In this XYZ Quarterly we’ll cover five important features to add to your app’s promotional website and recap XYZ’s Q4 2020 activity.
Read on for Part 1: “How to build the ultimate website for promoting your app or project”
Or jump down to Part 2: “XYZ’s Q4 2020 Recap.”
Making a strong promotional website for your app or project is critical to its success. Showcasing your app on your website, a platform that you control, can help you reach potential users worldwide. A website enables you to promote and present your app independently, giving you creative reign over your marketing and your audiences. Launch your website on a short and memorable domain, and it becomes easy to share through social media, email, and word of mouth.
We’ll show you five essential features to consider in order to get the most out of your app’s promotional website. In this edition of the XYZ Quarterly, we’ll explore five app websites that offer stellar examples of these features that you can use to market your own app or project.
A key step to marketing your app is to succinctly tell users exactly what it does. This important information should be quick to read and front and center on your website. Make it easy to understand the purpose of your app by using short sentences designed with high visibility. This strategy helps visitors decide immediately what they want to do next. By providing simple information from the start, you can lead website visitors down the path to the next steps you want them to take. To see how this tip works in practice, look to UseMy.xyz.
UseMy.xyz is an app where users can lend everyday items to others or find and borrow an item they need. Their homepage features a two-sentence elevator pitch of the benefits to users, along with a quick description of what the app does. UseMy.xyz includes a prominent button with a call to action (CTA) to download the app, located immediately under this description. Their strategy is to tell users what their app does via the elevator pitch, then make it easy to get to the app with a simple click. In less than 30 seconds, UseMy.xyz gives future users what they need to know to get started.
Try this strategy on your homepage to quickly relay information that new users need about your app, and encourage app downloads.
Crafting a promotional website for your app can help generate downloads and add new users. It’s essential that you make download links clear and highlight them so that they are one of the most important elements on the page. A call to action (or CTA) is an element of your website that tells your audience what to do. Websites most often will utilize a highly visible button with action text, that makes it easy for the user to see and click right off the bat. An example of a solid CTA layout can be found on POAP.xyz’s website.
POAP.xyz is an app that uses decentralized technology to create a system where users can collect badges to confirm their participation in activities at events. POAP.xyz’s homepage is colorful and simple, and right in the center of the screen they feature a small group of calls to action. POAP.xyz uses the brands of Apple App Store and Google Play in their CTA buttons to show users where the app is available. A third button calls out “Questions?” which leads users directly into messaging with their team.
Try placing prominent marketplace-specific buttons on your website to immediately signal where potential users can get your app and help increase download conversions.
Your elevator pitch and images of compatible devices help viewers create a solid understanding of your app. To showcase the full range of benefits of your app, you can present a magnified version of each feature on your website. Use short, easy-to-read sentences that explain important individual features and their benefits. Share close-up images of these features next to the descriptions so users will know how to use your app as soon as they open it. A great example of this strategy is Mee6.xyz‘s website.
Mee6.xyz is a bot made to integrate into the messaging platform Discord, and gives users more control over their community. Mee6.xyz allows users to add custom commands and roles for members, or gain ranking based on activity related to the community. These services can be difficult to picture, so Mee6.xyz features screenshots of each one as they would look in use on a Discord server. These visuals help explain, showing potential users how the features work, and also make it easy to visualize the benefits.
Help users grasp the benefits and get them thinking about the ways your app can solve their problems by illustrating your app’s features.
There are an overwhelming amount of apps available today. Generating trust in your app is important if you want folks to try it out. One of the strongest ways to earn that trust is by showing your app has “social proof” of its legitimacy and benefits. While app platforms already provide reviews, you can use your website to highlight the best reviews from your users, and also feature testimonials posted on other mediums. These could be social media posts, quotes, or even videos of users talking about why they like your app. GitHistory.xyz can help provide some inspiration for trying this tip.
GitHistory.xyz is a browser application that enhances a key feature of Github, a popular platform amongst the developer community for code collaboration and version control. GitHistory.xyz’s website proves the app’s popularity and legitimacy by listing testimonials from well-known members of their target audience in a section on their website titled “What people are saying…” This adds social proof and shows the app is popular with makers and developers, which are GitHistory.xyz’s ideal user base.
Try this tip on your website to increase trust with new users and help increase downloads of your app from your target audience.
New users often want to see your app in action before they try it themselves. Seeing how it works helps them feel more comfortable by trying before buying (or downloading.) Get inspiration for your website by seeing an example of how this is done, and also preview a useful tool that will help you do it yourself on Overframe.xyz.
Overframe.xyz is a recording service that helps users make demo videos of their app in use. Overframe.xyz knows the value of adding app demo videos to your website, because their app is a tool that creates demo videos! On their own website homepage, they feature a gif of the Overframe.xyz tool in use, showing the user interface of the app. They include a secondary call to action right next to their “Get it now” button, and an option to watch a demo. Clicking on the “Watch demo” button pops up a video that shows how a user can use their app to record their own app demo. This video helps potential users get a quick idea of the quality and ease of use of Overframe.xyz’s tool.
Try giving your audience a look at your app in action so they can know what to expect from the user experience. They’ll be able to see the benefits your app offers firsthand, and go into using it with more trust.
When it comes to making the ultimate website to promote your app, focus on making information easy to find and process. Give your visitors a quick pitch of your app, use clear download CTAs, and give social proof that others like your app to help turn website visitors into app users. Visualize the features and benefits of your app, offer videos or demos, and share the devices it works on to start users off on the right foot. Provide potential use cases to help your site visitors get a clear picture of how they will use your app, as well.
Following the example of the five .xyz websites above can help you make your app’s promotional website as effective as possible for generating users.
2020 has finally drawn to a close. For XYZ, Q4 was filled with just as much activity, innovation, and excitement as always. Here’s how the XYZ team, our partners, and allied organizations helped make the most of the end of 2020.
On December 1, XYZ introduced the first-ever domain names made for the beauty industry: .Beauty, .Hair, .Skin, and .Makeup. The naming opportunities of these new domain endings give brands, professionals, influencers, and communities of the multi-billion dollar beauty industry an exciting new way to build a flawless, industry-specific online presence.
.Beauty, .Hair, .Skin, and .Makeup allow beauty brands, professionals, and influencers to get affordable, memorable URLs that match their brand name, first and last name, social handle, or creative idea. The domains will carry an expected MSRP of $15-$20 and are going through an early access period for trademark holders called the Sunrise period now until February 5, 2021. An unrestricted early access period will be held for anyone willing to pay an extra fee to get their domains before everyone else from February 10 until March 2. On March 2, 2021, the domains will become available to beauty pros, brands, influencers, fans, and everyone else worldwide.
December 1st also saw the arrival of .Quest, the domain made for gurus, experts, and authorities in any field. .Quest is the perfect domain for internet users to prove their website as the destination their audience is seeking.
.Quest follows the same launch phases as .Beauty, .Hair, .Skin and .Makeup, with a Trademark Holder Landrush period taking place now until February 5th. The domain will embark on its journey to serve online authorities everywhere on March 2, 2021.
The virtual hackathon scene is continuing to flourish, and XYZ helped support attendees at seven hackathon events in both India and the U.S. in Q4 of 2020.
Thanks to XYZ’s ongoing relationships with Script India Foundation and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in India, XYZ supported five events in the region in Q4. Participants at IEEE Elysium, Let’s Hack, Hack the Bond, and Hack with CodeWarriors received .xyz domains to help them get their ideas and projects online. The hackathons focused on coming up with solutions to big problems like climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic. XYZ is proud to help participants share their ideas and solutions with a global audience via their new .xyz domains.
XYZ was also a returning sponsor of US-based events Cutie Hack and Hack RPI in Q4. Participants were happy to see XYZ return and welcomed another year of access to .xyz domains for their projects, portfolios, and ideas. They also appreciated XYZ’s guidance on how to set up their perfect .xyz website.
Higher education institutions have had a challenging year. To help them adapt to online learning, many XYZ partners shared how .College domains provide a platform for these schools to keep students and teachers connected. In addition to offering a sale on .College domains, GoDaddy, Dynadot, Rebel, and Porkbun each shared blog posts on how .College domains can take higher education organizations to the top of their class online.
Porkbun, Pananames, Rebel, and Domain Cost Club also shared a short video helping educators visualize the benefits .College could have for their institution. We’re proud to have our partners’ support in spreading the word about .College during this critical time for learning institutions online.
Creatives, out-of-the-box thinkers, and those seeking a unique domain for their website got a spooky surprise this Halloween thanks to cdmon and Pananames. Both partners served up spooky good deals on .Monster domains, with sales of up to 92% off standard price.
As Halloween is fast approaching hurry up to get your .monster domain name with a huge 92% discount https://t.co/6sKWdyysD7 #monster #Halloween2020 pic.twitter.com/wi775a9XzZ
— PanaNames (@PanaNames) October 26, 2020
Celebra un #Halloween de miedo con la #promoción más monstruosaaaaa 😈
🎉 Consigue ahora el #dominio .monster por solo 0,95€ 👻
👉 https://t.co/4mm3i5ogeE pic.twitter.com/DTxe8dEJxU— cdmon (@cdmon) October 29, 2020
The sale was the perfect opportunity for ghouls and ghosts everywhere to grab deals on domain names that are sure to help their websites make a beastly impression.
The XYZ Anti-Abuse Team is at the forefront of safeguarding the namespaces of all XYZ extensions. In Q4 2020, they welcomed five new partners to join in their efforts to keep these zones safe and reputable. Thanks to the Anti-Abuse Team and our partnerships in the cybersecurity industry, .xyz concluded Q4 with a lower average badness score than other legacy TLDs during the quarter, according to Spamhaus.1
Adopters of XYZ’s family of domains can count on the XYZ Anti-Abuse Team and its partners to aggressively halt abusive use of any XYZ domains in accordance with XYZ’s Anti-Abuse policy. To report abuse of a .xyz domain, submit evidence at gen.xyz/abuse.
Online shopping was the go-to gift buying method this holiday season. XYZ helped online shoppers get the world’s favorite new domain, .xyz, for as low as $0.50 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. XYZ’s partners Alibaba, Tencent, WestCN and Xinnet rang in the start of 2021 with holiday sales on .xyz domains. Their customers can start the new year with a memorable .xyz name and set themselves up for a productive year all for customer-friendly prices under $1.
2021 is finally here, and XYZ has big plans for the upcoming year ahead. Stay tuned by subscribing to our newsletter, following us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Sources:
1. https://www.spamhaus.org/statistics/tlds/
XYZ is proud to share about the many incredible members that make up the XYZ community! We encourage you to do your own research before using the products and services of the websites we feature. The information about products and services contained in this blog post does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by XYZ.
