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App Store Optimization (ASO) – Dos and Don'ts

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What is the most difficult step in building a mobile application? It is not developing the application, but rather getting the app found by search engines. Nowadays many users are interested in different kinds of apps which they can get over their iPhone, ipad, Android phones etc. We have hundreds of thousands of iOS applications, and the real challenge for developers is how to have their apps rank higher than the hundreds competitor apps in search results. This explains why App Store Optimization (ASO) is important to mobile application marketing. It is represents a form of SEO used by developers to generate leads or extra downloads in app stores.

App Store Optimization can be divided into three distinct parts: finding the most appropriate keywords, ranking highly for those keywords, and converting visitors into users. When describing your app in an app store, there is need to strategically position the keywords in the description. For example if your app is called ‘musica’, you might want to include that keyword in the title of your description and then subtly in the body. Experts might place the keyword in the beginning of the title and then three or four times in the body relative to the size. This way, once customers visit the app store and search ‘musica’, your app will be among the first on the results page. This is a white hat app store optimization technique that has had positive results for many app marketers.

But one thing you must try and avoid is the keyword stuffing, a black hat technique that is very common with many app stores. As the word suggests, keyword stuffing is the excessive use of keywords in any content so as to achieve high search engine rankings. This may earn you more downloads in the short term but it is what app store optimization experts call marketing suicide. When you stuff keywords there are myriad things that could happen; the app store might ban you and the possible customers might get confused instead of informed.

It is important to remember that ASO is not just limited to keyword techniques only; it also involves using all the Meta data you can find in the app stores, from icons, update texts, screenshots, description and many others.

In a nutshell, white hat techniques are considered genuine, whereas in black hat ASO may involve falsifying downloads or rankings by employing techniques that make the app stores to believe that an app is more dominant than it’s worth. This explains why companies like Apple continue to fight against black hat ASO. For instance, sometimes in early 2012, the company issued a press statement carried by The New York Times warning app developers against using what it called third-party services to gain more visibility and top placement from app stores. It threatened to ban such app makers from the store for life.

But is it possible to achieve good results from black hat practices without engaging in any immoral actions or completely jeopardizing the long-term business objective? A matter for great debate. What is clear is that engaging in some black hat ASO strategies could earn your app a ban from app stores and exclude you from traffic referrals on the net. On the other hand, some tactics are amazingly very effective, such as content automation, link manipulation, domain and sub-domain duplicate content creation and so many more.

It can thus be summed up that black hat ASO is a technique that increases rankings in apps stores by employing means that violate the prescribed terms of service. It is actually used to distinguish the bad guys from the good guys who blend the white hats.

Are you trying to build a long-lasting business? If your answer is yes, you should probably avoid black hat ASO. Rather, you should look for alternative means of improving your rankings. Instead of automating things that will trick users, search engines, or both, why not leverage on software to automate processes that are both Google-approved and that will help you to rank higher on apps stores?

There are many different agencies that will offer you great search engine rankings for a price but it can be difficult to know who to trust. White Hat ASO techniques that are implemented well can bring worthwhile search engine results for a sustained period of time. Black Hat ASO on the other hand do not stick to the rules and over time, may even have the app black listed due to their use of unfair techniques. If an agency offers these services that it can severely harm your app.

App Localization and Effective App Translation

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App localization is essential to maximize the marketing potential of different apps. It may not seem that app localization is necessary at first glance, but it is often so difficult for users around the world to find the information they need, and thereby find the apps that they need. Using app localization in conjunction with effective app translation can dramatically increase sales. When it is broken down into an easy to understand concept, it is relatively easy to understand why app localization is so important.

It is important to remember that technology has advanced to a point where people all over the world that share the same interests and the same needs have use for many of the same apps. However, many app developers completely miss the mark when they fail to use localization and translation in order to increase the market. Failure to do so effectively eliminates potential sales from other countries. In some extreme cases, it can even eliminate potential sales from a certain part of the country where the app is available more widely in certain locations than in others.

It is relatively easy to understand what a dramatic impact app localization has on marketing, and thus on sales potential. By localizing an app so that anyone can use it anywhere in the world, sales that may only be possible in one country are suddenly possible the world over. It is much the same as the way the different operating systems were with smart phones several years ago when many apps would be available on one system, but were not available on any other system. It effectively eliminated all of the potential sales from customers that were using the other operating system because the app was not made available to everyone.

Therefore, businesses that want to capitalize on the potential to make money from the sale of apps should use app localization in order to make them available on every operating system and to make them available to every individual in various countries that speak different languages. By doing so, it is possible to dramatically increase their sales potential and see their profits soar.

How to Craft an Effective App Store Listing

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Crafting an app is much different from making it popular in the App Store. Many of the developer don’t know how to get success by listing the app effectively. Writing sales copy is the most difficult part but if you can deal it in the following parts, things can be sorted out well.

Title and Description

Keyword optimization though required in the app name, should not be dealt with aggressively. It is important to create a robust app and then use the name of the app in the title of the content of description.

Keyword optimization to some extent is important when your app is based on a certain thing, like camera or music player. However, it is more important to concentrate on the description. The app store will display only the first part of it, and keeping it short and crisp would definitely help. Apart from description the image of the app is the most attractive part for the users. Make sure to choose the best five images that describe your app.

It is important to make the first paragraph as compact as possible with key features of the app, rather than the new things in the latest version.

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The following are the part that you require taking into consideration while drafting app store listing

Link

You are allowed to use only 3 links, link to your website that contains the product, support for app and license agreement. Make sure to utilize them well. Each of these are important and the support system has to be efficient enough to deal with the problems faced by the user.

Icon

Visual appeal of the app matters a lot to people and thus, this marketing element should be fabulously design. Make it as lucrative as possible.

New Features

While writing what is new in your app, focus on the main and attractive features that really make a difference.

Price

You have to be very sure about pricing your app. If the price is too low, or the app is given out free without any paid and lucrative update, then developing it to the next level would not be possible. Very high priced apps are generally ignored by potential buyers.

Screenshots

Make sure to provide screenshot of the app because you cannot use video. The screenshots should be such that the customers get a good idea on what to expect from the app. You can use more than one screenshot and can edit them to show the function of buttons.

Rating

You also require including the app rating in the listing. If you app is high quality and bug free, you will get good ratings. The potential buyers get influenced by the rating and reviews. Though you can manipulate the rating by creating fake account and providing fake rating, it is better to look back into the details and omit the possibility of negative review. That way you can actually provide something good to the buyers and they would rate you high, naturally.

The order of the rating and review received requires to be organized well. It has a great influence on the customers and if you want the users to pay for your app, it is important to determine the order of the reviews. The negative review should never feature first on the list of reviews. It is always better to avoid any wrong path. You can get good reviews and rating if you provide after sales services to the customers. You need to have more reviews than a low priced or free app, if you are charging higher price for the app. Make sure that your rating is good enough because otherwise, your customers will not pay you for the same.

It goes without saying that rating has some impact on the buying nature of customers, though no one is sure how much. When people were asked if they consider the rating of the app as a determining factor in actual purchase, 48% said it is very important, 43% said it is a little important and just 9% said that it is not that important.
It is important to consider each of your customers well because they will have a great impact on your publicity. You can use blogs, articles and word of mouth publicity for spreading awareness about your app and in that case rating won’t matter. Test your app to make it error and bug free and then launch it successfully. If your app is free from error and it delivers a great game or utility to the user then nothing can stop it in the long run.

App Marketing Tips 101 – Word of Mouth

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Give people something to talk about. The most powerful form of marketing is word-of-mouth and that is because people are more likely to be interested in something if their friend is talking about it. This hits your target market and defines exactly where it is and what it’s capabilities are. This can help you find out a lot of information about your consumers.

Keywords : App Marketing Tips, App Marketing 101, App marketing, App Marketing – Do It Yourself, App Marketing Tips, app promotion

App Marketing Tips 101 – Go Big with TV Commercials

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Not recommended for new apps but powerful for apps that know they have made it is a commercial. You know an app is well-known and is effective if it makes it on to TV. The possibilities of this form of marketing is impossible to predict but can give sales a nice and well earned boost. Not every popular app makes it onto TV but the ones that do make it big.

Here are the few TV Commercials that used in big app marketing campaigns.

Keywords : App Marketing Tips, App Marketing 101, App marketing, App Marketing – Do It Yourself, App Marketing Tips, app promotion