I’m a terrible gardener. I just don’t have the patience. I’ll plant a seed and give up after a few days of watering with no progress. Eventually, I stop watering altogether. Logically, I know it should work and I am doing the right things. But I stop and say things like, well, “I’m a terrible gardener.” My hope was that I could have a cool garden in just a few days . . . but . . . no.
I used to be terrible about going to the gym. A few days or weeks of enthusiasm fades when progress is not as fast as I hoped it would be. I’ve been going 5 days a week for 6 months now . . . and progress is coming (but still not as fast as I hoped). My initial expectation was that after 3 days at the gym, I would have an awesome body. It didn’t work that way.
So, I understand when people say that no one is downloading their apps and they’ve “tried everything.” Usually, this is said with a great amount of frustration and a readiness to give up. We see the huge news stories about instant millionaires and we can’t understand why our apps didn’t do the same for us.
There are certain things that need to be done every day over a long period of time. We all hope we will have an “overnight success” app like we hear about in the news that just takes off and sells millions. But, the reality is that we need to work much harder at it that we initially thought. And we don’t see results as quickly as we want.
Occasionally, I get asked by app developers (on Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter) how to increase their app downloads. They ask a simple question and are looking for a simple answer. I have a simple answer, usually. But, time has to be added.
If you follow me on Snapchat, you’ll know that I go to the gym 5 days a week. I’m in decent shape, but not in good shape. Not yet. My American diet still lets me down. But I trust in the process and I keep going even when results are slow.
Imagine asking Arnold Schwarzenegger how you can get as ripped as him. It’s a simple question. He’d probably give a simple answer: “Work out and eat well.” You could follow that advice for a day or a week or a month . . . but you won’t see results until you completely trust his process and grind it out.
Increasing app downloads is difficult, but definitely not impossible. You need to think long term. You need to “water” your apps every day. You need to make sure you release updates, test keywords, respond to reviews, acquire backlinks, and experiment. Every app is different (with different competitors for their niche), so advice has to be general.
But it can be done. I once read a quote in a book (I wish I could remember which one it was) that said “You know success is possible. Others have done it. But you’ve convinced yourself that you can’t for some reason.”
Every day I’m glad I got involved with apps. I wasn’t earning enough to live on for a few years. But, I kept at it and didn’t give up. I know others who started when I did who moved on and will still insist “It’s impossible to make money with apps.” I disagree with that (and so does my bank account).
Trust the process. There is no single thing to do. There are a lot of things to do.
It’s simple . . . but not easy.
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