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 »
Business owners and developers who are serious about making money on the mobile web need a product to sell and a way to collect payments. Paypal has an entire section in their Paypal Developer Network devoted to answering questions about adding the famous “pay now” button to mobile sites and apps.
The Paypal Mobile Payment Library contains sample code and a Paypal Mobile demo site.
There’s also documentation for Paypal mobile, which includes:
- Security on the Mobile Web
- How Mobile Checkout Works
- Customer Activation for Mobile Checkout
- Mobile Checkout Processing Flow
- Merchant Integration Points
- Documentation
If you are viewing this post from a phone or computer that can access youtube, here is a video featuring Osama Bedier of Paypal demonstrating mobile payment integration:
Video: PaypalX – Osama Bedier demos Paypal integration
Do you own or represent a business? Or are you a regular person who likes to write about your hobbies? If so, there has never been a better time to be at the forefront of a technical phenomenon. As usual, I’m talking about the mobile web.
You see, domain name investors have finally figured out that there is no money to be made in cluttering up the mobile internet with empty websites that show only advertisements. So, they’ve abandoned many of their mobile domain names. This blasts the door wide open for businesses and regular people to register short, memorable mobi domain names for their business or blog to reach well, essentially the entire world. It’s a great way to build your brand on the mobile web.
Here are some recent examples of mobi domain names that have been abandoned (dropped) and are ready for you to register. If you are on a computer, iPhone or smartphone, you may go to the GoDaddy.com site to register .MOBI Domains from GoDaddy.com. If you plan to register many names, consider the GoDaddy.com Discount Domain Club. These names are of course one of a kind, and once they’re gone, they’re gone, so act quickly if you want one.
- logbooks.mobi (for a company that makes logbooks)
- dartboards.mobi (for a company that makes dart boards, or a directory site of pubs where you can play darts)
- drinkme.mobi (for a beverage manufacturer or drink recipe site)
- antimicrobial.mobi (for a scientific site or hand sanitizer company)
- gelatin.mobi (for a Jell-O site, or for scientific gelatin supplier)
- potbellys.mobi (for a wood burning stove company or enthusiast)
- remake.mobi (for a fan site about movie and song remakes)
- watchbands.mobi (for a company that makes custom or replacement watch bands)
- convoys.mobi (for a social media site for truck drivers)
- cubicles.mobi (for a company that makes cubicles or a social media site for cubicle-dwellers)
- drumkit.mobi (for a company that makes drums)
- chairlift.mobi (for a company that makes accessible chair lifts)
- sundaes.mobi (for an ice cream company, or ice cream recipe website)
- birdwatcher.mobi (for an informational site, or a directory of bird watching clubs, or an environmental site)
- earpiercing.mobi (for a directory of where to get ears pierced, or for a company that makes earrings or does ear piercing)
mobiEnthusiast.mobi recommends you check with your attorney or international patent website to make sure you aren’t at risk for infringement. If you need more ideas, you might enjoy the Power to the Small Business podcast, where I’ve described my interpretation of mobile marketing trends and best uses of mobile websites.
Enjoy! If you build a site on one of these mobi domain names, let us know about it. If it passes ready.mobi, we may feature it in an upcoming blog post here on mobiEnthusiast.mobi.
What’s the least I can put on my mobile site?
Frequently I am asked, “What do I need on my mobile web site?” The least, bare-bones components that ought to appear on your mobile site are:
- Your company name and logo.
- What products or services your company provides.
- How can people buy from you? Click to call is a great feature for this, especially since mobile shopping carts are hard to find.
- How can customers contact you? You can include an email form or click to call feature on your site.
Is that enough? In the beginning, I would say yes. Start small and build your site as you get more expertise or funding. That way, the search engines can start to index your site now, even with this basic information. Later, you can add a blog, a map to your location, and customer testimonials. When payment gateways and mobile shopping cart programs and services become more cost-effective and widely available, you’ll have a head start on your competition.
Today on mobi Enthusiast dot mobi the focus is on small business on the mobile internet. Specifically, what do small businesses need to know about mobile marketing and securing a presence on the rapidly developing mobile internet?
Rather than have you read about it, today you have the chance to hear about it.
Podcast with The Marketing Spot
Jay Ehret is the owner of The Marketing Spot (computer link) (mobile link – caution, large graphics) in Waco, Texas. He has a blog of the same name on Blogspot.com. Jay reaches hundreds of small businesses daily with his blog and podcast. Listen as Jay Ehret interviews me about what your business needs to know about the mobile internet. The link to the interview is on his site, and is also available on iTunes.
Jay Ehret
In the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring how your business can become mobile, so take a moment to subscribe via email (may not load on all phones) or rss (computer and smartphone only) so you won’t miss any of it.
Also, be sure to read Jay’s blog for street-tested marketing strategies to help your business succeed.
Small businesses are finding out that the mobile web is a great way to reach potential customers. Australian Pomeranian breeder Denise reports that “On the weekend I received an email via my mobi site poms.mobi asking about the purchase of a Pomeranian for show purposes in Indonesia.” Denise has a celebrity client list and many of them keep up with her site via BlackBerry. Congratulations on your inquiry, Denise. We hope you make the sale and good luck at the dog show.
It’s National Small Business Week here in the States and we missed the memo. Thanks to the dotMobi Registry (mobile link to story) (computer link to story) for cluing us in. mobi Enthusiast found a patio furniture store in Delray Beach, Florida, that showcases their wares and yet keeps the graphics file sizes small enough to rate a 5/5 on ready.mobi mobile emulator and testing site. Congratulations to Coastal Gardens for showing small business retailers how it’s done.
