Monday, February 28, 2011

Combining Keywords in App Store Descriptions

Someone asked on a developer's forum the following question:

"Does anyone know if the App store successfully combines keywords? For instance, if I have these keywords: "project, tracking, widgets" and someone searches for "Project tracking" will my App appear? Should I be wasting space with: project, tracking, project tracking, widgets?"

I was glad to see the question and hoped someone would answer because it's one that I wasn't sure about myself. Fortunately, someone answered. Elia Freeman replied:

"You do not need spaces and it does combine keywords. Project,tracking will show your app in searches for project, tracking and project tracking. It will not, however, show your keyword if the search term is project track. I also wanted to comment that Apple uses the app name for searches also, splitting it up into keywords automatically. So the name Gobble for Project Tracking, excluding any other keywords, would find you for Gobble, project, tracking, project tracking and any other combination of those three words."

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Playing Nice with Reporters

Way back when I was learning the ropes of PR, my ninny of a boss said we shouldn't care about what reporters think in response to our incessant "nagging" -- they, after all, don't pay our bills. Fortunately I ignored her and treated the journalists that I dealt with as if they were, in fact, my paying clients. I sought to give them the information they wanted -- when and how they wanted it. And before long I was getting calls from other PR agencies trying to recruit me because local journalists told them I was among the best at media relations.

So here are some tips to dealing with your friends on the other side of the Internet:

  • Respect their beat. Research what kind of stories the reporter typically covers and either tailor your "pitch" appropriately to their beat or don't bother them at all.
  • Help build the story with compelling media. App developers, that means screen shots, app icons and links to videos demonstrating how your apps work in the real world. Which leads to #3...
  • Keep attachments to a bare minimum. Set up a Media page on your website and include links to press releases, images and videos that they can access when they want them rather than clogging up their inbox with files they may not want or need.
  • Speaking of media, print media will have different requirements than online media. That little low-res screen shot on your website may reproduce fine in a blog but will be very grainy when published in a glossy magazine. If you're contacting print media, be prepared to have higher res images available.
  • Don't forget to include your contact info. I forgot this important little 4-line section at the end of one email and was on the receiving end of a scolding because the reporter had to figure out how to get in touch with me.

Monday, February 07, 2011

A nice day for referrals

Ok, I'm going to brag. I hate to do it because it's not my way...but is it really bragging if I'm just reposting the comments of others?

I got this nice referral comment from Joel Evans: I can speak to Kevin's approach as a PR person since I was on the receiving end as the Chief Geek and founder of Geek.com, and now a blogger at ZDNet. He definitely has a unique way about him and has gotten myself and many others to cover apps that we never thought we would.

And yesterday in an iPhone developers forum, somebody was asking for leads on good PR freelancers and Ken Ballenger simply said: Kevin's Talon PR is awesome!

Thanks for the kind words of both Joel and Ken. I try hard to provide a good service both for my clients and those who I want to cover my clients in their news coverage or blog posts. It's a nice relationship when I can help connect those who cover mobile apps with good information from those who produce them.

Mobile app puts a university campus in your hand

From Ragan.com:

“We all foresaw mobile technology really beginning to run the world,” Bucy says. Unlike other universities, he says, Texas Tech’s app isn’t managed by the IT department. “We want this to be run by the students, because it’s an app for the students,” says Bucy, himself a graduate student.