App development is on rising because of the financial rewards, the technical viability, and the availability of the technical pool. If you too are an aspiring appreneur planning to take the plunge, develop and launch your dream app product, here is a quick guide to help you go about it.
Step 1: Consider app development options
While you can choose to develop any product that hits your mind right now, we suggest you make an informed and well-researched decision. When planning a product, here are three things you need to consider:
– Platform
Ask yourself which platform you want to develop for. You can go for a native android app, or a native iOS app, or a progressive web app. Or, you can create an app that works similarly on three of these platforms. We call it a cross-platform application. It takes less time to build, uses a single code, is economic, and easy to maintain.
– Niche
Niche is the category of your application. Your scope, monetization model, app features, and cost of development depend on category. Categories include games, healthcare, real estate, eCommerce, social media, blockchain, AR and VR, education, fitness and workout, corporate productivity, business management, and so on.
Once you decide a niche, you need a sub-niche. Then think of a problem that your app will solve.
– Target audience
You have an app in mind, but don’t know who will use it. Think of the age, demographics, socio-economic background, medical history and mindsets of your target audience. Define each and then finalize your app idea and revenue model.
Step 2: Create a business plan – app development
While there are millions and millions of mobile apps on stores, not 100% of them are successful and turning in huge profits. That’s because of several reasons. Some of them include bad launch timing, poor user experience, wrong target audience, high competition, frequent ads, technical errors and wrong monetization strategy.
That’s where a business plan will help you. Divide your business plan in two parts.
- Financial plan: the main part of this plan is the app development budget, the marketing budget, no. of downloads you envision in the first year, monetization strategy and the revenue.
- Technical plan: now whatever you decided in the app development options should come here. Write down the app features, and if there are other competitive apps in the market. talk about platform and target audience.
Step 3: Hire a developer – app development
When making a hiring decision, you need to look at the size of the team, the technical expertise, portfolio, work arrangement and the price. I recommend you strike the right balance between these factors and not determine your decision wholly on the price of development services.
You can go for in-house developers. For this, you’ll hire locally. Hiring the whole team of designer, developer, and QA expert will take time, plus high recruitment cost.
The other option is to outsource the project in a staff augmentation arrangement. You get to work with your developers in specific number of hours per month and you don’t have to hire the team. This option is hassle-free, yet gives you high control and flexibility in your app development project progress.
If you are up for hiring remotely, here are two most economic and viable choices based on expertise and budget.
- Los Angeles: You can hire services of mobile app development in Los Angeles. They have software engineers, blockchain developers, AR and VR experts and robotics professionals. You can see that this is a surefire package for innovation and technological revolution.
- Dallas: You can hire a 360-degree IT solution provider, or outsource your full project to a mobile app development company in Dallas. That’s because there is a huge talent pool. Also, the development rates per hour are super competitive.
When making a hiring decision, carefully look at the non-disclosure agreement, pricing structures and the proposal. Also, divide your app development steps in milestones and associate a deadline with each.
During the course of development, make sure not to miss meetings with project manager. Monitor the progress of development closely and report any technical glitches and errors as and when you notice.
Step 4: Test the app – app development
Testing the app is super important before it is out in the market for users. there are two main parts of testing.
– Technical testing
This includes instrument testing, unit testing, and functional testing. In simple words, QA experts identify errors in the performance, navigation, content, user experience and features of the app. Main areas to attend are digital payment gateways, loading time and speed, sign up and sign in. Also see if the app crashes, has bugs or viruses.
– Real User Feedback
Distribute the first version, the MVP of your app in community. Look for ideal target users and talk to them about the user experience. Ask them if they have specific expectation from your app. Ask if they would recommend the app in their social network. If you notice a common type of negative review, discuss with your project manager and get it fixed before the glitch ruins the review section of your store listing.
Step 5: Market the app – app development
There are several ways you can market and promote your app in local and international community.
- Create a WordPress website and write blog articles. This way you can attract search engine traffic and direct it to your store listing. This is also a good way to establish the narrative of your app and build readership in your niche industry.
- Start social media pages. Create one social post everyday and share across Facebook and Instagram. Later, you can hold live sessions and give freebies.
- Build a community on platforms like Reddit, Quora and Medium. Answer the questions, get links, and indirectly help people find your product.
- Contact influencers in your industry. Tell them to talk about your application, review it and promote it.
All of these are economic options and don’t need heavy marketing budgets. But remember that marketing is a continuous effort and you need help from people like graphic designers, content writers, and influence marketers.
Step 6: Maintain the app – app development
While this technically happens after launching the app, this is also a continuous step. Look at the health of your product and see if it continues to give a high-end user experience.
