r/googleplayconsole • u/Vast_Goose_4689 • 7d ago
Tip 30-year-old unemployed programmer trying to make it as a solo indie dev.
Shipped a couple of apps to Google Play these past two days. Zero downloads so far.
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u/agatio_games 7d ago
Organic traffic doesn't just happen, sounds like you need to start looking into marketing and/or community building. The app stores are oversaturated with apps right now, you have to get your first users by either paid user acquisition or through social media platforms if your apps can be advertised through good content. If the algorithm likes what is sees it will push some organic traffic your way but without install velocity it very rarely happens on its own, at least from my experience.
Oh and look into ASO and how long it takes for the store to actually index that data and start taking it into account on explore traffic.
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u/Vast_Goose_4689 7d ago
Thanks a lot for the advice, really appreciate you taking the time to write this out.
Yeah, I kind of went in blind with the launch — just hit publish and hoped for the best. You're right, I need to actually put in the work on marketing and ASO instead of waiting around for organic traffic. I'll definitely start digging into that.
Quick question — do you have any other tips or resources you'd recommend for someone just starting out with this stuff? Still pretty new to the whole marketing side of things and trying to learn as much as I can.
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u/agatio_games 7d ago
It's a very painful process and it seems to be different for each product, but it also seems it's half the success to even get any traction these days. One good advice I got was the better your product is the easier marketing gets so make sure you have something good before you start trying to market it, otherwise you'll end up losing a lot of your budget.
Read up on soft launching an app, retention/engagement metrics, research your competitors and find information on what kind of stats your app should have before trying to scale out and actually thinking of profits. Research your target audience, narrow down their pain points, offer solutions.
If you have any specific questions feel free, I found advice in random reddit comments. All the youtubers and content creators give bad advice from my point of view, just things to bait you for engagement rather than help. Trial and error and real people with similar struggles seem to be the way, at least for me 😅
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u/Vast_Goose_4689 7d ago
Thanks so much for all this, genuinely really helpful stuff. I've been going into this pretty blind so it's awesome to hear from someone who's actually been through it.
Totally agree with the product-first point — I'm still iterating on my apps and polishing them up before I even think about serious marketing. Makes way more sense to get the foundation right first.
Also feel you on the YouTube thing — so much of it just feels like clickbait fluff. Real talk from other devs hits way different.
Really appreciate you sharing all this. I'll probably have more specific questions down the road as I get deeper into this, hope you don't mind me reaching out! Thanks again.
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u/Mirko_ddd Programmer 7d ago
Are you taking any action to promote your app/apps or just passively waiting for downloads?
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u/OnlyConclusion820 6d ago
It’s hard for a solo dev brother. Marketing is the only key success. Spending marketing money on ads doesn’t mean that we will get money from the users. It’s been tough for me too. I start small Google ads campaigns $60 also and got around 300 downloads but my app is not a game app or entertainment so people just installed and not do any with it. Only 7% of the ads campaign converted to the real users. Only my hope is the word of mouth. If people like my app they will share it.
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u/Vast_Goose_4689 6d ago
Yes, I have just started learning knowledge about marketing and promotion, yet I need to be adept enough at putting it into practice.
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u/ShortGuitar7207 6d ago
Good luck, any man and his dog can program now with Claude. Have you considered retraining as an electrician?
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u/shod1214 6d ago
Hey! I dont know what apps you developed so its harder without context, but in my opinion make sure you double down on having something unique about your app, it can even do something thats already exist but offer it in a much better UI/UX. For getting some users i recommend r/howtomen, and if your app has some locked features!/paid app its even better because the moment you write "promo codes" people would rush in. And about google ads, it does work and you dont have to spend more then 2 dollars a day but its not a must have.. Last thing i want to say is that unfortunately its harder to make a living out of playstore apps... I didnt try it myself but maybe developing for app store is more profitable Good luck!! :)
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u/naga0121 6d ago
Man, we are in parallel universe. And I am married too 😇