3 Development Mistakes to Avoid When Building an App

If you have been lucky enough to have one of those ‘light bulb’ moments and come up with an idea that could be a real breakthrough for your business, you will have no doubt thought about developing an app in order to give life to the idea.

At the moment, mobile applications are an excellent path to take with new business ideas as they are very popular and most certainly something that are going to be around for a long time to come.

The problems arise however, when it comes to the approach needed when building a mobile app. Take a look at 3 mistakes you should certainly be avoiding!

Not Taking Enough Considerations Over Which Platforms to Target

You will all have to face this dilemma at one point or another! Just where will you put your app? Will it be iOS, Android or Windows? Will you create an app for each platform?

Even though most of you will need to confront this question at some point, many do not do enough with regards to comprehensively dissecting each of the options at hand. Some of you will make your decisions based purely on stereotype rather than actual knowledge. An example would be those that go for iOS just because they are led to believe that monetization on the app store is going to be a lot easier.

This is not always the case for everybody, so it needs to be looked at a lot closer. This is just one example but there are many more considerations that need to be thought long and hard about before selecting your platforms.

Believing the Mobile Apps Should Be Downsized Versions of Websites

This one is one that really annoys me! Apps are a completely different animal to a desktop website! Their size, functionality, and scope is completely different and this difference is fundamentally important!

Many people go down the route thinking that when they develop an app for their website that it should be able to do everything that their website can do. This is completely wrong! People who use apps want to be able to have fast access on the go, through intuitive design and ease of access.

If they wanted the full features of a website – they would go to that site right? I mean this is why responsive web design makes accessing websites easier on a mobile device right? Why have an app at all if it just replicates your website?

Expecting Your App to Sell Itself!

No matter how great you think your app is, when you launch it you are literally throwing it out there into a seabed of competitors. If you have not thought long and hard about how to increase its visibility it could literally drown without anyone having even seen it!

Before you even develop your app you should be thinking about how you are going to market it. Who are your target audience? Are you in a small niche or looking to target a far broader market?

Whatever it is, it will have to be able to solve any issues that you have identified in the market and then marketed to those within it.