How to Properly use an App Blog

Wondering how to properly use a blog for your app? It turns out we might know a thing or two about that. Here’s a few do’s and don’ts for your app blog that I believe will be the difference between a good read, and a waste of potential.

A Calgary App developer blog about app blogs. Blogception indeed. However if you’ve enjoyed an article or two then we must be doing something right. I even got a compliment today about an article I wrote on apps for charity (you can check that out at Cheap or Free Charity Apps You Need Right Now). However, you can’t just turn on the computer, grab some coffee at Starbucks, sit down, and know what the perfect article will be every time. Let’s discuss a few key points that I always take into consideration when writing blogs that will help you a ton.

Research

An unsurprisingly overlooked aspect to a blog. How many people do you know that simply speak without thinking, or fake their way through a conversation? I can tell you that in my own personal life I know many. This same trait can carry over to a blog no matter who or what company runs it. When discussing your app for example, people want to know you’ve done your research, or are an “expert” in whatever is the main focus of your app. You likely won’t want to create an app to identify edible plants for example without doing your research or being a skilled survivalist. This credit to your reputation will strike an assuring chord in your potential users, ensuring your “edible plants in the wilderness” app was actually made by someone who knows their stuff. Using the example of the edible plants app, make articles about featured plants of the month, share survival stories, tips, or even chat with other experts as you continue to grow your status as someone influential to your app’s specific niche. Bottom line…Keep your articles well informed, professional, smart, and make sure that all research you have done is included as reference.

Communication

Sometimes the difference between an awesome blog and a university textbook is how your information is communicated. If you have ever read a university textbook you can sometimes get lost within the first chapter as to what the book is actually talking about. A great blogger will communicate what their article is about in a way people will understand and relate to. Here’s an example:

Complicated

The assorted vegetables comprised of valuable nutritional benefits was a positive experience.

Simple

I ate a fantastic salad today.

This is a very extreme example but I believe you understand what I mean. A blog is very personal in that it allows your readers to connect with someone’s thoughts, experiences, and emotions, not just the facts. Getting your point across in a clear manner will let people reading your articles feel as though this is more of a conversation than a blog. It will allow readers to digest your articles much easier and still understand the point you were trying to make. You got me? Awesome, let’s move on..

Audience

I recognize that not every article I write is going to be of interest to everyone and there’s a reason for that. I write to a large audience made up of, businesses, investors, users, entrepreneurs, and regular joe’s who have an awesome idea for an app. This allows me to bounce around a little bit regarding what type of content I post. You may not be so lucky, your app may have a very specific type of audience that can make blogging about it a challenge. I believe the trick of it is to recognize who your audience is exactly. We have the pleasure of meeting and chatting with our audience first hand so we have a very good idea of who they are. You may not get that pleasure so the trick is to try and cater to who you believe are your apps most dominant users. To go back to my edible plant app example, your audience would more than likely be survivalists, campers, and in general “outdoorsy” people. This safe assumption would allow you to do a bit of research into what exactly are people in this target audience doing, sharing, or talking about. This lets you to stay current and keep your users interested in what they’re reading at the same time.

Diversify

Not everyone learns in the exact same way. Some people learn by seeing, hearing, reading, or doing. Your blog will likely keep itself to a reading format but I believe that shouldn’t be the case. Using this blog as an example, as you browse you will notice many times I have video blog reactions, lists, and expert interview style articles peppered throughout. This diversity appeals to many types of learners who understand content in different ways besides “the same song and dance” blog posts of text. It’s also important to break your page up as huge paragraphs can become daunting to the eye and media such as pictures added to break up the page can be a welcome break for readers. Remember that although you may be excited about new updates coming out to your app, it may be nice for your users if that’s not ALL your blogs were about. Variety is the spice of life!

Conclusion

I hope I was able to give you a bit of direction as to how to make a good article for your app. A bad example of starting out was when everyone watched the Niantic blog regarding Pokemon Go. Niantic never posted consistent updates, never addressed questions, and were very poorly managed at the peak of their app’s popularity. Keep your blog’s fresh, consistent, informative, and easy to read, and you will have very satisfied users no matter what your app is. If you are interested in making an app with us, visit the Contact section of the website. Our team would love to sit down with you and discuss how we can bring your app idea to life!