Here is Google's take on mobile marketing:
Here is Google's take on mobile marketing:
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.
What Is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is a very effective form of advertising products and services to potential customers through mobile communication systems. Mobile marketing can be done in several ways such as using SMS, MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), Internet, Mobile applications etc. SMS marketing is one of the easiest and most popular way of reaching new audiences of different ages groups. It's cheaper than other means of marketing, both for the marketer and the customer or consumer. Mobile applications can be developed and listed in application stores for users to download. These applications will then serve as a medium for businesses to reach their customers and advertise their products. The internet can also be used for mobile marketing by creating websites that are mobile friendly i.e websites that are optimized for mobile viewing.
INTERESTING MOBILE STATISTICS
These are some interesting mobile statistics and trends that will give you insight into the potential behind mobile marketing.
1. The total world population was estimated to be 6.8 billion people. Out of the 6.8 billion people on the planet, up to 5.1 billion of them own a mobile phone.
2. The amount of mobile subscriptions currently surpasses the amount of mobile phone users in some countries. This is due to the fact that some people have more than one mobile phone.
3. Out of the mobile searches being done each day, 70% of them lead to an action within one hour.
4. It takes just 90 seconds for the average cell phone user to respond to text messages and 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email.
5. 95 million Americans own at least one smartphone.
6. The number of people using their mobile phones to check their email is increasing while the number for people using their PCs to check their email is declining.
The numbers mentioned above are estimates.
EFFECTIVE MOBILE MARKETING TOOLS
There are many mobile marketing tools that can be used to grow your business. These are the most effective ones.
1. Location based services like facebook places and foursquare are social media applications. They allow businesses to offer promotions on their products and services and this will in turn help them get more loyal customers. Through location based services, customers can check-in to your business and also notify their friends of their present location.
2. Email marketing has been a very effective marketing tool for a long time. Now it can be used for mobile marketing considering the fact that the number of people using their phones to read their emails is on the rise.
3. Text messaging or SMS marketing makes it possible to send discounts and promotional messages to customers on their cell phones. One of the main advantages of using SMS is the fact that the read rate is high and most people read their messages immediately they are received.
4. Mobile websites: There are two ways you can approach this. You can either create a mobile website which is usually a lighter version of your website or make your website easier to view and navigate on mobile devices. Mobile websites are better because customers will quickly find the information they want.
Mobile marketing is a good marketing platform to grow your business, your customer base, and your profits. Before you start a campaign, you have to do some research and learn certain strategies. Software tools can also make things easier.
What Is A Mobile App?
You've probably heard the term APP over the last couple years and may have felt "out of the loop" so to speak. Well that's probably because you don't own a smart phone, because if you did, you would have a lot of "APPs" on it. APPs is an abbreviated term for applications, or formerly known as software programs. The term "APPs" became widely accepted after Apple opened their APP Store that offered for sale - games, music, and software programs for its iPhone and iPod devices. But now “APPs” is ubiquitous among all smart phone producers and software designers.
As far as a mobile app is concerned they are generally smaller, less intensive programs that can be installed on a user's smart phone. Many smart phone users have dozens of these APPs installed on their smart phone. Because of the streamlined programming for these apps, quickly opening and closing them, one after the other is a common practice and is inherently characteristic of all OS platforms.
Let's take the iPhone for example. When you first purchase one there are actually a few mobile apps installed already. A browser for example, which will allow you to surf the Internet. Apple owns their own browser called Safari and it's on all iPhones. There are also other standard APPs on the iPhone such as the calendar, a clock, a YouTube browser, a compass, and a calculator. The world of APPs is really pushed by the software programmers that develop new applications based on one or more OS platforms. The most popular mobile APPs work on all mobile platforms including the iPhone, blackberry, and Android smart phones.
Some of the more popular mobile APPs come from existing online businesses that create APPs that help with traffic and usage of their website. Twitter and Facebook each have their own APP that you can download on any phone, which will allow a more simplistic user interface specifically designed for use on small touch screens. There are also book reading APPs from Apple itself called iBooks, and Kindle has its own APP as well allowing you to read books from Amazon on your cell phone!
You could probably go to any of your favorite websites, news organizations, or games and find an application for them. CNN, NBC, the New York Times, they all have one. And it's not just reading because a lot of these APPs are real tools. Some of which you can talk to, draw or paint on - at least in a digital sense - create music, and learn from via video training or other online courses. Need a recipe? Yep - you can download recipe programs that help you decide what to make based on what's in your fridge. Need to squeeze in a quick practice game of chess before your next class? There's lots of chess games in the APPs store, and the business of creating games for mobile APPs is actually a massive industry unto itself.
One of the reasons why these apps are so popular is because they're usually pretty inexpensive to buy, some of them even free. Sure you can spend maybe 20 or 30 bucks for a few of them but most are around $0.99 to $5. That makes it pretty easy for the consumer to buy these mobile APPs thus creating more sales and consistent profits for smart phone manufacturers.