Discussion Forums  >  Suggestions, Ideas, Wish List

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Sukera
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03/02/13 08:07 PM (12 years ago)

Why does my App only have 400 downloads, please help!

Hi guys, I worked on a 4 Words 1 Pictures type app called 4 Words 1 Movie; here is the link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.suyash.guesstheword&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5zdXlhc2guZ3Vlc3N0aGV3b3JkIl0. All my friends I showed it to love it, but it's been a week and it only has a little over 400 downloads, while other, imo opinion, less fun apps that use the 4 Words 1 Picture app model get over 10k downloads in a week. I think I implemented proper SEO by loading the description with keywords and changing the name from 4 Words 1 Movie to 4 Words 1 Picture Movie Edition Can you please check the google play page I linked and give me suggestions as to why people aren't downloading it? Or suggestions as to why my SEO still sucks? Any input, positive or negative will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Red Dog
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03/02/13 08:15 PM (12 years ago)
This was created with Buzztouch?
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 08:28 PM (12 years ago)
No, I code myself using java. If I'm only allowed to post apps created with Buzztouch I appologize
 
Red Dog
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03/02/13 08:32 PM (12 years ago)
No worries. I wish my app had 400 download a week :-) Have to ask: West Lafayette. Indiana?
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 08:33 PM (12 years ago)
Ya, I go to Purdue.
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 08:34 PM (12 years ago)
I put a considerable amount of time into the app, I'm hoping to get at least 10K downloads.
 
Red Dog
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03/02/13 08:36 PM (12 years ago)
Go Boilers! I'm a Hoosier myself, but my wife is a Purdue grad. (I know. How did that happen) Is Harry's still there?
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 08:43 PM (12 years ago)
Lol, Ya Harry's is still there. I don't know how long ago your wife went to purdue, but they moved Where Else and subway to Chauncy and are planning to build a CVS in that area, which should be nice. They also completely redesigned the gym, it's really nice now. It's supposed to be one of the best in the country :)
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 08:48 PM (12 years ago)
Also, I'm not feeling well today, so I'm staying in and don't have much to do, so if anyone has a simple app Idea, Ill try to throw something together tonight, as long as you do the graphic design part, lol It also has to be for Android, don't have a Iphone dev licence.
 
shak77
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03/02/13 09:03 PM (12 years ago)
You're getting 400 downloads a week! That's really good
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 09:17 PM (12 years ago)
Thanks Shak, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I was expecting to get a minimum of 1k downloads within a week and 10k within in a month, if you look at the other apps in the category, they all have at least 10k downloads and they are carbon copies of the original 4 pics 1 word app, while my app uses the same concept, there is a twist, so I thought I would get a lot of downloads. Do you have any ideas on why I have so few downloads? Like is my description bad, screen shots not appealing etc..
 
AppGuy30
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03/02/13 09:39 PM (12 years ago)
A few suggestions, drop the black background on you app icon, and make you app icon look a little more polished and you app should take off.
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 09:57 PM (12 years ago)
Thanks a lot App Master, Changing the Icon now
 
David @ buzztouch
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03/02/13 09:58 PM (12 years ago)
@Sukera: "I'm hoping to get at least 10K downloads." Everyone in the app store, amongst the literally millions of apps online "hopes" to get a significant number of downloads. Significant of course is subjective. Without sounding rash, other than making something "like another app" what makes you think you'll magically get 10K downloads? Think about it, tons and tons of apps are created that don't get any traffic. Consider the same idea with a new website...not everyone gets the traffic Google gets, or Angry Birds, or any other busy site. Apps are no different. The fact is, we (you and I and everyone else) have no idea how "other apps" are driving traffic and downloads. There are countless strategies, approaches, and opinions about the best way to market your app but for sure putting it in the app store and crossing your fingers (or making assumptions) isn't enough to drive downloads. It's far more complicated than that. The strategy or the tool or the approach you took to make your app has zero to do with how many folks find it and download it. Coding in java (on your own or with the help of a tool like Buzztouch) makes zero difference. It's all about exposure, marketing, discoverability. Don't get discouraged if your apps don't get loads of traffic right away. Like anything else, it takes time.
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 10:20 PM (12 years ago)
Thanks a lot App Master, Changing the Icon now
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 10:54 PM (12 years ago)
Sorry for the multiple posts, Idk what happened AS per not getting 10k downloads, I've made 3 apps that have gotten over 10k downloads, and 1 app that broke the 50 k barrier and have almost 200k combined downloads over my 3 dev accounts so I have a decent understanding of what a app needs to get a lot of downloads I understand you telling me that I shouldn't be optimistic, and appreciate it, but it really doesn't help me, and I have experience getting downloads so I have reasonable expectations when it comes to estimating number of downloads. IF you have any ideas on how to better use seo or graphics to promote this app please let me know! Thanks
 
RFConcierge
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03/02/13 11:00 PM (12 years ago)
can you advertise your new app in a link or splash screen in the other, more popular, apps? Ryan
 
Sukera
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03/02/13 11:03 PM (12 years ago)
I researched advertising my app, but through reading case studies I found you need to spend at least 500-1k to create an effective campaign, and I don't want to spend that much on advertising. Good Idea though!
 
Suvinay pawa
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03/02/13 11:04 PM (12 years ago)
@everyone else,,i am getting a similar problem i created an app but added extra tags so it was banned now googletold me to reupload it andi did it..it seems as the visibility of new app is very low..theprevious app gave me 150 downloads a day but this one just gives 75-80..Does it happens if your app gets banned? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.reloadedmovies
 
Frogman
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03/03/13 02:49 AM (12 years ago)
Hi Sukera, just facts from me, no offence at all. I wish the best to your endeavour: 1. the app looks nice as far as the GUI is concerned 2. you got 2x 5star rating evidently from someone who did want to help you. If you are able to find at least 10 people, who write more than just three words and tell more credible reasons, the potential user will be more attracted to try to download your app. Try to think like a user you are targeting. Many 4 stars ratings will work better. 3. get another development account to have similar content in your basket, it costs only 25$. Majority of potential users from your target group for social entertainment do not mix with high maturity content, they leave immediately. 4. have you created an account in Facebook for your app? You do not need to spent 100k$ for marketing, even if I had it, there are better ways to spend it. Marketing is about a good idea materialized, best with little funds. There is no limit for your imagination. Just post your Facebook page to forums where your potential users go, but do not push. Cheers, Frogman
 
ATRAIN53
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03/03/13 08:39 AM (12 years ago)
I'm looking at those 'other' apps by developer and the market you are reaching out to there is vastly different that a picture game audiance! I have hunch the photo content us part of why those hit the 10k. Just a hunch. I just downloaded a couple of your apps myself, but no picture games... ;)
 
Cakebit
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03/03/13 08:43 AM (12 years ago)
Hi Sukera, It is very important to push your release before you launch your app! A launch site or other advertisements or media are wonderful ways to do this! I have experimented with different apps and have found the day you release the app is also essential to your launch! I have had (many) unsuccessful apps, but my latest one has been having over 17K a day! Keep trying and I wish you success!
 
Paul Rogers
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03/03/13 08:47 AM (12 years ago)
I agree with @Frogman & ATRAIN53, split out your apps into different accounts. High maturity photo apps tend to be associated with spam/malware, general 'badness'. Also, it's early days. It can take a number of weeks for apps to propagate around the scraper sites, review sites etc. A real cheap way to get ratings, which some people don't agree with - but it works, is to buy them from sites like fiverr.com. Be sensible, don't buy "Ten 5 star ratings in 24 hours!" it's not natural. Find a few sellers who'll post one 3,4 or 5 star rating a day, or every other day, for 10/20 days - some with comments, some without. Alternative marketplaces. A lot of top developers release to getjar, slideme, samsung etc first, get the app established and create a buzz with facebook, twitter etc, then release to google play. I believe 'cut the rope' took this approach. Share options in the app. Socialize and Scringo get people spreading word about your app. There are also a ton of reciprocal app wall sdk's around, where your app will appear in other apps walls in exchange for you showing theirs. The swarmconnect leaderboard sdk does this if you want to add global leaderboards to your app as well, as they're great for getting visibility.
 
Niraj
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03/03/13 10:36 AM (12 years ago)
The title of the app is not informative enough. I could not figure out the purpose of the app as I stared at the icon, the screenshots and the title. It just did not make sense to me what the app does. In contrast, your competition are use "action words" in their title: - What's the word - Find the word - Guess the word My suggestion is to change the name of the app to something like: - Guess the movie! - Name that movie! - What's the movie Adjust your screenshots to show a progression of guessing. Overlay the screenshots with an overview bubble of what that screenshot is demonstrating. Compare your user interface elements to the competition. A slight change makes it instantly recognizable as a "guess the ----" type of game. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.itchmedia.whatstheword&feature=related_apps#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEwOSwiY29tLml0Y2htZWRpYS53aGF0c3RoZXdvcmQiXQ.. Now that you are in the BuzzTouch community, as an experienced Java developer, we can use your help! Dive in and make a few apps with BuzzTouch and possibly even a few plugins for Android! Best wishes on your endeavor, let us know how you get along! -- Niraj
 
tb
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03/03/13 12:57 PM (12 years ago)
Don't be worried. I have 150 downloads in three months. Norah Jones said, "I always aim low, so if I become a success, I'm pleased. But if I fail, I don't feel terrible." She went on to sell millions of albums and just about everyone has heard of her. Just because you're in the applications market, doesn't mean you're an immediate success. You hear about Angry Birds, and you see their success, but that is one app. There are 700,00 apps on Apple's App Store, and 600,000 apps on Android. The fact you've got there is all that matters. Downloads is not important if you're making people happy. Just don't consider yourself to be a success. And when you do become a success, you'll be pleased. Don't prepare to be living on yachts along the shores of California , while coding, just yet (lucky David!)
 
Sukera
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03/03/13 03:41 PM (12 years ago)
Thanks for all the feedback guys, really appreciate it! @SuVinay Pawa, google doesn't release their search algorhtym and they are constantly changing it but there are a few important factors that increase your SEO, making your app easier to find and thus getting more downloads. 1) Average Rating and Number of Ratings 2)Launch Date 3)Number of +1s 4)# of downloads 5)Keywords When you re-released your app, 1 and 3 worked against you while 2 worked in your favor. So in order for your app to get the number of downloads it got before, it needs to get a a good rating a bunch of +1s, So you lower exposure isn't due directly to you getting banned, it's due to lower visibility due to a lack of the +1s,downloads, and ratings you had before @frogman, no offence taken, I wanted feedback and you delivered, thanks! -You are right about the ratings, I got a few of my friends to write positive ratings, it looked like they went overboard, lol -I should make a separate account for my different types of Apps, I was just hoping that I'd get some piggybacked downloads off my porn app, lol, but didn't think about people now downloading the 4 pics 1 word app due to the same reason, also thanks about the facebook page idea, hadn't even thought of it
 
Sukera
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03/03/13 04:02 PM (12 years ago)
@atrain53, porn apps are easy to get downloads for, for the simple fact everyone is a pervert lol, also do you think the Bulls should tank the rest of the season to get a lottery pick in a weak draft, or wait for Rose to comeback and maybe make a playoff push? I think I'd rather have the former @MWFPRO, wow congrats on your success! I wish I could even get 1/3 of those downloads a day. How do you go about publicizing your app before launch with a shoestring budget? Just push it on forums and maybe send beta version to blogs and stuff? @raveyd, Ya, about buying ratings, they have a website called SEOClerks, http://www.seoclerks.com/, which is basically a marketplace to buy/sell ratings, likes etc. I was hesitant to buy them because google is strict, and if they somehow find out I was buying reviews, they might ban my account. I used alternate markets in the past, but they didn't garner many downloads, but I will try again, but the strategy of releasing it on alternate markets before a major release is a really good one, I will do it with my next major app for sure! I also need to learn how to include facebook implementation. @Niraj Shah, originally the app was called 4 Pictures 1 Movie, but I didn't get many downloads, so I changed it to 4 Pics 1 Word - Movie Edition, so I can get some better seo due to including 4 pics 1 word in the title, keywords that are ranking really high according to google adwords. I made that change yesterday, and after my the change in Title I had 240 downloads yesterday alone! Can you please clarify what you mean by a progression of guessing? I don't want to pay the 80$ membership to be a full member of Buzztouch, but if you guys ever have problems with code, send me the source and I'll take a look at it, or if you want me to write a small program or something, I could do that too. @Annandale Apps, I'm not looking to get rich off this app, the most I can make in the next 6 mos off of this app is probably like 2k, and that's if everything goes right. Also read the response I gave Dadid, he had a similar sentiment as you.
 
Paul Rogers
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03/03/13 07:21 PM (12 years ago)
@Sukera, yeah, it also gives the benefit of ironing out bugs so it's close to rock solid code when it gets to gplay. 80$ is a snip! You could use bt as a rapid development framework for your own custom code or modify existing plugins, you could easily be churning out 2 quiz type apps a day.
 
Sukera
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03/03/13 07:46 PM (12 years ago)
@raveyd, ya I just launched 4 pics 1 movie on SlideMe, just waiting for approval I can already knock out two quiz apps a day, I just need to find the photos to use.
 

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