Refined

Kick-start your next product. Fast, affordable, and stress-free development.

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

https://t.co/8ACMi2PU9g

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Randomly decided to revive my newsletter from 2024 today!

I spend all day bookmarking and trying out AI skills, prompts, techniques.

Thought I should share this with everyone else! (because why not)

If you're also feeling out of the loop, join below :)

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Rank higher on App Store & make more $$ (part 2):

How to get more ratings.

Previously, I talked about keyword research before building the app.

Once your app is live, how do you climb up? By getting more ratings.

As a rule of thumb, 1-2% of users will leave a rating once prompted.

It's pretty hard to get ratings with no downloads, and vice versa.

Thankfully, Apple gives you a boost with each new app. You can use this to get the first ratings. Here's how:

1) Ask friends & family

This one is self-explanatory. Ask everyone you know to install your app and leave a rating.

2) Onboarding rating prompt

Ask for a rating during the onboarding, if it's long enough. Make sure you put it before the paywall.

Let's look at the famous QUITTR example. They ask for a rating on the 26th screen. They use subconscious triggers throughout the onboarding, like the 5-star image, positive reviews, etc.

3) Rating prompt after core interaction

Once the user does the key action in your app, ask for a rating.

• Workout tracker → ask after the user completes a workout.
• AI calorie tracker → ask after their first food scan.
• Learning app → ask after their first lesson.

You get the idea.

4) Rating prompt after paywall purchase

This is a safer alternative to (2). If they bought your product, they are more likely to leave a positive rating.

Personally, I prefer (2) for higher volume of reviews. Note that Apple doesn't care if it's 1-star or 5-star for ASO purposes. But the end user might care.

5) Push notification ratings

I haven't implemented this myself, but you can ask for a rating with a push notification. Again, it can be after a key interaction, after X days, etc.

This should help you get your first 5 ratings or so, and improve your position in the App Store. Hope it helps! :)

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Finally ranked #1 for one of my apps!

The checklist I used for it:

[ ] Create temporary app in Astro
[ ] Start with a keyword
[ ] Inspect competitors
[ ] Filter keywords by Popularity >20, Difficulty <50
[ ] Add a few keywords
[ ] Take them into Appfigures and check apps that rank
[ ] Look for niches with: low ratings, not using keyword in title or subtitle, recent apps, etc. Avoid niches with only established apps and huge marketing budgets.
[ ] Check that top ranking apps are actually making money.

Full guide with example below 👇

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Stop building mobile apps with 0 users.

I wrote a step-by-step guide (with a real example) on how I do keyword research.

Rank higher and make more $$ with your apps.

Like + reply and I’ll DM it to you. 👇

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Just realized something...

Not sure what this means, but SKYPE LIVES ON.

(I need to add the ™ for enterprise value)

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

I hired a designer to make a new website.

This is what they sent me today.

Should I deploy it?

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Cooking up something new. 👀

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

I already forwarded a few leads to others!

Interesting pattern I've noticed:

Some leads want to work specifically with me, and are willing to wait for my availability.

Why?

Maybe it's time to hire and expand @refinedso. 🤔

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

I routinely check my directory list and clean up broken links.

You'd be surprised how often directories just...stop existing. Even ones with good DR/traffic.

Currently, 180+ directories listed:

refined. so/tools/seo-directories

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

My boss told me I'm meant to be an employee for life.

HR said I don't have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Then...the company went bankrupt. So, I set out to build my own path.

It was really hard. Working 7 days/week became the norm. It felt like I aged 5 years in 1 year.

I didn't know how I would reach my previous salary. Eventually, I surpassed that.

Looking back, it was the best decision I made. The amount of skills I learned through high volume of work is amazing.

Part of me is happy it all turned out this way. Life gave me the kick I needed.

Maybe I wouldn't have the courage to quit my job for years. Maybe never.

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

As a developer, I'm not worried about AI taking my job.

When I started my agency, I built a few "dream" projects: db wrappers with 1 API, auth, and payments.

What took me 1-2 weeks can now be done with AI in a few hours/days (probably).

Those days are long gone, and I think it's great!

Now, I'm working on bigger and more intricate projects, that can take several months to complete.

This is not something you can one shot with a prompt in Bolt. I have to filter through the slop that Cursor generates.

You actually have to sit and think, like in the good old pre-AI days.

Then, there's the fearmongering AI crowd that promises you the world.

They are either: selling a course, building a community or AI startup.

TL;DR: If you're still building to-do apps, it's time to adapt. Otherwise, you have nothing to worry about, imo.

Rant over 😂

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

I have never done a sales call before starting my agency.

I was the typical introverted dev who doesn't talk much.

Suddenly, I had to take multiple calls a day at times. It was extremely stressful. I sucked.

But you know what? After 10 calls, I didn't stutter as much.

After 20 calls, I knew what to talk about and what I should ask.

I defined the process of a call, came up with answers for the most common questions. Now, it was just about going through the steps.

This is to say that you can do anything. Don't let your past define you.

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Back when I started @refinedso, I used my university as a free working space.

I'd go there every day, and leave around 10-11 PM. Often on weekends too.

When friends would go hang out after classes, I'd stay and work.

I took pictures like this as a reminder of what I did (and didn't do) to make it happen.

It was hard, but I never felt like giving up.

This is not me bragging. I'm just proud of myself for pushing through!

Hopefully this can inspire someone that is just starting out. :)

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

It’s already 1 year since I started Refined!

Forgot to celebrate this January.

Time flies when you’re having fun. 🙃

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

If you launched and got stuck at $0 MRR:

List your project on directories.

In 2024, I built a SAAS (in private) and got my first paying users this way.

I made a free list of 180+ directories, as I was finding them:

refined. so/tools/seo-directories

If you don't have time, at least submit to: @ProductHunt, @UneedLists, @MicroLaunchHQ

I was doing it for backlinks and some traffic, didn't expect to get any customers. 🤷

*I eventually abandoned this SAAS, but that's a story for another day. 😂

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Checklist for launching a product. 👇

(Don't bookmark, start doing it now)

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Sometimes I do "productive procrastination".

Until now, I kept all my tasks inside the Notes app. It worked well for a while, but it becomes a mess for big projects.

I moved to @linear, and it's such a delight to use.

Did I have to do this? No, but it will save me hours. 😌

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Want your traffic to look like this?

Start building backlinks. Don't put it off, do it before you even launch.

Free list of 180+ websites to submit to:

refined. so/tools/seo-directories

[Constantin 🔥 @constantout]

Thinking about scaling @refinedso this year made me realize this:

Less people would be saying they want $100k MRR or whatever if they knew what it takes.

It’s just a lot of work at every stage. You reach a certain level, and you get comfortable there. So you stay for a while.

To climb up, you need to work more, learn new skills, go through the emotional rollercoaster again.

And you don’t even know if you will succeed or fail. 🫠