Ten Steps To Creating Your First App: Part Two

Your ultimate guide for building an app from scratch continues.

In case you missed the first 5 steps, you can grab those here.

Here are the final 5 steps to creating your first app:

Choose your tech

Now that it’s building time, you’ve got to decide which technology you want to use. There are many variables that go into this decision, so this isn’t something to be taken lightly. You want to ensure you fully understand the scope of your capabilities, and what you need to achieve with your app. If you’re hiring an agency or freelancer, this will be a discussion to have with them.

Right now, the 3 leading approaches are Native (iOs and Android), Web, and Progressive Web Apps.

Build your MVP

It’s finally time to get to work and build your product. You’ve made lots of decisions already, so your path to creating that first minimum viable product should be pretty clear at this point.

The core elements of this stage will be:

Design Content Features Customization

The most important part of this process is that you only include your must-haves in this preliminary version. You want people to experience the core purpose and benefits of your app, and you don’t want anything to get in their way of that.

You want to build your beta version, so that you can get it into the hands of your target audience for the next step.

For more information on the MVP process, check out our recent article: How Non-Tech Founders Create MVP’s For Startups.

It’s time for testing

Now that you’ve created your minimum viable product, it’s time to get it into the hands of users. You want as many people as possible to interact with your product, so you can validate your idea and find out what they want from your product.

You’ll want to test internally for app speed, performance, and functionality, but you’ll be looking to your users to provide feedback on things like design, navigation, and features. This feedback that you get will help you to finalize the final version of your product that will be published to the public.

There are many different ways you can test your MVP – we actually wrote an article on that specific topic not too long ago: How Many Different Ways Can You Test Your MVP?

It’s launch day!

At last, you are ready to publish your app and make it available to the public. Whether it’s an iOs, Android, or Progressive Web App, the process is going to be slightly different. Do your research ahead of time so you know what you’re dealing with.

Remember that there is app store optimization to consider, if you want a chance at any organic exposure. Make sure you’re doing everything you can to get as many eyes on your new app as possible once it’s available in app stores.

Ideally, you’ve done your homework through the MVP process and have already started working on a pre-launch plan to build a community around your concept, and have created a marketing plan to lead you to this day. I haven’t touched on marketing much in this post, as it’s not technically part of “building” your app, but it’s important to note that if you want exposure and downloads, you want to think about marketing in the early stages.

Continue to improve

You already know this, but things move pretty fast with apps. Your first release should be your starting point for your next version. You’re going to want to improve constantly, if you want your users to stay engaged. The needs and expectations of your users will evolve, so your customer research needs to evolve, too. It’s not something you do once and forget.

New releases should be put out regularly, with new content and features. You’ll want to fix any bugs and ensure your audience knows when the latest version is rolled out. Keeping your users engaged is crucial if you want your app to become successful, and no one will continue to use an outdated app in today’s plethora of options.

That was a lot, to digest, I know, but there is your comprehensive 10-step process to building an app from scratch. Phew!

Post originally appeared on gojilabs.com.