mimic some of the apps apps and tell the programmers as clearly as possible." ”

The clearer you express, the less misunderstandings and problems you will encounter each time.

4. Acting like a developer

Once you have a draft idea, you need to immediately find a developer who can use it as a platform for developing app apps. Don't be afraid of the word "developer," which is not meant to be programmed, it can also be used to describe people who publish app apps.

For the development of the first app application, Mureta strongly recommends choosing to develop on Apple's iOS system, not Android or BlackBerry. Because on the Apple platform, the probability of the app being profitable is higher. Also, don't forget to brush up on Apple's App Store calibration guidelines, and Apple will enforce some rules in the validation process, and if you don't follow the rules, apps won't be allowed.

5. Looking for a promising programmer

It will be a long process to hire your first programmer, but these are the times that must be spent. Good people save you a lot of unnecessary delays, costs, and even help you avoid failure in the future. You will also add some fresh blood to the team, so learning how to evaluate programmers quickly and efficiently is a very important skill.

The first step in recruiting a programmer is to post your job posting on the recruiting site, which is a Mureta recruitment template:

Most programmers are located overseas, with the attendant problems of communication and jet lag. Therefore, using Skype to interview is a necessary part of recruiting.

During the Skype interview, be mindful of how these candidates introduce themselves. Will they chatter about technology? Are they able to express themselves fluently in English? Are they confident in answering questions? What are their intonation and manners?

If you find any questions or concerns, continue interviewing others. But if you meet a good candidate, invite them into the next round of interviews.

6. Signing confidentiality agreements, sharing ideas, recruiting programmers

You have to protect your ideas, source code, and other resources that involve intellectual property. Therefore, before hiring programmers, they must sign a confidentiality agreement with them.

7. Start coding

Rather than entering a mature project at random, Mureta is more willing to start with small tasks and gradually increase the amount of work that programmers do. You need to evaluate the programmer's algorithmic ability, execution speed, and overall work dynamics (e.g. communication, time zone, etc.)

"If you have no particular impression of their technology, get rid of them." Remember: slow hiring and quick dismissal. This is good for the long-term operation of the enterprise. Mureta said.

Below, is the Mureta in the coding phase of the "three-step" process:

① icon. Require programmers to develop and deliver app icons. You may also have some ideas for icons that can be used to apply these ideas and then develop a version of the artwork iTunes image.

②hello,world!. Ask the programmer to develop a "simplest hello,world!" App apps. This application function only needs to be clicked to open, and then show a "hello,world!" String page. Give them 10 minutes to develop. It's not about testing programming skills, but about whether these programmers can submit a app that can be used for testing. This application needs to include an icon so you can see the "hello,world!" The application is displayed on your phone.

③ Submit App. When your programmer is ready to showcase the beta version of the app, he/she has to be able to create "ad hoc" (app version that can be submitted to the phone and run on the phone without using the app Store). This ad hoc application version must be installed on your phone before testing.

8. Test App

It is necessary to spend time on tests because you can see how users use your products. It is obvious that the user will give you a question that you have never encountered before, because the app is designed for you, everything looks normal and sometimes you can't find the problem.

Do not consider your original design document, and pass all the functionality. Do not assume that your app can run well because it was last well run after your last test was completed. Test all of the features every time, especially before you finally release the app.

Don't let yourself be the only test person. The app you developed has meaning for you, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything to anyone else. Start testing with everyone around you, from your 12-year-old nephew to your 75-year-old grandmother.

9. Put the app on the market

Now, your friends and family have tested the app you've developed, and the ratings are good. So it's time to put the app in the app Store for testing.

Ask your programmer to tell you how to submit several app apps for the first time, but it's important not to tell your programmers (and everyone else) about your developer account login.

It will take a while for Apple to detect the application of the app and ultimately determine whether to accept or reject it. Apple's test time standard is based on the type of submitter, and if you are a person, it takes about 3-7 days. If you are a company, it will take 7-10 days.

10. Marketing App

There are thousands of good app apps in the App Store, so if you want to succeed, you need to break through.

Focus on a number of key areas to effectively promote your application, so that your customers can find it, and download it. Some of the basics of app application will be marketing opportunities and that's the key to success. Your job is to create a seamless business flow for users from discovering app apps icons to clicking on Download keys.

Because of consumer demand and industry competition, app apps always need to be improved, so your marketing needs to be improved as well. Most app apps developed by Mureta will change the icons and screenshots three or five times, and the application headings and descriptions will change five to 10 times. In addition, every time he updates the app, it modifies the keyword.

"When the app is successful, I tend to change the type," Mureta explains, "Keep an open mind and be inspired by your observations when conducting market research." ”

Finally, Muerta a marketing tip for everyone: Use the app for free download time. "It can introduce new users to your system, which is important for the launch of an app," he said. ”