How To Start A Mobile App Business

August 1, 2014

First, let me tell you a little bit about me, and why I am qualified to write on this topic. I created my first app in early 2012. Since then I created 8 Android apps for business, 6 iOS apps, and 4 Amazon Kindle apps. The apps have passed 500,000 downloads (many of them paid), and now earn me a full-time living. The apps are business apps that help entrepreneurs plan, start and grow their businesses. They are very loved apps. In fact, if you search for the word “business” on Android, my app is #1, and I am now working on getting my iPhone app to be #1 as well. In my writing I share all the tips of what it took for me to get my apps to rank so highly so you can do it too.

Once the apps crossed 300,000 downloads, I compiled all the questions entrepreneurs faced on my apps (preserving people’s privacy of course) and wrote a number of business and marketing books. I also created over 15 business and marketing courses, and became the host of a relatively popular business channel on YouTube. I did all this on my own, and without outside help or raising any money.

In my writing, I share many of my tips on how to plan your app before you even begin creating it, how to promote a mobile app like a pro, and how to make money from your app.

Creating The App

There are two ways to create a mobile app. You can program the app by yourself like I did, or you can hire a developer or an agency to build your app.

If you are a developer, creating your app is much cheaper and faster. If you are not a developer, before you go out and try to hire someone to create your app, I want to encourage you to be open minded about learning how to develop apps. If you learn to create apps on your own, you will learn a very marketable skill, and will save tens of thousands of dollars because you won’t have to hire a developer. Additionally, if you have other app ideas in the future, you will be able to simply create them on your own, without needing outside help.

If programming a mobile app is not for you, you can hire a developer on a site like oDesk.com or elance.com, or you can hire a mobile app development agency. As a rule of thumb, the more you pay, the higher level of quality you will get. It isn’t unusual for an app to cost tens of thousands of dollars when it is all said and done.

A gigantic pitfall when hiring a developer or a mobile app development agency is that most entrepreneurs just want the first version of their app developed, and spend most of their initial funds on that. But the truth is that while the launch of an app seems like a huge deal, the first version of the app is just the beginning. The key to success is to continue improving the app by constantly creating new updates, and making the app better and better over time. And those updates cost money. Over time, this can cost over $100,000. That is very risky, especially when combined with the fact that contrary to what entrepreneurs hope, over 99% of mobile apps do not go on to raise money from professional investors.

Mobile App Marketing

How you promote your app should depend on the kind of app you have, and the level of competition in your app’s niche. For most apps, the biggest driver of downloads is app store search, also known as ASO (App Store Optimization). The second biggest driver of downloads is social sharing. After that, the next large potential sources of downloads are publicity and being featured in the app store. We will cover all these strategies in more detail shortly.

Mobile App Monetization

Mobile app monetization is probably the single most challenging part of your mobile app business. For my apps, it was by far the most time consuming and mind boggling part of the process.

The most obvious way to monetize your app is by publishing ads on them. The second most common way to make money from your apps is to enable in-app purchases (subscriptions, consumable purchases and non-consumable purchases). Other ways to make money from your apps is to sell your own products, or to sell other products as an affiliate. We will cover this in much more detail shortly.

What Are Your Goals For The App?

You should also set realistic goals for your app. I realize all entrepreneurs want to sell their business for a billion dollars (or more), but that just isn’t the reality for just about all apps. Many apps have very limited potential either due to poor discoverability and natural marketing options, low demand, or being in a niche that is way too competitive.

Think through the potential of your app. This will give you a sense of how much time and money it may be reasonable to invest into your app.

Mobile App Marketing Book And Course

This tutorial is just one section of my mobile app marketing book. Check it out on Amazon. It is available on the Kindle which means that you can read it on the Kindle app of any smart phone. Or take my mobile app business course on Udemy.