January and February Reflections
Estimated reading time: 6 minsHi friends,
Can’t believe how quickly January and February came and went. I hope you’ve had a productive start to the year.
I wanted to look back on the amount of work that done in the past two months
January
A lot of things happened in January.
- Daily Vibes is available on the Apple App Store. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, just give it a shot (download).
Added a sign up sheet for beta testers:
You can now sign up to beta test @dailyvibesapp if you like. Now public. For all. Yup... Coming to Store. Soon. Like really soon. https://t.co/tszKEOVgeS PS. Plz tell your friends too ❤️ https://t.co/qyPJUrEWS4
— Alex Kluew 🇨🇦 (@getaclue_1) January 11, 2018- As a result of shipping, started fixing bugs 🐞 here and here
finally 😅 fixed this 🐞 bug that has been 😡 annoying me for a while #dailyvibes yay small 🏆 wins #dailyprogress @dailyvibesapp January 19 2018 pic.twitter.com/tPwhbet4Rj
— Alex Kluew 🇨🇦 (@getaclue_1) January 19, 2018
and yes this took some 👩💻 work 🙈 b/c of theming ... should be smooth ⛵️ sailing moving ⏩ forward
— Alex Kluew 🇨🇦 (@getaclue_1) January 19, 2018
- was frustrated with App Delivery … a bunch of times …comes as a benefti of exposure to the Apple Ecosystem I suppose 🤔
February
Continued incremental improvement of Daily Vibes
Updated Kickstarter page
also 🛠 fixed this icon issue pic.twitter.com/VCT80m3HpY
— Alex Kluew 🇨🇦 (@getaclue_1) January 19, 2018Adding small UI accents that I was longing for
Can’t wait to 🚢 these 💸 awesome updates to you. ⚒ Today shows items due today or are on Today list. 📫 This week shows... you get it 🎉 oh and added quick to view accents 🚀 #dailyprogress #dailyvibes Feb 13 2018 pic.twitter.com/UasSlId95m
— Daily Vibes (@dailyvibesapp) February 14, 2018While using DV, I noticed myself wanting to add multiple entries at the same time. So, I wanted to build something in.
Starting 🔨 work on adding 🗂 multiple items. This is where we are now 🤓! #dailyvibes #productivity #dailyprogress Feb 17 2018 pic.twitter.com/rlTA3dpMGk
— Daily Vibes (@dailyvibesapp) February 17, 2018This error took a few days to fix …
Getting this error when uploading to iTC. Our app has arm64 in UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities. Who broke iTC again…
— Andrew Mayers (@jamayers) February 21, 2018
ERROR ITMS-90502: "Invalid Bundle. Apps that only contain the arm64 slice must also have 'arm64' in the list of UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities in Info.plist."This error also took a few days to correct
There are a lot of responses to "No accounts with iTunes Connect Access" error and yet none have worked so far =(
— Alex Kluew 🇨🇦 (@getaclue_1) February 6, 2018
Apple Store
I uploaded Daily Vibes to the Apple App Store simply because I wanted to have it out there rather than keep it under wraps. I figured I would add value to the software as I go. In retrospect, it was a good decision because it allowed me to find value quicker (as opposed to when I was working on the app under wraps).
After listening to some feedback on IndieHackers I decided to start working on ASO (Apple Store Optimization). Signed up for Apple’s Ads. Signed up for their Affiliate program. Started researching.
What I have learned so far:
- Title matters
- Description matters
- Keywords matter
- Having screenshots ??? apparently matters
- Having a video ?? apparently matters
- Description and other stuff that you have to fill in… doesn’t matter
What else I have learned?
- What you actually put in any of those fields doesn’t really matter. Don’t get attached to your App name, App Description, Keywords or anything else to do with it. This is important for indie developers with no ad budget. Why? Because we want to be found so people use our software.
- If you have a budget then you can pick your Branding carefully and you can ignore what I said above
So, while working on improving Daily Vibes I am also looking at improving my overall marketing. I am going to do it iteratively and learn along the way.
What is my plan of attack?
- improve title (Daily Vibes ➡️ Daily Vibes: Life Task Manager)
- improve subtitle (Todo List & Life Day Organizer ➡️ To do list, life day organizer)
- improve keywords; currently haven’t decided:
to-do, list app, list maker, task list, todo list, list, task, todo, to do, life organizer, daily
todo,list,organizer,tracker,task,project,things,productivity,to do,to-do,keep,reminder,day planner
life organizer, good vibes, daily tasks, daily office, daily calender, daily lists, daily organizer, lists maker,
- make screenshots localized with pretty text (via fastlane.tools) … something like:
- make AND edit AND upload a video
- improve aforementioned screenshots
- improve aforementioned video
All of these ideas are up in the air while I am writing this post. I am hoping to ship them with next release, hopefully sometime next week. Then, I will have to wait and look at the analytics.
Conclusion
A lot of work goes behind the scenes for a single app. I am beginning to appreciate indie developers and their successful products. You really need to be comfortable with wearing ALL of the hats that make a successful business.
For me, marketing is an uncharted area and I was hesitant to start learning it. But look at me now, I can make icons, promo videos, and start being strategic about growth. It is a journey that I am enjoying but it is challenging.
I also paved the road and did all of the necessary paper work to add in app subscriptions. Now I just gotta figure out my strategy in this area ;)
Oh and in closing news, I wanted to keep to a somewhat relaxed 2 week shipping cycle… and so far I have been sticking to the schedule of regular updates =) I hope I can keep this up!
Thank you for reading and until next time my friend.
Sincerely, Alex