6 Tips to Master Software Creation

Are you a software developer who has a million brilliant ideas for new and exciting software creation? Although you have many great ideas in your mind, you know that not all of them will make it to the actual finished product stage. You know what? Not all of your great ideas are going to be huge money makers. Some may not even get past the drawing board. On the other hand, you probably have at least one idea in mind that you know could make it. It’s the ones that you have that gut feeling about that could just take off and drive your business to the next level.

The big question is how to make the idea a reality and start bringing in cash flow to your business. I am here today to tell you how to make that winning idea into a finished product. It will take time. You will have to work through the following steps, but in the end it will be worth it.

1. Draw a Mockup of the Product

Whether you are looking to design website creation software or any other type of software, you must first draw a mockup of the product. This mockup will allow the end user to see what each section of the software looks like before you start having it built.

The mockup can be done in several different forms. The most simple would be a hand-drawn sketch of each screen. More often, software developers will create the mockup with special software.

2. Write a Detailed Guide on How it Should Work

Writing a detailed guide is one of the most important steps in software creation. This is where you put your ideas into a detailed plan of how your website software creation will actually work. You will be writing down what you want your customers to experience step by step and what the process would look like. It is important because when you get down to hiring a programer they must know exactly what you are looking for.

When making the framework for your software creation, you must start at the first page the end user will experience. You work from there to figure out where the customer will go if they push each button or link. You have to know and write down exactly what the customer will experience during each part of navigating your software creation.

So as an example, lets say that you are working on a software that searches for local businesses that need websites. This tool could be helpful for offline marketers.

You would describe in detail the first page the end user will see. More than likely, it will be a search page. What search criteria do you want them to be able to use – city or industry or maybe both? Once they hit search, what will the generated results look like? Where can they go from there? Can they click on the businesses’ contact information? You literally have to think every step of the process through.

3. Define Your Competitors and Study Them

Although you have great software creation ideas, there is someone else out there with similar ideas to yours. Having a little competition is not always a bad thing. In fact, it gives you the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

Let’s take the example that we used earlier with the offline marketing software. When looking at a competitor’s product, look at what they did wrong. Maybe they did not provide contact information for each business. This could be a huge selling point in your sales letter.

On the flip side, maybe you liked how they offered a product or a members’ area to swap ideas about how to land clients. You can something similar to your product.

Looking at your competitors can help you maximize your sales by offering customers something that they cannot get anywhere else.

4. Validate your idea

“Validating saves you time and money” – Noah Kagan

In the internet marketing world this is so true. Like I said earlier, you have many great ideas, but only a few of them will see the finished product stage.

So what exactly is validation and how does it save you time and money? Validation is essentially getting paid for your idea. During this stage of the process, you begin to write a sales letter and send it to a select group of people. If you get paid, then you know that this is a great product to move forward on. If no one buys the product, then you scratch the idea and move on.

The next step is to hire a programmer. You may spend a large chunk of money investing in a great programer. You do not want to spend this money and take the time working with them to have your software creation developed only to find out later that no one is going to buy the product. That is where validation saves you money.

5. Carefully hire a programmer

A programmer has specific training in coding a software product. They may specialize in anything from logo creation software to website development software. The programmer is the person who will build the actual software creation product.

When looking for a programmer, you may want to start with freelance websites. Here you can post your app creation software job so that programmers can bid on it. When picking your programer, make sure that they have experience in the type of project you want created. Make sure that you review their profile and ensure that that have good feedback. Also, look through their portfolios. Feel free to ask them any questions you have about their experience. Hiring a programmer is a big deal and should be done carefully.

6. Launch your MVP and Start Improving It

When it is finally time to launch your product, you will probably be very excited. Here are a few tips for launch day.

1. Be available to customers
2. Answer all help desk emails
3. Have the programer available in case of emergencies

“It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to figure out what works. That’s what programmers do. Don’t get bummed out; just make the changes and try again.” – Seth Godin

Your software creation program will be awesome and have a lot of great features. However, it will not be perfect. You may have some glitches that you did not catch while testing it before the launch. If people ask for a refund, don’t hesitate to ask why. Use their feedback to improve the next version of your software.

When developing a software creation, what are the steps that you follow? Please share any tips that you have below.