If you are thinking about starting a mobile app development project, it’s important to know what you do. Here are several things to look at before you get started, and if you don’t take the time to plan things out correctly, your project could end up costing more time and money than it’s worth.
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10 Steps To Take Before Starting Mobile App Development
In this blog, we will explore 10 important steps that you must take before starting your mobile app development project. By following the steps mentioned below, you can ensure that your project is successful from beginning to end!
Step 1: Define Your Goals and Objectives
Before you perform anything else, you need to sit down and define your goals and objectives.
- What do you want your app to achieve?
- Also, what are your priorities?
- And what features do you want it to have?
These are all queries that you need to answer before moving on. Moreover, you should also create a detailed project plan and timeline so that everyone involved in the project knows what they’re supposed to be doing and when they’re supposed to be doing it.
Step 2: Do Market Research
You should also do market research before starting your project. You need to find out what other apps are available for similar purposes and how successful they have been.
By glancing at the most popular app stores like Apple’s App Store or Google Play, you can do this. Look at their ratings and reviews, as well as any feedback that the developers have received.
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This will give you a good idea of what people are looking for in an app, and it will help you to differentiate your app from the competition. You can also contact a top mobile app development company to do market research for your app idea and get the best mobile app development solution for your business.
Step 3: Determine Key Target Audience
As a business owner, you are going to have an intended audience for your new mobile app:
- Who is your target audience?
- Are they mostly young men or women in their 20s?
- Younger children?
- Men or women above 50 years old?
It’s important to know who will be using your product so that you can better craft it for their needs. Not only does your target audience make a difference in your design and functionality choices. But it can also impact how much you charge for your product and what type of advertising works best to promote it.
Step 4: Determine the Type of App: Native, Hybrid, or Web App
It’s important to determine what type of app you want to develop. There are three types of apps: Native apps, Hybrid apps, and Web apps.
Native Apps: These Apps are developed for a specific platform, like iOS or Android. They are written in the native language of that platform (Swift or Objective-C for iOS, Java for Android), and they take advantage of all of that platform’s features.
Hybrid Apps: These are similar to native but developed using common web languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They are usually cross-platform, which means they can be used on multiple devices (although they may not look or work the same on all of them). Hybrid is a great choice for e-commerce sites or any company that wants its customers to be able to access their website from mobile devices.
Web Apps: This app use HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript code hosted on web servers and think of social media sites like Facebook or Instagram, since they are so easy and cheap to create, we sometimes forget they are not really apps at all!
Step 5: Select the Right Technology Stack
Once you have determined the type of app you are going to develop, you need to select the right technology stack. This is a group of technologies that will be used to create your app.
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For example, if you are developing a native iOS app, you will need to use Xcode and Swift. If you are developing a hybrid app, then you will need something like Cordova or PhoneGap to create the code for both iOS and Android devices at once.
Step 6: Create a Wireframe, Storyboard, and Backend of Your App
A lot of people get excited about coming up with a killer idea and building an app. There are many tools available to make building apps easier. But you should first understand how to create a wireframe for your app.
Wireframes can help you understand if your idea is feasible in both design and use before writing one line of code. It’s important to sketch out what your app will look like and how it will function before beginning development.
Once you have something that resembles a real product, take time to think about every feature from end to end on paper. After that, build out a storyboard visualizing each screen of your app in turn. So that you know what it will look like when finished.
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Next, it’s wise to consider a backend solution to support your app. Otherwise, you will need some kind of database or server component to keep track of user information.
This can be as easy as setting up a database in Microsoft Access or SQL Server or getting familiar with third-party services such as Firebase, Parse Server, and Backbone JS so that you can create APIs.
With all these steps completed, it’s much easier (and less expensive) than going into development blindly and needing multiple iterations due to learning things along the way.
Step 7: Select Your App’s Monetization Model
There are so many options to make money from an app. You can ask for a direct payment or offer in-app purchases, subscriptions, and ads. Or some mix of all those options!
Let’s explore the most popular monetization models for mobile apps:
Direct Payment: The app is free to download but asks for a payment when users want to unlock additional features or content. This is the most common model for paid apps.
In-App Purchases: Users can buy virtual goods, services, or subscriptions from within the app. This is often used in games and other apps with digital content.
In-App Advertising: The app is free to download and runs ads that help the developer earn money from impressions or clicks on those ads (usually through a third-party ad network like AdMob).
Sponsorship: The app is free to download, but the developer earns money by having a brand sponsor it in exchange for including their logo or other branded content inside of it. This can also be used as an alternative way to monetize free apps with ads on them!
Freemium: Users can download and use the basic version of your app for free, but they must pay to upgrade their account or unlock additional features.
Subscription: Users can download and use the basic version of your app for free, with a one-time payment (or subscription) required in order to get access to premium content.
You can pick any one or more of these monetization models. For example, you can choose in-app advertising and sponsorship for your app if it has a lot of free users who don’t want to pay anything upfront. But also use freemium so that some people are willing to upgrade their accounts later.
Step 8: Form a Marketing Strategy & Pre-launch Buzz
You can have the best application in the world. But if no one knows about it, then you won’t get any downloads. This is why marketing is so important!
Having an effective marketing strategy will help you build hype around your app before its launch date; this way, when people find out there’s something new coming out, they will already be excited to check it out.
There are varieties of things that you can do for marketing, but here are some ideas to get you started:
Email Marketing: Make a list of email subscribers who are interested in your app and send them regular updates about it (including sneak peeks, release dates, etc.).
Social Media: Share screenshots, videos, and articles related to your app on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and any other social media platforms you use.
Press Coverage: Get coverage from tech bloggers, app review sites, and other websites in your industry.
Affiliate Marketing: Find influential people or organizations who are willing to promote your app in exchange for a commission on any sales they generate.
ASO: Optimize your app’s listing on the App Store and Google Play Store by using relevant keywords and writing attractive descriptions.
Step 9: Plan for App Store Optimization
App Store Optimization (ASO) is the process of optimizing mobile apps to rank higher in an app store’s search results. The higher your application ranks, the more visible it becomes on the U.S., UK, India, and other countries’ App Stores. It will help increase downloads because users are more likely to find your application when looking for it.
Here, we have listed a few things you can do to improve your app’s ASO:
App name and title: The app name is what appears on the U.S., UK, India, and other countries’ App Store listings for your mobile application. It should be something unique that can easily identify it from other apps of a similar type or purpose.
App description: This section includes a brief overview about what makes your product different from others like it, why someone should download it over another app, and how they will benefit from using this particular one instead!
Keywords: You want to include keywords because those are the words people will search for in order to find your app on Google Play, App Store, etc.
App Icon: This is what appears when someone clicks the “Install” or “Free Download” buttons on mobile apps like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.
Screenshots: These are pictures taken from inside of an app so users can see what it looks like before downloading them (usually shown as part of an App Store listing page). If you don’t have any screenshots yet, then take some now.
You want people browsing through different apps to see what yours looks like inside too!
Step 10: Take Care of App Security
Security is a crucial aspect of any mobile app development project. You need to make sure that your information cannot be accessed by anyone who does not have the right permissions or credentials.
There are many steps you can take when designing your application’s security features:
Use strong passwords: This is always important, especially when dealing with sensitive data.
Create user roles and permissions: Limit access to certain areas of the app only to those who need it.
Encrypt your data: This will help keep it safe from prying eyes.
Use SSL/TLS: These security protocols can help protect your data during transit.
By following these steps, you can help ensure that your app is as secure as possible. Keep in mind that safety & security is an ongoing process, and you should continually update your app’s security features to keep up with the latest threats.
Now that we have gone over the basics of mobile app development, it’s time to start planning your own project!
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Conclusion:
The 10 steps explained here you must follow before starting mobile app development. By following them, you will be well on your way to creating a successful product.
Remember that there are always new things to learn and that security is an ongoing process. Stay vigilant and keep exploring, and you will be on your way to success!
Moreover, to build a multi-featured and business-centric mobile application for your business, you can avail mobile app development services from a reliable mobile app development company in India.
