One of the more challenging aspects that iPhone/iPad application developers are coming up against from a pricing perspective is competing against free. Many developers get discouraged thinking that their application may not fare so well against competing free apps. However, if your application truly has functionality that goes beyond what a free application can do, then you should not worry...as much.
In fact, some free apps (whether it is your own free application or another) can help drive sales of your application because the user finds that free will only take them so far and then they have to pay to gain additional functionality.
Don’t be intimidated by free. If you have developed a unique application, use your application’s unique features as your marketing angle.
Consumers have also learned that free apps could mean risky software with a clumsy interface that does not really solve their problem. They also know that free may mean lots of advertisements that sometimes get in the way of a useful application. So how can you effectively position your paid application to compete against free apps? Here are a few ideas that will help you out:
There are really only two ways to be found: on the Application Store and on your own product website. As discussed in greater detail in other parts of this article, use care in selecting keywords to describe your application. You cannot easily change the keywords except when you launch a new build so make sure you are maximizing them. Make sure your application’s icon is catchy and colorful. Icons without a lot of sizzle will be scanned over and ignored during a search on the Application Store.
Make sure that your application appears in the top listings of search engine results if possible. Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques to make sure your website will rank higher than those of competing free applications. This takes time to achieve this ranking, and you must have a website that showcases your application extremely well utilizing key phrases and keywords for maximum effect. One of the other keys to high search rankings is to get many other sites to link to your site.
Establish a relationship with other sites that are complementary to yours and exchange links on each other’s site. Additionally, a carefully placed article that you have written about your application or a press release announcing your application will help bloggers and other sites to link to your website, thus raising your website in search engine rankings.
This should go without saying but your application must provide greater functionality, better graphics, and more features than a free application. Many free products are often stripped-down versions and offer minimal functionality. Make sure that your iPhone/iPad application is more robust and feature rich, but without compromising the ease of use or functionality. Include features and functions that are not available in the freeware competitors, and then use these features to promote your product.
Your iPhone/ iPad application design and program operation should be intuitive, and should not require advanced instruction for the primary functions. Your buyer should be able to operate the basic features of the program immediately after installing it and without needing to refer to any documentation to figure out how to get started. Consider developing a video on your website to guide the user through the primary features, as well as the more complex ones.
Initial impressions matter. Use professionally designed graphics, attractive color combinations, and a modern User Interface (UI) to distinguish your application from any freeware alternatives. Yes, you are going to spend some money here, but it is worth the expense if you want a successful application. If you are writing a game application, it is a necessity to have catchy graphics.
Getting your application to stand out is always possible against free apps. Carefully look at the free apps and design your application to take advantage of the free application’s weaknesses.
Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Articleinput.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.
Note: This article was sent to us by: Sharon D. at 05092010
1. Embedded Linux is used for some very good commercial reasons
All articles are property of their respective authors. Please read our Privacy Policy!
© 2009 ArticleInput.com.