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I Have an Idea for an App - What Now?

"I Have an idea for an app!" That's Great! But now what? When you discover a fantastic idea for an app, hundreds of questions immediately arise. It's normal, especially the first time, but it can throw you off your game.

The first thing to realize is that you aren't alone. Many individuals attempt to develop an app after coming up with a brilliant concept for one, and many others have no idea where to begin.

Based on our experience in mobile app development, we've compiled answers to the most frequently asked questions about what to do with an app concept and how to go from an app idea to a successful product. As a software development company, we understand that it will be a difficult task for beginners. But our broad portfolio shows that we know what we're talking about. Therefore take a look at this step-by-step tutorial to help you organize your thoughts and turn your concept into a successful app.

How to Develop an App Idea?

If you handled the stage of discussing your app idea with reputable individuals and received their feedback, and if you feel it is now time to break away from your routine and start working on something new, be ready and patient. Creating an app concept isn't as simple or quick as many people think.

To build a satisfactory application, you have to go through many stages. You will often need the help of an experienced person to deal with them. But don't worry. Now that someone has gone through this process and is successful, you can do it. See how many mobile apps there are on the market.

Research the Market

Consult travel guides and speak with friends when you want to go somewhere new. When dining out in an unknown metropolis, you check for the best choices on review sites and apps, interact with locals, etc. If you're looking for a new laptop, read reviews in reputable sources such as PC Magazine and watch YouTube videos. You do the research first whenever you buy anything new.

The same may go for the development of your mobile app idea. You might get very passionate and emotional about your idea, but keep in mind that the app industry is extremely competitive. There may be hundreds or even thousands of competitors vying for consumers worldwide. Make your app concept a serious business venture, and you'll be fine.

You must first determine the market you'll be dealing with. The study will also assist you in answering the question of how to create money with an app concept. In the end, you won't write an app for altruistic reasons; eventually, you'll need to commercialize it.

Before developing the app, you need to do market research and understand your users like any business. If you want some guides in a nutshell to this step, be sure to answer the questions below. How good your research will be, depends on how well you answer these questions. Discuss them with others, and it helps a lot. Answer yourself the question:

• How will my app help the users?
• What kind of people would I like to address my application to?
• What devices is my app intended for?
• Isn't my idea a copy of another app?
• Are there any other similar apps? If that is so, how well are they doing?
• How can I stand out from the crowd?
• What pros and cons does my app idea have?
• How to make money out of my mobile app idea?

Create a Business Plan

Take your time to develop a business idea based on your findings throughout the study. It's critical to document everything, even if it seems easy. Don't rely solely on your memory; we all have lapses in judgment. And while you're writing, you might come up with new innovative ideas.

Of course, it is impossible to remember everything, so we have divided the most critical issues into the following blocks that should be included in your business plan:

The App

Here you have to include the main idea. Please write it down, plan it out, or picture it. The idea is to explain to others the purpose of the application. What does it bring to users' lives, its advantages and possible disadvantages, and what exciting features would you like it to contain?

Your users

It is the step where you should focus on analyzing your target audience. What professional group it should be, maybe nationality, age range, smartphone or tablet users, etc. In short, the idea is to specify exactly to who you want to address your app.

Market and your Competitors

While preparing for your app development, you should research the mobile app market you want to enter with your great app idea. You may become extremely enthused and emotional about your idea, but keep in mind the highly competitive mobile app business. In doing market research, the key is to learn from competitors, fix the shortcomings of their solutions, and be sure that our idea is not a carbon copy of something previously created.

Monetization Strategy

Simply put, create a strategy on how you would like to monetize your app idea. Lucky enough, you've come to our site. There are many ways to earn money through the app. In our article "How to monetize mobile apps?" you will learn everything you need about this issue.

Marketing Strategy

Everyone knows that PR often depends on the success of a venture. And building a good ad and collaboration network can help your app grow. There are a lot of great mobile app ideas that are unknown to society simply because of lack of recognition. Big app development companies will probably realize that you need to make your application indispensable for users. Think how much money you would like to spend on advertising your product and how much its recognition is essential to you.

Choose Your App Developers

Take your time to develop a business concept based on the information you discovered during the study. It's critical not just to remember things but also to write them down. Don't rely on your memory; we all have lapses. And while writing, you may occasionally come across new useful ideas. The hard part is to figure out who should create your app. You might delegate it to:

• In-house team - If you already have a team of mobile app developers in-house, make sure they're up to date. What if they don't have the skills to create a cutting-edge application? When budgeting for your app development, keep in mind that you'll need to hire more coders.
• Freelancers - Hiring freelancers is a common approach when hiring specialists for your app development team. However, it can lead to difficulties in communication, extra time spent on administration from your side, and an increased risk of information disclosure.
• Outsourcing development company - If your top priorities are high-quality technologies, rapid app creation, and keeping within your budget, you should use offshore outsourcing company. Working with a third party allows you to devote more time to your core business competencies.

Being a visionary means you don't have to know everything, and application development is so complicated that it is worth entrusting to proven specialists. Many mobile application developers are offering interesting solutions and visions. The key is for them to meet your expectations and adapt to your needs.
Choosing a good software development partner is quite a challenge, but it is worth getting ready for this venture. In our article "Choosing the right software partner - guide (2022)," we have detailed this process and highlighted the points that need to be considered

Gather Funds

It might not be easy to create an app idea on your own. It takes time, expertise, and money to do so. If you think you'll need the help of a partner, look for someone who has the talents you lack or try to attract people with those skills into your network. These can be anybody in your social media network, friends, or former coworkers. Some individuals are interested in starting their own company but don't know where to begin. Perhaps your concept will pique their curiosity.

Build an MVP

After completing market research, creating a business plan, and obtaining financial backing, you must test your app's hypothesis.

There's no need to design an entire mobile app. To assess the suitability of your app concept, create a minimal viable product (MVP). An MVP is a subset of features that your app must have to operate.

Creating your app idea to a functioning application "at once" without testing and releasing it to the market could be pretty risky. There is a good chance that nothing will happen, and the application will find its users. However, if something goes wrong, the consequences can be dire.

The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a simple version of an app with only basic features to address the user's core needs. We should always be guided by the idea of the build-measure-learn process when creating this sort of product because it is built on the MVP framework.

For detailed development of what MVP is, how to build it and what to achieve from it, we wrote in the article "Build your MVP (Minimum Viable Product) the right way - step by step guide by mDevelopers." So if you want to have complete knowledge of this subject, it is a good place to start.

Test the App

You may be anxious to get your app out there. But go through it with a fine-toothed comb for a few days before publishing it. Allow your family and friends to play with it for a few days. Users are picky about the quality of apps, so if yours isn't excellent, no one will use it for long. You'll receive negative remarks, making obtaining downloads with poor ratings impossible.

Brand It

You probably won't consider building a significant brand while launching an app. However, you must put effort and money into developing your app's icon and establishing a consistent brand style across various communication channels to ensure the logo is distinctive.

You need to pay attention to how you can encourage people to continue using your app after they've downloaded it. You'll also have to figure out how to consistently increase income by converting high-paying customers and marketing methods that will help you become a household name throughout the world.

Here is a list of things to do to improve your app's exposure:

• Maintain and provide support - To establish long-term success, you must help people, respond to their comments, offer technological assistance, and keep your app's functions up to date.
• Add unique features - Users who are offered something remarkable are more likely to use your app for longer, resulting in increased user engagement and money. What cutting-edge advancements should you employ? For example, suppose you're developing a custom real estate software. In that case, you might utilize augmented reality technology to offer customers the most realistic experience possible.
• Promote your app - Great planning of your marketing campaigns might result in an ever-increasing number of visitors and help your app to shine brighter than competitors. Keyword research is the first step and the base for the successful ASO (app store optimization).

Publish on App Stores

It's time to get past the initial excitement and enter into the real world of app development. The final step, it might appear, is to publish your application; however, in reality, it is only the beginning of a wonderful adventure.

You must constantly update your software, add new features, give user feedback, correct bugs, promote the app, develop strategies to increase retention rates, expand the user base, and make money with it. As a result of this continuous activity, you will be occupied.

Maintain and Respond to Feedback

Maintenance is the process of keeping a mobile app active, up to date, free of bugs, compatible with hardware and software, performance monitoring, and fixing problems.

Some apps have incredible features and capabilities; therefore, they must be kept in excellent condition. That is not all, however. Mobile applications are available for continual use. There is a virtual thread connecting the apps, the person who owns them, and the consumers that have to be robust and dependable for them to remain connected.

Build-in elements that allow users to tell you what they want next. Create outside communities such as Facebook groups if you can't do so. Community-driven innovation is essential for long-term success. It implies everyone is engaged in the process and the result.

What is Mobile App Maintenance Cost? Mobile app maintenance cost is a long-term process and thus is possibly a huge expense for a business. However, a better way is to hire developers that would take charge of all the inclined types, optimizing the recurring expenses.

Steps To Take When The App is on the Market

When concentrating on how to market your app, don't forget about safeguarding your idea. You run the danger that your app concept will be stolen once you've conveyed your business model to at least one person. You could have numerous copies of your software and lose consumers.

If you're reading this blog post before releasing the app, that's even better. Before uploading your app to the app stores, you should do a few things to safeguard it. Don't put it off any longer if you've already launched the app. Consider how many other apps resemble clones and whether or not you want yours to be similar. Here are some methods for safeguarding an app concept:

Sign an NDA

A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is a legal document that both parties must sign before disclosing any information.

Ask any freelancers you hire to sign this legal agreement. It's a smart idea to have an NDA in place when dealing with agencies or other business partners.

Then you will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, which is pretty standard for any business. It's also common practice for potential investors to request that you sign an NDA before they talk about your concept with you.

Protect your Intellectual Property

Your app idea might be so unique and appealing that somebody might want to steal it. When a developer creates the code for your app, he owns it and has complete rights to utilize it because he created it. When a designer creates an icon and screenshots for your application, she is free to do anything with them – since they are her creation. If you include the Intellectual Property Protection clause in your agreement, this won't happen.

This section should clearly state that all the material, designs, code, and generated by your developer/designer/marketer are now your intellectual property. It's a living thing.

What if you have an argument with your freelancer and they refuse to give you the work? Even if you work with friends or family, sign the contract and include a clause protecting your intellectual property rights for everything produced by the freelancer. It will not be possible for them to utilize it as their own unless you allow them to include it in their portfolio later.

Get a Copyright

The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the content of the writing. It is another way to protect the effect of your app idea. For example, a description of a machine may be copyrighted, but others would be unable to copy it or create their description; they would also be unable to construct and operate the machine.

Consider obtaining the copyright to safeguard your software. Remember that copyright only protects the concept of your software. Copyright laws protect the expression form of a work.

The copyright only protects your source code, images, designs, texts, etc. It does not restrict other app developers from creating an app with similar features. However, it will protect your source code, graphics, ideas, etc.

Validate Your Brand

When your app's popularity increases, you should get a trademark for it as soon as possible. The trademark will safeguard the name and logo of your application. The trademark won't protect them; change your application's name, app icon, or logo if you obtain one.

Trademarks will not protect your app idea. Still, it will prevent other apps from using your logo or adopting the name of your software.

Final Thoughts

Many individuals have app ideas but are unaware of all the procedures that must be completed to make them a reality. Don't let it happen to you! You can't just sit back and wait for your app idea to materialize overnight. If you want your application to succeed, go ahead and start outlining it, doing industry research to locate a seasoned development firm, and developing a great marketing outline so that your target audience will be interested in (and, more importantly, want to download) your software. There's a lot of potential in this business and room for even the greatest app concept. Remember that you can always arrange a free consultation with our specialists, who have been creating successful mobile applications for over a dozen years. We are here to help you!