6 ways to promote your app without spending a penny
- Directories and showcases: An hour of careful submissions to places like 9to5Mac’s Indie App Spotlight and Apple’s free featuring-nomination form buys several chances to reach people who already like indie apps.
- Kickstart Exchange: Join the free advertising network for indie app developers and start getting your app seen by thousands of users.
- Community participation: Read each community’s promotion rules, answer one question completely this week, and disclose when the app is yours – no stealth, no sock puppets.
- An email list: No algorithm decides who sees your update, and Kit’s current free plan covers 1,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts.
- Building in public: Try one useful update a week for eight weeks, and continue only if you’d enjoy the posting even if it never sold a single copy.
- App Store optimization: Spend an extra afternoon on your listing – every other channel sends people to your product page, so this improves every download you’ll ever get from search.