Unlock List of Hacks for Mobile Apps:

by

George Nader

Don't we all wish we had the ultimate list of app marketing hacks to help us design better apps,

increase our organic app store traffic and drive more downloads (from quality users!). Well, your prayers

have been answered! We've compile a list of our favorite tools, resources and sites that will help you hack

your way around mobile apps.

Hacks for App Design

Luckily AppsBuilder makes developing apps easy with templates that can be customized to fit any brand

style. As marketers let's be honest, we probably don't have the best design skills. Although we'd like to

think we know our way around a color palette, we could use some helpful hacks for producing

professional-quality designs for our apps. For this reason, let's start off with some helpful design

guidelines:

Adobe Color Wheel: If you cannot wear matching socks it will for sure be difficult for you to find a

color pattern to use. Adobe let's you pick one color and sets several complimentary color

suggestions for you.

0 to 255: 30 shades of...whichever color you pick. Choose one color and get all the hexadecimal

codes for sibling shades.

Carefully crafted UI design assets: This may not be a free tool to use. However, just by skimming

their website you will be inspired to change the way you design. Maybe if your app started making

some profit you may upgrade to some paid icons that match your style better.

Flat UI Design: View case studies for mobile applications' user interface. From theory to practice,

view how marketer promote their app using visuals.

Staying in the design phase, here are some websites you can find free icons. Icons can be used in your

app's menu bar to help users navigate your app and find what they are looking for. We found these the

most useful (not just because we love free), but also because these allow you to customize the color and

size of icons to fit your brand's style:

Flat Icons: One of the rare sites that give you a choice over the file type you download. Flat Icons

permits you to download Adobe-compatible file types (.ai, .ps)

Icons8: icon packs tailor-made for Windows 8, iOS 8 and Android

Icon Finder: has more 3D looking icons but not all are for free.

Using a single-color background in an app may become too repetitive and boring. Why don’t you add

some images to your background to give your page some pizzazz and 3 dimensional feel? Here's a list of

websites where you can find images anywhere from your specific need to inspirational photos and all of

them for FREE (or nearly!):

PixBay: Among the free tools, Pixbay has one of the most accurate search results. It may be

tempting sometimes to buy a shutterstock image since they are the first item that show in search

results. But t would not be that bad to pay for an image once in a while.

DreamsTime: Find image as well as raw footage you may use in your app, landing page or even

website. Most of them come for a price though.

Free Digital Photos: Clearly split categories! The free images you may download are small size,

which may be useful to include as icons or buttons for your menu.

Free Images: Search by user, camera, country or topic. This website is ideal for general research

you would want to make. The most useful feature is the tutorials that are constantly updated.

Who knows, maybe some day you will become a Photoshop expert.

Stock Vault: Each image has a story. View the users' story and download his offerings for free.

Images also have a view counter, like number and share status. Donations are welcomed for those

truly fascinated.

500px: People love sharing! Why not make use of the efforts and funds put to take the images and

include them in your amazing app!

Unsplash: 10 new photos every 10 days. You may download and use the photos as you please.

Always stay connected to check the updates and most suitable image for your app.

Pic Jumbo: Not the best place for specific search. Nonetheless, you may truly find amazing images

if you search by category. Easy to download without any signing up and for free.

Canva: select a canvas size from pre-sized templates or mock up your own for easy-drag and drop

designs. We love the huge library of free icons and are super impressed with the image library,

jam packed with quality photos for just $1 a use!

Creative Commons: search this huge repository of images for creative commons licensed photos

(just be sure to attribute the content owner)

You've found your photos, but does it all look a bit fuzzy? Here are three online tools that will not exactly

replace Photoshop, but will do their job in photo editing:

Pic Monkey: Edit, touch up, design or collage, whichever of the four is available and easy to start.

Some features or options are paid. Pic Monkey is known for its drag and drop feature. Simply go

to the homepage and throw an image there. yes, this is how easy editing has become. You may

also import images from the cloud, Facebook and Flickr.

Pixlr: The fastest way to turn an image from JPG to PNG. Pixlr offers three web apps that allow

you to edit all what you need, make quick fixes by adding you personal style, and transform your

photos by adding retro effects and overlays.

Fotor: Also offers three different apps for different needs. Make a collage, edit a photo or

even design a card from scratch or by using the many available templates.

Hacks for App Marketing

If it's your first time launching an app on the app stores we know it can be a bit unnerving. Fight the

feelings of hesitation and doubt by using some of these tools before and after publishing your app and

redirect your energies to acquiring quality users.

The app icon is one of the first things people notice about your app, and deserves to be designed right,

that's why we're happy to share these cool sites that will help you design one for free (or nearly). The

process is similar in all websites, you start by writing the name, selecting a category and then all the

relevant options will appear. Most of them will actually give you the icon for free at the end. But both ways

the price will always be much lower than paying a designer. Check them out:

Editor's Choice: Graphic Springs: Choose from the gallery of thousands of professionally

designed logo graphics. Edit the graphic and text of your logo template in our easy to use free logo

maker. Share the professional logo for free and if you are happy with your logo pay only $39.99 to

download the files. We absolutely love how you can even preview how the logo will look on shirts,

stationary and webpages.

Design Mantic: Designing a logo has never been easier - just enter your company name to get

started. And if you like the logo design, buy it for just $29.

Free Logo Services: If your objective is to take your app offline, this is the website you are looking

for. The same three step method as all the DIY logo makers but they facilitated the buying process

of business cards, clothing, stationary and many other products.

Logo Type Maker: May not be the most modifiable logo we would suggest. However, their logo

designs sometimes stand out of the crowd. Repetition yields perfection? You may find many

similar logos which gives you the feeling they have tried to perfect each logo offered.

Designing your app icon yourself? Be sure to download our app icon guide!

Want a pro for the job, but strapped for cash? 99 Designs offers you the chance to host a friendly

contest to challenge designers to create your new app icon. Select a budget, fill in few details

about your app and in seven days you will get as many suggestion from as many designers as you

paid for. You may also host design contests for website and app designs.

Your app icon looks awesome! Before going to upload it and get frustrated, take a look to these two links

below. Both stores will ask you to re-size app icons and screenshots since you have a never ending

scale of device screen sizes.

Angry Marmot: Upload, Generate , Download! Three easy steps are offered by this app discovery

website to download a compressed folder containing all sizes needed for iOS 7, 8, Android and

other stores.

App Icon Template: If you would like something more custom, download .PSD files relevant to

each store. This gives you preset templates already drawn on Photoshop that allows you to

customize and choose what you need.

Both Apple's App Store and Google Play will ask you for app screenshots. On average, your should

include five shots of different pages in your app, focusing on the most important features. There are two

ways you can do this. The first is to simply screenshot the app from your device and upload it. The

second, more interesting way, is to create custom branded screenshots that include promotional copy and

real usage scenarios. Here are a few tools we love for creating stunning screenshots that grab attention:

Editor's Choice: PlaceIt: Give your promotional pictures a more personal, real-life feel. Insert

your app screenshots into photos of people using their phone. Also takes few seconds to setup and

download. It may not be for free, but it is definitely worth standing out of the crowd and

conveying a more personal message. Use the same images to promote your app outside the stores.

Well thought to an extent that you can show your web app working alongside your native android

or iOS app!

Mock U Phone: One click to wrap app screenshots in device mock-up! Insert the app images into

Android, Apple, Tablets and PCs. Makes the perfect screenshot maker since you may choose

different background colors. Completely free.

AppsBuilder's App Screenshot Templates - drag and drop images and text into these pre-sized

templates (PowerPoint)

In addition to screenshots, the stores also allow you to have a promotional app preview video to give

you an extra chance to convince users to download your app. Apple store introduced promotional videos

in late 2014, so jump on the opportunity and get a leg up on your competitors. Here are a few sites

offering DIY, no coding or editing skills needed video production. Costs are very low compared to the

value of the video you will create. Keep in mind that a video posted on YouTube or Vimeo is an extra social

channel to address:

PowToon: allows you to create presentations or promotional videos. Escape from traditional

explanatory videos and use the short stories they have created to explain the functionality of your

app.Creating videos is free and you may upload them YouTube. The process becomes paid if you

want to download the MP4 file and remove the Powtoon logo from the video.

Make Web Video: If you are looking to produce an app promotional video showing directly how

the app functions, then you have found the best tool. With many templates, this website is ideal to

promote your app on a budget.

FlixPress: On the other hand, if your objective is to fill in the video link on the stores, Flixpress

will fulfill that need. They have absolutely free video templates and extremely cheap pro videos.

The downside is the video storyboard and length. Too long videos won;t do you any good, but too

short videos will not explain any app functionality.

Plus: If you're up for producing your video 100% in-house, check out this blog post from Tapdaq.

So you've got all the elements for an awesome app store listing, but not ready to press publish? App

Snippet Preview is an online tool which helps you visualize how your mobile app listing will look in

both Android and iOS stores. You fill in the required, upload some pictures and voila! What you view is as

close to reality as it gets to your future customer’s eyes.

App Store Optimization (ASO)

Once your app is published you can now start to focus on App Store Optimization - researching keywords,

monitoring your competitors, generating app reviews and increasing the number of downloads - all in the

effort to increase you apps popularity and ranking. Here are some of our favorite tools for getting a jump

start on ASO.

AppTweak: Get a summary of your ASO score with these free reports! Review your app's strengths &

weaknesses, find the best keywords to increase your ranking in the app stores and optimize to drive more

organic downloads. Plus, view case studies from the top app to understand the success (or failure) behind

newly released mobile apps.

Sensor Tower: is a powerful ASO tool that enables developers to discover the most relevant keywords with

the least competition yet highest search volume. Other features include competitor keyword analysis and

review analysis on your own applications. Available from $79 per month.

AppBot: App Store Reviews, Ranks & ASO,Delivered To You Daily. Appbot takes the effort out of tracking

your Google Play and App Store reviews, rankings and keywords for all countries, by emailing them to you

daily. Signing up is free.

SearchMan: This is a free tool you may use to view how your description, app name and app pitch is

performing on separate stores. Know the volume, hits, keyword efficiency index and your own rank

regarding the keyword. Also view the graph of your search visibility. More importantly, have a list of your

probable competitors with their stats. SearchMan send you daily free emails with a resume of all of the

above. Most importantly, get your store ranking in relevance to the most keyword used in your

description.

AppBrain: Even though this tool is just for Android, the information offered may be used to optimize the

app for both stores. In addition to the normal stats like user ratings, installs and competitor list, App

Brain has its own rating out of 100, letting you skim through your competitors to find out who is

your biggest threat. The rating is formed by averaging the negative and positive reviews with other

criteria App Brain decides. If you sign up and claim the app, you get to see what they call the Apptimizer.

For instance, get another rating for your APK file size, permissions requests, supported devices,

description length, detailed keyword analyses and much more.

XYO: How many downloads does an app exactly have? Is it 100,000 or 499,000? This question is

important while researching competitors or studying other applications. XYO is one of the few places

where you can find an accurate number. For many, it is an app discovery platform, however, if interpreted

the right way it can yeild many conclusions. Type in the name of an app and view its stats separate for

each store. In a single page view its accurate number of downloads, XYO score, relevant store ratings and

a summary of the top comments. The comments will be highlighted in green or red depending on message

sentiment. At the bottom of the page. after viewing the screenshots, view the list of its accurate

competitors and their ratings.

App Annie: Why not tailor general and broad data? App Annie not only allows you to view most trending

apps in different store in various countries, but also allows you to have a combination of filters. A cool

feature is to type a name of an app (why not yours) and view the normal stats offered by other analytic

providers, as well as the estimated app revenue. You may also view more information about the developer.

Viewing data is one thing, App Annie has a download button for each of rank history, keywords/ASO and

user reviews. So why not download the data and compare apps to one another or even to yourself!

There you have it! Let’s pause to recap how much you have improved so far. You're now a pro at

selecting design themes, finding great icons to add to your app, sourcing (and editing) amazing images to

make your app background pop, and you have all the tools to publish the most inspiring app, and optimize

your app store listing.