App Trillionaires: How To Become An App Developer: Enjoy Life, Make Money, and Live Your Dreams! (2013)

12. STEP 4: APP NAME AND KEYWORDS - ASO

Up until this point you have worked hard on creating an app, however I have not told you to name your app yet. That is because what you NAME your app will either increase or decrease your sales! In this next step we must now go over App Store Optimization techniques to name our app successfully with a higher probability of success rather than just blindly naming our apps. Using keywords and app titles in a smart way and researching what has been working for others will help you to increase your downloads and sales over time rather than those who do not optimize their apps for the app store.

ASO APP STORE OPTIMIZATION

App Store Optimization is a very powerful trend taking over the entire app marketplace. Choosing the right combination of keywords, icons, titles and screenshots (KITS) can help your app increase in rank throughout the app store. Gone are the days of just putting an app up and praying it will become a number one hit. With now over 700,000 apps in the Apple App Store, competing against all of them will be a challenge. This is where optimization of your app can help to yield more downloads and results.

I highly recommend using the service from AppCod.es (http://www.appcod.es). They literally let you drill down to the keywords that people are using in the market to obtain higher app store search rankings compared to others who have similar apps.

a. Simply setup an account on AppCod.es for $15/month

b. Add an app name or potential app name you are considering naming your app and start adding some keywords you are considering to use.

c. Now search for apps using the search bar inside of AppCod.es and you should see a listing of apps come up.

d. In the listing you will notice that each app has a total download count per month and an overall download count as well. Look at the apps that have high monthly and overall download counts.

e. Of those apps with higher download counts, take note of the app name and keywords they are using. We want to use a similar name and similar keywords.

For example, I have an app in the app store which I had named Quiz Flashcard Maker. This was before I did any form of ASO. After that I did a major update on my app and decided to start ASO and researched that most people were typing in just the word flashcards. After that I looked at the keywords and titles of similar apps and replaced my own keywords and titles and renamed the app to “Flashcards .” (YES there is a period in the title of the app).

This change helped me to rank much higher compared to other apps and instantly if someone searched for flashcards, out of over 1600 apps, mine was in the top 100 this time. That’s a HUGE difference from being at the bottom of the list!

f. Now use your newfound information to name your app and prepare keywords which you will enter when you submit your app to the app store.

TIP: Use similar keywords and titles of the top performing apps and you too will start to see an increase in your app rank and downloads!

KITS KEYWORDS, ICONS, TITLES AND SCREENSHOTS

Along with Keywords and Titles, you will also need to have a VERY HIGH QUALITY Icon and equally high quality Screenshots.

A winning combination of KITS can yield a successful application that gets a lot of downloads and is easily found in the App Store.

I highly recommend outsourcing Icon design and Graphics design to specialized graphic artists who have that eye for graphics and colors.

In fact on fiverr.com I’ve been able to get many great icon designs for just $5 so it’s always a great idea to outsource things like this to others, especially when the cost of such things is relatively low. Simply send over your image screenshots and screen captures from your device or running apps, and the graphic designers can add your promotional text and make those screen shots go from boring to stellar!

So go ahead right now and go and get an icon and screenshots made so that you are ready to upload your app to the various app stores and start selling your first app!

CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING IT THIS FAR!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF APP DEVELOPMENT!

So…Now what?

“Formula to success à When you fall, get back up and try again! NOTE: If you fall again, re-read the formula!”

— Abhinav Gupta