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Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

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Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#51

Post by msolheim »

jwhelan wrote: post #48
msolheim wrote: post #36

Congrats on your app launch! I’ve been sharing it with all my biker friends. :) Thanks for sharing this info it is very valuable info! You mentioned the disconnect when someone transitions into the App Store. I was wondering if you are signed up for Apple’s Affiliate program and using your unique affiliate link on your websites App Store button. Would that give you any more idea of what is going on inside the App Sto…

Thanks so much. We have not tried this...but you've motivated me to take another look at it. Do you know anyone who's used it?

I do not. I’m in the process of getting my own app developed and in my research I found that if you sign up for the iTunes Affiliate Program (www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/) , use your unique link where ever you send people to the iTunes Store or App store and you get a commission on anything they buy within a 24 hour session or until they click another affiliate link. So even if they don’t end up buying your app if they buy anything you’ll get a commission! So, make sure you include affiliate links inside your app too.

I’m not sure what type of analytics they provide back to you for any purchases or activity but hopeful it’s something to overcome the data disconnect once inside the App Store.

Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#52

Post by jbrennan »

x1r0 wrote: post #47
pclark wrote: post #43

I don't really like your website. Specifically the image of the iPhone. It's a good size but most of it is the iPhone bezel. There is no way to understand specifically what the app does and how by looking at it. Make it the full iPhone height and add obvious arrows to let the user manually progress through a 3 step "this is what it is" in the form of images.

Thanks for the feedback!

The site won't even load for me. I've been trying on and off over a few hours... What gives?

Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#53

Post by shinratdr »

ajlburke wrote: post #24

Congratulations! I went through a similar process with my first app as well. A few things I'd recommend: - Use appfigures.com and appannie.com to track your sales and rankings. They provide much nicer reports than those provided by Apple. Also, they'll tell you if reviews come in, and even translate them for you. I'm personally addicted to the hourly ranking updates from AppFigures. - Never stop promoting. Do somethi…

Just a note on the pricing changes thing. As a user, if I see an excessive number of price changes or clear price manipulation in AppShopper (which gives you a history of the pricing changes of any app) I mark the app as suspect in my head and typically move on.

I would prefer a dev be confident in the value and price of their app than to constantly be changing it. In my personal experience, most devs that are constantly meddling with the price have an app that's barely worth 99c on their hands.

The other thing it possibly indicates is that they change the price frequently to show up in apps like AppShopper as having a reduced price, which I find to be shady practice as well typically only done by mediocre devs.

It's just one of those respectability things, like reasonable in-app purchases. I won't use or respect your app if you don't respect me as a user, and charging $12 for an app one day, 99c the next and $5 the day after that isn't respecting me.

Obviously this is all my own personal opinion and experience, but I don't think I'm the only one out there who feels this way.

Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#54

Post by jwhelan »

jbrennan wrote: post #52
x1r0 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback!

The site won't even load for me. I've been trying on and off over a few hours... What gives?

Hey, so sorry for the trouble.

You can check out the app in the app store: http://bit.ly/Bike-Maps-App

Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#55

Post by jbrennan »

jwhelan wrote: post #54
jbrennan wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The site won't even load for me. I've been trying on and off over a few hours... What gives?

Hey, so sorry for the trouble. You can check out the app in the app store: http://bit.ly/Bike-Maps-App

Safari 5.1.2 on Lion. It times out (the same happens in the latest Chrome, too).

Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#56

Post by megablast »

pclark wrote: post #43

I don't really like your website. Specifically the image of the iPhone. It's a good size but most of it is the iPhone bezel. There is no way to understand specifically what the app does and how by looking at it. Make it the full iPhone height and add obvious arrows to let the user manually progress through a 3 step "this is what it is" in the form of images.

Also, what does coffee have to do with bike maps? It looks like your app finds the nearest coffee place, by the first 2 images on your website.

Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#57

Post by megablast »

sumukh1 wrote: post #42
k-mcgrady wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second this. I added 'AppiRater' ( https://github.com/arashpayan/appirater ) to one of my popular apps which users weren't reviewing. As soon as I added AppiRater the number of reviews increased a lot. I also noticed that it didn't increase the number of negative reviews which was a surprise.

If you do it right, then yes it will help your reviews. I suggest actually using iRate ( https://github.com/nicklockwood/iRate ) The advantage of these libraries is that you can ask at a specific time, say the tenth launch.

As you can do with pirater. You can also set a time limit, a combination of both, remind the user again, or give them one change only. AppiRater is very flexible, not sure what iRate offers over that.

Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#58

Post by ryanwaggoner »

shinratdr wrote: post #53
ajlburke wrote: post #24

Congratulations! I went through a similar process with my first app as well. A few things I'd recommend: - Use appfigures.com and appannie.com to track your sales and rankings. They provide much nicer reports than those provided by Apple. Also, they'll tell you if reviews come in, and even translate them for you. I'm personally addicted to the hourly ranking updates from AppFigures. - Never stop promoting. Do somethi…

Just a note on the pricing changes thing. As a user, if I see an excessive number of price changes or clear price manipulation in AppShopper (which gives you a history of the pricing changes of any app) I mark the app as suspect in my head and typically move on. I would prefer a dev be confident in the value and price of their app than to constantly be changing it. In my personal experience, most devs that are consta…

Ugh. This seems a perfect example of why selling to a market composed of people you'd find on HN isn't worth it. No offense, I'd probably use AppShopper too and feel similarly, but let's face it, the vast, vast majority of iOS buyers aren't going to scrutinize the price history of your app before purchasing. Why are we programmers the whiniest group of users out there when it comes to buying something that costs less than a cup of coffee, and probably literally is worth less of our time than what it took to look it up in AppShopper?

Re: Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store

#60

Post by xmr »

signalsignal wrote: post #46
ajlburke wrote: post #24

Congratulations! I went through a similar process with my first app as well. A few things I'd recommend: - Use appfigures.com and appannie.com to track your sales and rankings. They provide much nicer reports than those provided by Apple. Also, they'll tell you if reviews come in, and even translate them for you. I'm personally addicted to the hourly ranking updates from AppFigures. - Never stop promoting. Do somethi…

I recommend using Appviz 2 for sales analytics. It is Mac specific and doesn't contain any Call Home functionality so it is good to go.

I second this; I've been a happy user since v1 of AppViz. Might want to try out AppSalesMobile if you want the figures on the move.
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