To market an indie game or app, treat the store page as your main landing page, show the product working within the first few seconds of every asset, and build a small community you can reach without paying a platform each time. Paid advertising can help later, but it only amplifies a page that already convinces people. Most small teams get more from fixing the page than from buying traffic to a weak one.
Why the store page comes first
Almost every marketing activity ends at the same place: an App Store, Google Play or Steam page. If that page is vague, cluttered or inaccurate, every click you earn is wasted. The same logic applies to any landing page that converts campaign traffic: one clear promise, proof, and a single action.
Each platform tells developers what to put on that page, and the guidance is surprisingly consistent.
| Element | What the platform guidance says |
|---|---|
| Name and subtitle | Apple asks for names of up to 30 characters that hint at what the app does, and a subtitle of up to 30 characters that explains value more fully. Avoid generic claims such as “world’s best app”. |
| Screenshots | Apple allows up to 10, notes that the first one to three appear in search results when there is no preview video, and suggests one main benefit per screenshot. |
| Preview video | Apple allows up to 3 previews of up to 30 seconds. They autoplay muted, so the first few seconds must carry the message. |
| Text in graphics | Google Play says to minimise text in graphics and keep key elements near the centre so they scale across screens. |
| Claims | Google Play bans store ranking claims such as “#1” and promotional pricing text in assets. |
Sources for the table are listed below. Check the current rules before you upload, because platforms revise them.
A simple order of work
- Write the one-sentence pitch. Who is it for, what do they do, and why is it different? If you cannot say it in one sentence, the store page will not say it either.
- Plan the first three screenshots as a sequence. They may be all a searcher sees. Show real gameplay or real interface, not concept art that the product does not match.
- Cut a trailer or preview where the first five seconds show the product in use. Skip long logo animations. Because Apple previews autoplay without sound, design for silence and add captions where you need words. Our guide to short-form video ads covers hooks for vertical formats.
- Write the description for scanning. Apple advises a concise opening paragraph followed by a short feature list, with the first sentence mattering most because it shows before the reader taps “more”.
- Choose keywords honestly. Apple gives 100 characters for keywords and warns that irrelevant terms, competitor names and trademarked terms are a common cause of rejection.
- Publish carefully. Steam’s documentation warns that publishing a store page moves all page data and assets, including screenshots and trailers, to its public servers even for unreleased products, so do not publish an unannounced title by accident. Use the preview option first.
Use the testing tools you are given
Apple lets you create custom product pages, each with its own URL, screenshots, previews and promotional text, so you can send different audiences to a page that emphasises the features they care about. It also offers product page optimisation to test alternative icons, screenshots and previews. Run one change at a time and give each test long enough to mean something. Small teams often change five things at once and learn nothing.
Promotional text on the App Store can be updated without a new version, but Apple notes it does not affect search ranking, so use it for news rather than keywords.
Community: build somewhere you own
Platform algorithms change, and a store page is rented space. A small community on a mailing list, Discord server or a social account gives you somewhere to announce updates, collect feedback and recruit playtesters. Keep it honest and modest:
- Share development progress in public, including mistakes. Short clips of real work do well because they cost little to make.
- Ask specific questions, such as “which of these two icons reads better?”, rather than asking people to “support the game”.
- Reply to every early comment. In a small community, each person who feels heard tends to tell others.
- Do not pay for reviews or ask friends for fake ones. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission states that creating or arranging fake or misleading reviews is against the law, and platforms also ban them.
This is organic social doing what it is best at: compounding slowly while costing time rather than ad spend.
Honest limitations
- Store optimisation will not rescue a product people do not want. Test the idea with a prototype or a small group before you invest in polish.
- Platform guidance tells you what is allowed and recommended. It does not promise rankings or downloads, and nobody outside the platform can promise them either.
- Release timing, genre competition and platform featuring are largely outside your control. Plan for a slow build rather than a launch-day spike.
- Localised store pages need real localisation, not machine output pasted in. Google Play’s rules apply to all translations of a listing too.
Next step
Radiance Impact’s Studio produces trailers, short-form video and animation for launches, and the Global team supports launching games and software to English-speaking audiences. If you want help with store page assets or launch video, get in touch.
Sources
- Product page guidance, Apple Developer
- Add preview assets to showcase your app, Google Play Console Help
- Building your store page, Steamworks Documentation
- Online reviews, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
