.mobi Monetization of Dot Mobi

[Rubber Duck]

Can anyone put forward a coherent explanation of how this is to be achieved?

The way things stand at the moment it appears to me that even assuming that everything go according to the way the dot Mobi Registry envisage it that there are major if not insurrmountable hurdles to clear in order to monetize traffic in the way that we currently understand monetization with dot coms.

Does anyone here have any useful insights on this, or has this aspect of things with this extension simply been forgotten in the general clamour?

 

[fautebol]

I do not have any insights. But why do you limit monetization to "the way that we currently understand monetization with dot coms"?

Clearly there is a disatvantage with the size of the screens. But there are also advantages:

-a mobile phone is more of a personal object than a PC. Advertisment appears more personal which is very good.

-with a mobile phone, you can track from where someone access your site and give very local answers. :imho: this is a major improvement. Type restaurants through a PC. You will have to search and type where you want to eat and you are not necessarily ready to eat. Type restaurants with a Mobile Phone in a few years. Certainly, it will give you first the restaurants that are exactly around you. Then either the user can make its resevation from your site, or you can send him an sms with a discount.

For example, I registered snowchains yesterday for 18$. Do I believe I will be able to sell many snow chains online through a mobile phone. No. Do I believe that it needs more development that a dotcom? Yes. But now you are outside with your cellphone and your car and need snow chains. You type it and the site should tell you where you can buy them the closest to where you are. Discount through an SMS or whatever and I guess the seller will be happy. What interests me the most with mobile web is not online sales, but the possibilty to give very immediate local answers on a global scale.

Comparing too much with dotcom seems to be the same error that was made by many in the 90s. It will not necessarily be limited to what we know now.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Some good info there. Summarising:

1) Accurate and very localise Geotargetting. Big plus point.

2) Better targeted personal advertisement

3) Not comparable with Dot Com, needs more development

Can't really argue too much with any of those, but not sure that any of this is specific to dot Mobi. The problems as well as the advantage seem to be tied to the Medium rather than the extension itself.

I think the biggest problem in the short-term is going to arise from the fact that most Adwords subscribers will not be mobile compatible for the foreseeable future and will feel cheated if they are being charged for Ads that the browser cannot see properly.

There is also the argument that mobile clicks may not be worth the same amount as PC clicks. Some of course depending on the product or service may be worth a lot more. Breakdown Services is one that springs immediately to mind. Many of course will be worthless. What has Google and other Ad supplier actually done to date to differentiate between Mobile and PC browsing when selling Ads to their customers?

From the average domainer's point of view, if the assumption is to buy these as just another extension and then try to park or develop as mini-sites in the expectation of short-term revenue, then I forsee huge problems.

 

[izo-pod]

What worked for your dot com's as far as monetization won't work the same for dot mobi....that is a given.

Personally, I think the amount of money to be made from your dot mobi names (if they are generic/short/logical mobi destinations) could be extremely lucrative if you get in on the ground floor.

Since the mobile phone represents so many things to us (communication device, locator, entertainment, educator, photo album, tune box... the list goes on) one should tailor their monetization efforts around these activities.

Since the mobile phone is afterall the #1 communication device why not use "texting" to generate profit. American idol (the show) does this extremely well... Provide entertainment, then at the end... cause people in massive #'s to "text' their answers in for $X a time.

Why not have a 1-900# type operation set up whereby a person could pay for "premium" locator services. Have spanish and english reps on hand that could work as "contractors" from their homes.

Mobile Pay is going to be huge in 2008---Most people anymore act impulsively when buying things. It's usually an emotional buy. That is why pictures on the cell phone and ringtones are so huge. Now couple these two activities with the ability to "pay" for it on the spot and you have a legal license to print money.

Should I go on? Keep this in mind: Business models will change constantly. Voice services is an area of business that will grow in time, and when that happens, look out. How easy will it be to say: Dominoes, Large Pepperoni Pizza, 123 Anywhere St, Auth Code: 347. At the end of the call the consumer is asked if they would like to purchase anything else from a slew of companies...Ala Godaddy Techniques.

I will say this. Mobile sites whether you use a .com or a .mobi should do something and well. Very little patience for sites that just have "ads" in the beginning. Tease 'em if you are going to do that. (think "texting")

Hope that helped.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Thanks that is quite instructive. Of course none of this is necessarily specific to dot mobi, but seems to be more applicable to mobile browsing in general.

What does seem to be coming across is that to monetize a dot mobi effectively, presuming they successfully ingrained into the public psyche will require a business model, rather than just the presumption of parking or Adwords Mini Sites.

 

[mobidick]

Interesting discussion guys... not sure how useful I can be anymore at this hour (in my parts), but can't resist.

From the average domainer's point of view, if the assumption is to buy these as just another extension and then try to park or develop as mini-sites in the expectation of short-term revenue, then I forsee huge problems.

This idea of mini-sites is actually what drives .mobi as an extension in my view. The mobile web is in its infancy - we have to think longer term...

those who look ahead are scrambling to put together compelling mobile content and apps, because when those data plans come down to reasonable levels, the demand will surely be there. More content/apps -> more users -> more advertising -> more content/apps... think snowball effect! .mobi may serve as a catalyst, or it may get adopted as the standard tld for small-screen mobile device friendly sites.

Google, Yahoo, and MSN are all getting ready for that time when businesses wake up to the fact that they better have an effective mobile presence or lose market share. When this happens we may see an explosion of mobile-sites, and mobile-search engine listings. Text ads fit in very well - may be fewer, probably more locally driven.

In time, traffic will grow to levels that support parking, but those who get in early with developed sites stand the best chance to make lucrative gains in the next few years - consider youtube - pretty meaningless name, but great business idea - for me .mobi represents a chance to grab some cheap virtual realestate, but the greatest benefit may come from all the thinking I'm doing about mobile-oriented business models - maybe coming up with my own 'youtube' idea to sell to a bigger business.

 

[movingconcierge]

I don't know if this question can effectively be answered just yet. I don't think that all the minds that will eventually pounce on that idea have entered the market yet, or that the market is too green to reveal it's needs to be filled.

I have my grand ideas bubbling in my head, but that's all right now. In the meantime it will be develop for the greater good and wait for the monetization to reveal itself. Who ever thought that blogging could be so fruitful, but look at kontera and the like, and paid advertiser banners, etc. The world is chiefly a capitalist society. The money will come.

Great thread BTW...

Thanks that is quite instructive. Of course none of this is necessarily specific to dot mobi, but seems to be more applicable to mobile browsing in general.

What does seem to be coming across is that to monetize a dot mobi effectively, presuming they successfully ingrained into the public psyche will require a business model, rather than just the presumption of parking or Adwords Mini Sites.

 

[Rubber Duck]

What worked for your dot com's as far as monetization won't work the same for dot mobi....that is a given.

Personally, I think the amount of money to be made from your dot mobi names (if they are generic/short/logical mobi destinations) could be extremely lucrative if you get in on the ground floor.

Since the mobile phone represents so many things to us (communication device, locator, entertainment, educator, photo album, tune box... the list goes on) one should tailor their monetization efforts around these activities.

Since the mobile phone is afterall the #1 communication device why not use "texting" to generate profit. American idol (the show) does this extremely well... Provide entertainment, then at the end... cause people in massive #'s to "text' their answers in for $X a time.

Why not have a 1-900# type operation set up whereby a person could pay for "premium" locator services. Have spanish and english reps on hand that could work as "contractors" from their homes.

Mobile Pay is going to be huge in 2008---Most people anymore act impulsively when buying things. It's usually an emotional buy. That is why pictures on the cell phone and ringtones are so huge. Now couple these two activities with the ability to "pay" for it on the spot and you have a legal license to print money.

Should I go on? Keep this in mind: Business models will change constantly. Voice services is an area of business that will grow in time, and when that happens, look out. How easy will it be to say: Dominoes, Large Pepperoni Pizza, 123 Anywhere St, Auth Code: 347. At the end of the call the consumer is asked if they would like to purchase anything else from a slew of companies...Ala Godaddy Techniques.

I will say this. Mobile sites whether you use a .com or a .mobi should do something and well. Very little patience for sites that just have "ads" in the beginning. Tease 'em if you are going to do that. (think "texting")

Hope that helped.

I must admit it is extremely refreshing to see that some people are putting some serious thought into trying to predict future market direction.

I am a serious believer in the mobile browsing market having followed the Chinese Internet development for sometime. There are 400M mobile devices in China and it is one of the most advanced in the World. They have just adopted a new software standard that will enable them to input character as on a Wubi Keyboard. This will save them a billion dollar a year in software royalties alone.

I must admit I have reservations about dot Mobi, especial in terms of its market potential in the short-term which appears to have been massive over hyped since the flowers.mobi auction. I cannot make up my mind whether Rick is perpetrator or victim in all of this.

I do, however, believe that the current market hype which is not supported by short-term fundamental is very damaging. Longer-term of course if the extension gets imbedded in the public perception in the way that dot com has, then the sky is the limit. It is, however, probably quite a substantial if, as the presumption that such an extension is going to be essential for success in the mobile market seems to be invalid. It would seem that mobi is going to have to compete with other extensions including dot com.

 

[mjnels]

Of course none of this is necessarily specific to dot mobi, but seems to be more applicable to mobile browsing in general.

None of it is ever going to be specific to dot-mobi... of course it can be done with any other extention. that is not the point.

.info .com .net .tv .gd .jsjfdjf

doesnt matter what the extention is... what matters is that there is ONE recognizable extention that denotes without saying it: THIS site will work on a mobile device.

Think about it, sure .com and .info and .whatever can be used for mobile browsing... but if that is the case you better make sure that everytime a .com is advertised that it also says in the same breath "This site works on a mobile phone" How else would the customer know it works on a mobile device without being told it does? Easy, they try the site and see if it works... and if it does, GREAT! if it doesnt, wasted time and possibly bandwidth/money..

But what you and many other are suggesting is that everyone with a .com .org .net or .whatever site is going to automatically make their site mobile compliant just because its possible and they should do it--nice thought, but i doubt everyone will listen or care...

what the .mobi folks did was go around that whole mess, and start clean with ONE recognizable extention..so anyone who wants to make their site mobile compliant can sign up fresh.. and since it is a brand new extention, suddenly ALL these great, short, catchy keywords are once again available that were long long gone in .com and other extentions..

Consistency! That is what the dot-mobi folks are trying to create.. otherwise EVERYONE would have to make their current .com site mobile complaint.. and that, my friend, is a pipedream for the time being.

 

[fautebol]

sure that any of this is specific to dot Mobi. The problems as well as the advantage seem to be tied to the Medium rather than the extension itself.

Of course none of this is necessarily specific to dot mobi, but seems to be more applicable to mobile browsing in general.

Absolutely. I was answering about monetization of mobile web. One thing is the future of mobile browsing, the other is the future of .mobi as a standard and an extension.

Nice that you started this thread. Great to have some real discussions between people that are more skeptical or optimistic about .mobi and/or mobile web.

(EDIT: Wrote before reading mijnels message.)

 

[-db-]

Great thread. I'm still digesting it all, and there are lots of great posts by everyone, but I will start with the first posted reply to the topic I read, which was from fautebol.

-a mobile phone is more of a personal object than a PC. Advertisment appears more personal which is very good.

For example, I registered snowchains yesterday for 18$. Do I believe I will be able to sell many snow chains online through a mobile phone. No. Do I believe that it needs more development that a dotcom? Yes. But now you are outside with your cellphone and your car and need snow chains. You type it and the site should tell you where you can buy them the closest to where you are. Discount through an SMS or whatever and I guess the seller will be happy. What interests me the most with mobile web is not online sales, but the possibilty to give very immediate local answers on a global scale.

An inspiring post for me, it really got me thinking. Thank you fautebol.

A long time ago, I compared a .Mobi web site to an online billboard or business card, and your post reminded me of that direction of thought again. You see, back then I was only thinking this was a 'bad' thing, because of limited space and function. But now, with your example of the guy in his car, who suddenly gets hit with the idea of needing snow tires and can just take his phone from his pocket and get instant info... this brings to life (for me at least) a whole new way to look at this space.

:gl:

 

[ekal]

One thing is the future of mobile browsing, the other is the future of .mobi as a standard and an extension.

Absolutely. Two very different conversations.

Some brief thoughts:

1) Ads will need to be delivered in a much more sophisticated and geotargeted way than currently.

2) People will need to become accustomed to ads being the results. Mobile screens won't allow SERPs with ads on the side.

3) Some domains, such as washingmachines.mobi are going to be worth very little, because few people will be interested in researching major purchases on their cellphone and if they do they are more likely to do it via a major portal such as Google or the Yellow Pages.

For example, I registered snowchains yesterday for 18$. Do I believe I will be able to sell many snow chains online through a mobile phone. No. Do I believe that it needs more development that a dotcom? Yes. But now you are outside with your cellphone and your car and need snow chains. You type it and the site should tell you where you can buy them the closest to where you are. Discount through an SMS or whatever and I guess the seller will be happy. What interests me the most with mobile web is not online sales, but the possibilty to give very immediate local answers on a global scale.

I think this kind of action on the public's part requires the development of the vast majority of keyword .mobis, and the registry are going about it the right way so far.

 

[GeoOwners]

Can anyone put forward a coherent explanation of how this is to be achieved?

The way things stand at the moment it appears to me that even assuming that everything go according to the way the dot Mobi Registry envisage it that there are major if not insurrmountable hurdles to clear in order to monetize traffic in the way that we currently understand monetization with dot coms.

Does anyone here have any useful insights on this, or has this aspect of things with this extension simply been forgotten in the general clamour?

from my post called "mobile marketing"


a friend of mine found this and sent it to me...from "restauantBizz" website...


"The next week, Caribou Coffee stepped in and offered a free cup to anyone who brought in a Starbucks coupon.

New Rule #5

Go mobile (and get those cell phones buzzing)

What can a restaurant owner learn from “American Idol?” If you want quick customer response, the tool is right there in your pocket: a cell phone. Say you’re running a special offer. Mobile marketing lets you spread the word via text or multimedia message. The idea? Cement customer loyalty by speeding those special offers to a select group: those who’ve “opted in” by text-messaging your restaurant to get on your list.
“What’s unique about mobile is the opportunity to get the right information to the right person at the right time,” says Jeff Ostiguy, vice president of mobile marketing firm g8wave in Boston. “You can’t be sure someone’s going to get an email in time.”
Commercial text messages are already big in Europe, where most print ads now include a five-digit mobile short code right next to a Web address. But U.S. brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Dove and Simon & Schuster are catching on, and so are some small restaurants.
In Iowa City, Iowa, Innovative Mediums keeps databases for several local eateries, from 100 to 500 mobile numbers. A restaurateur logs onto a Website and types in a message. A computerized system sends it out at the appointed time. In 10 seconds, the ad has reached everybody on the list.
Compared to email, the service isn’t cheap, but it’s competitive with print, radio and TV. Innovative has a base charge of $250 a month, plus 20 cents for every message sent, so a 100-person broadcast runs $20.
Most restaurants use the cell phone as an electronic coupon, with customers showing their phones to display the message when they arrive. “Free stuff is the most effective kind of offer,” says Innovative’s CEO Adam Kuperman. “People show up, get one special at the beginning of the football game and spend three more quarters hanging out.”
Having a slow day? “You can mail your list to say, ‘Come in for dinner and get a free appetizer,’” says Ostiguy. “If it’s a rainy day, you can put out a coupon for 20 percent off a takeout order.”
Just don’t overdo it, he warns. “For loyal diners, you can send one or two messages a week without turning anybody off.” "
__________________

 

[Rubber Duck]

I can certainly see how subscribers could send out text adds on mobiles.

Image running your restaurant and having a lot of empty tables, it might be possible to send a text add to everyone within a 500metre radius, and indeed invite them with a discount voucher.

The problem I have that is this is fine if you have a restaurant or other similar business, but it has much more to do with IP geolocation, than it does to do with domains or extensions.

As the non-owner of a restaurant or other real-life business, how does any of this really help your average domainer, unless he is going hit the pavement and try to sell his web domains to all those Ma and Pops outfits, that we are talking about.

Chances are they are already going to fixed up with all the advertising they ever need via a some text advert system. All this may be internet related, but they might not even have a PC, a website or a domain name, and might equally never need one.

 

[ekal]

Also sounds like a recipe for the explosion of mobile spam.

Advertisers will need to develop smart ways to get people to opt-in.

They now have credit cards that you can wave in front of a screen and pay automatically. Maybe people will be able to swipe their phone to sign up for services.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Also sounds like a recipe for the explosion of mobile spam.

Advertisers will need to develop smart ways to get people to opt-in.

They now have credit cards that you can wave in front of a screen and pay automatically. Maybe people will be able to swipe their phone to sign up for services.

Yes, when I become super rich the Mobile Phone is the first thing that is going!

 

[fautebol]

I think this kind of action on the public's part requires the development of the vast majority of keyword .mobis, and the registry are going about it the right way so far.

I agree with both comments. For someone to start looking for snowchains with a cellphone, he would have looked previously for restaurants, hotels, cinemas, etc... If these names are not developed, mine will be worth zero.


(PS: Thanks -db-. I started this in October and made bad choices -always thinking I had just registered a winner-. NP has really helped me and it sincerely flatters me if this was helpful to you.)

 

[ekal]

Can anyone put forward a coherent explanation of how this is to be achieved?

A very pertinent original question.

One way might be for a parking company to utilize huge databases of local companies and make them available to the public in return for their cut.

Thats the only way I can imagine individual domainers getting in on the local search action.

 

[ezinaz]

Three words...

PAY PER CALL

Pay-per-call clicks will end up paying more than pay-per-click clicks because it is a better lead for the business. I believe the bulk of the early mobile use will be as a yellow pages, and .mobi sites will make their money from the referral of customers via pay-per-call.

I wonder who registered paypercall.mobi?

An article on pay-per-call:
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3484621

Google's vision for pay-per-call:
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3566506

 

[iNod]

In placed like Italy text messages are the way they spam you. No more phone or mail because it is too expensive over there. You can signup a brand new number and within 1 hour after you signup you will receive a text message for something. So I REALLY see a future for mobile advertising in the way of text messages.

Also as many people said, the 1-900 number is also a wonderful way to make money. Than also comes the ability to geo target. Like if you are in Vancouver (big city in Canada) and you walk down the road. Maybe you will get an ad for the newest store in town or something. Like those flyers on the side of the telephone pole might become implanted somehow and when you walk by you could automatically receive all them onto your cellies.

An idea, there are millions of ways to make money on cell phone.

- Steve