Up to 51% of app discovery comes from having a credible, optimised web presence, as shown in this study by Google. Despite this, many developers still don't have a targeted website to market their app.
At everypage, we've created loads of app websites. In this blog post, we're going to share all the benefits you gain from creating a website and how to create one in less than an hour 🚀. It's a challenge for many developers, especially indie hackers, and we're here to help!
Why ASO (App Store Optimisation) is not enough
Everyone wants to be #1 in the app store search results. App Store Optimisation (ASO) is the process of improving your search rankings within app store searches e.g. if you have a word search app, your ASO will determine where your app appears when a user types in "word search" in the app store of their choosing. This is done by updating the title, description, keywords and other fields the app stores allow you to fill.
However, 95% of apps won't win the ASO game so you need to be targeting a wider audience. According to this article there are more than 5 million apps on just the Android and iOS app stores (combined). As important as it is to get your apps in front of users within the app store, it's a very difficult task that take lots of time and patience 😑.
Increase the surface area for awareness
As mentioned above, up to 51% of app discovery comes from having a credible, optimised web presence. Out of that, 1 in 4 people find an app by querying search engines such as Google 👀.
Your app's search engine performance is important because users often look for solutions to their problem outside of app stores. Users often don't know that the product they are looking for could be an app. Optimising for this means that you will be targeting a much larger audience looking to solve a problem your app can help with.
ASO contributes to your app's search engine (e.g. Google) performance because each of your apps get an automatically generated website version of your app page which can be indexed by search engines.
By having a website, you can target these users and direct them to your app. You'll never truly know the habits of your audience so it's best to use multiple approaches to get in front of your potential users and increase the surface area for awareness.
Using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) you can ensure your site appears on the first page for the queries your potential users are using. This means that the title, keywords and description of your app need to be optimised both in the app store and your website, as well as blog posts and other social media interactions.
Using your website as your MVP
Since apps often take a significant amount of time to make, another great benefit of having a website is that it can be used as your MVP. In the time taken to build your app, it would be worthwhile gathering users and getting their feedback. Think of the alternative - you just build quietly without having spoken to your users for months 🙉.
We've covered more on this in Getting your pre-launch site up in minutes.
On your app pre-launch site, we also suggest you share screenshots of what your app will look like and how it will work so users can get excited and you can get valuable feedback on your idea. When your build is tailored to the requirements of actual users, they will love your app more and you will have far more engaged users 🥳.
You can validate your product idea further by asking them to register if they're interested. Having users registered before launching also means you have an initial user group to share progress with. If you can get people to click for early registration, then you've got the validation you need for your app and you can start building 🔧.
Show your credibility and build brand awareness
Whether or not your users find your app on app stores directly, your users will look to the credibility of your app and company before downloading.
The Google study we referred to earlier shows that 27% of users download apps from their company's websites directly. This means users are continuously researching the company (or developer) behind the app to get to know their background, what they do, availability on multiple platforms and even to contact them. By having a website for your app and company, you give users some peace of mind by showing your credibility.
This presents another great opportunity for you - allowing your users to connect with your company / developer website directly builds your brand awareness 🕶.
If you've previously launched apps, or any other products, your website also gives you the chance to share links to these to re-market them. The same re-marketing practice applies to ideas for future apps or products. Your current website and registered users can be a great initial audience for marketing new ideas.
Engaged users are better
Often people find that when they send users to a landing page instead of the app store page directly, downloads go down ever-so-slightly. At first glance this is seen as a bad thing, but often it works out better for developers.
When users land on a website, they have more scope to read about your app. You can show them videos or interactions that could otherwise not be shown on the app store listings. This means users will be better informed to know whether the app they are looking at is for them. Better informed downloads means you will have more chance of pleasing them, leading to higher reviews and greater engagement.
Maximising your ROI
You might be wondering if building a website is worth your time and money. The challenge is that building a performant website isn't in the skillset of the developers making the app, even though overall it is generally a much easier task. This is where products like everypage come in. You shouldn't need to waste time learning HTML, CSS and JavaScript, instead you should use a website builder 👋!
By using a website builder, you maximise your return on investment in a number of ways. Firstly, it will be way cheaper to spend $0-20/month and use a tool than get someone to build a site for you to access all the benefits we discussed above. Secondly, with a tool you can update your website more frequently as they have done all the hard work researching the best performing layouts and styles so all you have to do is update your content.
Often apps are listed on multiple app stores. By having a single, coherent website you can target users there and they can click on the store that suits them best. By having a single point of entry, you can easily measure the performance of your website at converting visitors into customers .
The best part is that creating your site can be as simple as copy-pasting content. Posting your app on an app store will likely require you to share some information on your app features and in-action screenshots. This same information can be copied to your website, making it even easier to get a first version up. Other great content you can include to excite users are upcoming features, existing customers, highlighted reviews or even coupon codes for the first few downloads.
Making a website with everypage
With everypage, making your app website has never been easier. We have 2 great templates for you to get started that should enable you to make a website in under 30 minutes!
Check out this video to see just how easy it is to make your website in less than 5 minutes!
Others marketing avenues
Once your website is up, you can increase your reach even further with various marketing avenues to gather more and more users 📣.
Social media profiles that link back to your website can increase your following across platforms and boost your sites performance in search results. There are loads of great tools to help you create immensely engaging content for your users.
You can also use drip email marketing to drastically improve your users' chances of converting into a power user. By slowly feeding content to your users, you can guide them through the different phases of your app / customer cycles and show them how to unlock all the benefits of your app.
And there are so many more.
Conclusion
We've discussed how having a website for your app can help you reach a wider audience, increase your engagement, gather more users earlier and more. Hopefully you agree that putting up a website is a no-brainer and the benefits that come with it far outweigh the short time it should take to create one.
We're currently on an app website building-spree at everypage so if you'd like help building one, or know anyone else who might, just reach out 🌟