Think you could use a hand with some WP7 branding and advertising?  Nokia wants to help you!

Tonight on wpcentral, I read Nokia has a cool new website to help WP7 devs like you and I, brand our advertising/website/images a bit better!   It’s free, BUT it does have two hiccups I found.

First off, the URL to the banner creator site: http://snac.nokia.com/2/pages/marketplacehome

Next, you will want to log into your AppHub dashboard because you will need to find your apps Deep Link (find your app, click on details link on the right of your app’s icon). 

Scroll down, look to the right, find the Deep link.  Copy’n’paste that.

Now, if you’re like me, you probably JUST pasted it into the Application URL, right?  Notice the validation fire and show you a red X?

Ok, take a look at the example beneath.  Ok, now, again, if you’re like me, you probably tried to change it right in the textbox eh?  Did it work?  Ya, I was surprised too.  For some reason it jumps to the end when I try to add in the “www.” so my solution is just to cut’n’paste it into Notepad (or even the Run command).  Next, in Notepad/Run, you’ll have to add “www.” after the http: and then you’ll have to replace the “s?appid+” with “en-US/apps”

This is what I’m using,

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-uS/apps/9bb9a40b-abd5-df11-a844-00237de2db9e

Once you/I do that, THEN some magic happens!  Application name comes up, the icon, AND a sample of your new banner on the right!!!!!!!!

VERY SLICK!  Ok, keep going down on the left hand side to fill out more information.

When you get to the end, click the Generate banners, and you’ll see a BOAT load of free art/graphics you didn’t have to pay anyone for!

You can also, choose to download them for your own use, or use this site to host the graphics for you.  Either way, it’s probably the fastest app graphics you’ve ever created!

Now that you know how to generate free art, it’s time to grab a coffee and get coding!

 

 

Resources

Nokia: Windows Phone Marketplace

Microsoft: App Hub

wpcentral: Nokia dev tool creates dynamic banners for your apps