What do I do wrong?

Hi,
I have published FonPrompt. It is a Remote Control for PowerPoint SlideShow. I personaly consider my app as good, however my download numbers are not impressing at all. So if someone could look at this, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.thomaslankes.fonprompt and tell me if there is some important SEO/ASO activity I have missed until now. Any other advice would be highly appreciated as well.
Best Regards,
Thomas.

Wat is Minimum SDK version of your App… I use 4.2 but it still says app not compatible… Is there is any other special permissions?

EDIT : I am using GenyMotion… I think the app is incompatible becoz of Unavailability of Camera…

  1. Apart from the functionalities users expect a poished app… Please improve your Apps UI…
  2. Use screenshots taken from mobile( or emulator) running latest OS version… So that you app will not look better in play store…

Yes, FonPrompt needs a Camera.

Regarding the UI, do you have something in particular in mind?

And yes, I am planing a kind of a facelift, I think I will apply some of the JellyBean UI patterns, for example a cards layout like in Google Now.

One reason why it isn’t getting a lot of downloads is that it isn’t a standalone app.

Users need to download a Windows program in order to use it. Since a lot of non-technical people are afraid of installing stuff on their Windows computer that means you’ve just lost something like 80% of your market because of that.

I think your best chance at making significant amounts of money off of your app project is to get hired by Microsoft to integrate the functionality into Office and Windows Phone 8. :slight_smile:

Edit: But to answer your question about SEO/ASO: it’s all about translation, translation, translation! Most users search for apps using their own language, so having your app be searchable in lots of languages will help drive downloads from searches. Translate the app name and app description to all major languages. Use Google translate if you can’t find a human translator.

You can translate the app itself later.

Yes, probably one of the big reasons for long-term cramping of your download numbers - anything that requires more complex stuff cuts down on your “conversions” (i.e. number of users who see your app, but then are not convinced to follow through with downloading or using it).

Another reason might be is just that no one cares about what you made, i know its hard to let go but if you are not getting downloads, maybe its time to move on.

I think you may try some new marketing strategies

I have seen a lot app developers wasting their money on app promotion and get nothing return. I prefer to choose free ways to promote my app

such as:

1 Optimize the app title and keywords. When people are looking for apps in app store, they prefer to search some keywords like shooting game, office software and etc. Optimize the title of your app’s title and description is the first thing you should do after you have developed your app.

2 Make an explainer video for your app. Making an explainer video is a very cost and effective app marketing strategy, because it constantly increase the conversion rate of your app. 70% of people prefer to purchase or download app after watched a video, they are also more satisfied than those who didn’t. Because a video could give the user an effective preview of the app, to help they understand an app before they actually own it. There are many great app explainer video service providers such as Appgovideo.com, Appegges.com and etc.

  1. Start a blog. This is free and quite effective as well. You may announce and update the news of your app, your company and your team in your blog and you will be able to build great publicity for your own organization. The reason is simple, every people love stories.

  2. Submit press release. Entrepreneur Neil Patel says: “Press is the best way to kick start your startup, and the best way to get it is to manually reach out to journalists.” There are some great free press release services as well, for example, Free-Press-Release.com and PRlog.

  3. Limited-period free. If you developed a paid app, set it as free for a period of time will boost downloads of your app. Since there are a tons of apps deliver news of which app become free to users everyday. Those apps will help you gain huge publicity and awareness for your app.

  4. Email newsletter. Reading email has become a major activity people do on their smartphones, you can collect users on your website and keep them updated with the news of your app with email newsletters

Seen some similar results with our app Capital Cities. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.capitalcities
In my opinion UI is really good. The app is also good for learning countries and capital cities, so might be useful for schoolchildren. However, getting only 5 downloads a day.
What could be the reasons? Is it bad description or the app itself (not interesting)?
By the way, I did not any marketing.

Have it registered in Google Education - something like your app may be accepted. Usually Google will reply in a couple of weeks - after you check the box in your Google Developer Console - Pricing & Distribution section.

That might help it gain a few downloads (or if it is paid - it maybe bought).

The extent of my experience with Google Education was that my app was not exactly aligned with that - and I submitted anway (after it was mentioned on this forum) - and got a reply from Google that the app does not fit the “for Education” category - but your app would be something that would fit that perhaps.

Maybe change the title from:

Capital Cities
to:
Capital Cities for Kids
Fun Capital Cities for Kids
Learn Capital Cities for Kids
if you are also targeting adults:
Learn Capital Cities Fast
Learn Capital Cities Fast
Quick Learn Capital Cities
Quick Capital Cities Education

How’s this (see below for “Quiz”):
Learn Capital Cities Kids Quiz
x-----30 characters----------x

Try to use some of these keywords in the Description a few times if possible.

For example maybe think about what words your users would be using - would they be searching for cities or “Quiz” maybe more - so maybe use that in your title etc. That’s the type of reverse-thinking you have to do to guess - i.e. you have to “become” what you think your ideal user base would be searching for …

Thank you very much for your suggestion. To be honest, personally, I do not like such titles of apps. I clearly see that an app with such a name just desperately seeks for more traffic no matter if the content, design and idea is good or bad. But I guess this is the rule I need to accept.

Your ideals are noble and I respect you for having such ideals.

However, on Google Play you have to come to the notice of the users - and keyword search is a major way of doing that (apart from virality/social-wildfire-popularity and paying to publicize apps etc.).

Conversely, you can think of it this way - your ideal user - what would he have to do to find your app ? Do you think a user like that could find your app (probably not). There are apps for which if you type in the exact title still they are ranked somewhere down the list (though to be fair, this USUALLY happens when those apps use exactly these types of popular words like Angry Birds etc. - obviously Angry Birds and all other such apps are going to rank much higher than the Learn Capital Cities with Angry Birds app :-)). So there is a value to having a UNIQUE name (it helps findability IF your users know of the app - a unique enough name and they can just mention “search for Capital Cities” and if your app is the only one with those words you WILL show up at the top).

The problem however remains - how are the likely users of your app going to find your app. Will they be searching for Cities, or Capital ? (assuming you rank high if searched for these terms).

This means your Description, Title etc. has to have some unique words (to aid findability for those who KNOW which app they want) - and you want some words which are not what YOU think your app is, but WHAT your users will be searching for. So your users are unlikely to be searching for Capital or Cities - they would be searching for Quiz, or Geography or some such thing.

So this means to aid them in finding your app, you will have to put in words that they MAYBE searching for (and this is the SEO/ASO - or search engine optimization / app store optimization - problem).

It sounds bad because there is a hint of manipulation (and also because there is the sense that websites can engage “consultants” to help them in tailoring to get up in google search rankings for various keywords). But the reality is that if google is going to be the engine that most are using to find stuff - then it is in your users’ interests to be able to find your app. So if you think about it in that way, you may find it more palatable to engage in some word inflation in your Description or Title etc.

Hope this helps.

By the way, could you give us some insight into your experiences with Apple App Store vs. Google Play - i.e. “findability” (is app getting more downloads on Apple App Store than Google Play). Because while we hear of the revenue being 2x or more on Apple App Store (for paid and IAP AND for ads as well - because the Apple user demographic is much richer and more valuable to advertisers perhaps), there have also been blog postings etc. about there being a significant problem on Apple App Store regarding findability as well (perhaps more than Google Play) - because the Apple App Store may have a “lock in” effect which favors earlier apps (this is separate from their other distinction - it is harder to publish apps which are exactly like other apps there - which is good for users). I have been considering doing something for Apple as well - but haven’t got the time to get around to that.

P.S.

Another suggestion for Title (perhaps more palatable ?):

Find Capital Cities
Quiz Me on Capital Cities
My Knowledge on Capital Cities (bad title perhaps - who searches for knowledge ?)
Test Me on Capital Cities
x-----30 characters----------x

at least it tells WHAT the app does regarding capital cities etc. Since “Capital Cities” itself is just a noun i.e. doesn’t tell what the app does.

Another thing to consider maybe your icon (because other than the title this is the other major thing users look at when skimming apps) - your icon on rough look just seems like a question mark (your feature image is much clearer showing cities with question mark on top - but obviously icon doesn’t have enough space for that). So you may consider thinking about how the icon could be made more descriptive or immediately conveying the function of your app etc. …

adforandroidapps,

Thank your for your suggestions. Sorry for my late reply, I didn’t notice your last post :slight_smile:
As I am really new to android market and do not know what a situation was two years ago (when I published my first app in Apple Store), but as per current situation I can say, that “findability” is a little bit better in Apple Store. However, it’s getting worse and worse every day. Two years ago there was a “New Releases” section which sorted apps by release date, so there was initial boost in visibility. Unfortunately, with iOS6 release they removed New Releases section.

My apps in Apple Store are doing better than in Google Play (in terms of downloads). Maybe visibility is a little bit better because of Apple’s strict approval process for new apps (it takes about a week for an app to be approved) which leads to less new apps released every day. Also there is a different search model. As far as I understand in Google Play description has influence (as you can put specific keywords and so on). In Apple store you must specify your app keywords (max 100 symbols) and your app description has no influence as keywords in it are not valid.

You mentioned “lock in” effect and I agree that this might be seen for really old apps, but this might be related to higher number of user reviews, ratings and etc.

Regarding the downloads of paid apps, nowadays, there are less and less people who are downloading paid games. This is based on my own experience only, I might be wrong, but I had to change to freemium model.