There are well over 1.2 million apps and games in Google Play alone, not to mention the million more in the iOS App Store. I haven’t seen all of them (yet :) ) but from my share of apps I can definitely say that [highlight]most developers overlook an important step after releasing their app: having an app WEBSITE[/highlight]. I know their reasoning for not having one, the listing on Google Play for instance is enough to showcase the app. Then there’s the recent Google Play Developer page they could create to showcase multiple apps.

Want a great website for your APP? Click here to have it created for you!

Shouldn’t that be enough? The answer is no and these are some of the advantages you get as a developer if you create a mobile app website for your current and future apps:

• Play Store Independent. If your app is shown only on Google Play then if by some reason Google decides to remove it you’re F-ed. Google has a rather strict policy and your app might be infringing some rules you don’t even know. If you’re lucky nothing will happen but if you’re not your app will be removed. On the other side, if you have a website at least you can continue delivering your app directly to users. Sure it is more difficult to install it but at least you have something. Plus, there are more appstores than Google Play alone (i.e. Opera, Amazon) and having a website allows you to direct your users that way if you need to.
• Search Engine Optimization. Your app on Google Play is a great way to be found by possible clients. They do a search on Google Play and if you’re lucky (or did a bit of App Store Optimization) you get some installs. However by having your own app website you get to expand that reach. You could target your website for a particular keyword and this way users doing searches via the regular Google web search are more likely to find your app landing page compared to having just a Google Play listing. Plus, with your own app website you can target keywords that you wouldn’t be able to do on Google Play (i.e. “Android Security Suite” you can target on your website but you can’t on Google Play due to Google brand policies). You could also do some SEO for your existing website to improve your position for a keyword you’re focused on (writing content that’s useful but also optimized, obtaining backlinks, …).
• Full Control. If you have your own website you have full control over how you get to present your app. You don’t need to respect any rules that Google Play for instance forces you to do. Plus, if you have a multi-platform app (i.e. for iOS and Google Play) you can gather users from both appstores and present them links to each version. One other example is what you write, on Google Play you cannot use your competitors’ names but on your own website you can (for example doing a comparison on how your app is better than X).
• Professionalism. An app website shows that you are a professional developer and not just testing the waters to see if your app catches on. In the footer of your Google Play listing there are details about the author, such as the “View Developer Website” link and also an email address. The simple fact that you have a website means you can have an email that shows you@yourapp.com domain instead of you@gmail.com. While users might not care much if you have a website or not, editors interested in reviewing your app will care, trust me on that.

I’m not saying here that if you are a “serial” developer you must create a separate website with its own domain for each of your apps or games you have. Au contraire, my view is that you should have a single domain that is the home of all the other apps/games you have. This way on your homepage you can list all your apps with links to individual landing pages (or subdomains if you want some sort of separation). This can be a good way to advertise your other apps to users visiting your app website from a particular app in your portfolio. In general, here are some elements your website should contain:

• Portfolio. You should have a listing of all your current apps/games even if you only show a screenshot for each app and links to install. No matter if you have individual landing pages for those apps or not, they should all be presented on your homepage for users to quickly get to them (externally on Google Play or internally on a landing page).
• Multimedia. Users want to see some screenshots/videos of the app to see how it actually is. Users skim through text but learn more from a screenshot and even more from a video.
• Features. If you decide to go with individual pages too, you should present the list of each app’s main features. This helps more with search engine optimization rather than users.
• Social Links. Twitter, Facebook and Google+ should be your main social links too. Think of those channels as an easier way to keep up with your clients.
• Responsiveness. Your website MUST be responsive, meaning it should re-arrange itself dynamically to look good on smartphones and tablets too. Most of your visitors will probably be mobile visitors so this is very important. Not to mention that Google has in its algorithm a “mobile friendliness” signal which means it will favor sites with responsive designs for mobile searches.
• Contact. Offer your visitors a way to contact you. While I usually recommend an About page that shows them you are a real person/company, the least you could do is give them a way to send you a message if needed.

In my discussion with devs that have nice apps but no websites I realized the main reason they don’t do it is because it requires time to do it. For some having a website in place is as time consuming as creating another simple app. You’ve got to think of the structure, platform, copy-writing and so on. If you don’t have the time to do all this you can hire someone to do it for you.

[highlight]I can help you by creating a website to showcase your app(s) or game(s). This way you save time and do what you like, while your site is being built up[/highlight].
To get started let’s exchange an email first to see what you’re looking for, just contact me for a free quote:

What does the Mobile App Website Design service include? Here are the main details of what I can create for you:

1. I can create either a single-page website that briefly showcases multiple apps or a multi-page site that includes landing pages for all your creations (digital ones).
2. The design is not unique, there’s no secret here that I build your site up by modifying an existing template (ThemeForest is my source for templates). What I do is decide what elements your site should contain (with your feedback of course), I create the presentation text for your site and also do any adjustments that are required. The purpose of this service is to help you save time not reinventing the wheel.
3. I also create a Twitter account, Facebook and Google+ pages (ownership is transferred to you). These will have a few posts (up to 4 posts) scheduled and I handle the basic design of those (i.e. including a header for them) using images from your app/game.

So what is the price for the mobile app website design service? It depends on various factors thus best to use the free quote button above to discuss. However, just to give you an idea please consult the offer below (note that those are estimates not exact pricing).

For the Simple Website package I use an app landing page template that I picked and consider suitable for a mobile app showcase website. You can pick the color palette and structure, but the overall design will be that from the existing app website template. For the other packages I send you several templates for you to decide which one we should go ahead with. Below are some examples of what the website could look like if picking the Simple Website package: