What Makes A Mobile Website Different From Any Other?

More and more now you will be hearing about – or perhaps even finding out for yourself – that there are these new types of websites referred to as mobile websites.

A mobile website is made up of HTML, holds content and images, and is accessed via the web. Sounds like a regular website, right? Well actually a mobile website generally works in conjunction with a regular website, but as a counterpart is a much smaller version and has a simpler layout. A mobile website's main function is to serve up essential information on smart phones. Smart phones are those popular little devices that are actually rather advanced computers with multipurpose monitors built in. IPhones, Blackberries, and Androids are some of the most popular Smart phones that can, among many other functions – surf the web.

Therein lies the purpose of mobile websites. Because the screens are so much smaller on a smart phone, traditional websites are often more difficult to navigate, and the design or feel of that website has lost it's initial purpose. In addition, many websites utilize programming such as flash or FLV videos which many phones have difficulty displaying properly.

Mobile websites are scaled down versions in terms of size and content. In fact a mobile website is generally under 300 pixels wide, compared to traditional websites which can be 800 pixels and much larger. A mobile website's navigation can also be easily accessed using a thumb or finger, as the buttons generally span the width of the phone.

As a scaled-down version of the main website, a mobile phone actually serves its purpose because most people accessing a mobile website will in fact be, mobile themselves. And you generally don't visit a website or surf on your phone without a specific purpose in mind. Often that means finding phone numbers, location, hours of operation, e-mail addresses, services offered, contact names, product availability, etc. In that sense mobile websites are generally less on design, and focused much more on accessing that essential information.

A mobile website is usually set up as a subdomain of the main website. So it's URL would be something like m.webaddress.com, but just existing in that virtual space is not enough, because when a smart phone surfer goes to a website's main URL, they won't know that there's a mobile version unless there is a link to the mobile version of that website. Or a more popular strategy is to use JavaScript or PHP encoding that detects a smart phone is calling up a website. The purpose of this is to redirect smart phone traffic directly to the mobile website. That speeds things up a lot for the user and chances are it's what they wanted anyway. Most mobile sites however, will also offer the option for the user to go to the company's main website via a regular HTML link. You don't want to force your smart phone traffic to stay on the mobile website, because that should still be a matter of preference.

These are some of the major differences between a mobile website and a regular website, and in the coming months and years you'll find that mobile websites will be a standard feature of most full websites due to the phenomenal growth of smart phone technology and usage.

If you are responsible for marketing your business, then there's no doubt you are aware of just how important it is that you have a strong presence on the Internet. There are many ways of developing this presence, from social media sites to blogs, and you should be taking advantage of all of them. One of the latest, most effective ways of taking full advantage of the world wide web's marketing potential is by using a mobile website. A mobile website is just what it sounds like – a website specifically designed to be viewed on mobile devices.

So, why does your business need a mobile website if its traditional site is doing just fine?

Here are five compelling reasons why:

Aesthetic appeal.

You may wonder why people can't just view your existing traditional website on their mobile devices. The truth is, they can. The other truth is that your traditional website simply doesn't look very good on a mobile device. Do this: shrink the view on your web browser by zooming out until you have to squint to read the text. Not a good viewing experience, right?

The statistics.

You can't argue with numbers. Basically, more people today use their mobile devices to access the Internet than they do their desktop or laptop computers. As a matter of fact, many people accessing the web today ONLY do so through their mobile devices. Can you afford not to cater to this considerably large market sector?

Data transfer costs.

Many mobile users must pay data transfer fees. Traditional websites have much more data than mobile websites, and therefore can cost a lot of people a lot of money to view. How often are customers willing to pay you to market to them? Enough said.

Navigation.

As previously mentioned, traditional sites are much smaller on those tiny mobile device screens. That means site visitors must do an awful lot of scrolling to take the whole site in view, and let's face it, web surfers don't want to have to work to read a web page. Also, it can be nearly impossible to hit navigation buttons on such a tiny screen when the website hasn't been optimized for mobile devices.

Today's web audience.

The fact that most people access the Internet via mobile device also means that most people use their mobile devices for any of a wide variety of things ñ shopping, searching, entertainment, and more – and these are all aspects you could add to your mobile website to increase your reach and broaden your customer base. As you can see, there are a number of very good reasons to build a mobile website for your business,and as soon as possible.

Today the advancement in the mobile technology has grown to higher levels than in the previous decade. There are millions of users all over the world who use mobile on daily basis for their personal and also business purposes. This is like an holy grail for the business owners as they can utilize mobile marketing for promoting their business.

Mobile marketing is an entirely different sphere of reaching people compared to the conventional offline marketing methods. The mobile marketing makes it possible for the small business owners to reach their customers in real time with a very low expenditure on marketing costs. The business owners can directly contact subscribers which will enhance the bond between the customer and the provider.

Apart from the low cost start up expenditure, there are many other benefits of mobile marketing which is making it popular these days.

1. Higher conversion rates:

With mobile marketing we can promote the product to the right audience and the response rate is more which will convert most of the subscribers into customers. The mobile ad campaigns have higher conversion rates compared to radio or tv commercials.

2. Engage Customers:

Almost every customer who has a mobile can be updated with the latest offers or services helping you engage the customers. This will help you in retaining the customer as well as increase your business. Also helps in building a good customer relationship with your business. It is a proven fact that customers will be loyal to a particular brand or service if the business has built a good relationship with them.

3. Honest Feedback:

Mobile marketing can be used as two way communication which will help in getting feedback from users regarding a new product or feature. This will help in better understand what are the likes and dislikes of the customers, helping a business to develop a product that customers like.

4. Cost Effective:

Mobile marketing requires a very low budget on ad campaigns but the return of investment is really higher. Usually you only have to pay for the text message and nothing else.

5. Distribution:

Customers any where in the world can be reached with mobile marketing in mere seconds in case of an urgent announcement. The added benefit is going viral, if the customer likes a feature or product in question that is mentioned in the text message you have sent to them, then they might share it with their friends and family which is free advertisement for your business.

6. Customization:

Each subscriber is different and the ads can be customized to each individual increasing response which will get more conversions or sales.

7. Easy to set up:

The mobile marketing is simple as using a mobile phone, it does not need any technical knowledge for you as a business owner to operate. They can be easily integrated into your existing ad campaigns or can completely replace other marketing campaigns you are using right now.

It is possible to engage even those audience without an internet connection using mobile marketing, so distribution of your message is possible to higher number of people who are interested in your service. As a business owner it is our responsibility to increase the business using the latest trends in marketing and today mobile marketing is considered to be the future of advertisements so catch up with this trend to stay ahead of your competition.

So you did your research and you understand the importance of building a mobile website. That's great.

You are truly ahead of the game when it comes to the world of Internet marketing. Now you need to know how to build the most effective mobile website possible . . . and, no, it is not nearly the same as building a traditional site. A mobile website is a new brand of site, and it involves a unique set of considerations.

Here are five essential elements for your mobile website:

Content. If you are at all experienced in web design, then you've most likely heard the phrase, "content is king".

Mobile web design relegates content to a new level, underneath navigability. Sure, it is still important that your content is accurate, relevant, informative, and easy to understand. However, the most important thing is that your content is short, concise, and free of any unnecessary verbiage. A good rule of thumb is that it should all fit on one page (and on a tiny mobile device screen, at that).

Graphics and navigation buttons.

Keep the touch screen in mind when designing a mobile website. Any good mobile site should have thumb-friendly navigation buttons. Additionally, other graphics should be kept to a minimum.

Single column layout.

You don't want your site visitors to have to work to view your page. It should not be necessary to zoom or scroll to fit your site's content on the screen. The most effective way to display your mobile website is in a single column, which will be compatible with most smart phone screens.

Use the mobile device's inbuilt functionality.

This refers to all of those things a mobile device can do that a desktop or laptop can't do – phone calls and GPS, for example. To aid the user experience, provide a way to access these features so that your site visitors can call or locate your business with just the touch of a button.

Navigation layout.

In addition to having simple, large-scale navigation buttons and search boxes, you should also arrange your site's navigation tools in a way that integrates well into the column format. You may opt to stack them, put them in a drop-down menu at the top or bottom of the page, or present them as the home page. As you can see, mobile web design is a whole new ballgame.

It is important to keep all of these factors in mind if you are to build an effective mobile website. To get the most out of your mobile design, contact me at 508.203.1660.

One of the ways QR Codes can benefit your small business is by helping you build your email marketing list in a easy and user friendly way. By making it part of your marketing campaigns, QR Codes can provide a less intrusive way to collect email addresses because you are able to provide real value to your prospects.

Here are some steps to help you build your email list using QR Codes:

1. Sign up to an autoresponder service. There are many available online such as Aweber, IContact , GetResponse and many others. Some offer free trial offers while others have a free edition so you are sure to find something affordable for your small business.

2. Next create a signup form within your account and paste the code into your mobile friendly landing page on your website. You can also put your signup form on one of your Facebook tabs if you don't have a mobile website.

3. Next you will use the url of the landing page to generate a QR Code so that when people scan it they land on the page where the signup form is located.

4. You need to find an attractive offer to get people to sign up to your list. This is not too difficult to do for an offline small business because a lot of your services are tangible in nature. So you may want to consider coupon codes, free giveaways, limited time discounts or free downloads for your products and services.

5. Make sure to put these offers next to your sign up form as part of your sales copy.

6. Have a strong call to action wherever you have placed your QR Code, clearly telling your customers what you want them to do. For example you can write "Scan this code for 10% savings on your next meal" or "Scan this code for a free dental consult".

7. Make sure you have an automated system in place to handle all your new signups. For example you can have an automatic email sent to the new signups with information about the coupon or free consult. This will help you run your small business more smoothly without constant interruptions if you did things manually.

Using these simple steps, QR Codes will become an important part of building your small business email list.

1.QR Code Generators

QR Code Generators turn your url, text, sms, video link into a 2d code. They are free to use and if you surf online, you will be sure to find many options. Here are a few free generators that work well:
* Kaywa- this is owned by a company called Datamatrix, a company that pioneered the 2d codes. You can use Kaywa to create codes that link to website URLs, phone numbers, SMS and text.
* QR Code and 2D Code generator- apart from generating codes, you can also shorten your url using their services and also make the color and format of your codes unique.
* Kerem Ekran is another generator that allows you to customize and format your code
* QR Generator
* QR Stuff- this generator can code Google Maps, Paypal Buy Now Links, Social Media links, iTunes links, YouTube Links amongst others
* Google's Visualization API

2. QR Code Readers

As a business owner, it's important to know the various QR Code readers that your customers are likely to use and which ones work best. This will also help you to give them better instructions on how they can scan the QR Codes.

Here are a few well known free readers:

* Barcode scanner- a free app that scans QR Codes and enables users to share contacts, apps and bookmarks using the codes
* QR App – this is a paid app available on the iPhone that can scan codes and keep a history of all the codes you have previously scanned. One can also use it to add scanned contacts to the phones address book
* QR Reader for iPhone- a very quick and free app with many options such as sharing content via social media, a built in web-browser, and a detailed view option.
* I-nigma is a free reader that can be used on iPhones, Androids and Blackberries. You can scan codes, save codes, launch URLs and save scanned contact info to your mobile contacts.
* QR App – a paid app that scans QR Codes using automatic detection and saves a history list
* QR Droid- this free Android app has the ability to scan QR Codes in portrait and landscape modes and can generate codes to enable a mobile user to share their contacts, bookmarks, apps, geolocations, and more.

1. QR Code Tracking Systems
It's important to monitor the performance of each of your QR codes using tracking systems. Tracking systems can give you real time information on how well consumers are responding to your QR Codes.

If you used a paid QR Code Generator you can get analytics as part of the package such as total number of scans, number of unique users, the gender of the scanner, their income levels, their ages, which mobile operating system they were using and the geographical location they scanned from.

You can also track your QR Codes using:

* Google Analytics- insert Google Analytics code into each of your landing pages to see how many visits that page is receiving

* URL Shortening Services- once you shorten your long URL before generating your code, you can use the URL shortening service to track the performance of that URL. There are a variety of free shortening services that also have tracking capabilities such as bit.ly. Another service is goo.gl that not only shortens your URL but also generates a QR Code for you and then provides detailed analytics.

* There are also specific QR Code Management systems that give you even more detailed analytic data. Code management systems make it easy to track multiple codes and create detailed comparison reports. For example if you are using codes across three different newspapers for the same campaign, a code management system will help you track and analyze each newspapers code usage and help you decide which newspaper delivers the best value for money. One such system is Delivr.

2. Mobile Website Creation Services

The final essential tool that makes the whole QR Code puzzle fit together is a mobile-optimized website. Your webmaster should be able to create one;it should have these key features:

* Buttons and links that are well-sized so that they are easy to touch
* Small images and solid colors for quick loading
* Tap to call links.
* Tap to email links.
* Tap to SMS (text).
* Google maps integration.
* Social sharing links.
* Links to Yelp, Flickr and other mobile-optimized sites.
* Links to YouTube and Vimeo (both mobile-optimized).

Thanks!

Using Mobile Marketing correctly to Advance Your Business

1. Know that Mobile and Computers Users Are Not The Same

Mobile users search online in a different way. They aren't on your internet site to research and thus download and read your PDF information. The vast majority of mobile phone users are usually searching online as a way to find common information because they are running errands all over town. Because of the compact phone display they may have they aren't interested in clicking all over your internet site to look for what they need. So an effective mobile site would have minimal but essential info right on the front web page.

2. Importance of Knowing Your Target Audience

Mobile promotion with text message messages exclusively operates if you transmit a new message to the correct folks. A few establishments make the miscalculation of treating Text (Short Message Service) like a mass advertising media rather than the targeting resource that it was intended to be.

Text message promotion ads let you employ certain demographic and also behavioral info in order to concentrate on particular buyer categories at certain times. “Targeting” indicates your current sales message is extremely strongly related to buyers, which usually results in a much more productive marketing campaign on the whole.

Therefore to be able to benefit from the best usage of mobile phone marketing, you should definitely carefully target your potential market.

3. It Is A Mistake To Use SMS For Hard Sales Tactics

Mobile is a good strategy to connect with customers, however , if all your communication with them is normally hard-selling, then chances are you will lose the majority of of your online subscribers. Most companies help to make the blunder of spamming buyers by using hard sales pitches which supply simply no value for the buyer.

Quite a few transmit consistent mail messages pertaining to unimportant goods and many press the same services repeatedly until eventually they turn into a real irritation.

Don’t turn out to be one of those. Alternatively, you should give value to your consumers as a result of all your mobile marketing activities. In the event that shoppers feel as if they really are benefiting from the text promotion relationship they are going to agree to in addition to accept it. Otherwise, your time and effort may potentially damage your brand.

4. Mobile Marketing Is Most Effective When Used With Other Advertising

Even though mobile promotion strategies are generally helpful when implemented on their own, they carry much more power when they're employed as an element of a strong all round marketing program. If you happen to be employing website advertising, marketing via email, or even TV promotions in addition to local newspaper promotions, mobile advertising can easily possibly be a good solid excellent fit for you to incorporate with those strategies.

As an example, you can utilize short codes as part of your call to action during TV ads, radio commercials, and also classified ads. Not only that, but you can easily also put your business’s QR (Quick Response Code) on your other sorts of marketing and advertising activities. Customers could scan your QR code by using their mobile devices and end up being taken directly to your website, get a hold of an instant discount coupon, or even just receive a virtual tour of your organization!

5. Using SMS One Way Marketing For Best Effect

Mobile phone marketing is an excellent approach for you to connect back and forth with customers, but a majority of of local business owners make use of it as a uninteresting one-way conversation method. That's a big miscalculation! Mobile marketing and advertising is really an effortless way for you to connect to people rather than “sell” to your potential customers.

Your current opt-in list will certainly appreciate this a lot more as well as feel as if you happen to be creating a connection together with them. After they “like” and also “trust” you, that’s when they’ll get started shopping from you. As an illustration, you'll be able to connect with these folks by means of asking them to text message in some sort of idea with regard to an item in connection with your company. Many people will certainly feel more interested in addition to will probably end up being much more responsive to all or any of your advertising mail messages when you mix things up slightly as well as make it possible for all of them chat back to you.

How to Link Your Mobile Phone to Your Facebook Account

In this busy world where you have to juggle a dozen things at the same time, being able to update your Facebook account from your mobile phone is a real time-saver that every local business owner would appreciate. Whether you’re on the road a lot or would like a more convenient way than logging into your personal computer to update your Facebook status, linking your mobile phone and your Facebook account is a definite must-do.

First of all, it’s important to note that you will be only able to access the full Facebook site on certain phones with full browsers (smart phones) such as:

– iPhone
– Nokia N series
– Blackberry
– Android
– Palm
– Advanced Sony Ericsson models

It is therefore important to check what functions your mobile phone can perform on the site.

So what exactly can you do from your mobile phone to your Facebook account?

You can send and receive Facebook Mobile Texts.
You can send mobile texts to update your status, send a message to a friend search for phone numbers, add friends by name or phone number, post wall messages, or upload photos and videos from your phone and post events.
Likewise you can receive text messages to your phone about notifications for friend requests, messages, wall posts, and status updates from your friends.
However you will need to first register your phone to activate this function. You can do this by clicking on the Mobile tab in your Account Settings and following the prompts.

You can upload photos, video files and notes

There are two ways to do this:

At the bottom of your home page, look for the bookmarks link
Click ‘photos’ then the ‘upload photos’ link
Pick a photo to upload from your phone by clicking the ‘choose file’ button.
Write some text for the photo in the ‘photo caption’ box
Click ‘upload’
Or
You can email or text the photo or video to your personalized Facebook email address and it will be loaded onto your account.

You can edit your privacy settings: namely Basic Directory Information, Block List, Public Search, and Sharing on Facebook.