Cindy Brown, Blue Moon Works, Inc., SEO
Cindy Brown, owner and CEO of the company Blue Moon Works wrote a great article that compares the mobile renderings of Denver’s major newspapers’ websites. It is a great article!Cindy Brown, Blue Moon Works, Inc., SEO
When Time Magazine cleverly placed reflective paper on it?s cover and selected ?You? as the Person of the Year, it was recognizing the explosive growth of online user generated content and social networking (what many fondly call Web 2.0). This important Web phenomenon allows individuals to make their mark in the online community without any web expertise at all ? but an even more interesting phenomenon for businesses, and one that most businesses can truly monetize, is the explosive growth of the mobile channel. Most businesses aren?t prepared, let alone aware this huge emerging opportunity to make their mark in the online community.
The mobile channel is simply Web access from mobile devices. With the growth in Internet enabled mobile devices or smartphones (Blackberries, Treos, hot Motorola Razr phones and more than 50 other brands and models), consumers are now accessing the internet through their phones more than ever. These mobile devices are affectionately referred to as the ?3rd screen? (the TV being the 1st screen and the computer being the 2nd screen). At the end of Q2 2006, there were 18.9 million smart mobile devices ? up 55% from the prior year. By the end of 2007, it is expected that 250 million Americans will have a mobile phone ? with a significant portion of the new mobile phones purchased this year being internet enabled.
Like the 1st and 2nd screen, the 3rd screen will become a vital channel for marketing and client interaction. This is true primarily because your mobile phone is always with you and it is always on. While wireless laptops are the ubiquitous tool for business professionals, the mobile phone is the ubiquitous tool for all consumers. Consumers can now gain access to information from anywhere: at home, in the car, on the Light Rail, in a plane on the runway, in the grocery store, and in the mall. Like the early days of the Internet, there is an initial set of popular applications for mobile smartphones. Besides downloading ring tones and getting video clips, mobile devices are now being used to get headline news, look up current sports? scores, check stock prices, flight times or traffic and weather conditions. Looking up a restaurant location or store address can be done while you are in the car on the way. Soon, savvy consumers will be going to price comparison sites to check the competitor?s price while shopping in the store. The use of the mobile Internet is expected to exceed current Internet usage and soon we will have to consider our ?m-commerce? strategy as part of our ?e-commerce? strategy.
Of course, there are hurdles and limitations facing this new phenomenon. Mobile phones have tiny screens, very compact keyboards, and browser display standards have not yet been established. But, as with any emerging channel or industry that succeeds, these limitations will be worked through as long as consumer and business demand continue to grow. There is already a well established industry association, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) whose global headquarters is here in Colorado. The MMA (http://www.mmaglobal.com/) is working hard to clear obstacles, establish standards and best practices, and to evangelize the mobile channel.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the global organization that develops standards for the Web, has launched the Mobile Initiative to make Web access from a mobile device as simple, easy, and convenient as Web access from a desktop device. To learn about mobile best practices, go to www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/.
What can your business do to leverage this new emerging channel? Be ready. Evaluate how your website is displayed and how easy it is to navigate on mobile devices. Determine if a visitor can easily accomplish specific tasks on your website when it is viewed on a mobile phone. If you are hoping to generate a lead, sell a product, provide a service, convey information, or encourage customer interaction with your brand, are you still able to do that when the site is viewed on a mobile device?
News is one of the most sought after forms of information in the mobile channel, so our 3 major daily newspapers should definitely begin preparing for the transition to mobile. Currently, if you try to read the headline stories in the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, or Daily Camera on a mobile device you will find that it is do-able, but rather difficult. The Daily Camera actually does the best job of being ?mobile ready? but could still use a number of improvements. The Denver Post and especially the Rocky Mountain News face an up hill battle to keeping up with The Daily Camera and need to quickly learn how to optimize their websites for mobile access.
If your website does not display well on mobile devices, then it also probably means that your website is not easily found in one of the mobile search engines. If your website is important to your business, then it is vital that you begin optimizing your site for mobile viewing and mobile search now, or prepare to be left behind as your competitors learn to leverage the new 3rd screen.