15 Suggestions for Marketing your iPhone Application
推广你的iPhone应用的15个建议。
大 家对我前面关于“The Source”的文章有一些评论，让我开始思考如何对iPhone应用进行推广的问题。尽管Karelia Software现在还没有推出任何iPhone应用，但是我发现很多推广Mac应用的经验对于iPhone应用也很合适。因为这里的很多读者同时开发 Mac和iPhone的应用，所以我觉得我可以介绍一些经验给大家，特别是小的（业余？）开发人员。
Some of the comments in my previous post about "The Source" got me thinking about ways to market an iPhone application. Even though Karelia Software doesn't currently have an iPhone application on the market, I realized that many of the suggestions that I've been making about the marketing a Mac application also apply very well to iPhone applications. Since many readers of this blog are both Mac developers and iPhone developers, I thought I would come up with some suggestions for marketing an iPhone application, geared toward the small developer.
这里有很多办法，我想你不可能一次都用上。所以Bookmark（老外好像不Copy的，呵呵）这篇文章，经常回来看看。我想你可以从每天应用一个办法开始，你就可以让越来越多的用户发现你的App。
注意：Apple对于应用可以做什么和如何做有比较严格的规定，所以请确保你的行为不违反你和Apple的协议。
This is a long post with a lot of ideas; it's not something you can do all at once. So bookmark it and come back to it a few times. I think that if you start applying these suggestions, perhaps one per day, you should start getting more people finding your app.
Disclaimer: Apple is very picky about what iPhone applications do and how they do it. Please exercise caution in your marketing activities so that you do not find yourself in violation of your iPhone Development agreement.
1.定位你的产品
1. Position your Product
无 论是你正准备发布你的应用，还是你想改进你已经发布的应用，首先你都要思考一个问题：谁可能是你的用户？什么样的用户可能需要你的应用？他们一般从哪里得 到需要的应用的信息？你怎样把你的应用的信息发布给他们？很多人可能并不经常访问iPhone相关的网站，那么他们可能经常去哪里呢？有没有你的用户比较 集中的论坛、社区？这就是你要面临的下一个问题，如何给你的网站带来你需要的用户。
Whether you are just about to release your application, or your application has already been out and you want to improve your marketing for it, it's a good idea to think about who is likely to be using your application. What kind of person is going to want your application? This will affect how you build your website. Where do they get their information or recommendations or ideas? How can you get your message into those places? Where are they likely to go online? Most people are not hanging out on iPhone app websites, where you might think is the most obvious place to think of getting the word out about it. But they might be involved in some other online communities. Those are places to think about for the section below, "Sending Traffic and Links to your Website."
2. 推广你的网站而不是你的应用在iTunes上的页面
2. Market your Website, not your App Store Page.
当 第三方应用刚刚开始流行的时候，开发者们花很大的力气，希望能进入AppStore的TopList。但是这样的机会太少了。现在的AppStore已经 有了10万多应用，除了少数幸运儿以外，进入这个List的机会十分渺茫。AppStore不是一个可以考虑的推广途径了（可遇不可求）Marco Arment在他的文章里这么说：
最好把App Store仅仅当做一个发布渠道吧，专心在其他地方推广你的应用。
不象AppStore的List没法控制。你可以控制你的网站，更好地推广你的iPhone应用。你已经有了网站？但是在上面放上你的应用的描述是远远不够的。
把你的网站当做你的推广目标，这样很多在互联网上推广网站的通用做法也同样适用于你的网站。
在尽可能多的地方放上到你的网站的链接，或者要求别人放上你的网站的链接。链接需要指向你的应用的页面，而不是AppStore的URL。原因有很多：
更好的信息：你的网站页面可以提供比AppStore好的多的信息。
你可以统计：利用类似GoogleAnalytics的服务，你可以看到你的流量来自哪里，他们在你的网站看了哪些页面，等等。
你可以测试：无论如何，你的网站总有改进的余地。你可以改变
网页的抬头、信息、文字、图片。你可以看出你的改变带来的变化。考虑如何能把更多的用户带去购买你的应用。
你 可以建立“Google Juice”。其他网站指向你的网站的链接，可以提高你的网站在Google的Ranking，从而当用户搜索相关关键字的时候，你的网站会有机会出现在 前面。而AppStore的URL，则只能把链接带向Apple的一个子域名，对你没有什么帮助。更糟的是你根本没有对AppStore的页面做任何搜索 引擎优化的机会。
When third-party iPhone applications first became available, application developers tried very hard to get into the "top" lists on the App store. There were few enough applications that you had a chance of getting featured somehow; that would drive sales for your application. Now with more than 100,000 applications on the store, the chance of being featured is so miniscule, that except for a very few fortunate developers, the App Store can't be thought of as any kind of marketing mechanism. Marco Arment wrote a must-read analysis of this problem here.
It's better to just think of the App Store as the distribution channel, and focus your marketing in places where you can actually make some impact. (This is the "App Store B" model in Marco's article.)
Unlike your app store listing, you have tremendous control of your own website that promotes your iPhone application. You do have one, right? But just having a website with a description of the application and a link to the App Store is not enough.
Think of your website as being the main target for your marketing efforts. If you do, then just about all the general web marketing techniques that I've brought up in this blog — and that are omnipresent elsewhere on the Internet —can apply to you.
In every place where you place a link — or ask others to place a link — that refers to your application, link to your app's home page, not your App Store URL. There are many reasons for this:
A better message. Your home page can do a much better job than your App store entry in making your application sound exciting.
You can measure. Using services like Google Analytics, you can see how many page views you are coming from, where they are linked from, what path people take as they navigate your website, and so on.
You can test. No matter what, your website can always be improved somehow. You can set up experiments to see how a change in your main page's headline, text, images, or buttons affects conversion rate. You'll want to test what percentage of people who visit your website end up going to your App Store page — hopefully to purchase. (See "Special Website Links" below for some technical ideas.)
You can build up "Google Juice." Every instance (well, almost) in which a website links to your app's home page (or any page on your domain), it builds up your ranking in the eyes of Google, which means your website is more likely to be found when somebody does a search. iTunes App Store links, on the other hand, just link to an obscure subdomain at Apple, and don't help your marketing at all. What's worse, your ability to define search keywords is limited, and there is no way to perform any Search Engine Optimization as you can with a website.
3. 丰富的网站内容
3. Put Rich Content on your Website
看看iTune App Store的入口，你可以看到大量的无用信息。出来少数幸运的应用以外，你得到的就是一个图标，简单的文字描述，不超过5页的截图。
在你的网站上，你可以做得比这里好的多。
各种丰富多彩的字体。
截图！你可以放上任何可以帮助人理解你的
程序的截图，各种方法。甚至一段视频，告诉用户如何使用你的应用。
Look at a typical iTunes App Store entry, and you will see a very dull media experience. With the exception of a few applications that have achieved some special status within Apple, all you get is your icon, some plain text description, and up to five screenshots.
You can do much, much better than this! Let's compare what you can put on your app's website with your App store entry:
Rich text! Boldface, italics, hyperlinks, bulleted lists, etc.
Screencasts! Actually show your application in action. You can capture the output of your developmental iPhone simulator and add finger indicators, or if it's more appropriate, shoot a video of somebody holding the iPhone and using your application. This article has some good pointers on how to go about doing this. An example of a nice screencast is here. You could do a single video demo, or you could have multiple, smaller screencasts focusing on just one aspect of your iPhone application.
Flash做的动画可以吸引大多数用户的眼球。
用户的评论。看到其他的用户如何评论你的应用，可以大大增强用户对你的应用的兴趣。如果可能的话，让喜欢你的应用的用户给你发一些图片，放到你的网站上。
更多的子页面，可以更详细地介绍你的应用。
一些指向其他网站或Blog的链接，可以帮助用户了解更多你的应用的信息。
你可以搜集一些在App Store上对你的应用的评论（正面评论）放到你的网站上，你可以通过AppViz来下载来自所有国家的评论。
对于那些通过iPhone而不是浏览器来访问你的网站的用户，你可以通过判断“user-agent”来提供iPhone友好的网站（这个技术比较复杂了）。
Flash-based motion graphics to catch the attention of site visitors
User testimonials. Hearing what real people think and how they have used your application is a great way to build up interest. If you can, ask the people who have emailed you with their kind words to send you a digital picture, and put that on your website.
Links to sub-pages with more details on particular aspects of the app.
Links to a company or application blog, which will give people more insight about you and your company.
You might want to consider collecting some of the reviews on the App store (or really, the multiple worldwide app stores) and put them on your website. This post shows how to do it; or you can check out AppViz. Putting comments on your website means more content for you, and you can perhaps follow up on some of them.
What about people visiting your website from their iPhones, instead of using the Internet? You probably want to have your website check the user-agent string and offer a simplified iPhone-friendly version of your website that makes the text easier to read, makes it possible to view your screencasts, and so forth.
4.定制到你的AppStore的链接页面
4. Make Custom App Store Links Using Your Own Website
如果用户发现了你的应用，到了你的网站，你可以吸引他们去AppStore的页面，购买你的应用。
但是有些人可能直接使用AppStore的URL，这样他的浏览器上会留下一个AppStore 正在打开的页面，永远不会有结果（实际启动了iTunes去连接AppStore）。
你 可以建立一个你自己的加载页面，一个你自己网站上的页面起到类似Proxy的作用。你可以放上任何你希望的内容，在
网页的下面加上一个Size为0的 iFrame包含一个指向你的AppStoreURL的链接，这个链接可以帮助你调用iTunes去打开你的应用，同时在浏览器给用户留下一个你希望的页 面。
If somebody finds out about your app, they will hopefully find a link directly to your website, where you have a chance to dazzle them and encourage them to go to the app store (and hopefully, buy the app).
However, somebody may be given a link to the app store page or your website. When somebody clicks on an AppStore link, what happens is that their browser loads a boring web page with a boring message telling the viewer that the app store is being opened. It's a "dead end" page, with no value for you at all. You need to improve that experience and enrich your marketing message.
What you can do is create a deluxe loading page — a special page on your website that will serve as a proxy for the app store link. You can put any kind of content in it, and then at the bottom of the content, add an
