Just over a year ago we released our first app into the App Store and Android Market under our own brand. Since then we have released many more and at one year we can report downloads of 2,114,510 with roughly 5% conversion on iOS and 2% conversion on Android. We’ve also seen month on month growth and some enormous spikes when we have managed to chart highly for a period of time. During those times we were looking at 25 000 downloads per day!

We have a dedicated team in our Bangkok office working on updates to these apps and further titles. This team more than pays for itself each month and made it to profit after 6 months.

Click on the icons below to see a list of all our apps current available on Apple and Android

1. Make something people want
I know, crazy! This might seem blindingly obvious but we get a lot of proposals from people where this simple rule has not been followed. The key is to make something people are already searching for. It's ok if there are other apps doing reasonably well in your category. Research how well they are doing and, if you believe you can, build something better. Better doesn't have to mean more features. Our preference is to target simpler than the competition but offer a better user experience. You get maximum ratings love for good UX.

2. Optimise your app name & keywords
If the title of your app and its core keywords match the terms your potential customers will be searching for you will start getting traction due to a better ranking position. Having an off the wall funky name comes with a serious health (and marketing budget) warning!

3. Make some of it free
Releasing a free app with in-app purchase has been the most successful method for us. Let people try the app and, if they find it useful, a good percentage will decide to upgrade. While this works well it can confuse some users who expect to pay up front for the app. To satisfy both you can do two versions. Free with in-app purchase and straight paid for. You should release the paid one first, then follow up with the free to create more buzz.

4. Localise
Translate your description, keywords and screenshots into different languages. There are companies who can do this for you. It may also make sense to build a localised version of your app as well but I would wait until you have been successful in English first.

5. It’s the freaking weekend!
Launch your app at the start of the weekend. As a new app on the scene you get a bit of a promotional boost on new app listings. The weekends (especially around holiday seasons like Christmas) are natural spikes in App Stores so the combined effect is pretty impressive to get things started. Then make sure you release regular updates, ideally once every month or two. You don’t have to change much, fix a few bugs; maybe tidy up some design elements but the release of an update also gives you a promo lift. Remember to request a developer release date and publish at the start of the weekend.

PS Because you have been so good and read this far here is a seriously hot tip! Sign up as an Apple affiliate and always link to your app using that url (for example, look at the link on the Apple icon I added above).

Even if the user clicks but does not install your app you will still receive a percentage of anything that user then spends in the App Store for the next 3 days. Free money!

People are buying Apps for phones, tablets and computers all over the world. There is big money in it and it is not just going to Apple. For example, Gartner predicts that by 2015 Android will account for 49% of smartphones.

The best way to source Apps is through App Stores. Apple, Google, Nokia, Blackberry and even Amazon have them, plus there are many spin offs proliferating the web.

App Stores provide a consolidated location for developers to upload their products and gain instant visibility and traffic from millions of users. However, these stores are quickly getting crowded and competition is intensifying as we strive to build awareness and recognition. Step forward App Store Optimization (ASO).

Optimizing for App Stores

The App Store search algorithm works quite differently to Google. Relevance is driven by downloads, ratings and keywords so, once optimised, popularity is very important. As free apps are downloaded far more than paid ones it supports the theory that a free or “lite” version is advisable. This, in turn, promotes your paid-for upgrade. It’s no coincidence that the same app will often occupy the top spot on both the free and paid charts.

Unlike traditional search engines App Store rankings are not built up over time. Baptiste Benezet of faberNovel came to the conclusion that "The formula for App rankings only accounts for your last 4 days of sales." The formula is 8 times the sales of the current day + 5 times the sales on the 2 proceeding days + 2 times the sales on initial date.

Source: ReadWriteWeb

It would seem that short, sharp campaign bursts are the best way to achieve high rankings, break into the category charts and great a self-perpetuating cycle of high download figures.

However more recently Google and now Apple are including user activity as a factor. Daily or Monthly Active Users are logged and those Apps that are used more frequently will also rank highly. The Android Marketplace takes note of the percentage of users that keep the app installed on their device as space is generally more of a premium with users removing Apps that don’t cut it far more frequently than those using Apple devices.

The Apple App Store search is exact-match only. Your app will only show up if there is an exact match against the app or company name or keywords you have specified. Apple does NOT search against your description, which means that text should be purely around convincing the user reading it to hit install/buy. However, the iTunes Web Preview page is often indexed high on traditional search engines and the first three lines of your description can be indexed so it is still worth optimising the start of your description text. Other App Stores such as Android Marketplace do include description in their search criteria though.

Keyword optimisation is therefore pretty crucial. You should follow similar techniques to standard SEO. Prioritise the words and try and think of what keywords or phrases a user would think of to find your type of app. This could also include popular competitors or major platforms you have integrated with, as their names are popular search terms. A word of warning though. You do risk being rejected by Apple if you blatantly hang on the coat tails of a competitor so you try and be a bit subtle.

That brings us onto the name. Unfortunately a buzzy sounding app name will rank poorly against a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin title. You should also consider starting with a number or early letter in the alphabet for when the user orders their result by name. Including popular search words such as “fun”, “easy”, “exciting” and “free” would do you no harm either.

For example on our new Learn Chinese App we have used the title "Learn Chinese Lite - Mandarin Phrasebook for Travel in China" to capture as much keyword traffic as we can. We have substituted "Lite" with "Pro" for the paid version and also linked to it heavily in the free app to prompt upgrades.

Design & Build

The icon that represents your App is hugely important. It should be eye catching and well designed to give a solid first impression and communicate that this wasn’t cobbled together by a talentless nerd playing with a bit of code. Check out this superb guide on good app icon design.

Whilst your icon design might gain you a view, your screenshots are likely to tip the balance. They should be well chosen examples that flatter the app, demonstrate it’s usefulness and grab the user’s attention. 

Additionally the filesize of your app can affect its popularity. An app under 10MB in size can be downloaded over a 3G network whereas anything over that requires a wifi connection or it has to be downloaded via a computer associated to the device. If you can’t access the app the moment you find it, you may never come back.

Building Downloads

A well-optimised app will still not rank well until it proves to be popular. In order to maximise your potential download figures you should get listed in app directories.

Reaching out to bloggers can be very powerful. We noticed this after we launched Learn Thai and it was picked up by a prominent blog within a few days, skyrocketing downloads. Don’t be afraid to contact bloggers, they need fresh content to write about! Just keep it short, friendly and relevant.

Be social! It is easy to integrate Twitter or facebook connect into the app and encourage users to share their scores, activities or even that they like the app on those platforms with their own audience.

It is also worthwhile asking your more active users to rate the app. If a user has had the app for a while and has used it quite frequently it is worth popping up a simple message asking for a rating or review. If this is done in an unobtrusive manner it should not harm your app at all.

There is quite a lot of information to take in there but I hope I have communicated just how vital it is to plan, research and test your search and marketing tactics to avoid your masterpiece lying unused in the murky vaults of an App Store server.

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Other links referenced...

• Learn Thai iPhone and Android App. "Head and shoulders above the competition..."
• The Tepilo Nokia App launches
• Introducing our new Creative Lead Bjorn Jansen
• We got jobs for Developers and Project Managers