Debate continues on whether or not QR codes are worth the effort, and this article surfaces in the debate every so often: “Why QR Codes Won’t Last,” a blog post by Jon Barocas on Mashable.com.
John brings up some great points about the limitations of QR codes in favor of what he proposes to be its replacement, visual mobile search. The main problem with QR codes is that not very many consumers seem to know how to use them.
Before we jump into the future, though, let’s take a look at the past to find out why QR codes are accepted in their home country of Japan. Read more »
Now that so many people are using mobile phones to decide where to eat, I wonder – how important is it for a restaurant to have a mobile-friendly menu?
So far, it seems pretty important, according to a LinkedIn poll conducted by mobiEnthusiast’s author, Holly Kolman. Have you voted yet? Read more »
What’s Better for Your Business: A Mobile Site or an App?
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 »
My new hobby is collecting infographics about mobile marketing and mobile development. Today I heard an astonishing figure that 55% of Twitter users are visiting the 9th-ranked Alexa site using mobile devices. If you are posting links that don’t go to mobile pages, there’s a very good chance that you’ve wasted the time it took to post the link.
I’ll be talking more about Twitter and mobile in the future, but here’s an infographic from Marketo that might put mobile marketing and development into perspective. Hopefully my mobile plugin will squish it down for you – if not, let me know in the comments and I’ll make a compressed version of it.
Here you go: Read more »
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.
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!
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:
- Sites must be family-friendly and safe for work
- No weapons, hate speech, violence, etc.
- Mobile sites will appear at the sole discretion of the editors. No guarantees are made as to publication
- No press releases please, just a URL and description of the site
Submit your mobile site to MobileSiteOfTheDay.com/contact.
Good luck and let’s see some great mobile sites!
This is going to save a lot of time for creative mobile marketers.
There’s a creative, free QR Code generator at www.rasoftwarefactory.com/qr-generator (not a mobile link). It offers a range of designs for different background colors and textures, rotation, rounded corners and more.
The simple, intuitive interface allows users to select either a URL (website), SMS text message, or vCard. When finished, simply save the image to your computer. The standard size is 349 x 349 pixels.
Hopefully the people scanning the QR codes will get the idea to turn their camera phones sideways to get an accurate scan.
The QR code above leads to the mobile version of the mobiEnthusiast Facebook page. Try it out, click “like” when you get there and let me know how the code worked for you.
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!
