Creating an application that is high quality or unique may not be enough to net a satisfactory number of downloads in the currently over-saturated Android ecosystem. However, SlideME can prove beneficial to the independent developer or team looking to increase exposure and awareness of their applications.

There are a number of ways in which SlideME can help increase discovery of your application without any additional effort:

• SlideME automatically pushes new applications through various delivery streams, such as Facebook and Twitter, thus increasing the web presence of your application.

• SlideME's strict approval process and quality control eliminates competition with spam, junk, repetitive, malware, or pirated applications that would otherwise obscure your application.

• New applications receive exposure on our website list of new applications, and new high-quality applications are automatically listed in the Top New category page of our SlideME market application (SAM).

• Easy-to-use filters, such as by category, free versus paid, popular, new, and updated, help users to discover your application in SAM or our website.

• No email address or account is required to download free applications on our website, thus allowing downloads from those users who decline from registering or who lack internet access on their devices.

• SlideME does not limit the types of Android devices that may use our market, and SlideME powers Android devices that leverage the Android Open Source Project (AOSP)--which lacks Google services such as the Google Play Store. Therefore, we provide application distribution to all Android users, whether they have a Google-enabled device or not.

• SlideME is a global market that provides distribution to almost all countries and currencies that may not be available to other markets.

There are also a number of ways in which a developer or publisher can improve downloads on SlideME with just a little extra effort.

Promotional Banner

Upload a well-designed promotional banner to the application page with dimensions of 1024x500. Our data indicates that 72% of daily downloads on SlideME may be favored by applications that have uploaded a promotional banner. A developer could see four times more downloads just by uploading such a banner. Additionally, promotional banners are used by SlideME to feature applications on the website slideshow, the SAM homepage, and in application sets such as "Editor's Choice".

Featured Applications

Applications may be featured on SlideME at no cost to the developer. Such applications are promoted on our website slideshow, SAM homepage, and in various application collections in SAM. The positive benefits of promotional channels for developers on SlideME can be seen when analyzing data of previously featured applications. An average increase in daily downloads of up to 2000% was calculated for applications being featured on SlideME (i.e. daily downloads during the promotional period were 21 times greater than normal). From a sampling of 54 featured applications, the average daily downloads increased from 168 to an average 1,060 during their promotional period.

You can similarly track data for your own applications using our DevCon analytics platform (in beta) to get some insight of your audience. Visit analytics.slideme.org, once logged into SlideME with your account, to see how our DevCon tracks in realtime and maps Installs (generated from SAM, not web), Downloads (from SAM & web), Devices, and Country data. Please note it is still in beta, so any feedback you can provide may be useful.

Polished Application Profiles

To be considered for featured status on SlideME, developers should ensure their application pages are polished and professional, as well as the applications themselves. This will help your downloads regardless if your application is selected for feature promotions or not.

1. Ensure your quality application is the full version, and not a demo, trial, or less-featured lite version; or otherwise that you have also submitted a separate full version to SlideME.

2. Upload a well-designed promotional banner that is more than a series of screenshots.

3. Upload 3 or more full-sized screenshots, pre-rotated for optimal viewing if necessary, that contain direct screen captures of your application in action. These screenshots should not be cropped, blurry, or stretched.

4. Ensure your short and long description adequately describe the functionality of your application. Avoid the use of SEO-abusing tactics, such as keyword lists, naming other popular applications, or including review quotes.

5. Ensure your application and descriptions do not contain exclusive links to other markets. For example, buttons that share the application link by email or text, buttons that list more applications by you or your team, buttons that redirect to a website that contains other market downloads, or buttons that redirect users to purchase the application elsewhere.  Please refer to the following article regarding how to properly link your application to SlideME, including how to link to more than one market: http://slideme.org/blog/linking-your-apps-slideme

6. Ensure your application does not contain external market purchase links or external market in-app billing. In-app purchases made through PayPal, Fortumo, or other non-market SDK are permitted. Soon, an in-app billing SDK, with OpenIAB support, will be made available to developers on SlideME to easily support alternative billing for users that lack other markets, such as Google Play, but still provide such an option.

Once your application is polished and ready for promotion, contact us to request a review of your application for our free promotions: http://slideme.org/contact

Note that although our staff will provide you confirmation that we have received your request, you may not receive a notification if your application is selected to be promoted or when it would be featured if at all.

Don't have your applications published on SlideME yet?
Check out this link for more information: http://slideme.org/developers