Editor’s note: The webinar has ended and all links go to the product page.
As many of you know, I am very very picky about mobile sitebuilders. I get pitches to write about them all the time on mobienthusiast.mobi, and I have so far turned every one of them down because they are clunky and don’t work or make you use a subdomain or make you pay for the service every month without removing the company’s branding.
Yesterday I attended a webinar[edit: the webinar is over and now links to a product page with a how-to video from the webinar] hosted by my friends and mentors Jason Fladlien and Wilson Mattos. I know them personally, I have been coached by both of them and have paid a lot of money in travel fees and conference fees to see them speak because they are that good. Those of you who know me, know that I rarely attend conferences because I have small children at home and the investment had better be worth it for me to leave town.
The first half of the webinar is all about mobile and marketing and stats. The host, Jason Fladlien, gives slide after slide of marketing tips and techniques for why your clients should buy a true mobile site and not just one that has been modified for mobile with a WordPress plugin. I plan to use these strategies personally, as they make total sense to me.
The second part shows a mobile sitebuilder that has an emulator inside the WordPress dashboard, allows you to create icons on the fly without much editing, and has an interface that looks like the home page of an iPhone.
There will be a second webinar today at 12 noon Pacific Daylight time, and if you are interested in working with local businesses (or online businesses) without mobile sites, there are a lot of strategies here that you won’t want to miss. I would urge you to register for it even if it is the middle of the night in your part of the world, because they will email you a link to the replay.
I don’t remember everything I saw, but here are some of the things Jason touched on in the webinar and will likely cover again in the webinar today:
Mobile marketing
How to find clients
How to build a mobile site (he does it live)
Importance of keeping a site lightweight to load quickly and keep data costs low
Why not to use video and how to do it if you insist on using it anyway
How to make a header for a mobile site quickly and easily
Where to find icons
Q&A
I am sure I am forgetting something, but the overwhelming feeling I got looking at this mobile sitebuilder is that it has what I need and what I have been wanting personally for a long time. Let’s face it, it is very difficult work to make a mobile site work on a phone, and when you add tablets like the iPad into the mix, it’s very easy to throw your hands up in frustration and say, “ok, it’s just going to look like this.” Well, as a professional web designer, you can’t afford to do that when your reputation is on the line.
Disclosure: I am an affiliate for the product because I believe in the team, their customer support, and their refund policy. I only post products with affiliate links here if I have personally tested them or if I know the developer and have experienced their customer support and refund policy to be valid.
If you see this post after the webinar, contact me and let me know.
Editor’s note: This webinar has ended. Please subscribe to mobiEnthusiast.mobi to be informed of future webinars in advance.
My friends and mentors Jason Fladlien and Wilson Mattos make a lot of software for WordPress, and I’ve bought most of it. Not only that, they are world class sales pros, and really know how to put on a webinar.
Now they’ve created a product that uses WordPress to make simple mobile sites, and that could be just what you’re looking for as a mobile marketer, mobile developer, digital media agency or web developer.
Please join me for the mobile webinar and see for yourself if this would be a good way for you to add mobile marketing and mobile sites to your repertoire.
Bonus: mobile sites made with WordPress are a great small business alternative to pricey apps.
According to Gizmodo, somebody blew it. They left their super-secret iPhone prototype in a bar in Redwood City. Here’s what Gizmodo had to say:
You are looking at Apple’s next iPhone. It was found lost in a bar in Redwood City, camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS. We got it. We disassembled it. It’s the real thing, and here are all the details.
All I can tell you is after looking at the specs, I want one.
Mobile takes center stage at the 2010 South By Southwest Festival Interactive Track, which runs March 12 through March 16 at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, USA. The following is a partial list of seminars and training on the schedule.
What’s Hot in Mobile at SXSW
Maps 2010: How iPad Impacts the LBS Market
The UX of Mobile
Touch + The Holy Grail of Delight
Organizational Pitfalls on the Path to Multichannel Experience
Time + Social + Location. What’s Next In Mobile Experiences?
Mobile – the Great Channel Equalizer
iPad: New Opportunities for Content Creators
The Real Mobile Scoop – Agency, Manufacturer, and Carrier
Web Evolution: The Rise of Mobile, APIs and Runtimes
Is App-vertising the Answer
Augmenting Your Brain With Android
Google Hackathon: Mobile Maps, App Engine, Chrome Extensions
What If Your Phone Had Five Senses?
Cross Device Accessibility: Is This For Real?
Building Mobile Games on the Windows Phone Platform
Mobile Computing and it’s Contribution to Technology’s Exponential Growth
The Final (Mobile) Frontier: Battery Life in Africa
How We Built the SXSW Mobile App
Convergence 2010: Ten Cool Things That Could Happen This Year
Mobile Development with the Flash Platform: iPhone and More
Augmented Reality – Gimmicky Trend or Market-Ready Technology?
Pass it Back! Kid Apps on Grown-up Devices
Location Beyond iPhone: Locating 100+M Phones
Location-Based Marketing and Advertising: Targeting the Mobile Consumer
Mobile Content is Social
Mobile Advertising in 2010: How to Pay the Bills
QR Codes and 2D Barcodes: Bridging Physical & Digital
Mobile Commerce
Mapping and Geolocation: Turnkey Approaches You Need to Know
The full SXSW Mobile schedule (may not be viewable on some phones) includes information on presenters and a summary of what each session will cover.
While you’re there, check out the updated SXSW.mobi site for mobile access to the South by Southwest Festival.
Back when I was dating, the cardinal rule was to never phone after the first date until at least three days had passed. The phone was too personal for such a quick contact and you could be seen as too aggressive or worse, too desperate.
Times have changed. Now it is OK to use your phone for contact immediately after the first date, provided you don’t speak into it. Texting something pithy or witty that night, or the following day, can often be viewed as a positive addition to the dating experience.
Now let’s move to the end of the relationship. Breaking up over the phone is not as good as breaking up in person, but not nearly as bad as – OMG! – breaking up via text. Same phone. Same message. Completely different level of cultural acceptability.
We respond to text messages faster than emails, and BBMs faster than texts. Same Phone. Same message. Same textual appearance. Different accepted practice.
It is OK to whip out the phone (among some dining parties) at a restaurant to perform certain tasks – like looking up a sticking point in the conversation – but not others, like answering an email or playing a game. Same phone. Same amount of time “away” from the conversation. Different effect on your friends.
The list goes on and on. What is it about the mobile phone that generates this long list of rules and practices that is not present on our other media?
The mobile phone is not “the third screen.” It is a very personal, interactive, communication ecosystem of which the screen is just one visual component. The mobile phone has developed, and is continually developing, behavioral mores and cultural norms that have very serious implications for marketers. Violate one of those norms, and the consequences can be severe.
Marketers who continue to treat the mobile phone as yet another screen to “repurpose content” or as a quick campaign add-on to “target a hard to reach audience”, do so at their peril. It will be the brands that actively leverage the behavioral use patterns of the mobile phone and their attendant cultural norms that will succeed.
Marshall McLuhan said “The medium is the message” and he couldn’t be more right as it pertains to the mobile phone. The emerging customs, lifestyle behaviors and prevailing standards associated with the use of the mobile phone are unique, real and significant.
When mobile-specific behavior and culture is taken into account, the mobile phone shines as a brilliant addition to a well crafted overall brand marketing strategy – witness AT&T and American Idol.
When ignored, it can have the potential to undo the hard earned trust of the very same brand. AT&T found that out when it violated customer privacy expectations by using the American Idol list. And worst of all, most of the customers who chose to break up with the AT&T brand as a result, didn’t even bother to inform them by sending a text.
This post is one of the ten reasons why mobile advertising has not reached its potential. You can access the other nine at www.mobilemandala.com
GasFoodLodging.mobi provides locations and directions for gas stations, restaurants, and hotels right to a traveler’s mobile phone, iPhone, or Smartphone, without any additional software to download or buy.
Seattle, Washington — Road warriors of all varieties have a new tool to help them find essential services on their next road trip: http://GasFoodLodging.mobi. GasFoodLodging.mobi allows motorists to quickly, easily, and safely locate upcoming gas stations, restaurants, and hotels right from their mobile phone or laptop computer without the need to get out of the car or rely on strangers or maps. This is especially helpful if the traveler needs these services at night, in isolated areas, or in bad weather.
“Most people hate to stop and ask for directions, and now they don’t have to. GasFoodLodging.mobi can help any motorist avoid unpleasant surprises. This service is tailor-made for frequent road warriors, regional sales representatives, RV enthusiasts, families on vacation, or students on a road trip,” says David Gershman, entrepreneur and creator of the mobile website.
Here’s how it works:
1. Open the mobile phone browser to access the Internet
2. In the mobile browser’s address line, type http://gasfoodlodging.mobi (the address ends in .mobi, not .com) and connect to the site
3. Select either “City/State” or “ZIP Code” to begin the search
4. Select the gas, food, or lodging icon to get the type of business needed
5. Type the city name and select the state from the drop-down menu, or enter the nearest ZIP code, if you know it
6. Get extended results for a specific distance outside the city by entering a number of miles in the “Radius” box
7. Click “Find”
Results for each gas station, restaurant, or place to stay will appear, along with three links: one for a map, another for directions, and another with a phone number that has a “click to call” feature enabled. This allows the traveler to call the business without looking up the phone number or writing it down, simply by clicking on the phone link.
There is no charge to use the service, and all that is required is a phone with Internet access, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry, Smartphone, or other Web-enabled mobile phone. Motorists can also use the service from their laptop or netbook computer from any Wi-Fi hotspot.
“We’re asked all the time if GasFoodLodging.mobi is available as a downloadable App for the iPhone. It isn’t, but it is featured in the Apple Web Apps showcase. The beauty of GasFoodLodging.mobi is that it doesn’t need to be downloaded and take up hard drive space. It’s as easy as bookmarking it on the phone’s browser,” says Gershman.
About GasFoodLodging.mobi:
GasFoodLodging.mobi is based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is a free mobile website to help motorists and travelers throughout the United States. GasFoodLodging.mobi is specially designed as a .mobi website with fast load time, small graphics, and nothing to download.
Disclosure:
GasFoodLodging.mobi is a Public Relations client of Mobienthusiast.mobi. Mobienthusiast.mobi frequently publishes press releases for sites that are not clients at no additional charge if they fit the format of the blog.
Here’s something exciting for iPhone users: Free WiFi at participating Starbucks with AT&T hotspots. According to Kevin Shawver at the Starbucks Blog (computer link)(transcoded mobile link), here’s how to get started:
Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone
Select “attwifi” from the list of available networks
Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap ‘continue’
You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. You will not be charged for the text message.
The SMS link will be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hotspot location.
Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot
This does have some critics wondering why Starbucks is going this route, especially since iPhone users on the AT&T network can access the internet on their unlimited data plans via their mobile phone network. No mention was made of whether this service would apply to the iPod touch or other brands of mobile phones.
