I am sat on a train while writing this and everyone around me with a smartphone or tablet has used an app in the last hour. Two young lads (must be under 8) playing FIFA 14 on an iPad, a girl watching Happy Valley on iplayer, a woman reading MailOnline app and another guy checking his emails. The use of apps for certain online functions is becoming the dominant behaviour.

So why did we at Blog Preston, a small hyperlocal publisher decide to launch an app?

Two good reasons. A look at Google Analytics showed the percentage of visitors on mobile and tablet was skyrocketing, particularly from referrals from social media.

We also dipped our toe into our real audience and asked them whether they would use a Blog Preston app. The answer which came back was an overwhelming yes from our Twitter and Facebook fans. To me it was the equivalent of running a sandwich shop, everyone suddenly starts buying cheese sandwiches so you put a sign up saying vote here for what extra type of cheese sandwich we should start making. If you don’t listen to the audience and give them what they want then they will go to the other sandwich shop down the road.

Creating an app is slightly more expensive than a sandwich (unless you always buy lunch from a Pret A Manger). We set out to see whether we could produce an app without it costing the earth. Blog Preston is now a community interest company, this means everything we do and produce must be for and of interest to the people of Preston. 

Our primary aim was to be able to serve our existing content to an app audience so they get the convenience of browsing Blog Preston whenever they like. We found a service called Como Mobile which allows you for free to build an app and let 5 people download it. Out of the box you can add Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, a send a story form, Flickr and lots of other options. Within an hour we had a fully working prototype on our phones and iPads.

Where next? We have a good working relationship with the local chamber of commerce, who run the Preston Business Improvement District.

Preston BID were more than happy to back the app, and made a financial contribution to the set up costs of the app. Working with BID also means our partnership approach gives us access to their marketing support and we can tie the app in with special events taking place in the city centre e.g. Download the app, access a vouchers tab and show it at x stall of venue during an event to get buy one get one half price meals. Measurable marketing for them, app download for us and reward for our audience.

Ahead of launch we had to learn about content for apps. Any content you embed e.g. A Google map, does not work within the app. So for example our story about a tram system coming to Preston needed a link adding direct to the map so an app user can click off to view the map if they want. You also need to make sure content is written in such a way that if it does contain interactive media the story still makes sense. If it doesn’t, rewrite it or exclude the content from the app.

We could have spent thousands of pounds making sure every single thing works when embedded in content but we’d be bankrupt and the app would not launch until 2017. We wanted to get something out there and see the audience response.

And what a response. More than 350 downloads in the first four days, great comments on social media and some really positive reviews on the App Store. Looking at the analytics it is clear we are already seeing a regular set of app readers.

And that’s the crux of it, we want checking Blog Preston to become a daily habit and by putting our app at the finger tips of Prestonians we are giving ourselves the best shot set that. It isn’t the be all and end all for a hyperlocal site, but it gives a great way to create a loyal audience.

This blog was originally published on edwalker.net. Read the original post here. Image accompanying this article is copyright Paul Melling.