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.
Woodbury, Connecticut is a small town in New England in the United States. It’s known as a weekend getaway and a great place to find antiques. Although Woodbury claims nostalgic charm, it’s newest addition, Woodbury.mobi is modern and high tech.
The site uses device detection, which means that if you visit the site from a computer it will look different than if you visit it from a smartphone. The desktop interface is crisp and simple, with attractive icons throughout. The business directory is sizeable and expanding, proving there is a local marketing audience for mobile-based geographical (geo) .mobi sites. The mobile version is attractive and easy to navigate, and resembles a well-designed iPhone app. (Note: mobile sites are also known as “web apps” now).
Woodbury.mobi comes right out and tells the readers a philosophy we’ve held at mobiEnthusiast.mobi for quite some time. Desktop sites are good for computers, but mobile sites are a must for handheld devices and smartphones:
Have you ever visited a website that was made for a PC or MAC on your mobile phone? Chances are you had to pinch and zoom to view the content or the information was completely jumbled up. Personally, we find that distracting when all you want to do is find information quickly and easily at first glance. What we’ve done here at woodbury.mobi is we’ve taken the information that is most important to our visitors and tailored the content to fit the size of your phone. The next time you’re travelling (not while you’re driving) or have your mobile phone handy, visit our website from your mobile phone’s web browser at www.woodbury.mobi
Woodbury.mobi contains the following categories:
Things to do
Weather
Food and Drink
Antiques
Real Estate
Lodging
All Businesses (Business Directory)
All in all, I would look to Woodbury.mobi as a benchmark for what a local mobile directory can offer. It is independently owned and not affiliated with any official government or municipal agency.
Thank you to Woodbury.mobi for participating in the mobiEnthusiast Japan Earthquake relief effort. A donation was made by the developer to the Americares Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Fund.
Attention Mobile Developers, Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
As the mobiEnthusiast, I purchased my first mobile (.mobi) domain name in 2007. It was an exciting day, and I had a vision for how the world would be able to access the internet from their phone and not be tied to a computer. I thought hard about the kinds of sites that would be worthwhile for people, and what kind of information they would need. Then I stopped in my tracks. I didn’t have the technical skills to pursue my passion for the mobile web.
Flash forward to 2010. I have more development skills, but my design skills are still lacking. My favorite development platform is WordPress, and yet, the options for mobile web have still been limited for most people by a brick wall of a learning curve for xhtml, php and css. WordPress is first and foremost a blogging platform, and so by definition, it is going to show dates for updates and require constant attention to keep it fresh for the search engines.
Finally, last month, I found a developer who has the experience to use device detection and the design skills to make the site look current. As of April 2010, there is a new WordPress Mobile Theme that will allow you to make a full mobile site without the constant updates required for blog posts. If you are a mobile domain name investor, this is a no-brainer. Yes, this is an affiliate link, because I believe so strongly in the product that I think my readers ought to have it, too. If you know me, I am very picky about what I will promote and make sure it works.
I worked very closely with the developer and have tested it myself on one of my sites that is in development. This is a very exciting day for people who want to build full websites for phones who are short in the technical and design skills department.
You may have noticed an ad over on the sidebar for SDCA.mobi. You may also notice that the site is a bit of a mess right now. That’s actually my site, and it’s a mess because I am taking my own advice and creating new, relevant information that people in San Diego might want to find on a mobile site. This latest version is being updated in response to the overwhelming popularity of a local Social Media contest that took over the San Diego Twitter community this month.
The contest is called “Champions of Social Media,” and thanks to you wonderful readers and a heck of a lot campaigning by my friends, I am in the finals for the contest in the “Blogger of the Year” category. You can learn more about this great community-building contest at InfluenceSD.com or by searching Twitter for the now-ubiquitous hashtag #InfluenceSD.
So, what does one have to do with the other? Simple. This contest has raised awareness of the sheer number of people involved with Twitter in San Diego. It’s pretty difficult to keep track of how many of us there really are. So, being the mobile web development proponant that I am, I’ve started tinkering with an already useful site, and have begun a beta test (well, it’s more like alpha just yet) to invite these newfound celebrities and friends to help each other find one another.
Are you in San Diego? Do you use Twitter? Do you live somewhere else and want to watch the progress of a mobile directory before your very eyes? If so, have a look at the site and join the brand-spanking-new SDCA Facebook Fan Page to find out more and to suggest some categories. Of course, you’re also welcome to suggest categories in the comments as well.
There’s a portfolio sale going on now at the Mobility.mobi forum.
The names on the post include:
Acquisition.mobi
Concert.mobi (Developed)
Fanclubs.mobi
Hiking.mobi
Lillies.mobi
MarketFutures.mobi
NewReleases.mobi
Outdoors.mobi
Policies.mobi
Scanners.mobi
Screening.mobi
Shortcode.mobi
Snorkel.mobi
Spreads.mobi
Trailer.mobi (Developed)
Trampstamp.mobi
WineRating.mobi
316.me
Baristas.mobi
Bias.mobi
Breeders.mobi
Buenas.mobi
Giselle.mobi
HauntedHouses.mobi
Mexicans.mobi
Mojito.mobi
Planners.mobi (Developed)
Referrals.mobi
RestStop.mobi
RoleModels.mobi
Screener.mobi
Senora.mobi
Senoras.mobi
Senoritas.mobi
TaxLaws.mobi
Uniforms.mobi
UNL.mobi
Wrestle.mobi
Wrestler.mobi
WSU.mobi
It’s an auction, so if you want these names you’ll need to act fast.
This listing is for information only. Mobienthusiast.mobi is not responsible for the auction listing from the forum, nor for the sale. This sale and any and all correspondence and terms are between the buyer and Mobility.mobi member MediaAdvantages.
Now that Afilias has purchased dotMobi, there is renewed discussion about whether or not .mobi can compete for mind share and market share with m. or mdot, the shorthand for made for mobile websites that start with m. in front of a brand’s primary web address.
“With the m-dot convention becoming the de facto standard for mobile Web addresses, it’s not clear how Afilias can suddenly generate fresh interest in the dot-mobi domain. Unless it can also revive the fortunes of Friendster at the expense of Facebook.” – Mark Walsh, MoBlog.com
Upon re-reading Mark’s quote, I don’t think it is an apples to apples comparison. Friendster was first, and Facebook came afterwards and passed it in the marketplace. .mobi was not there first, so it isn’t like it lost market share. It just never took off, or at least not yet.
If you’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, it strikes me that in the future, .mobi still could build momentum and eventually get to a tipping point of awareness if the right people started to care about it. That said, we are nowhere near the tipping point right now, and I think it could take another three years or so despite the fact that many people are yet again declaring 2010 “The year of the mobile web.”
This isn’t some pie in the sky idea. There is a recent precedent in the form of Twitter.
Twitter was around for years before most people even knew what it was, let alone the media phenomenon it is today. People called it a waste of time, a money loser, and worse (sound familiar?). Early adopters called those early days of fail whale sightings “Before Oprah,” which refers to the day mega-celebrity Oprah Winfrey announced that she would be tweeting on her show. Now I see twitter badges all the time on national television commercials, and I bet you do, too.
So, to everyone who sees mdot (as in m.something.com) as the default for how to access the internet on a mobile phone on the top social media and other high traffic sites, I’ll remind you of an important truth: just because something is on top right now doesn’t mean it will stay that way, especially in technology.
The tipping point will only happen if there is enough word of mouth in the right circles, so yes, it is important to continue to develop useful, popular sites in the .mobi namespace, and do whatever you can to get them to go viral.
It won’t happen by accident, though. And, it won’t happen overnight. It will build slowly as members of different communities start to notice developed .mobi sites that they like. Then, they will share it with one or two more people in their communities, and eventually, if enough good sites are built on .mobi, knowledge of .mobi will cross community lines, and eventually, celebrities will start to think it is a good idea and say so publicly.
Signs of Life in .mobi Promotion
Flymas.mobi has a killer of a viral promotion on Youtube right now. It’s user-generated content where people are trying to win free airplane tickets. Some of these videos are very funny. As a result of this contest, in Malaysia and other parts of the world served by Malaysia Airlines, you can bet they’ve heard of .mobi. More campaigns like this one can bring .mobi closer to the tipping point.
Afilias, I am not letting you off the hook for .mobi promotion. I’d like to see dotMobi move beyond the Business to Business strategy that left consumers in the dark about developed mobile sites. I’d like you to show bloggers and small business owners the possibility of registering great keywords at new registration prices.
That said, developers, get busy.
This post is included in Carnival of the Mobilists #212. Please visit the link and see what my mobile colleagues have to say.
Do you have a .mobi site with a viral video? Link it here in the comments (moderated). Let’s see what you’ve got!
The owner of Europe.mobi would like everyone to know that the domain name, currently on auction at Sedo, is not for sale. As best as anyone can tell, the owner, who is the proprietor of M.biz and the company New Media Frontiers, does not have a Sedo account, and the previous owner may not have removed it from his Sedo account, where it was accidentally sent to auction.
More details are available from the owner of Europe.mobi at the Mobility.mobi forum, where the owner has posted a warning not to bid on the auction.
