appcodes - app store marketing toolbox
DESCRIPTION
A guide through an app store marketing toolbox, AppCod.es. - App Store SEO - Competitor Tracking - Promo Code DispenserTRANSCRIPT
a practicalApp Store SEO
tutorial
5th April 2013
3k - 150k free downloads
using onlyApp Store SEOyou can achieve
$300 - $6000in sales
( based on our experience and the stories we’ve heard from our users )
per month
or
this is thesearch phrase
people type it on their phone inthe app store search
those are thesearch keywords
this is what you give to Apple
search phrases
iTuneskeywords≠
The most important thing.
Your goal is not to improve your position.
Your goal is to find the search queries which work.
That is because there is no known way to improve your position for a search query.
Positioning 101
1. brainstorm your search queries2. prepare appropriate search keywords
App name & dev name also matters, so don’t repeat it in the keywords. App description, on the other hand - doesn’t matter.
Unlike Google SEO, there is not much more you can do if Apple doesn’t put you on top of the result list. That’s why you should focus on looking on phrases with little competition, not just high popularity.
racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobots
think of phrasesthat people maybe searching for
search query
racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobots
>100>10090>100>100
how manyresults show
up for each one?
search queryresult count
racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots
>100>10090>100>1001015305
good phrasesbecause count < 30
search queryresult count
racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots
>100>10090>100>1001015305
bad phrases( too much competition )
search queryresult count
racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots
>100>10090>100>1001015305
robots,on,wheels,game,sexy
choose your iTuneskeywords based on this
search queryresult count
racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots
>100>10090>100>1001015305
robots,on,wheels,game,sexy
5th3rd31st
track your positionin the store
search queryresult count pos.
racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots
>100>10090>100>1001015305
5th3rd31st
improve the keywordsby removing the ones which
don’t work
search query pos.result count
racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots
>100>10090>100>1001015305
5331
essence of AppCodes
search query pos.count
essence of AppCodes
our other features
if name doesn’t fit the grey bar, it will be truncated in the App Store Search
results as they appear in the App Store
quick preview of the result count etc.
see app popularity at a glance
download estimates via Xyologic
our guess of app iTunes Keywords
you can mark your competitors here
then click the “competitors tab”
then click the “competitors tab”
words popular in their descriptions & names
words within their iTunes keyword list
press mentions, press releases
beware!good SEO
≠good sales
you need to havea good conversion
rate as well
Brutally speaking,make sure that your app is not crap
- it’s not yet another flashlight/dictionary/photo app- a game with less than supreme quality
but foremost - it needs “user appeal”
How to do it?
Where is your target market?
Do you talk to users from that market?What are your reviews on that market?
e.g. we’ve seen devs from Europe claiming they target U.S. but spending 90% of their communication in their home countries
true story:- oh yes, we target U.S - says a dev- how many reviews do you have there?- we don’t track those stats outside of Germany
- did you ask anyone outside of your friends & family for a review?
- did you discuss the idea on web forums?
- did you visit a local meetup/barcamp and talked to real people about it?
- did you talk to bloggers about your idea?
“Well, I posted on that one forum one time, and nobody replies”Don’t blame the forum. It’s either your pitch, or your idea that is lousy - you’ve got work to do. If you cannot find at least a dozen people in the Internet, who will be excited by your concept, even the best seo won’t help you.
Did you talk to your users?
The first screenshotneeds to explain in detail what the app is supposed to do
even if yourapp is horizontal
make the screenshot vertical*
* - unless you’re Rovio,if you’re Rovio, people already know what your game does
see?
by the waycheck the amountof ratings in your target country(we recommendAppFigures for that)
and ask explicitly for reviews, using AppIrater
- conferences- barcamps, meetups- wherever your target audience hangs out- see who wrote about your competitors, approach them as well
Most failures we’ve seen were becauseeither the product was lousy, it had lousyscreenshots, or the authors didn’t talkto their customers.
Talk to the real people
Your next steps1. build your competitor list2. brainstorm the search queries3. figure out the new keywords4. update your app5. make sure you have good screenshotsand you ask users for the reviews6. iterate iterate iterate
and don’t forget to tell your colleagues about
btw. we also recommend these books
good basics of PR interface design design in general
(we’re unaffiliated with the autors)
and if you’re building a game, watch this
do you have a similar passion? Plenty of people try to build a game because they heard it’s a good business, or they heard of this guy from “Ow My Balls” who had a smashing success. But you cannot achieve success in
games unless you live and breathe them.
This is different from tools, business and any other kind of apps, where you can usually get decent income while working part time. In case of other apps, it’s all about carving out your own niche. In case of games, it’s about building a supreme product - there arguably are fewer
niches.
This is a version 1.0 of this presentation.Anything missing? Let us know.