There are more than 5 million smartphone apps hosted on both Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, and more than 1,000 more are uploaded every month. You can also have a mobile app listed on the platforms to advance your business interests or to make money on the side. If you have ever wanted to have a mobile app for your business, then this is the fundamentals of building and marketing mobile apps in 2022.
Generate an app idea
If you have an existing business that is flourishing, you might want to build an app for it straight away. But if you just came upon the idea of making money from apps, then you would need a good idea for the app you want to build. There are three ways to generate an app idea:
Look at what is lacking in an existing app or apps and then build your new app based on that gap. Build your app to improve the functionalities of an existing app in a way that makes it uniquely yours. Turn a problem you are currently facing in your life or environment into a profitable app; if you have this problem, chances are that other people have this problem as well and need solutions to it.
Research competition for your proposed app
You must carry out online investigations to determine how popular your proposed app is going to be and whether competitors are already making a kill at it. You mustn’t be discouraged if you see several apps on App Store or Play Store solving the same problems you are targeting, this means your idea is viable and there is healthy competition for it. It is even possible the authors of those apps have stopped updating them, and that they do not really meet the needs of their target audience. So you have justifications to proceed with your app despite the competition.
Outline the features for your app
Outlining the features that will go into your app will guide you to create a superb product that anyone would be proud of. It will also save you tons of trouble during the development stage since you have an outline to work with. The best way to go about this however is creating a minimum viable product (MVP) that can generate feedback for subsequent improvements.
MVP requires that you build a simple app with basic core features and then release it into the Play Store. When users post feedback, then you update the app with the feedback and then release it again for more feedback and subsequent updates. You keep on doing this until you have the best app that people want and are willing to pay for.
Create design mockups
A design mockup will make it easier for you to create a functional and intuitive app when it finally launches. This design mockup should cover the overall design of the app, its respective sections, pages, or screens, and navigation. The layout should make navigation easy to improve user experience and usability. You can design your app mockup using pen and paper, and you can use digital tools such as Sketch, Figma, InVision Studio, and Frame X among others.
Proceed with the graphic design
This step requires designing how the final app product will look like. You can do this yourself if you are experienced in app graphic design or simply hire a freelance graphic designer to help. The design they create must represent what the final product will look and function like; it must be useable for presentations to potential investors, and it must useable by developers for asset integrations. The stage should take care of product performance as well as user interface and experience.
This is not the end of this guide to building and marketing a mobile app in 2022. This is only Part 1. Let’s go to Part 2 to examine the marketing plan, developer options, submission to Google Play, marketing, and monetization among others.
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