There are roughly 1.2 million apps currently in the Apple App Store. All of them competing for your eyeballs, and downloads. Keywords are the primary method in which users find these apps. So it goes without saying that the vast majority of an ambitious app developers resources should be going towards optimising and capitalising on this medium.
But it doesn’t.
Most app developers/entrepreneurs are content with a basic addition of one or two of their ‘supposed’ ‘good’ keywords within their app description. And even if they somehow manage to target the right initial keywords, they ultimately go after most obvious ones that better funded, more experienced developers will beat them for.
This is clearly not the best way to do this.
The best way is instead, to (after you’ve done your research, which i’ll explain below) cosy up to your target keywords slowly, stalk them like a lion hunting its prey. If you pounce too early (by just plopping the most obvious ones in your app description on day one) you might not get them to work for you.
Here’s how you should do it if you really want to see results, this is based on what I’ve seen many successful app developers do and, based on my research, is the primary strategy that underfunded entrepreneurs use.
Find the right, related ‘low-hanging fruit’ keywords
Using tools like http://keywordtool.io/ — you can easily find new keywords that are related to your app’s keyword. You can judge their level of competition by typing them into the app store and seeing how many, if any, apps pop up. Relate this to how close this keyword was to the initial one you had wanted to target to find out how valuable and potentially profitable it is. Also helpful is to check on google keyword tool. This will allow you to get some real numbers as often people type in the same things on google as they do on other search sources (such as the App Store).
The Surrounded Keyword Strategy
Once you’ve got your keywords down, choose one a week to target. Switch to a new keyword every week.
Build up your downloads and reviews by targeting slowly and gradually, 2nd degree, related and easy to rank for keywords over a period of time, then when you have enough clout to challenge the big guys for the target keywords, start targeting them, one by one.
This is how you go about getting yourself to the top spot on the App store. Along with some well-targeted app advertising (a whole nother article ;)), you will be able to start to build up a niche app business that you can be proud of.
Had success with a similar strategy and got something to share? Let me know in the comments!
