Too Confused?

A very important light bulb went on the other day.

I suddenly understand.

The real problem with online marketing is NOT that people know too little.

The real problem is that people know TOO much. Too many articles. Too many tools. Too much advice. Too much to choose from!

Simply put, we are all collectively COMPLETELY CONFUSED.

Since I have spent the better part of a decade on the internet, I have seen and done it all.  I have created websites, been an affiliate, learned all about social media, dove into mobile.

But what I would like to share with you are not lots of bits and pieces are detailed technical information.  What I think is the most important is to ‘connect the dots’ and understand how all the pieces of the jigsaw fit together.  Without a coherent, global understanding of how all the ‘small subjects’ work together, you will continue to be confused and you will continue to be frustrated.

Do You Connect the Dots?

Here is a rough summary of what I’ve roughly dubbed as Susan’s Simple System.  There are 10 components and each is interlocked with the next. I have created this so that you can understand how all the ‘pieces’ of online marketing fit together.  I want you to be able to evaluate any product or system that you have in front of you within a context so you can then judge whether it is important to you.

Susan’s Simple System is made of TEN steps:

1. The Map
2. The Mindset
3. The Model
4. The Mouthpiece
5. The Magnet
6. The Message
7. The Monetization
8. The Marketing
9. The Manpower
10. The Metrics

Let’s explain each of the steps.

Step 1: The Map

As in anything in life, you can’t get anywhere if you don’t know where you are going!  You need a map.  You need to know where you are today, where you want to be tomorrow and how you are going to travel from Point A to Point B.

In other words, your ‘map’ is your strategy.

To craft a strategy (map) that makes sense, you need to begin by answering some fundamental questions:

• What do you want to do?
• Who do you want to talk to?
• What do you want to ‘offer’ to these people?
• What will you stand for?
• What makes you unique?
• What is your ‘end game’
• Who is your target?
• What does your target seek?
• What is your target’s hot buttons?
• Who are your competitors?
• What is your message in ONE sentence?

Step 2: The Mindset

The Mindset

Is mindset really important?  Many believe that mindset is just irrelevant ‘fluff’.  Frankly, I used to share this opinion.  But over the years, I have noticed something.  You can put two people in a room and give them the same knowledge and tools.  And one will succeed. And one won’t.  Often, the difference is in their mindset.  Here are some of the most important mindset habits you need to adopt to succeed:

• Perseverance
• Focus
• Clarity
• Emphasis on ‘giving’ rather than ‘getting’
• Pace (i.e. Slowing down so you can speed up)
• Avoidance of BSS (the Bright Shiny Syndrome)
• Being open to partnerships
• Abundance mentality (attracting more money, success and people)

Step 3. The Models

Choosing the correct business model for your online business is the one area many ‘skip’.  And they do so at their own peril.  I know. This is one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made over the years.  I hopped from project to project rather than building a business on a real business model.  There are many business models to choose from but here are some of my favorites:

• Advertising Model
• Affiliate Model
• Subscriber Model
• Ecommerce Model
• Mobile Model
• Information Product Model
• Coaching Model

Step 4. The Mouthpiece

Once you have decided what you want to do, who you want to target, and what business model you want to build, you then need to create your ‘mouthpiece’.  Your mouthpiece is how you communicate with your client base.  It used to be that you had one online mouthpiece-your website.  Nowadays, you need to have multiple mouthpieces including some or all of the following:

• Your Website
• Your Mobile Site
• Your Blog
• Your Online Newsletter
• Your Facebook Fan page
• Your LinkedIn Profile/Groups
• Your Twitter presence
• Your YouTube video channel

Step 5.  The Magnet

The Magnet

The Magnet is the Heart of Susan’s Simple System.  And strangely enough, this is the step that I very often see people missing.  The magnet is about building your list; you provide a ‘magnet’ to entice people into giving you their email address so they can receive it.

Why is list building so important?  Without it, it is very difficult to create an online business.  You may drive traffic to your site, blog or social media presence but without a way to capture the names of interested people, this traffic will simply leave.  And the harsh reality is they will be lost forever.

With a list building system, you will capture their names and you continue your dialogue with them.  They get to know, like and trust you (the famous KLT factor) and guess what?  They eventually are much more likely to become your customer.

Any basic list building system will have a lead magnet (s), an opt-in box, and an auto responder system.  A lead magnet is a report or free offer (normally in the form of a PDF, video or audio) which gives people great content.

An opt-in box is a little box that normally asks for your name and email address.  People will give you their name and address in exchange for the lead magnet.  Finally the opt-in box is normally linked to an email provider.  Once someone has opted into your list, you can continue to communicate with them through a weekly e-zine (online magazine) or a series of auto responders (automated sequence of emails) or both.

Step 6.The Message

In Step 1, in your ‘map’, you have identified your strategy and what it stands for.  But you also need to create messages which will help give richness to what your brand is about.  Message is just a fancy name for ‘content’.

There are many ways that you can deliver content.  It can be in blog posts, articles, public relations messages, teleseminars, podcasts, ‘how to’ videos, interviews with people in your field.

Creating content is absolutely key to you building a brand, a community and a viable business. You should create at least TWO excellent pieces of content on a weekly basis if not more.

Your message(s) should be delivered in a variety of ways; try to mix it up to make what you provide really interesting for the viewer.

Step 7. The Monetization

 You can generate money online in multiple ways.  Here are some of the most effective ways:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Your Own Products (Information)
• Physical Products
• Advertising

Affiliate marketing basically means you drive traffic to offers that are not your own.  When the traffic you have sent buys the product, you are rewarded with a percentage of the price.  Creating your own information product is an excellent, extremely profitable way to make money online. You can create a PDF, an eBook, a video (or video series) or a series of audios.  You can of course use the internet to sell physical products as well. Another way of generating income is to create a community or well-trafficked site and then sell advertising to people who are interested in speaking to your target audience.

Obviously, there are many more ways to monetize online but these are the four main ways.

Step 8.  Marketing

You can have the best strategies and products in the world but if you don’t know how to market them you will be dead in the water before you start.  Marketing online is an enormous subject but here are some of the ways that you can market:

• Public Relations
• Mobile Marketing
• Blog
• E-zine
• Contests and Sweepstakes
• Social Media (YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest)
• Email Marketing
• SEO
• Webinars
• Video
• Joint Ventures
• Paid Advertising (solo email blasts, PPC, banner ads)

Step 9. Manpower

The Manpower

One of the biggest reasons for online marketing failure is that the strapped small business or solo entrepreneur does not have enough hands to do everything.  Knowing when and how to hire staff is an essential part of the online marketing puzzle.

Step 10. Metrics

When you are using online marketing, Testing should be your middle name.

There are hundreds of ways of measuring performance in terms of visitors to your sites, active members to your social media communities, opt-in rates to your landing pages, click-through andconversion rates in terms of sales.

This is another step people often skip. But without metrics, you will never know what works and what doesn’t.  Without metrics, it is virtually impossible to Move Forward.

Why You Need a Mobile Website

You may decide that mobile marketing is ‘not for you’ but there is one non-negotiable item you absolutely must add to your marketing portfolio—a MOBILE WEBSITE.

Here are some reasons and statistics that explain why:

“* We use our phones everywhere. In fact, 33 percent of smart phone users use their smart phone while watching TV and 22 percent use them while reading the newspaper (are you using your smart phone right now?)

* People love their smart phones. A survey found that one in three smart phone users would give up chocolate just to keep using their phones. Chocolate. If that doesn’t prove people love their smart phones, nothing will.

* People use their smart phones to find local businesses just like yours. Ninety five percent of smart phone users will use their phone to search for local information and 88 percent will take action within a day, whether it’s to call or visit a business (it could be your business — or it could be your competitor’s business, depending on who has a mobile-friendly website).

* Did you know that 71 percent of smart phone users who see an ad on TV, in the newspaper or online will do a mobile search? Or that 74 percent of smart phone users make a purchase based on a mobile search?

Yet, 79 percent of top advertisers don’t have a mobile- optimized website.

* One of the most popular activities for smart phone users is shopping, with 79 percent using their smart phones to help with shopping, whether it’s to get coupons, check to see if a product is in stock or read reviews.

Think people prefer apps to compare prices or get reviews? Think again; surveys by Adobe and eMarketer have shown that 81 percent of users prefer mobile websites to compare prices, 79 percent prefer mobile websites to get product reviews and 64 percent prefer mobile websites to purchase products.

In statistics reported this year by insightexpress, mobile users are four times more likely to purchase something than regular Internet users.”

Do not assume your ‘regular’ website is good enough for mobile devices. Most upload too slowly, are difficult to navigate and difficult to read.  The handwriting is on the wall. You need a mobile website as soon as possible!

You may have a regular website for your business already, but websites that load well on a PC or Mac do not load well on a smart phone. It takes much longer for a normal website to load on a smart phone, and most consumers expect your website to load just as fast on their phone as it does on their PC.

To see the full original article on mobile websites, click here.

Interested in knowing more about mobile marketing? Why don’t you check out this great resource.

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How to Make Sure Your Mobile Marketing Is On Track

Mobile marketing is new for so many of us. Unfortunately, in these early days, this means many of us are making mistakes.

Here is a great article which talks about the 5 biggest mistakes many marketers make when it comes to mobile:

“1. Flaw: De-Emphasizing the Unique Nature of the Medium

Although they share a common infrastructure, mobile is not the traditional web. In fact, the two have few equivalents in the stationary web world. The stationary web is exactly that – inactive. With that said, why would mobile design, which should be focused on creating an experience unique to those who are actively on-the-go, be constructed with an inactive model in mind?

Mobile events are inherently transitive in nature. The different elements of the medium — constant connectivity, location awareness, personalization and social connection — add affinity to consumer/brand interactions and empower the medium uniquely as an events-driven interface. These features form the foundation for consumer interaction — a tight, relevant orchestration of branded communications among increasingly interconnected brand advocates.

2. Flaw: Treating Connected Consumers as Stationary Targets

Mobile consumers are moving targets; therefore, marketers must consider the variability of exchange. Where is the consumer right now? What is she interested in? How can I compel her to visit my store location? What can I reward her with to increase her loyalty to the brand? What can I do to make her feel included? How can I use the medium to make her encounter the brand more efficiently? What experience can I provide to her that she would feel compelled to share? When viewed through this lens, the possibilities for engaging consumers are limited only to the imagination and ingenuity of the brand.

3. Flaw: Ignoring the Power of Contextual Relevance

The mobile medium represents the most powerful mechanism for delivering contextually relevant, consumer-brand marketing communications. To take advantage of its unique capabilities, however, successful marketing strategies must evolve alongside these communicating customers. The digital natives of today’s hyper-connected world seek contextual relevance when engaging with brands. Their experiences are defined not only by the message itself, but by the context in which the message is presented.

Marketers who effectively tackle today’s mobile variables will provide consumers with unique experiences that are differentiated, highly relevant and intensely personal. Only then will we collectively realize the power and influence of marketing in the moment.

4. Flaw: Employing Old World, Unidirectional Strategies

Effective consumer engagement can no longer take a unidirectional mindset. Today’s digital natives are constantly presented with a dizzying array of branded digital touchpoints. They are expecting consistent yet unique communication and brand message.

Brands are now challenged to become adept transmedia storytellers, to create a message that syncs with the communication medium in which it’s delivered. Brands must move beyond simply marketing to people but, instead, must master marketing to a context that is determined by device or platform. They must consider the specific medium which they choose to engage.

5. Flaw: Not Offering Value in Exchange for Value

Establishing consumer relationships through mobile marketing, as with any successful relationship, inherently requires a mutual exchange of value. Whether consumers are opting-in for brand communications via SMS or engaging with the brand in a single instance by scanning a QR code, the onus is on the brand to deliver value in return for customers’ time and information.

Without the perception that value is mutual, the relationship becomes essentially one-sided and unrequited. The customer may attempt to end the relationship — perhaps permanently. Regardless of the strategies or technologies employed, successful mobile marketing relies heavily on a fair and evenly balanced value exchange between consumer and brand. Given the intensely personal nature of smart devices, coupled with the fact that the device is nearly always within arm’s reach, it becomes extremely important that mobile marketing avoids being intrusive and irrelevant.

Conventional marketing wisdom advocates a right audience + right message + right time methodology, designed to entice a stationary audience. In mobile, the same principles don’t necessarily apply. Rather than marketing at the target with brand-centric storytelling, wherever and however she may encounter you, allow the tale to travel along with her as she goes. Communicate the narrative, allow the mobile medium to reveal ensuing chapters in a continuum of branded engagements.”

To see the full original article about mobile marketing.

We all are ‘learning’ because mobile is so new.  But the above list is a great summary of things we need to keep in mind as we venture into the mobile universe.

Click here to learn more about the Secrets to Successful Mobile Marketing!

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Understanding Your Mobile Audience Through Analytics

It is obvious that mobile is a force to be reckoned with.  But the best way to really understand this is looking at the hard cold numbers.   And the ideal way to do this is to integrate web analytics into your mobile-ready site.

This article will give you some great guidelines:

“How To Access Essential Analytics Data — And What To Do With It

When you first log in to Google Analytics, you’ll see a dashboard similar to what’s below.

To get in-depth mobile-traffic data, simply click on “Standard Reporting” in the orange navigation at the top, followed by “Audience” and then “Mobile” (see below). To get reporting for a specific time period — which is important if you want to track specific campaigns — you can segment your data by setting a custom date in the top right.

From the “Overview” pane, you can extract information that is crucial to understanding your mobile visitors. For example, click any of the areas located directly above the blue line graph to learn more about:

• Visits/New Visits: If you notice that your overall traffic has a high percentage of mobile visits, you’ll be able to justify developing a mobile-friendly site much more quickly. For the date range pulled (see the example below), you can see that over 20 percent of site visits were from mobile —- a clear indication that a mobile site is needed. With higher mobile traffic, your site should satisfy the basic needs of smartphone users.For example, nearly 40 percent of mobile searches are local, with 61 percent of consumers following up with phone calls and 58 percent with in-store visits.

With that in mind, design with the mobile lifestyle in mind, including putting your basic business and contact information up front as well as providing click-to-call and mapping/navigation. It’s also noteworthy to watch new visits increase as smartphone penetration and your mobile efforts improve.

• Pages per Visit: How deep are mobile users navigating within your site? Due to small screen sizes and sensitive touchscreens — which don’t always take kindly to larger human fingers — mobile users don’t click as much as desktop users.

Again, using the example below, we can see that desktop users visited an average of five pages, whereas mobile visitors only viewed up to two. Based on that, write your product/service descriptions succinctly to eliminate endless scrolling and clicking. If clicking-through is necessary, make sure links, navigation and buttons can be accessed without hassle.

• Bounce Rate/Average Time on Site: Did you know that 80 percent of consumers immediately quit their shopping if they have a bad experience on mobile devices? Average time and bounce rate can be indicators that your site isn’t performing well on mobile devices or living up to mobile consumers’ expectations, from both a content and functionality standpoint.

In the example below, mobile visitors spent a little more than one minute on the site versus desktop users, who spent over four minutes.Although this clearly shows that mobile users are spending less time on the site, it doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem because mobile users typically have an immediate need and are looking for specific information. As we’ll explore a little later, you can actually view the top pages mobile users visit; such analytics serve as further proof of any issues with your site as well as what content is most important to specific users.

Selecting “Technology” reveals traffic per browser, browser version, operating system and the like. Obviously, this data set gives you a clear indication of the types of mobile experiences for which you must design and develop. And it makes testing much easier, since you now know the platforms being used for site access.

Shown next, “Traffic Sources” further segments the reporting by (among others):

• Source: See where your traffic originates, possibly opening up opportunities in link building (SEO), affiliate marketing and reputation management. Here is where you should see your other efforts, particularly your directory and organic business listings, pay off.
• Landing Page: Track how visitors interact with your site, especially the type of content they’re apt to view (e.g., a blog, contact info, a coupon page, etc.). Once you have this information, you can better organize, design and optimize for mobile viewing the pages that users are navigating toward.
• Keywords: Understand mobile-search queries (and how they differ from desktop searches), so you can optimize your content and metadata for mobile search engines. Pay special attention to the number of search queries with local intent, as well as brand and category-driven keywords.

Another key piece of data is found by clicking “Devices,” which is located under “Mobile” in the right-hand navigation. There, you can see the top mobile devices that consumers are using to visit your site. Again, what you discover will enable you to specifically target your mobile content, as well as test how your mobile site renders and performs on the most-used devices.”

The only way to move forward on the new net is to understand where you and your consumers are.  This is why analytics are paramount, particularly when it comes to mobile.

For the complete article on Mobile Analytics.

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Are You Optimized For Mobile Search?

Most people nowadays simply ignore the importance of mobile search.  I don’t quite ‘get’ it.  Why would you ignore the one method that over 50% of the people in the world are searching for your site?

How people search on their mobile phones is dramatically different than how they search on their computers.

Here are the differences in a nutshell:

“1. Mobile is highly local

Mobile searchers have a higher tendency to be doing searches with a local intent.

Exactly how much higher is up for debate. Last May, Google’s Marissa Mayer was quoted saying that 40% of all mobile searches are local. Microsoft has said that 53% of mobile searches on Bing have a local intent. An earlier estimate of 33% local was frequently repeated throughout 2010.

Whatever figure we choose to cite, we know that people on mobile devices are seeking things around them. After all, mobile gives us a unique opportunity to be simultaneously online and out in the world.

We use our devices to navigate throughout the physical world: Where’s the closest parking garage? What’s the best breakfast place around here? Where can I post this package for my nephew?

If you’ve got local content or content that can be localized, optimize it for mobile.

2. Mobile is focused and timely

It may seem counter-intuitive at first glance, but the average mobile search on Android and iPhone has roughly double the keywords than the average desktop search.

The interface is smaller on mobile but mobile searchers are more task focused and highly specific in what they’re seeking.

Consider the following data from Microsoft: 70% of PC search tasks are completed in one week, while 70% of mobile search tasks are done in one hour.

While someone shopping on their desktop computer takes on average a week to take action while someone on their mobile takes on average an hour. Talk about acceleration!

This difference in time to purchase has very real implications in retail. Mobile users are looking for information or assistance to help them make buying decisions literally right at the point of sale.

Consumers searching on a mobile device will make a purchase within 24 hours, while desktop searchers will buy over a longer period of time.

As a result, marketers need to employ specific search tactics for each platform. For example, on mobile search landing pages, offer very specific information about products and create clear calls to action on the web and on the phone.

Implementing click-to-call functionality is a great option here. That mobile searcher is ready to act so harness their intent with a small number of clear actions

3. Mobile search increases steadily throughout the day

Over the course of a day, hourly usage trends vary based on device types. Google Mobile Ads analyzed searches from tablets, PCs and mobile devices and found that searches from computers broadly reflected time spent at work. Activity increases at 9 am and drops off at 5 pm.

In contrast, tablet searches happen after work with a sharp spike in the evening hours between 6:00 – 11:00 p.m.

And smartphones?

Searches on smartphones grow steadily throughout the day, rival desktop search in the early evening and peak around 9:00 p.m.

While both tablets and smartphones can be ‘lean back’ devices, used in combination with other media while sitting on the couch in the evening, smartphones alone are used on the go throughout the day and combine searches with both professional and personal intentions.

4. Mobile searchers make mistakes

It’s not surprising that mobile searchers are more prone to misspellings than desktop searches. We’re not precise with touchscreen keyboards, small targets to hit and a variable location we’re typing from.

So make sure to include common misspellings in your campaigns and optimization efforts, this can be a great, untapped source of new traffic.

What misspelled words should you include? Turn off the auto-correcting spell checker on your mobile device and tap in each of your top 10-keyword phrases 10 times each. You’ll end up with 100 keyword phrases.

Which ones are misspellings? Collect the results and start your list.

Along these lines, many marketers running paid search campaigns are finding it more effective to manage separate sets of keywords for mobile and desktop platforms.

Is this right for you? Only you can decide and you can only decide once you’ve got some experience. So get started.

Computers, tablets, and smartphones all fill a different need that consumers have for finding information at various points throughout the day.

While marketers should look to all three devices for reaching potential customers, lumping the devices together without understanding differences in intent and behavior can lead to costly mistakes and missed opportunities.”

You need to optimize for your mobile site to make sure that you are attracting all the purchase-prone mobile user.  Keep in mind the above 4 tips when you look to optimize and don’t forget to have a mobile site created.  The small amount of time and money required is well worth the investment.

For the complete article on mobile search.

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Mobile Marketing 2012—Are You Ready?

Have you figured out your mobile marketing program yet?

If you have any kind of analytics installed in your website, you may have noticed that more and more of your Web traffic is coming from mobile devices.  And it’s just going to keep on increasing.

Mobile marketing is big. And it is here to stay.

But what is the best way to cater to your mobile visitors?

Here are some tips:

“Mobile Search: Give Them What They’re Looking For

Desktop search may still dominate the overall search market, but mobile search represents a new frontier. It is widely accepted that 10 percent to 15 percent of searches today are from mobile devices.

Whether you’re running a multimillion-dollar pay-per-click campaign on AdWords or optimizing for organic search traffic and inbound leads, here are a few things you should know about the areas where desktop and mobile differ.

• Locality: People on mobile devices are seeking things around them; anywhere between 20 percent and 53 percent of mobile searches have a local intent. If you’ve got local content or content that can be localized, optimize it for mobile.
• Task-focused: The average keyword mobile search on Android and iPhone is roughly double the average length of a desktop search. Why? Because mobile searchers are task-focused and seeking specific things. When presenting information as the result of a search, offer more specific information to your mobile users.
• Time of day: Google reports that mobile search volumes increase throughout the day and peak at 8 or 9 p.m., while desktop search volume mirrors hours spent at work.
• Spelling mistakes: Not surprisingly, mobile searchers are more prone to misspellings than desktop searchers. Including common misspellings in your SEO campaigns can be a great, untapped source of new traffic.

Before You Hit Send…

ComScore found that while Web-based email declined significantly throughout 2010, mobile email surged 36 percent from the prior year. To cater to these mobile users, follow the best mobile usability and accessibility rules:

• Short wins. Smartphone screens are small, and each line is valuable. Be brief and get your message as high up in the email as possible.
• Focus on the subject and sender name. In the mobile world, there’s little or no preview pane to see the message body. As a result, a message’s subject and sender name take center stage. Choose a recognizable name for the “from” field and use your subject line as effectively as possible (keep it less than 30 characters).
• Consider plain text. As marketers, we want to make things pretty and opt for HTML. However, this practice falls flat in many situations on mobile devices. Consider sending plain text email, particularly for anything that must get into people’s hands, such as account activations, password retrievals, and alerts.

Be Social-Savvy

A comScore report found that 72 million Americans accessed social media from their mobile devices during the month of August 2011 alone. Even more telling is the fact that 50 percent of these users are social networking on a daily basis from their mobile devices. When it comes to incorporating mobile into your social strategy, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Mobile Web: While both Facebook and Twitter have apps for the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, the majority of their mobile traffic comes from a mobile browser rather than a device-specific app. Looking at some sample numbers for Facebook, 57 percent of mobile posts are made from the mobile Web site (m.facebook.com), while all apps combined contribute 43 percent.

Women rule social media: With the exception of LinkedIn, women are the dominant users of the top 10 social networks on both mobile and desktop. Give women credible things to care about and share with their broader social network.

Help people share the love: A clean and consistent URL structure will help people share your links across platforms. Don’t underestimate the importance of client detection technology, which intelligently serves up a mobile site to mobile users and a desktop site to desktop users.”

Get ready for mobile and your mobile marketing program now.  It promises to pay off in big dividends for those who are prepared.

For the complete full article about mobile marketing.

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Cpanel and GoMobi Give Us Another Way To Build Mobile Websites

GoMobi has partnered up with Cpanel to provide another terrific way to build a mobile Website.

Here is a recent public relations release about the project.

“Mobile has changed how customers interact with businesses. Only businesses that are able to provide a great mobile experience will be successful in this new market. We are delighted to be partnering with cPanel as we roll out goMobi to the hosting industry” With the rapid rise in mobile Internet usage, goMobi gives Web hosting companies a proven way to open the massive opportunity of the mobile Web to their customers. According to recent research from Web performance measurement firm Gomez, over 50 percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a store with a mobile website, so the demand for mobile sites is only set to grow. The goMobi cloud service can build a sophisticated mobile friendly website in minutes at a price point designed for small-to-medium businesses.

With goMobi, cPanel users can offer a very powerful, yet easy to use, mobile site builder. cPanel is launching a substantially enhanced version of goMobi, which brings a range of new templates, the ability to create custom forms, video content embedding, and integration with leading m-commerce solutions like PayPal and Google Checkout. Users can generate the mobile site using existing (or new) Web content, and add a range of updated features like “click to call,” Google Maps integration, social networking integration, and automated QR code creation. Such features come as standard offerings with goMobi and have proven to convert clicks into sales. goMobi sites can reside on any Internet domain like .info or .mobi, and will work on more than 7,500 models of Web-enabled mobile devices and handsets.

“Mobile has changed how customers interact with businesses. Only businesses that are able to provide a great mobile experience will be successful in this new market. We are delighted to be partnering with cPanel as we roll out goMobi to the hosting industry,” said Eileen O’Sullivan, COO of dotMobi.”

For me, there is nothing more important than building a mobile website.  The question isn’t ‘if’ you need a mobile website, but when!

For the complete article on building mobile websites.

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Mobile Commerce Crushes 2011

Mobile commerce crashed onto the scene in 2011 and went from the stuff of ‘dreams’ to the stuff of reality.

Here is more about mobile commerce magic:

“The numbers speak for themselves: More than a million merchants now accept credit cards via Jack Dorsey-led startup Square’s mobile payment application, and the firm now processes $11 million in total transactions each day, up from $4 million a day in late July.

Almost 12 months after Starbucks launched mobile payment services across the U.S., customers have completed more than 26 million mobile transactions; at the same time, digital marketplace eBay is on pace to close more than $5 billion in mobile-enabled transactions by year’s end, and the company’s PayPal subsidiary is expected to handle more than $3.5 billion in mobile payments.

“Our perspective on mobile is that it’s not incremental, it is another screen in the shopping experience,” eBay president and CEO John Donahoe said during October’s Open Mobile Summit event in San Francisco. “It’s a consumer that is coming back more frequently and shopping more because now it can be done at any time of the day. We know it is driving consumer engagement and customer value.”

But 2011 wasn’t simply the year that consumers embraced mobile commerce–it was also the year that the various pieces of the m-commerce landscape (e.g., retail purchases, person-to-person payments, marketing, coupons) began to come together to create multi-faceted user experiences that could ultimately spell the demise of the conventional leather wallet. First to market: The Near Field Communications-based Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Wallet, which enables consumers to make purchases and collect or redeem offers by tapping their Android smartphone at 300,000-plus MasterCard PayPass-enabled merchant terminals. In the months since the service launched, Google introduced support for SingleTap, which enables consumers to redeem coupons and/or earn rewards points with one tap of their smartphone. The digital giant also is partnering with the state of New Jersey to enable tap-and-pay rail and bus transit purchases at select locations.

Google Wallet’s biggest threat, Isis, doesn’t even begin consumer trials until early-to-mid 2012. But there’s serious brand muscle behind the m-commerce network: Founded by Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA in late 2010, Isis welcomed financial services providers Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express to its ranks in July. In addition, six device manufacturers–HTC, LG, Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI), Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), Samsung Mobile and Sony Ericsson–have committed to introducing devices that support the Isis platform. Like Google Wallet, Isis is looking beyond contactless payment services to support retailer loyalty card programs, coupons and offers and related promotions. The battle between the two services is already shaping up as one of the biggest stories of 2012.

Why it was significant: Mobile payments for digital and physical goods, mobile money transfers and NFC-enabled contactless transactions will almost triple from $240 billion in 2011 to $670 billion in 2015, Juniper Research forecasts. The firm credits the accelerating adoption of mobile ticketing, NFC contactless payments, physical goods purchases and money transfers in both developed and emerging markets as the catalysts behind the expected growth, adding that the number of mobile money users will double by 2013.”

Where mobile commerce will go in 2012 is in the laps of Gods however it is safe to say that mobile commerce (or m-commerce as it is nicknamed) has settled into a very strong upward projector and stands to change the face of retailing forever.  Are you involved in mobile commerce?  Tell us about your experiences

For the complete original article on Mobile Commerce.

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Why Businesses Have Not Gotten On the Mobile Advertising Bandwagon

Mobile advertising (to be distinguished from overall mobile marketing) has not been embraced by many businesses.  The main reason is that for many they still haven’t figured out the way to get the best ROI from their mobile advertising dollar.

Mobile advertising will catch on but it is a laggard compared to other mobile marketing tools like text messaging:

Here is an article from Forbes that explains the problem:

“I was a bit surprised by a stat that esteemed industry analyst Mary Meeker recently shared. While print media represents only 8% of consumer time spent, it accounts for 27% of marketers’ media spending. Mobile media, on the other hand, represents 8% of consume time, yet only .5% of marketers’ media spending. Why the disparity?

I believe there are three reasons:

Mobile advertising has yet to show scalable reach that has a demonstrable ROI. The reach of print advertising is clearly known, and the way consumers interact with print ads has been well researched for decades. Understanding mobile ad engagement is still developing, which has led to less than successful attempts to apply PC Web banner advertising principles to this nascent medium.

Buying highly targeted premium inventory has not been easy for agencies to do in the mobile ad world. It is easy in the print and online world, but early mobile ad networks that brought some scale to the table also placed advertisers’ messages in environments where they did not want them to be.

Creating ads for smart phones is different than creating them for print ads or online banners. Most agencies have not created them nor have they been asked to. This problem plagued online advertising 15 years ago until firms like Point Roll and ?? made the “rich media” ad unit easier to produce.

These issues are going to go away soon. According to Jason Young, former CEO of Ziff-Davis and now CEO of Crisp Media,” The infrastructure for buying quality mobile ad placements and creating engaging mobile ad is getting significantly better.” And he is staking his future on it. Last week, Smart Media Devices, a year-old venture that provides advertisers with scalable and targeted access to high-quality mobile-accessible content, merged with Crisp Media, a pioneering platform for rich-media mobile ad creation. Mr. Young will lead the combined companies.

“The mobile ad market is at the critical stage where premium brands are wanting to play significantly,” said Young. “Yet because barriers to buy still exist, the premium market demands an integrated set of solutions optimized for its unique needs.  We hope be a catalyst for the industry, by bringing together an unrivaled combination of platform, products and services.”

So as the inhibitors to rolling out mobile campaigns begin to diminish, look for savvy markets to begin aggressively testing new ways to engage their markets via smart phones.

Any mobile ads caught your attention recently? Keep an eye out for Amex, Audi and Sherlock Holmes 2 ads on a smart phone near you. They are doing some interesting things.”

Mobile advertising has not yet come of age.  But it will.  Mobile advertising is not for everyone but for bigger brands it could be a high-performing tool.

For the complete original article on mobile advertising.

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What were the top 10 Mobile Apps downloaded in 2011

With all the world talking about  mobile apps, you might wonder what were the most popular. Here is the mobile app ‘balance sheet’ for 2011:

“A new report from mobile analytics app company Distimo looked at data on downloads across all platforms such as iOS and Android, and also factored in the free and paid versions of the apps. Angry Birds made the list not only once, but three times, thanks to its Rio and Seasons editions.

The report also revealed that although there are over a million mobile apps available for download across the top seven major app stores, the iTunes App Store is still tops. For the iPhone alone, it brings in about four times the revenue generated in the Google Android Market. Meanwhile, the App Store for the iPad rakes in more than double the revenue of the Android Market.

As for which apps are the most popular overall, can you guess which rounded out the top ten? Click and see!

1. Angry Birds

2. Facebook

3. Skype

4. Angry Birds Rio

5. Google Maps

6. iBooks

7. Angry Birds Seasons

8. Fruit Ninja

9. Talking Tom

10. Twitter”

What was your favorite mobile app of the year?  And why was it your favorite app?

For the full, complete article on mobile apps.

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