Steve Young is an app marketing wizard and founder of App Masters. He’s also creator of the Awesome App Launch course. For the Small Product Lab, Steve wrote a guide called Double Your Downloads: 5 Proven Strategies to Doubling Your App Downloads, which drew on his years of experience in the field. We caught up with Steve to talk about how he wrote and promoted the guide and what he learned from the experience.
If you missed our first Small Product Lab case study with Amanda Sandlin, you can read it here.
How did you decide on the topic and format for Double Your Downloads?
As an app developer and someone who has interviewed over 350 of the top app entrepreneurs, I know that getting traction for your app is one of the toughest things. I wanted to show 5 proven strategies that have worked for myself, my clients and my past guests.
What tools did you use to outline it, write it, and lay it out?
I repurposed some of the content from past blog posts, then I used Pages to write the rest. A tip for those trying to write a book: just write the first draft without re-reading it or editing. Just write as much as you can and then go back and edit.
How many hours would you say you spent actually writing the book? How does that compare to marketing it?
I spent about two good days writing and editing the materials for the ebook. In terms of marketing it, I would say it’s been the past two years of running the podcast. I really invested time in developing relationships and that led to a past guest helping me with Product Hunt.
How did you promote it?
Firstly, I wasn’t looking to make a huge amount of money with this ebook, I really just wanted to spread the word about the different tactics that worked for me.
Initially, I launched it as “pay what you want” pricing to my email list and generated about $200 from it.
Then a friend of mine posted the ebook to Product Hunt and we immediately hit #1. It was absolutely an amazing and humbling experience. During the next two days, having the top spot on Product Hunt brought it about $2,000 worth of sales.
Above: Steve’s stats one month after launch
Did you get any help? (i.e. with editing, design, etc.)
Yes, I hired a friend to edit the ebook and convert it to mobi and epub formats. I prefer to read my ebooks on my Kindle app so I wanted to make sure I had those formats.
I also hired someone on Fiverr to design the cover of the book.
What was the toughest part of the Small Product Lab, and how did you get through it?
Honestly, the toughest part was just launching the ebook. I wanted to add more content and make it “perfect”. However, having a launch date during the challenge really forced me to think through my launch strategy and finally launch the darn thing.
What did you learn from your results/analytics? What would you do differently next time?
I learned just how powerful it is to be featured on Product Hunt. Being on Product Hunt brought in a majority of my sales.
For my next launch, I think I’m going to lose the “Pay What You Want” pricing. I think it would be better to just launch as a fixed price.
I noticed you were very active in the comments on Product Hunt. Any other PH best practices to share for people who get their products posted there?
I would say, share the link throughout the day. I must have driven my Twitter and Facebook friends crazy because I was updating frequently throughout the day with the number of votes and the fact that I was number 1.
Also, look for Facebook groups that are relevant to your niche and post in there sharing your Product Hunt page. However, never ask for a vote. Just share that you were featured and the results you are seeing throughout the day.
Want to get a small project out the door like Steve did? Join the Small Product Lab. You’ll get 10 bite-sized lessons, access to accomplished mentors, and a community to support you along the way. Plus, a chance to win prizes! The next Lab starts Monday, July 27th.