We all know how crucial the mobile space is for online marketing these days, and how important it is to have an optimized presence on mobile if you want to build your business’ long term success.
It’s well-known by now that 80% of internet users own a smartphone and that it’s the preferred device to access the web for many of them.
That being said, as it turns out, being a part of the mobile web in itself is not the end of the game. If you really want to stay ahead of the curve, you should be investing in mobile apps and driving traffic to them.
Mobile Apps Today and Going Forward
As reported by Gartner, mobile traffic statistics indicate that by 2017, mobile apps will reach 268 billion downloads and generate revenue of more than $77 billion.
Moreover, mobile apps are on the rise, while other content consumption channels suffer and see more users shifting away from those more traditional ways of interacting with media.
So the most important question in all of this is how do you capitalize on these trends, and how do you drive traffic to a freshly built mobile app. Let’s find out.
Optimize Your App’s Presence in the App Store
App store optimization (ASO) is the newest trend in search engine optimization these days.
Basically, ASO is a practice that’s similar to SEO, in a way that it’s meant to get your app to rank well in its respective app store.
Why does this matters? It’s reported that “general browsing in an app store” is the most popular new app discovery method (around 60% of apps are discovered that way by users). What this means in short is that if you want your app to get noticed, you need to work on its ASO.
Right now, the known factors of ASO include:
- The title. It should speak to the target user’s needs and wants and convince them to download your app.
- The keywords used. Make your description, as well as the title, keyword-rich and in tune with the current trends in the niche.
- Total number of downloads. Getting some early downloads can mean a lot for your app’s ASO.
- Reviews and ratings. App stores pay attention to those metrics as they are the only real-world indication of how good your app actually is.
Optimize Your App’s Presence in the Search Engine
Apart from ASO, the other main channel for app discovery is good ol’ SEO.
Despite the fact that mobile apps are on a brutal rise in terms of how people interact with the mobile web, search engines are still out there holding their leader role. In fact, search is the most common starting point for mobile research for 48% of users.
This percentage of mobile web traffic means that the majority of people will begin on Google by inputting some keywords, which will then send them over to your app’s listing in an app store.
When it comes to acquiring good search engine presence for your app, standard SEO rules apply.
Offer Content That’s Extremely App-Optimized
Some types of content resonate really well with app users. Particularly, this is about different kinds of media and visual content.
It’s actually reported that users spend 89% of their media consumption time in mobile apps as opposed to mobile web (through a browser).
This piece of insight can be used when creating the main development plan for your app and preparing its main functionality. In short, if you optimize your app to resonate with the average user’s needs and habits, you will have a better chance at attracting good traffic.
Display Visible Links on Your Main Site
This final piece of advice may sound obvious, but it’s actually surprising how many marketers forget to display a link to their app in a prominent place on their sites. They think that apps are something separate and that their place is in app stores.
This couldn’t be more wrong. As we’ve said already, mobile search and mobile web is where most mobile research starts. So to capitalize on this and divert some of that traffic to your app, you need to include a download link in one of your website’s most visible areas.
This is especially valid when optimizing your site for mobile browsers, so make sure that the link is visible above the fold in your responsive structure.