Essential Rules for Building Your First Mobile App Successfully
Building a mobile application has many similarities to starting a business.
And just like running a business, there isn’t an official blueprint to follow that will show you how to be successful.
Every business venture is unique, and every mobile app development story will be slightly different from the others.
But with that said, you can still implement some of the same successful strategies that previous developers used to your own app.
Key Takeaways
- Unique Approach: Each mobile app development journey is distinct, but learning from others can guide your success.
- Serious Commitment: Treat app development as a priority, not a side project, to avoid costly mistakes.
- Stand Out: To succeed in a crowded market, offer something unique or improve existing concepts.
- Future-Proofing: Design your app to be easily updated and maintained to adapt to market changes.
- Team Assembly: Collaborate with a team that shares your vision and can support long-term growth.
Building an app is complicated, especially if you don’t learn from the lessons of those people who have come before you.
As an industry expert who has developed apps of my own as well as apps for other people, I’m very familiar with this process.
I know what it takes to be successful and what mistakes you need to steer clear from in order to avoid failure.
While there still isn’t a definitive black and white guide to building an app, I’ve narrowed down the process to seven rules that can drastically improve your chances of being successful.
Truthfully, I wish someone had given me some of these pieces of advice before I got started in this industry.
For the most part, I’ve been able to avoid any catastrophes, but there’s a handful of instances during my career where I wish I could have had a do-over.
Fortunately for you, you’ll get to read these rules before you get started.
Here’s what you need to know.
Rule #1: Take app development seriously
People who have an existing business have an advantage when it comes to mobile app development because they already have customers that they can market to.
But if you’re building an app as a startup company, there are so many reasons why it could fail.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that launching an app as an extension or tool of your current company is foolproof.
There’s still plenty that can go wrong in those cases as well.
Trust me, I’ve seen it happen.
But the majority of those situations involved people who weren’t taking the process seriously.
You can’t go into this with a half-hearted mentality.
Putting your best effort forward is an absolute necessity if you want to be successful.
Apps take a long time to develop.
If you’re not on top of it every day trying to make things go as smooth and fast as possible, it’s going to cost you plenty of headaches and even more money.
Thinking you can build an app as a hobby or small side project is a very common misconception.
I’m not saying you can’t be involved in other business ventures.
But I am saying that building an app needs to be at the top of your priority list, especially during the development phases.
So if you’re prioritizing other businesses or personal matters, the longer it will take you to produce a quality piece of programming.
I get it, not everyone has unlimited free time in their day.
But depending on how much time you’re willing to put in will largely depend on how you choose to develop it.
You could do it yourself by learning to code, which you can do in less than 30 days.
Hiring an experienced developer or agency to put it together is another viable option.
There are risks and advantages to each of these options.
| Option | Advantages | Risks |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Development | Cost-effective, full control | Time-consuming, steep learning curve |
| Hiring a Developer | Professional expertise, faster development | Higher costs, dependency on developer |
But you, and only you can determine which is best for your own life and circumstances.
Whatever you decide, just make sure you’re not taking the process lightly.
Rule #2: Come up with something special
I realize this is much easier said than done, but it’s true.
The app market is extremely crowded and competitive.
It’s becoming even more so every day.
How do you expect to compete in a market that’s so saturated?
In order to succeed, you’ll need to come up with a way to stand out from the crowd.
Don’t get me wrong, not everyone is going to launch an app that’s as popular as Instagram or Snapchat.
There are still plenty of other apps on the market that are making plenty of money.
But they are able to achieve this because they’ve found a way to get users to buy into their brand.
If you want to create a buzz, you’ve got to get people interested.
How do you plan to generate a profit from this venture?
Some of the common monetization strategies include:
- charge per download
- advertisements
- in-app purchases
- ecommerce store
- subscriptions
Whichever strategy or strategies you’re planning to use, it all relies on getting users to download the app.
If you want to get downloads, you need to offer something that people can’t get anywhere else.
Why else would users download your app when there are over 2 million other options to choose from?
While you won’t necessarily be competing with every single app available on the market, it’s extremely likely that whatever you’re doing has been done before.
I’m assuming you don’t have a unicorn in your back pocket, but I won’t rule it out.
For now, we’ll operate under the assumption that your app has similar features and functions to other applications available for download.
Can we agree on that?
To get downloads, you’ll need to come up with a better version of this concept than your competitors.
Creating something special doesn’t always mean it has to be brand new.
Just make minor tweaks and changes that improve the user experience.
Rule #3: Make your app easy to grow (and fix)
If you think that you’re going to just launch an initial version of your app and forget about it, you’re sadly mistaken.
I mean that’s possible to do, but your app won’t prosper and will likely fail.
Your app is going to require regular maintenance, which isn’t always cheap.
To save you time and money, you’ve got to preemptively develop for change.
Your app needs to be able to grow and adapt to the market conditions and user experience.
Having as much code and ideas that you can reuse or repair will save you a ton of headaches down the line.
No app is perfect.
Yours won’t be either.
It’s going to have some bugs, glitches, and need for updates or repairs.
But it’s much easier to be prepared for those instances then trying to scramble last minute when your app is down and it’s causing users to abandon it.
So don’t put yourself in a corner when you’re developing.
If you’re not doing the coding yourself, make sure that whoever you hire understands that you want to be able to make updates frequently.
In a perfect world, whoever develops and codes the app will also be around to handle the maintenance.
However, that’s not always the case.
So you want to make sure that the developer doesn’t over complicate the coding language or process.
That way whoever works on it in the future won’t have to face an uphill learning curve to figure out what’s going on.
Rule #4: Assemble the right team
This rule stems from my last point.
You want to work with the right people for the long run.