Developing apps seems like something everyone is doing these days. Even small businesses are getting in on the app action. If you’re a blogger, you may have been considering creating an app for your readers for a while.
Apps can be great additions to a blog because they give your readers a new and convenient way to access your content. It’s a good way to get new and old readers more engaged in your site, and it just gives you an overall sense of professionalism and legitimacy that can be nice to have in the highly competitive blogger world.
While you might understand the advantages of adding an app to your blog offerings, it can seem complicated or overwhelming.
The following are some simple-to-follow tips that can help you get started.
Keeping It Super Simple
If you really want to keep it as simple as possible as you wade into the world of building apps, you can create an app for your WordPress blog using a plugin like Feed.nu.
Feed.nu is a WordPress plugin that lets users generate a mobile app version of their blog as a Google Play native app. It’s instant, and it doesn’t require any programming skills. All you do is log into Feed.nu and then enter your Feed settings. You download and install the plugin, activate it on your WordPress dashboard and you’re ready to generate it.
Research To Be Different
If you don’t want something as simple as the plugin version of an app that’s created with Feed.nu, you’ll need to do a little research. Look at other apps available from blogs and see not only what they’re doing that could work as part of your formula, but also look for ways you could be different and stand out.
The Development Process
If you’re outsourcing the development of your app to a company, look for one that uses agile principles and preferably someone with a team member that has a Scrum certification.
Agile app development is by and large the best route to take, because this means not only will there be a sense of transparency provided to you by your development team, but you’ll also be able to get an app that’s user-friendly and was created with a focus on how the user will interact with it.
Don’t Plan To Set It And Forget It
If you’re planning to offer your blog audience a mobile app you need to make sure that you’re ready for the work that comes along with it. Developing an app isn’t just about the initial process to launch it. It’s ongoing work.
Apps need to be continuously maintained and changed to keep up with technical and audience requirements and expectations. That’s the good thing about going with an agile development process upfront. Agile app development is inherently flexible and based on concepts of continual change.
You never want your users to experience bugs, issues or outdated apps, so unless you’re willing to take on the work, you might want to hold off on creating one.
