Once you’ve decided to build and distribute an API, how do you persuade developers to use it?
Our panel of API experts has returned to reveal tips and best practices for promoting your API among third-party developers, and they’ve got some great ideas for helping you achieve critical mass.
Guillaume Balas is an executive at 3scale, which offers full-featured API management and monetization tools. He says, “There is no secret sauce that guarantees API success. However, there are some must-have best practices to follow … But even having these best practices in place, there are still many other dimensions to consider.”
For example, Balas asks, what kind of recognition does your brand already have? What kind of buzz will yo u get from an API launch? How much are you willing to invest in promoting your API and supporting its users? How fast will you act on feedback from your API users? The answers to questions like these will determine the size of your API’s userbase.
Make It Worth Their While
Oren Michels is Mashery‘s CEO — his company does API management and strategy for more than 100 brands and 25,000 applications. He reminds those with APIs to remember that the API itself necessitates a symbiotic relationship. To get devs onboard, he says you must offer developers something meaningful — usually that’s fame or fortune.
“What is in it for a developer to work with you? Does it provide direct economic benefit (always nice) or indirect benefit (often nicer), such as making an app they have built better and therefore more likely to make them money? Celebrate successful developers as the heroes they are. Remember that if it’s all about you, they have...
