More to come…

I’ll post again soon and we can get back to talking about .mobi, Internet marketing, and the future of Internet technology.

Why Has The Mobi Domain Been Introduced?

The principle behind the mobi domain name is that it will make finding websites designed for use on mobile or cell phones easier. It is also hoped that the release will herald a new age of mobile Internet with the inclusion of industry standards. Above all else, though, the hope is that mobile Internet browsing and surfing will become as commonplace as the cell phone itself.

Guidelines And Suggestions

As well as having to apply and adhere to guidelines before you can register a domain name, the .mobi domain raises certain questions in terms of accessibility, design, coding, and optimization. Style guides have been released by mTLD that contain a combination of enforced guidelines and advised best practices. Again, though, this only accounts for a portion of the user experience.

The Rise Of The Mobile Internet

Running a .mobi website could potentially be very profitable. So far the mobile Internet simply hasn’t grown as many expected. While this has partially been because of the high and difficult to understand tariffs it is also because the mobile Internet offers very little in the way of a valuable user experience. There are very few sites with mobile compatibility and even those that have attempted have struggled because of a lack of well-worked guidelines.

Mobile Search Engines

As you can probably imagine the main focus of all guidelines concentrates on ensuring that websites load quickly and accurately and that the content and site is easy to navigate. The major search engines already have mobile search engines in some cases; probably the most notable expectedly being Google’s own addition.

.Mobi Sites Should Be Short And Succinct While Still Offering Value

From a user perspective, the most important thing is having quick access to relevant data. Humans do not have the capacity to read as quickly off screens as they do off paper. When writing standard website content it is important to reduce the size of pages, the length of paragraphs, and the structure of sentences. When transferring this onto a mobile screen, which is potentially very small, the need becomes even more pronounced.

Some General Guidelines

Among the mTLD guidelines there are several important factors you must look at when creating page content for a .mobi domain. These rules are enforceable and this means that if you are found to break them you could potentially lose the right to use the domain name. A lot is fairly common sense. If you use color elements on your page, ensure there is a non-color equivalent. Limit the amount of content to specific details regarding the user’s requirements. Limit the amount of graphics that a page uses and ensure that the graphics themselves are not too large. These are just some examples.

Specific Text Content Guidelines

There are actually surprisingly few guidelines that look specifically at the actual word content of the .mobi page. Use clear and simple language, use introductory and relevant text before you progress a subject, and keep the number of keystrokes to a minimum. It really is quite basic stuff and more care should be taken to ensure that you really are giving your users the most valuable experience.

Accurate And Informative Page Content

Every page should be tightly channeled towards the topic it is based on. A cell phone screen is not the place to be injecting surplus words or sentiments. Similarly, just because the page will be read on a cell screen doesn’t mean everyone can understand “text talk”. Only very few sentences should be used per page and each must provide value.

Being Part Of The Revolution

The mobile Internet is virtually untapped and even though a land rush to register the most popular domains is predictable it doesn’t look likely to be as popular as similar releases like the .eu domain. However, as the price war wages between mobile Internet providers and the quality of the mobile network increases, there is a very real chance that the majority of the population that owns a cell phone will start to regularly access the Internet through their cell phone browser. You could be one of the first to take advantage.

By Matt Jackson from WebWiseWords

WebWiseWords is a new media or web site content writer. As such they have invaluable experience of writing specifically for digital media. Whether you’re interested in taking advantage of the .mobi landrush or simply want top quality website content for your website then WebWiseWords is the copywriter you need. WebWiseWords is planning on further enhancing the section of their website that gives information on optimizing and marketing .mobi website content so bookmark and check often or join the free newsletter.

Bob Davis spoke at adtech New York about where the entire industry is going and mentioned mobile search.  He stated that even ten years ago people were saying that mobile search is right around the corner, but he does believe that this time the hype is real.  The Google Phone following the iPhone is proof that the mobile search market now has vitality.  But it’s still not clear who will lead the market. 

I’ve been a fan of cell phone technology for some time and think that I know as much about ringback tones and mobile search as anyone in the field, but there is still a lot to learn and to figure out.  My main purpose for writing this post is to keep the momentum going and to keep you thinking about mobile search because it’s coming and you should start preparing for how you are going to utilize it to your advantage.

As more people use their cellular phones to search the Internet it will become more important to make sure your business is ready.  Mobile phones will do everything a PC can do but will do it differently.  If someone searches for KFC on a PC they might be looking for nutritional facts, coupons, or company history.  If they are looking for KFC on their mobile then they probably want to know where the closest restaurant is located. 

To make sure your business is ready for the mobile Internet revolution there are a few things you can do now to make sure you are ready.

1. Get listed in Google’s Local Business Center.  It’s free for a basic listing and you can provide directions, hours, a phone number, and other information someone looking for you would need.  This will get you listed on Google Maps, another feature that is sure to be huge in the Mobile Internet world.

2. Get a free listing in YellowPages.com.  YellowPages.com has over 35 million visits a month and this number will continue to rise.  It is also a top Web site for users looking for local businesses.  Go to Yellowpages.com and click on the advertise link at the top right of the page.  Yellow Pages hope that you will be so impressed with the free results that you’ll add a paid listing. 

3. Look for other local sites to market to geographically like local search engines, social networking sites, city information sites, and SEM (pay per click) opportunities for geo-targeting.

There is still a battle over a standard interface for mobile search, but once the standard is defined it will give mobile Internet use a giant boost.  Mobile search is going to be the biggest thing since the World Wide Web exploded in the 1990s.  As phones become more interactive and cheaper we will start to see the average citizen adopt and appreciate the value of mobile Internet search.      

To avoid the Spam problems of the past guidelines have been set by the Mobile Marketing Association. Will these guidelines be enough to stop Spammers?  We’ll have to see…