I hear this question from other developers very often. I think the answer is really easy – we just need to prepare good application. But sometimes this is not enough. Sometimes even very good application has some problems with getting to the top of rankings. We should always remember that in Windows Store there are numerous of other apps that we need to beat.

Application icon

What then we should do to help our application to achieve the success. First of all we need to prepare nice looking logo and good name. Those are two elements that first attract users to our application. The application icon should be treated as our business card. Many people are evaluating our application only by looking at logo. I think that this icon can say a lot about developer professionalism.

Name

The second most important thing is the name of application. It would be nice if the name will be connected to our application features. Sometimes we can take into consideration other scenario. We can try to find new unique name that in the future can be used as our brand. But in this case we should remember that we will have some troubles with application promotion. It could be harder for users to find our application in Windows Store. But on the other hand if we succeed then our name will be identified as brand.

With the name connected to application features is easier. Users have bigger chance to find it in the store. But then we should remember that our application will be the next one that has name similar to: sepia, exchange rate, …

As an example I can use my application for checking exchange rate – application name Kursy Walut (in English: exchange rates). As you can see the name is strictly connected to its’ features. It is very easy to find it in Polish Windows Store. Application has nice looking logo in metro style. Because of that users are downloading this application more often. The second application that has nice logo is Cinkciarz.pl. This application should also establish confidence in potential users.

We could consider if we should evaluate application only by looking at application logo. But on the other hand we should think that if developer didn’t find time for nice looking logo preparation, how the rest of application will look like. Can it be good?

Keywords

The next step is finding the best keywords that will describe our application. You should know that you can define only 5 keywords. Those keywords together with the name will be used for finding your application in Windows Store. Because of that you should invest some time in defining those keywords correctly. At the beginning you can try to act as potential user – try to find your application in Windows Store. Please note words that you used in search form. The next step is asking your friends to do the same. Then you should observe them carefully and try to note those keywords.

At the beginning it seems that this task should be easy. But then you will find limitation – you can define only 5 keywords. Let’s consider photo editor that is providing over 50 filters. Which of them should be used as keywords?

Keywords can be also used in a different way. You can try to connect to somebody else success. To do this you should use as a keyword name of other application or some trendy words. Many people have heard about Cocktail Flow. And right now many other applications that have similar features use this name as keyword. Then when user will enter Coctkail Flow as a search term he will get list of other application. Other way is to connect it to some trendy words, e.g.: sex. After typing this word in Polish Windows Store you will find at list Jet Set Go (Electronic Arts game prepare for young children) and Note Plus (application for taking notes). Should those be there?

Stars

The last element that you can see at the main page is rating of application. It is obvious that this value should be very high. Then our application will be shown at better position in search results. In most case we cannot do anything when we get a new review. Sometime we can spot very funny situation – we will get one star with the following comments:

[list]

  • great application,
  • super app but it is not free,
  •  application is working in other way that I have expected.

[/list]

Some of those comments cannot be avoided. But you should always try to provide best quality app. Please remember that disappointed people are more often writing reviews than happy users. Of course you can try to change that but I will write about it separate post.

Application description and photos

At the end I need to mention about two last issues – application description and photos. Similar like with previous elements you need to prepare those items professionally. From those two items for me more important are photos because user more often is looking at photos than on the description. Of course you need to spend some time at preparing description too. Especially you should prepare very good beginning. First two sentences are the most important because they are shown to the user by default. To see the rest of description user need to tap on show details. Because of that those sentences must be very well prepared. You need to lure users to use your application after he read those lines.

Windows Store - Kursy Walut - Details

 And that’s all. We can maybe consider if those limits that have been set by Microsoft can sometimes stop us. I do not even remember how many times I did not like that I cannot include longer description and attach more photos. But after all I think decision about limits is very good. Because of those limits you need to focus only at the most important things.