Where, if anywhere, do you promote your apps?

I remember back in the day it was critical to be listed on version tracker, mac update, tucows, etc, but does it matter anymore? Does anyone ever use those sites?

Advertising is so expensive. I remember selling an app for $5 and getting an email stating “we can offer you an attractive click-rate at our website for $4.95 …” No bueno!

How do you promote your app when there are so many and advertising is so much?

Some things:

  • Make sure your app can be found in Google. So set up your SEO stuff correctly.
  • For macOS, you can use Macupdate
  • For Windows, there are tons of Macupdate a-likes. Make sure you are listed there too.
    Also, AppVisor (primary for Windows though - little for macOS) can help too but the free version isn’t going to help you much. But if you pay the price, it does make sure your app is auto updated on many sites. So no need to do this yourself.

Some users still use Macupdate these days. Alternative.to is also not bad.

Don’t sell your app for 5$. These days even super simple apps have a 20$ subscription which I personally hate. But apps should sell for more money than 5$.

Advertising is very tricky. But I find that even showing the ads gives me more traffic to my website.

Having a blog with content related to the topic of my app is a lot of work.

I have a very much castrated app in the AppStore. Users can find the more expensive version on the website from there.