You’ve wanted to build your own app business for quite some time now. But one thing has been holding you back: you don’t know how to write code and you have no technical computer knowledge.
Luckily, it's the 2020s, so coding and computer knowledge are no longer needed to build apps. No-code technology makes this possible. You no longer have any excuses!
Without typing a single line of computer code or possessing a shred of the knowledge that goes into it, you can build your app with a sleek drag-and-drop interface powered by no-code tech.
Launching your app business is a process.
In this article, we’ll walk you through our process and provide guidance on establishing your own app business.
Determine Your App’s Niche
While you most likely have a clear idea of what you want your app to accomplish, it’s important to get your ideas down. Write out your plan on a piece of paper. Define your app’s precise functions and features.
Writing down your app’s features and sketching out its look and feel will give you a better idea of how your app will appear.
After you finish writing out and visualizing your app, search the Google Play Store and Apple App Stores for apps that you’ll be competing with. Download a few of them, and if they offer cheap basic versions, consider signing up for a month or two. Take notes on how these apps work to get a good feel for their user experience.
Now it’s time to determine where your competitors fall short. How many integrations does each app have, and do they have enough? For instance, is the booking app you’re looking at integrated with Google, or does it have other integrations that guarantee all users will receive a notification that they made an appointment?
Try to find gaps in other apps’ functionalities. If you successfully address these shortcomings with your app, you may gain a major competitive edge over your rivals, and a greater number of people might choose your app instead.
Determine Your App’s Target Market
After you decide how your app can perform better than your competitors, you’ll need to find your app’s target market or the people who will most likely use your app. For instance, if you are building an app for job-seekers, students in their final year of college will make up a large part of your target market.
Finding your target market is crucial, as they will be your app’s primary consumers. Here are two ways to kick-start the search for your target market:
- Join groups on Facebook that are centered around functions your app can perform. If you are building an app for restaurants, join different restaurant and food groups on Facebook.
Contribute to conversations, and make yourself known in each group. When you launch your app, notify the people you meet in these groups.
- Create a LinkedIn profile, and find professionals in the industry that your app will serve, then make connections with them and get to know them. Let them know that you are developing an app to assist them.
Try to get their opinions on how your app can help improve their work. The people you network with can even help you test your app after it’s been built. Searching for your target market is a long game. It will take time to establish connections on LinkedIn, and there are thousands of Facebook groups to search through too. Devote an hour or two each day to filtering and finding connections.
Choose An App Builder
A quick Google search will reveal a staggering number of options that make finding the best app builder difficult. Don’t worry, we’ve found the best app builders to start your app business, so you don’t have to. We ensured each app builder included these two important features:
- Ease of Use: Each one of the app builders features a responsive and easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface. You won’t need any technical or coding skills to build an app with the app builders on our list.
- Template Selection: Your app builder will need to provide you with the proper aesthetics and structural features for building your app. So, the app builders we selected all provide a huge number of templates and other features to choose from, letting you find a color and structural combination that suits your brand.
Here are our top three app builders for starting your own app business:
Adalo
Adalo is the most intuitive app builder on our list. It’s designed for entrepreneurs like you to immediately start using after they sign up, so you won’t have to watch or read any tutorials to get started.
If you have any questions about implementing a special feature, post a question on the Adalo Forum. Thousands of people have used Adalo to make over a million apps, so you’ll most likely find some guidance in this forum.
How Adalo Can Help Build Your App
- After you publish your app, you can make it available to your clients in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for free download. Potential clients will love this convenience. Your app can also be published as a website with just a click.
- Adalo allows for the most creative freedom out of all the app builders on our list. If you choose Adalo, you’ll also have access to a large template library to help you get started and countless color combinations, allowing you to tailor your app to your exact taste.
- The free version that Adalo offers comes packed with features and several integrations that will let you build out your app during its test phase - so you can cobble together your app without paying for it. After you build up your base version, you can easily upgrade.
Pricing
Adalo’s pricing starts at $36/month.
Bubble
Bubble has been around for over a decade, and its users have designed over three million apps to date. It’s got the biggest template selection on our list, so it should be pretty easy for you to find something that works for you and your app.
You’ll find Bubble’s long list of integrations useful as well. Bubble has over 6,000 of them, giving you the power to specialize your app to perform many different functions.
One thing to keep in mind with Bubble is that it only specializes in web apps. If you want a mobile app specifically, you’ll need to rely on a 3rd-party to convert your Bubble web app into a native iOS or Android app.
How Bubble Can Help Build Your App
- Bubble’s integrations and features might seem a little complex, so you can learn how to use each one by reading and watching tutorials from the Bubble Academy. Bubble has been building its academy for over a decade.
- If you’re designing an app that has sensitive user information, Bubble is a great choice. It integrates high-level encryption and privacy controls, so you won’t have to worry about storing sensitive information. This makes Bubble a possible choice for medical services or legal apps.
- Bubble’s features will allow you to scale your app quickly. If your app idea is one that you want to make available to the masses, Bubble will provide the infrastructure for you to build big.
Pricing
Bubble’s Personal plan starts at $29/month and offers a limited building platform. But to really get the most out of Bubble’s integrations, you’ll have to pay $129/month for their Professional plan.
GoodBarber
GoodBarber is an app builder that caters to people who want to market and sell their apps. Their templates make it easy for you to implement all the features you’ll need to make your app highly competitive and functional. If you’re looking to create many different types of apps for a variety of businesses, give GoodBarber a go.
How GoodBarber Can Help Build Your App
- When you sign up for GoodBarber’s reseller program, you can make as many apps as you want and then sell them in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
- The drag-and-drop interface that GoodBarber uses probably has the easiest learning curve. This will let you build out your app very quickly.
- GoodBarber caters to many, many industries by offering over 500 functionalities. You can integrate push notifications, live chat functions, and databases to catalog paid content. If you choose GoodBarber, you’ll most likely find a way to easily monetize your app.
Pricing
GoodBarber pricing for content apps starts at $30/month; for E-commerce Stores, pricing begins at $40/month.
Next Steps
After choosing an app builder and then building your app, you’ll need to test it and determine what you need to improve. Then, release your app to a small group of people. Get their feedback and make fixtures. Finally, your app will be ready to launch to the public.
When you launch your app, continue to monitor its performance. If you release the app in stores, pay close attention to positive and negative reviews. Keep in mind that even the highest-performing apps get negative reviews. Address the issues that negative reviewers raise, using them as guidance for improvement.
Continuously improve your skills and your app by updating your app and adding new features. Once you master working with an app builder, you’ll have the ability to create more apps for many different businesses.
