I'm not sure what everyone has been doing with their websites, irregardless if it's a .mobi or not, but I have emersed myself in the mobile world. Instead of getting news off the PC web, I've forced myself (ok not really) to "surf" the mobile web. Every store I go into now, I look to see if the store has a working "mobile" site. I've been getting the weather and sports off my mobile as well...
I figured by doing this, I would fast forward myself into the future, when everyone will be accessing info from their mobile. I'm in the process of developing several .com mobile sites. They are MUCH easier to develop then a regular site (let me tell you). NOTE: With my .com sites, I've developed an ICON which will appear next to the URL in all adverts. This will let the user know my site is MOBILE ONLY. It's like having mobi as an extension, but not really.
What have I learned.
1) The most important thing to understand about the mobile internet is that it's not made to surf, like you would the PC internet. So when you design keep this in mind. It's a bit comical to say the least to see these new browsers come to market--those that let you "surf" the regular net!!--lol. (You would only understand how stupid this is if you use a mobile device on a regular basis. There are some things that were just made for each other and WAP sites coupled with the Mobile Device was meant for each other. BIG reason is we don't like to change and we don't want to have to "work" to get things.
2) I don't like scrolling a lot. On my .com sites I use the "accesskey" tag in my html so all a person has to do is hit the corresponding number key to activate that particular hyperlink. If Apple (Safari) and Microsoft (Deepfish) thinks I'm going to "scroll" to zoom in to read an article on a small device, they have a rude awakening. Hey, I'll do it once, maybe twice, but if I want to really surf the net, I'll do it on a laptop or PC thank you. I read the news on the way to work while driving or even walking so "zooming" in to see something is out of the question.
3 Content is important. Right now, I could care a less about name brand site names. If you have content I want (mostly technology related). I will make your site a favorite. It will stay at the top, ready to be clicked on.
4) Fresh content. Importante (impoor-tant-teh). Nothing I hate worse than old content on a mobile site. I'll remember you wasted my time and will generally not return.
5) I still haven't to this day, signed up to become a member of a site via my mobile device. Too much time involved there. I will however click-to-call to buy something, If and when I know for damn sure I'm not being charged $10 a minute to buy something. This is why I would suggest staying away from the click to call methods on your site for now. The best one I like was a link to verizon. All I had to do was click on a link to order a subscription. They would add the subcription to my bill
6) I think the killer app on the mobile phone will be the "easy pay" button, thingamajig. PayPal will no doubt come up with an easy way to order things via your mobile phone. They have the technology (big in Japan/China) to make this happen so it's only a matter of time.
7) It's not 1996, it's more like 1994. That means we are still about 2 to 3 years away before mass adoption, especially in the United States. The mobile web experience and content will get better as we progress
8) Don't do what everyone else is doing unless you have something compelling for people to come to. It doesn't have to be snazzy or media rich. Just doing something. TO be honest, I think Gimmicky could actually work right now. NOTE: It's a lot easier to create free buzz right now on the mobile web vs the PC web since there are less parties involved. One of the ideas I have on the backburner is to create a "virtual" band site. The name of the band will be called, "xxxxxx" ---As you would guess there will be stuff for sale on the site, etc. Just need some volunteers to come up with the "sound" for "xxxxxx".
9) The more I use the mobile web to get/access info, the less I spend "surfing" the PC web. This is really going to hit the Domainer community--those involved in PPC sites. Now I don't represent 2 billion phone users, but I can say once I read something, I'll be damned if I read it again on another platform. Yes, the internet TV is coming on board, but that is a whole different duck. People are going to be careful in there searches on such a public platform. Every market needs to take note of "sea changes", and I'm stating for the record, that the domainer community should take note
10. Last but not least. The more I use the mobile net the more I'd be open to advertisements. I prefer solid color banner ads (top of screen). If the color is soft, I'm all for it. If we start seeing obnoxious ads (anything bright yellow or pink) I think that website would be blacklisted. Have I clicked on any ads yet? Yes, and the only ones are the ones that provide a service that I might be interested in. Subscriptions I think are going to be huge.
Hope that sheds some liight on things.
I figured by doing this, I would fast forward myself into the future, when everyone will be accessing info from their mobile. I'm in the process of developing several .com mobile sites. They are MUCH easier to develop then a regular site (let me tell you). NOTE: With my .com sites, I've developed an ICON which will appear next to the URL in all adverts. This will let the user know my site is MOBILE ONLY. It's like having mobi as an extension, but not really.
What have I learned.
1) The most important thing to understand about the mobile internet is that it's not made to surf, like you would the PC internet. So when you design keep this in mind. It's a bit comical to say the least to see these new browsers come to market--those that let you "surf" the regular net!!--lol. (You would only understand how stupid this is if you use a mobile device on a regular basis. There are some things that were just made for each other and WAP sites coupled with the Mobile Device was meant for each other. BIG reason is we don't like to change and we don't want to have to "work" to get things.
2) I don't like scrolling a lot. On my .com sites I use the "accesskey" tag in my html so all a person has to do is hit the corresponding number key to activate that particular hyperlink. If Apple (Safari) and Microsoft (Deepfish) thinks I'm going to "scroll" to zoom in to read an article on a small device, they have a rude awakening. Hey, I'll do it once, maybe twice, but if I want to really surf the net, I'll do it on a laptop or PC thank you. I read the news on the way to work while driving or even walking so "zooming" in to see something is out of the question.
3 Content is important. Right now, I could care a less about name brand site names. If you have content I want (mostly technology related). I will make your site a favorite. It will stay at the top, ready to be clicked on.
4) Fresh content. Importante (impoor-tant-teh). Nothing I hate worse than old content on a mobile site. I'll remember you wasted my time and will generally not return.
5) I still haven't to this day, signed up to become a member of a site via my mobile device. Too much time involved there. I will however click-to-call to buy something, If and when I know for damn sure I'm not being charged $10 a minute to buy something. This is why I would suggest staying away from the click to call methods on your site for now. The best one I like was a link to verizon. All I had to do was click on a link to order a subscription. They would add the subcription to my bill
6) I think the killer app on the mobile phone will be the "easy pay" button, thingamajig. PayPal will no doubt come up with an easy way to order things via your mobile phone. They have the technology (big in Japan/China) to make this happen so it's only a matter of time.
7) It's not 1996, it's more like 1994. That means we are still about 2 to 3 years away before mass adoption, especially in the United States. The mobile web experience and content will get better as we progress
8) Don't do what everyone else is doing unless you have something compelling for people to come to. It doesn't have to be snazzy or media rich. Just doing something. TO be honest, I think Gimmicky could actually work right now. NOTE: It's a lot easier to create free buzz right now on the mobile web vs the PC web since there are less parties involved. One of the ideas I have on the backburner is to create a "virtual" band site. The name of the band will be called, "xxxxxx" ---As you would guess there will be stuff for sale on the site, etc. Just need some volunteers to come up with the "sound" for "xxxxxx".
9) The more I use the mobile web to get/access info, the less I spend "surfing" the PC web. This is really going to hit the Domainer community--those involved in PPC sites. Now I don't represent 2 billion phone users, but I can say once I read something, I'll be damned if I read it again on another platform. Yes, the internet TV is coming on board, but that is a whole different duck. People are going to be careful in there searches on such a public platform. Every market needs to take note of "sea changes", and I'm stating for the record, that the domainer community should take note
10. Last but not least. The more I use the mobile net the more I'd be open to advertisements. I prefer solid color banner ads (top of screen). If the color is soft, I'm all for it. If we start seeing obnoxious ads (anything bright yellow or pink) I think that website would be blacklisted. Have I clicked on any ads yet? Yes, and the only ones are the ones that provide a service that I might be interested in. Subscriptions I think are going to be huge.
Hope that sheds some liight on things.
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