Given that the iTunes App Store population is rising, developers who launched on a prayer aren't always raking in the millions. News posts about 9 year old iPhone developers earning their college tuition overnight seems to have pushed expectations beyond the ceiling of reality. Even the smartest developers are only relying on luck if they don't, gasp, do marketing.

Three points from Steve Demeter

I had the good fortune to Meetup with Steve Demeter of Demiforce recently. Over the course of about 30 seconds I was able to swindle vital information.

It's important for many late-comers to the App Store to remember the early success stories basically don't apply anymore. Apps that were put up early had an extraordinary advantage in terms of visibility. Steve mentioned that new apps need to influence their own visibility and provided a handful of examples how recent apps have.

Create Demand Before you release

Steve talked about the importance of creating demand before release through the use of blogs, YouTube, etc. His example here was Zen Bound. Through the use of YouTube and some good press, the developer had customers "salivating" to buy the app.

Zen Bound

Get Good Reviews on Day One

If you app starts off with bad reviews, customers won't wait for your patches and updates to turn it around. You want to start off strong. Good reviews are infectious. If your beta testers love your app, have them positively review it the day it comes out. Resist the urge to cheat. You'll get caught.

Use Review sites

Unless your app is terrible, review sites almost always help you. Steve's key insight is to allow review sites early access to the final version of your app before it's available in the store. You want the reviews to be release as near as possible to the review date such that you can move up on the hot lists. Most review sites have a large backlog and thus would need access to the app a couple of weeks ahead of time.

Here's a short list. Needless to say, stay away from sites that condone pirated apps, and be wary of those that support jailbreaking. Gruber: "Not all jailbreakers are bootleggers, but all bootleggers are jailbreakers."

• http://theapppodcast.com/
• http://www.slidetoplay.com/ (games only)
• http://www.iphoneappreviews.net/
• http://www.whatsoniphone.com/
• http://www.appvee.com/
• http://www.frapstr.com/

It's not a review site, but http://iphone.iusethis.com/ is a nifty site as well. If you testers or customers like your app, kindly suggest they give your app a vote.

If you need more help

In addition to being very tall, Steve's company, Demiforce, is a consulting company specializing in iPhone app and game development as well as promotion and marketing. Steve's a good guy and I'm sure he can help you look good.

Disclaimer: 6Tringle is not affiliated with Steve or his company. We have not contracted him to work for us, nor was this post or recommendation solicited by Demiforce or Steve.