How to break into the mobile app business with little cash and no programming skill

Summary: Think you can make a bajillion dollars creating an app? David Gewirtz shows you how to get started. He doesn't guarantee you'll make any money, but with this step-by-step guide, at least you'll know where to begin.

Build your app

So let's take the big step and build your app. I've told you over and over again that I do not recommend you job out or pay someone else to write your app. Rather than repeat myself (well, I guess I just did!), in this article I'm providing you with four tools you can use to just go ahead and do it yourself.
 

Appery.io: This tool builds a nice integration of data services with apps. It's a little complex for beginners, but it's mostly drag and drop. Their free plan allows a maximum of three pages and one user, but that's really all you need to get started.
 
Good Barber: Seriously, that's their name. They have a 30-day free trial. After that, plans start at $16/month. What distinguishes this product is there are some very nice design elements, Google Font integration, and a good selection of icons to choose from, as well as some good YouTube tutorials and webinars.
 
Appy Pie: Appy Pie is free if you let them run ads in your app. If you upgrade to their $7/mo plan, they won't run ads, and they'll help you monetize with iAds and AddMob. They have preset app categories you can choose from like church, restaurant, radio, etc. They also offer a relatively wide range of features you can add to your apps like GPS locations, notifications, and more. This is a good choice if you don't think people will buy your app, but might enjoy downloading it for free. The monetization with ads can help you offset your costs.

GameSalad: This product has a powerful drag-and-drop game creator, good enough to build an Angry Birds or Flappy Birds-style game. You import graphics and assign behaviors, and build up your games from there. A free version includes ads, but there's a $299 version that removes the ads and makes in-app purchases available. If you want to make money from games, you need in-app purchases and these folks make that process relatively easy.

Create app graphics and icons

No matter what sort of app you create, you'll need some app graphics and home screen icons. I personally recommend using Photoshop and Illustrator, but they are both relatively difficult to get started with and moderately expensive. If you want a cheap or free tool, look at Canva.com. This is a nice little online design program that can get you most of the way to your final image.

Make screenshots

No matter which platform you build for, you'll need to upload screenshots to the appropriate app store. Both iOS and Android allow you to press a sequence of keys, and a capture of the screen will be deposited into your camera roll.
 
On iOS, you'll want to get just what you want to capture on your screen, then press and hold the Home button. While holding the home button, press the Sleep/Wake button. On your Android device, the screenshot options tend to vary (I know, you're surprised). For my Galaxy S4, I have to hit the Home button and the Power button at exactly the same time. If I time it right, it works perfectly. Some Android devices have a Take Screenshot option on the Restart screen while others use the volume keys. You'll need to Google your specific device, but it's an easy search.

Make an intro video

One of the very best sales tools you can offer is a video of your app. Once you've built your app, upload a video to both app stores. Although Google Play has long supported intro videos, iOS has only recently introduced the capability with iOS 8.
 
Here's a great introduction to the feature on iOS 8. For iOS, the easiest way to record a video is using Quicktime. Here's a short instructional video on how to do it. For Android, you have a bunch of options and the page linked to here offers some great resources and tips.

Test, test, test

Before you submit your app, you'll need to test the living heck out of it. This is not something you can do yourself. Because you know how your app is supposed to behave, you're unlikely to find the sequences that send it into a tailspin. Get lots of friends to try it out. Let your mom or grandmother try it out. Give it to your dad. Most apps can't survive encounter with dads, so that's always a good way to test. If you can, release early versions to users who may have expressed interest in what you offer and see if they can break it.

It is good to find bugs. Any bug you find before you ship is likely to mean better sales and less returns. So test, test, test.

Submit your app to the app stores

Okay, you've reached the big day. Time to upload your apps and by tomorrow, you're going to be a zillionaire. Well, not exactly. But even so, go back to the developer links I provided at the beginning of this article and submit your apps, good descriptions, icons, video tutorials, and screenshots. If you do everything right, you'll get a confirmation and you can sit back and wait to see if the app is accepted.
 
Back in the days when I submitted my 40 silly iPhone apps, the average wait time was 13 days. I'm told it's substantially less (for most apps), but your mileage is likely to vary. Good luck. The email that says your app is on the app store may be one of the most exciting you receive.

Market your app

I could write a book just on the complex topic of app marketing. The short version: The more money and notoriety you have, the better your app will sell. That's the only thing that can explain the $200 million take for Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.
 
Even so, if you're just starting out, you can do some marketing. Word of mouth, demos, telling friends, and asking friends to tell friends can get the ball rolling. Use your social networking resources, respond to the app pages online, and always be proud to show off your app.
 
Good luck! May the market forces be with you.

~ David Gewirtz

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