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Self-promotion

Submit your app to app review sites

There are many websites out there dedicated to reviewing iPhone and iPad apps. Of course they can’t review every app, but with a bit of encouragement from you they may review yours. If they do look at it, as well as a (hopefully) positive review and some free publicity, they are also likely to link to your app’s page on the online App Store and, in the process, help generate some ‘buzz’ for your app on Google and other search engines.

How to do this:

  1. Choose the sites you are interested in from the list below;
  2. Make sure you read their submission instructions closely;
  3. Make sure that you don’t miss anything they have requested;
  4. Tell them briefly (but not too cheesily) why your app is better/different/more amazing than any similar apps they may have seen;
  5. Send a few bullet points listing any cool features and any interesting facts from the app;
  6. Give them a promo code (see ‘…offering a free download to influencers’ later in this section) and a link to the app on the online App Store;
  7. Send them a link to a (short) YouTube demo of your app if you have one;
  8. Shamelessly bribe them!

Some of the main app review sites:

Q & A participation (LinkedIN, Yahoo Answers, Wiki Answers etc)

Noticed how Yahoo Answers are often some of the top results on a Google search? Well if you want to get your hands dirty (or outsource this too) you can browse or search for questions that relate to your app and use them to promote your app to relevant people.

How to do this? Firstly, and most importantly, make sure you answer the question thoroughly. Only then at the end of your answer (and only as an aside) post a link to your app and/or mention its name. Just make sure the questions you’re answering are relevant and relate to the app you’re promoting or it comes off like spam and will be counter-productive.

• Yahoo Answers
• LinkedIN Answers
• Wiki Answers

You can search for new appropriate answers every day or get someone from your marketing team to monitor these for you as part of their daily activities.

Forum / Facebook fan page participation

Carefully post to – do not spam – relevant forums, Facebook fan pages and similar messageboards that are relevant to your app. If you are already a long-standing member this should be well-received as long as it done well. If you’re not a long time member of the group then try to learn about the forum or page first. Perhaps post a few ‘un-iPhone app’ related comments and solutions to other members before introducing what you want to promote later on.

If there are forums that you post to or read regularly think how these operate and how your kind of post would come across. If you’re posting something relevant and adding value (while respecting the existing status quo) then your comments have a much better chance of making a positive impression.

LinkedIN groups

As well as personal contacts you might have on LinkedIN, you can also search out and post to relevant groups. You can either browse or search by keyword for groups that might be relevant to your app’s subject area or industry. Depending on how the group is set-up, you may have to wait to be approved by its administrator before you can post to it. As with my previous advice on forums, take time to understand the group and, wherever you can, look to add to the conversation first where possible, instead of just jumping in.

Publish your LinkedIN profile

If you’re already a member of LinkedIN, you may be aware that, like Facebook, you have a profile page as part of their service. If you haven’t already done so, one small thing you can do is mention your app (and post a link to it) on your profile page. You can then publish your profile including your little app snippet (ie. make it ‘publicly viewable – you decide exactly which parts appear) and share it with the world.

Doing this might not get you a million extra downloads but every little bit of ‘oxygen’ you can give the search engines (as they scour the web and pick up references to your app) can only help and, you never know, some of your business contacts might also see it and download it too!

Update company profile in professional directories

There are lots of directory websites such as DMOZ.org (and a host of industry-specific ones) which many companies join with the aim of driving more web traffic and the same thing can be done for your app.

If you have an app that is either industry-specific or specific to a particular geographic region, search Google to see if there are any appropriate directories you might join. If there are, then simply sign-up and post a small blurb about (and link to) your app. As ever the key is relevancy, there is no point posting it on a directory that is not relevant to your potential audience.

If you do manage to join a few relevant sites then not only might this help you get some direct traffic to your app’s webpage (from users browsing the directory and clicking your link), but also from search engines who will index these websites and pick up further references to your app.