If you weren’t already aware, you should know that every approved app has it’s own web address (URL) on Apple’s ‘online’ App Store. For example, Angry Birds Halloween can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/
angry-birds-halloween/id398157641?mt=8
The online App Store page for Angry Birds Halloween
The great thing about this is that you can use this web address to promote your app to potential users (the page contains the same description, screenshots and users reviews as the standard App Store). You can also use it to drive downloads of your app, not only directly to people’s handheld devices, but via their computer too (anyone who ‘downloads’ an app this way will have the app automatically copied to their iPhone/iPad next time they sync it with iTunes on their computer).
Getting your web address
To find your web address (URL) open iTunes on your computer and go to the iTunes Store. Then search for your app to bring up its individual page in iTunes, right click the name of your app (eg WIRED magazine) and choose ‘Copy link’ and voila you have the URL, eg:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/wired-magazine/id373903654?mt=8
which you can save somewhere for safekeeping. You can also find it:
- Using a Google search sometimes (if the name of your app is fairly unique);
- In the email Apple sent you to tell you your App had been approved;
- By clicking the ‘Tell A Friend’ link on your app’s page in the iTunes store and emailing yourself the link!
The ‘Copy Link’ button
Creating a new web address
Now as useful as this is (and I’ll come on to some more uses later) you might want to make that rather long web address a bit easier to remember. If you already own a website you could set-up a web address on your existing site such as www.my-company.com/iphoneapp (speak to your IT administrator or your web hosting company if you’re not sure how to do this).
This could then either direct people to your own promotional page for the app (including a ‘Download’ button and a link to your app’s page on the online App Store). Alternatively you could just set-up the address to automatically re-direct people straight to your longer http://itunes.apple.com/……………… URL.
Either way you have given your audience a much easier to remember web address coupled with the benefits of the online App Store too.
If you don’t have a website or want a new web address just for this purpose, then why not purchase a new (more memorable) domain name which you then simply forward to the longer, harder to remember iTunes URL.
If you’ve never registered a domain name before there are thousands of companies that will do this for you. My favourite is hover.com (which includes a search function so you can see which domain names are currently
available). Nice and easy.
Once you have registered the domain name most web hosting companies will give you access to an online control panel where you can forward your new domain name to any web address you choose (contact them if you are in any doubt how to do this).
Create a website / update your existing website
If you don’t already have a website for your business then why not create one for your app. If you have a site already, you could just create a dedicated section on it all about your app (which you can then cross-promote from the rest of your site and all your other media channels). Or, if you think it more appropriate, set-up a totally new website just to promote it. This section or website needn’t (and shouldn’t) be overly-complicated or require dozens of pages (just four or five well-thought out pages can really tell a lot). The following sections, for example, would probably be more than enough:
- Homepage – featuring all branding, slogan and top three selling points of the app, plus links to Facebook/Twitter pages, YouTube video demo/tutorials etc and big button to download the app.
- Key features of the app – list the most interesting features of your app here
- Video demo and tutorials – can be uploaded to YouTube and then embedded in this page
- Reviews – snippets of great reviews and user comments you have received
- Blog/ Press Release / News section – to announce new features of the app, launch competitions etc
- Forum – if you have a large enough community using the app you can create a forum on your website. You can then check in on your forum to get feedback on which features of the app people are most excited about and which ones could be improved!
Again Elance and Guru can save the day (and money) for this sort of thing if you’re looking to outsource.
Alternatively, if you’d like some inspiration for your app promo website’s design, take a look at: webdesignerwall.com/trends/iphone-app-site-design-trends/
Create a blog (or use your existing one)
As part of the website you could also create a blog about your app. This can then be used to build ‘buzz’ before the release. After release, it will also be an easy way to announce new features/releases of the app etc. New blog posts can also promoted from any Facebook/Twitter pages you have and you can also use services such as Google Feedburner to let your audience receive alerts any time you publish a new blog post. WordPress is an extremely popular piece of blogging software which you can use for this. You can either download it and set it up yourself (if you are technically inclined) or easily find assistance on Elance.
