A brief a e-book we put together to share best practices in developing a simple iPhone app for your business or organization. Intended for potential users of the SwebApps system as well as anyone considering an iPhone app.

1. When Sweb Development launched SwebApps in August 2009, it was among the
first platforms allowing users to build their own iPhone apps. Since then,
SwebApps has been used to create over 200 apps, now available in the Apple App
Store and the Google Play Store.
With our redesigned system, now complete with Android development and a
variety of exciting new features, we wanted to offer a bit of advice to potential
clients and the world at large. We don’t consider ourselves experts, but we have a
bit of wisdom worth sharing.
We hope you find this useful. Please let us know if we can help you!
-The SwebApps and Sweb Development Team
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2. This e-book is intended to help you:
✴ Determine whether a mobile app makes sense for
your business or organization
✴ Consider your goals before building and launching an
app
✴ Avoid common pitfalls in app design
✴ Create content that is useful and engaging to your
audience
✴ Maximize your app’s potential to accomplish your
goals and add value for your users
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3. Know Your Goals Before You Build
We’re going to break all of the rules and reveal our biggest weakness right
away. Are you ready? Here it is:
A mobile app might not be the right solution for your business or organization.
We love our SwebApps build-your-own-app platform, and our developers can
build practically anything as a custom app, but the truth of the matter is that not
every business, nonprofit, or public entity will benefit from a mobile app. We’re
confident that our products provide benefit to our clients and value to their
users, but we don’t want to waste your time--and we really don’t want to waste
your money--on something that is unlikely to accomplish your goals.
As you consider your goals, it’s worth thinking about why mobile apps are
successful, and when an app is unlikely to meet your expectations.
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4. Know Your Goals Before You Build
So, why would you want a mobile app? A few of the benefits:
✴ Convenience: promote up-to-date content; push content from existing
sources like blogs, podcast feeds, a YouTube channel, etc--all through a
centralized channel; provide immediate access to useful information.
✴ Access: connect to customers wherever they are; allow users to engage with
your brand at the touch of a button.
✴ Brand Loyalty: remain relevant and visible to your audience; empower loyal
customers or supporters with a tool to spread the word about your
business or organization; improve your brand image by adding value to your
existing relationships with customers or supporters.
✴ The “Wow” Factor: distribute a tool that will get people talking; outperform
expectations to win over new brand evangelists--those who will show your
app to their friends; position your brand at the cutting edge of mobile
technology and innovation.
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5. Know Your Goals Before You Build
On the other hand, some goals might be unrealistic for a mobile app:
✴ Connecting with your entire audience: while the population of smart phone
users is large and growing, it still represents a distinct segment of the
population at large. Some businesses or organizations will find that their
audience is overwhelmingly mobile, while others may find that very few of
their customers use a smart phone. Do the math, ask your audience, and
determine whether you will reach your targeted demographics by offering a
mobile app.
✴ New business: Mobile apps can be tremendously helpful for repeat
customers, but users are less likely to search for a new restaurant, service
provider, or church through the App or Google Play Store. Introducing a
mobile app can generate buzz that leads to new customers or supporters--
even providing the final nudge placing you above your competition--but
measure your expectations for new clients or leads carefully.
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6. Know Your Goals Before You Build
A few questions to ask yourself before building an app:
1. What content do we currently produce (could be as simple as a menu that
changes weekly or offers daily specials, a monthly coupon, podcasts, videos,
photos, blog posts, etc.)? How often is that content updated? Do we have
plans to create new content specifically for our app?
2. Will my audience use a mobile app? What information will they want or
need to access on the go?
3. What are my primary goals for creating a mobile app? If the app is wildly
successful, what will that look like for my business or organization?
4. In what ways will my app be better (more useful, more rich in content,
easier to navigate, etc.) than my website as viewed from a mobile browser?
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7. Sharing Lessons Learned
Once you determine what goals you hope to accomplish with your mobile
app, you’re almost ready to start building. But first, let us offer a few pointers
based on experience. On the following pages, you’ll find tips in these
categories:
✴ Content is King (p. 8)
✴ ...but Design Matters (p. 9)
✴ Outperform Your Website & Add Value (p. 12)
✴ Offer Convenience (p. 14)
✴ Be Indispensable & Strive for Repeat Users (p. 16)
✴ See for Yourself (p. 18)
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8. Content is King
Your app will only be as useful, desirable, and engaging as the content you
supply. Great content can lead to a great app, but even the flashiest design and
most flawless user interface won’t salvage boring content.
A mobile app is a tool to reach your audience, however you define it. Whether
your audience is existing customers, potential clients, fans and supporters,
donors, or even employees, your mobile app will only be successful if those
individuals find your content worthwhile. This may sound daunting, but a
mobile app may represent a wonderful opportunity: instead of focusing on the
nuts and bolts of the application, focus instead on your content and leave the
delivery to us.
We’ll offer a few tips for creating compelling mobile content, but the challenge
remains: use an app to engage your audience in practical and innovative ways.
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9. ...but Design Matters
Content should be your primary concern, but it would be a shame to let bad
design interfere with your ability to deliver great content.
A few things to consider when designing your app:
✴ The small size of a mobile phone screen (don’t try to overdo it!)
✴ The various types of content (text, buttons, photos, etc.) that will need to
be displayed clearly against the background you select
✴ The user interface (make sure users can see the buttons)
✴ The “wow” factor (don’t be too cautious)
What follows are a few examples of SwebApps that show the flexibility of our
design tools; tools that can be used for good...or evil.
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10. ...but Design Matters
Choose a background that won’t distract from your content...or make your
buttons illegible. Users will immediately notice the difference between
functional and non-functional designs. Can’t you tell?
App name
blurred to
protect the
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11. ...but Design Matters
As long as your app features a functional design, creativity can go a long way.
On the left, an app that uses custom-uploaded images for buttons and a custom
background. The app on the right is functional, but dull.
App name
blurred to
protect the
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12. Outperform Your Website
& Add Value
A native mobile app in place of or in addition to a website optimized for mobile
browsers allows you to offer content in more user-friendly ways.
Instead of a page of thumbnail images that takes a long time to load and forces
a user to zoom in and out to find what they’re looking for, you can display
images in a nice gallery.
Instead of directing users to search for directions to your business address, skip
a step on behalf of your users and provide customized driving directions from
their location.
Feature videos, audio files, podcasts, and photos in a native player tailored for
iPhone and Android instead of offering media that is unwieldy or, worse,
unplayable on a mobile device.
Mobile apps offer a significant usability advantage over mobile websites; what
follows are examples of existing SwebApps adding value to the mobile
experience.
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13. Outperform Your Website
& Add Value
Using the Google Maps interface and the Using SwebApps’ custom video gallery, users Using the iPhone’s built-in Quicktime player,
iPhone’s built-in GPS, app users can discover can select and view videos by clicking the play users can listen to podcasts within the app. In
driving directions to your location with the button. In this example, mLearning displays this example, Stonegate church uploads
click of a button. In this case, Camp educational videos about their cause. weekly sermons as podcasts.
Tecumseh YMCA provides directions to the
location of its summer camp.
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14. Offer Convenience
Think about the settings where your customers, supporters, readers, and fans
are likely to use their mobile device instead of a desktop or laptop: riding the
bus or train, sitting in a coffee shop or restaurant, waiting in a doctor’s office or
at the soccer field, or just walking down the street.
These users turn to their smart phones when they need a mobile device, so be
sure to provide content relevant to a mobile audience. Whether it’s hard-to-
remember information like meeting times, a repair request to be submitted at
the site of chipping paint, or new and engaging content for your users to enjoy
as they wait in line for lunch, use your app to push content that your users
appreciate accessing at the touch of a button.
Chances are, no matter the business or organization, you have content that
users will find handy to have on their phone. What follows are a few examples
of existing SwebApps offering convenient mobile content.
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15. Offer Convenience
Using OpenTable, restaurants like Barbaresco Using a simple webpage displayed within its Using a WordPress blog displayed as a URL
allow app users to easily make and confirm app, Camp Tecumseh YMCA offers a readily- within its app, Nonprofit Tech 2.0 highlights
reservations online accessible list of summer camp dates and content its app users can immediately use:
availability. app recommendations.
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16. Be Indispensable
& Strive for Repeat Users
It’s easy to convince someone to download a free app. Mobile advertising
company AdMob published research in January 2010 showing that iPhone
users, on average, download 8.8 new apps per month; iPod touch users
averaged 12.1 new apps per month.
The question is, will your users download your app (it’s free, remember), use it
once, and never return again? Even worse, will they download it and then
delete it? Or will you provide the right mix of useful content and regular
updates that will draw users back to your app again and again?
A few ways to create an indispensable app: offer access to special deals or
coupons that are either available exclusively to mobile users or are announced
via the app on a predictable and frequent basis; offer valuable content that will
inspire users to connect with your business or organization; and update your
information frequently to ensure you are providing accurate data to your users.
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17. Be Indispensable
& Strive for Repeat Users
By providing detailed event information By promoting his own Twitter feed, French By promoting a YouTube channel featuring
(updated automatically by RSS feed), Georgia interactive media maven Mikiane provides a pastoral messages and footage of church
Southern University gives users a compelling steady stream of content for his users-- activities, Trinity Baptist Church offers a
reason to use its app daily. concentrated within his app. variety of fresh content to keep members of
its congregation returning to its app.
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18. See For Yourself
One of the biggest advantages of the web--including, in our case, mobile apps--
is the possibility of tracking user activity. Through SwebApps, we offer a
proprietary tool called App Tracker that allows our clients to track downloads
and (more importantly) button clicks within their applications. If after 6 months
you notice that very few people are using the “Map” button for driving
directions, you might decide to replace that button with a function in greater
demand.
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19. Happy Building!
Need Help?
https://twitter.com/#!/Sweb
http://www.facebook.com/swebapps
info@swebapps.com
(210) 617-7260
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