Does your mobile website have what it takes to be named Best of Industry, Outstanding Mobile Website or Outstanding Mobile App from the Web Marketing Association? If so, you best hurry up and enter the competition. The deadline is April 16.
It seems like every day I encounter small business owners and developers who are having trouble deciding which would be better, a mobile site or an app.
Earlier this year, the general consensus was that apps were the way to go, with very few people recommending mobile sites instead. Apps were still shiny and new, and iPhone commercials led the way. Most people reasoned that since you could see a website on an iPhone, there was no need to do anything differently. Read more »
Detroit, the Motor City, may be the best city to look for a job in the automobile industry, but if you are an iPhone Developer you are going to have a hard time finding work. If you don’t live in Detroit, don’t get too excited because there a few other major cities that have very low iPhone application developer jobs per the city’s population.
Beginning this year, mobile job board FoneGigs has been compiling a list of America’s easiest and hardest cities to find mobile developer and marketing jobs. Surprising, Read more »
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:
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.
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.
If you’re looking for coverage in a major online mobile marketing website, it greatly increases your chances if you first look at the site’s editorial calendar.
An editorial calendar is a roadmap of what articles have been assigned to be covered in a particular issue of a magazine website. If you have an app to promote, or a service, it’s best to try to match it up with an article that is already scheduled for publication.
Editorial calendars are usually published in December for the following year. Here’s the Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily editorial calendar.
If you search for more and are inclined to share, post them in the comments.
Good luck, and happy mobile marketing!
Last week I had an interesting exchange on Twitter with an Android developer. He wanted Android screen shots to show how his new product would look on an HTC Sensation.
Apparently this is easier said than done. I piped in and asked if you could just press a few buttons and have a screen shot like an iPhone. I guess not. Edit: Yes, you can push two buttons for a screen shot. Skip to the bottom if you want to find out how.
There is, however, an app available for the job. It’s Screenshot ER, and it will set you back £1.15 ($2.88 USD). I have not personally tried it since I don’t have an Android phone, but the phone has to be rooted to use it. That means it has to have an administrative account on the phone that has special administrative privileges.
For more information on how to root an Android phone, here’s a link to a list of videos on the subject on YouTube.
Thank you to Mauricio Reyes and Paul Roberts via his post on AndroidCommunity.com (not a mobile link) for the information on rooted phones.
Photo credit: HTC.com
Remember, if you want to talk to me on Twitter, I’m @mobileHolly. See you there.
Update: According to Douglas McDonald of Mobile @ Creston plc & Tullo Marshall Warren @DMcDonald01, there is an easier solution: “If you press home and back power at the same time it takes a screenshot and sticks it in screencapture in the gallery.”
I just knew it didn’t have to be that complicated, so thank for that info.
Do you have a mobile site? Does it appeal to others? If so, you could find it as a Mobile Site of the Day at our sister site, MobileSiteoftheDay.com.
This will eventually be a paid service, but during the beta period submissions are free. Here’s the criteria:
Submit your mobile site to MobileSiteOfTheDay.com/contact.
Good luck and let’s see some great mobile sites!
From our good friend Andy at mobiThinking, we’ve just been made aware of a contest that is “ridiculously easy” for UK Mobile people. Hurry, though – the deadline is 31 May 2011:
BLN Money in Mobile Award: it’s free and ridiculously easy to enter, deadline for entry May, 31 2011
Here’s a great opportunity for a young UK mobile company to get some free exposure and see how you measure up to your contemporaries. As part of the Money in Mobile Forum (London, June 14 2011), 10 companies will given the platform to pitch their companies in front of the conference audience and the competition judges (who include 16 venture capitalists). These pitches will also be recorded and posted on the Web. The winner will be the company that the judges conclude will be the one that is most likely to make money in mobile for its clients.
The frustrating thing about most competitions is that the judging usually takes place behind closed doors so the only people that get to hear your pitch are the judges (some competition organizers don’t even bother to publish details on their Websites of why the winners won), so this is an attractive format.
This has also got to be the easiest competition to enter. All you have to do is fill out your details and explain in 100 words how your business uses mobile to make money for other companies. Any mobile company can enter as long as they are a) privately held and b) have paying customers.
If you are one of the 10 short-listed companies you receive a free pass for the Money in Mobile Forum. What do you have to lose? Plus you have the chance to win the best-in-show award, an iPad and lot’s of exposure for your company.
Nominate your company by 12 noon GMT, May 31, 2001.
The competition judges include: Balderton Capital, DFJ Esprit, Fidelity Growth Partners, Octopus Ventures, Advent Ventures, Highland Capital, Accel Partners, Fidelity Growth Partners, Angels Seed Fund, Intel Capital, Vodafone Ventures, Balderton Capital, m8 Capital, Pentech Ventures, PROfounders Fund, MMC Ventures, Doughty Hanson, The BLN, NextWomen.com, Mobile Marketing Magazine and mobiThinking.
Speakers at the Money in Mobile Forum include: Tesco.com, Out There Media, comScore, Handmade Mobile, Snaptu, Amobee Media Systems, Mobile Interactive Group, Golden Gekko, INQ Mobile, InMobi, GetJar, GAMESbrief, Volume, Groupon, Ixonos, BOKU, Eagle Eye Solutions and eBay Classifieds.
Closer to the time mobiThinking will be running a competition to win free tickets for Money in Mobile Forum, so stay tuned.
So, you think you’re a mobile expert, eh? Prove it! Take the mobile quiz and find out if you really know all there is to know about mobile.
Hint: You might want to look through the mobiEnthusiast posts about Finland before answering question 10.
Good luck, and let us know how you did!
