'Net Features : mobile web

Weekend Warriors: 7 Steps to Successful QR Codes

Linc Wonham — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:30:00 GMT

QR Codes have become the new marketing piece for businesses and their brands. The awareness of a QR Code is becoming more evident than ever; you can see QR Codes on billboards, magazines, television commercials – even on houses.

The beauty of the QR Code is the interaction with the mobile phone. Scanning a QR Code offer is like a box of assorted chocolates, never knowing what you will get next. That’s why we recommend that to maximize scan rates, you should tell the customer what they will receive.

With the increasing growth of QR Codes, businesses need to find a way to increase the number of scans and stand out from the crowd. QR Codes can often be associated to the Ugly Duckling in product placement. The black and white barcode does not match up to social media logos from Facebook and Twitter. Many may look at the QR Code and are unaware of what they are scanning. This is due to the lack of branding and direction.

How do we improve our QR Code Campaigns? Here are seven tips to help maximize success:

1. Use a QR Code Expert
QR Codes are extremely fragile and can be broken when adjusting sizes. Using a professional graphic designer will set up your campaign for the best possible success with a QR Code. Please note that creating a code can require much more than a free online generator might have to offer.

2. Tracking and Analytics
It is always good to know the success of your QR Code by the numbers. Using sites like bit.ly, you know the number of scans your QR Code receives by the minute. With tracking sites, you will be able to find the stats of each code scanned and hope to build on future campaigns. If you are using a mobile site with your QR Code, you should also track these pages with Google Analytics to help manage future success.

3. Call to Action
Letting your users know what they are getting can increase your scan rate tremendously. QR Codes are like Christmas presents; we want to be excited when we open them. Give your fans a hint to what will be inside. For example: “Scan to Win”, “Scan for Exclusive Content”, “Scan to like”. Giving these clues will hopefully attract the user before scanning.

4. Other Forms of Entry
Not everyone knows how to scan a QR Code. Using an alternate point of entry will help your campaign in succeeding its goal. Sites like 84444.com offer text message marketing campaigns that pair perfectly with QR Codes. Here is an example on how to incorporate text message marketing into your call to action: “Scan the Code or text “Promos” to “84444”.

5. Add Branding and Color
Standing out among a crowd can be difficult, especially in the realm of QR Codes. By branding your QR Code with both logos and colors, your code will shine. Would you prefer your television picture in black and white or full color? Taking this measure can be difficult and it is recommended to use a professional QR Code designer for the best possible scan rate.

6. Mobile Landing
Have you ever seen a movie that had an amazing preview, but the end result was dissatisfying? If you give the user a clever QR Code or incentive to scan, be sure your result is MOBILE optimized. If your site is not mobile, your fan will have a terrible experience. Add social media links, incentives to win, and don’t forget mobilized contact information (a great way to generate leads!).

7. Testing, Testing and Testing
The final and most important step in a QR Code campaign is testing your end result. Before sending to print or any sort of live campaign, please be sure to thoroughly test your QR Code. Every smartphone device as well as scanner applications give different results (based on error). This means you should test your QR Code on at least one iPhone, Android and Blackberry device. It is recommend you also use at least two different QR Code applications to test these codes. The last thing you want to see is your campaign fail due to lack of testing.

If a user decides to scan your QR Code, they are interested in your product or what you have to offer; and this is exactly why you need to ultimately satisfy them. Going low budget on a QR Code campaign is possible, but will also limit your success.

Lack of experience may also hurt your chances of a successful campaign, which is why it is recommended to use experts. If you incorporate all of the above in your next promotion, you will be rewarded with a captivating QR Code Campaign.

About the author: Frank Mazza is the mobile developer and QR Code expert for mobile marketing firm Advanced Telecom Services (ATS), which has developed Custom QR Codes and mobile Web campaigns for clients such as Polo Ralph Lauren, CNN, Subway, Sprint, Garnier, Comcast, USL Lacrosse and the National Football League. See some of ATS’ unique QR Codes here.

Mobile Web Usage is Doubling Every Year

Linc Wonham — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Global Internet usage through mobile devices – not including tablets – essentially doubled from 4.3 percent in January 2011 to 8.5 percent in January 2012, according to Web analytics company StatCounter.

StatCounter also reports that the use of “mobile devices”, referring to smartphones and feature phones only in their research, to access the Internet has doubled year-over-year since 2009.

“While global Internet usage through mobiles is still under 10 percent, the pace of growth is remarkable,” says StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen.

StatCounter also announced the latest numbers regarding the world’s leading mobile vendors, mobile operating systems and mobile browsers, based on research covering all traffic to the StatCounter network. That data includes more than 15 billion pageviews monthly on a network of more than 3 million websites.

Most likely driven by its dominance in India, Nokia is still the world’s leading maker of mobile devices (again, phones only) in terms of Web pageviews, and Symbian maintained its lead as the top OS in the StatCounter sample. But both brands’ numbers are clearly in decline while Apple’s devices (not even including the iPad) and iOS are making dramatic gains.

Apple is the second-leading mobile device-maker worldwide but leads the U.S. and U.K. markets, and its iOS was also second worldwide with 24 percent of the Web pageviews in the StatCounter sample. Apple’s operating system was first in the U.S. with 45 percent of the views, just ahead of Android with 39 percent. Worldwide, the Android OS was again just below iOS for third place.

The Android browser was tops in North America with a 37-percent share of the pageviews, but second worldwide with 20 percent and behind Opera’s 24 percent. Apple’s Safari browser finished slightly behind Android in both samples.

The takeaway for website owners is of course the exponential rise in mobile access to the Internet since 2009 – about a 100-percent increase in each of the past three years. This should come as a surprise to no one, but it is interesting to see the numbers from different research reports from time to time. The global use of mobile devices to access the Web in 2009, according to StatCounter, was 0.7 percent. It jumped to 1.6 percent in January 2010, 4.3 percent in January 2011 and now 8.5 percent in January 2012.

Mobile Bandwidth Usage Controlled by the One Percent

Michael Garrity — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:30:00 GMT

Occupy the Mobile Web!

Apparently there's more than one "One Percent," even when it comes to mobile bandwidth. It seems that the top one percent of mobile Web users consume half of the world's bandwidth, while the top 10 percent generate 90 percent of all mobile Internet traffic. And this next part is hard to believe considering how quickly mobile Internet usage is growing, but it looks like this gap is actually widening.

That is, at least, according to Arieso, the England-based company that observed this significant gap after it tracked 1.1 million customers of a European mobile operator for one day last November.

It seems that in 2009, the top three percent of users were generating just 40 percent of the traffic, but not anymore, as this percentile is using up around 70 percent of the bandwidth.

"What is unforutnate is that this study couldn't (or didn't) give us much of a profile of this "One Percent," said Michael Flanagan, Arieso's Chief Technology Officer. Flanagan does seem to think that the group is "probably diverse, with a mix of business users gaining access to the Internet over a 3G network...and individuals with generous or unlimited mobile data packages."

So it looks like this One Percent doesn't quite fit the elitist profile many associate with that other One Percent.

The survey also shared some pertinent information about how these "extreme users" were accessing the mobile Web. As it turns out, 64 percent of them were still primarily using a laptop, while about 33 percent were on smartphones and just three percent were getting online on an iPad.

This information could be useful for Internet marketers as they ponder how to go about factoring the mobile Web into their campaigns. Knowing that such a small percentage of users is actually driving all of that traffic could make one rethink the actual value of heaping money on mobile advertisements, as it seems that it would be the same small segment of users seeing most of your ads. Another important factor to consider is that many users are still on laptops when accessing the mobile Web, so is it going to be worth it to spend the extra money to have your advertisements optimized for smaller screen devices?

Best of 2011 - Mobile Web Devices

Michael Garrity — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:00:00 GMT

The year 2011 was a pivotal one the Web, particularly as it relates the way people go about connecting to their favorite sites.

The advent of fast-emerging and rapidly growing technologies in the mobile sector has led to many users regularly accessing the Web from mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and even feature phones.

But not all of these mobile devices are created equally, so WM takes a look at some of the past year’s best and most popular gadgets for surfing the ‘Net.

iPhone 4S
When news of the iPhone 4S first dropped, some were disappointed -- to say the least. Users wanted an iPhone 5, and instead they got a revamped version of the iPhone 4. (Oh, and Siri.) Still, in the end, it was the best-selling iPhone ever despite the initially lukewarm response.

The smartphone runs on the brand new iOS 5 and offers much of the same functionality with which Apple fans and diehard iPhone users are familiar, including the old standby Safari mobile browser. With the introduction of the voice-controlled Siri, Apple also gives users a whole new way to interact with the Web on their mobile phones, as information can be accessed almost immediately. It’s likely that 2012 will finally see the release of the iPhone 5, which will possibly be a drastic reinterpretation of the device with even more sophisticated Internet capabilities.

iPad 2
Apple’s other major contribution of industry-changing technology is the iPad 2, the successor to the device that standardized tablet usage. It’s probably not a stretch to say that when people talk about tablets and tablet browsing, they’re likely thinking of using an iPad, and that kind of presence is what makes it such an important (and revolutionary) gadget.

Much faster than its predecessor, the second generation iPad is actually quite similar to its big brother when it comes to navigating on the Web, but it also presents itself as more of a content creation tool for publishing on the Web, making it a device much better suited for two-way Web needs. Like the iPhone, it comes equipped with a built-in, tablet-optimized Safari browser, and there are some impressive third-party browser options available for interested users. The second version is also powered by iOS 5.

Galaxy SII
Although it’s not nearly as revered or idolized as Apple, Samsung has proven itself to be a beyond-competent mobile developer, and the Galaxy SII is a great example of its acumen. Some have claimed that it is actually the “world’s most powerful phone to date,” backed by a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor and running on the Android Gingerbread operating system (with an Ice Cream Sandwich update on the way).

And while being a powerful tool is critical to the demands of Web users today, the Galaxy SII goes the extra mile by providing users with a great interface for browsing that consists of a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus display. One review called it “the yardstick by which every other phone competing [this year] in terms of hardware specs was measured.”

Galaxy Nexus
Running on the Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS, this is widely considered to be the best Android phone ever created. By building on the successes of the Galaxy SII, Samsung was able to craft a superb device that is “everything Android ever aspired to be.”

Featuring a 4.65 inch HG Super AMOLED Contour Display and a powerful processor specifically built for faster Web browsing and multitasking, this phone is ideal for browsing the Web. So far, no better iPhone alternative has presented itself or, perhaps more importantly, had the opportunity to challenge Apple’s dominance in terms of the general public’s perception of what a smartphone can be.

Kindle Fire
No product was more hotly anticipated this year than Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet. At $199, a considerably lower price point than the iPad 2, the 7-inch tablet is a great alternative to Apple’s industry-dominating device, especially as it allows for easy access into any of Amazon’s other online properties, most notably the Kindle Store, Amazon Prime and Amazon Cloud Storage.

The Kindle Fire runs on a customized version of the Android Gingerbread OS and features a brand new Web browser, Amazon Silk, which has received mixed reviews so far. Though the Kindle Fire may not be the optimal mobile device for using the Web, there is no denying the impact it has had on the tablet market. By dropping the price point significantly, Amazon has opened up tablet adoption to a whole new range of consumers, and the screen size was successful enough that there isn’t any shortage of rumors that Apple will release a 7 inch “mini” version of the iPad 3 in 2012. In short, thanks to Amazon and the Kindle Fire, tablet consumption is becoming even more mainstream.

Smaato Measures Mobile Fill Rates and CTRs

Michael Garrity — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:00:00 GMT

A quarter two study by mobile ad optimization platform Smaato was released today and finds that ad inventory has been increasing at a faster rate than budgets, ulitmately leading to a decline in advertising fill rates.

The study was put together to look at a variety of mobile Web-based topics, including mobile ad adoption, fill rates and the overall effect on mobile ad network performance.

Another discovery that the study unearthed is that phones using Windows' mobile operating system had much higher clickthrough rates (CTRs) than iOS, Android, Blackberry and Symbian, both in the United States and across the globe.

Mobile Ad Networks
According to the study, the average ad network fill rate, worldwide, was 18 percent in quarter two of this year. That represents a 2 percent drop from quarter one and a 3 percent decrease from quarter two of 2010.

For the top 40 mobile advertising networks in the world, rates varied greatly, from 3 to 58 percent, but among the top 20 networks in the U.S., rates consistently declined from an average of 27 to 19 percent.

Smaato CEO Harald Neidhardt cites both the downturned economy and "an increasingly fragmented market" as reasons for the decline.

However, one bright spot that the study found was that there are typically higher returns for networks engaging in "specialization," such as offering a service like geo-location. Nine of the top 40 global networks that were specialized performed above the average Smaato index despite having smaller volumes than their competitors.

Mobile OS CTRs
Moving past networks and onto operating systems, the study measured the CTRs of various devices using different OS platforms.

Worldwide across operating systems, the highest CTRs to lowest, in order, were Windows Phones (taking the top spot for the second consecutive quarter), Symbian, RIM, iOS and Android, though the Google-owned OS saw its performance increase by nearly 50 percent from the same time last year.

It's a different outlook in the U.S., however, with Windows Phones just barely ahead of iOS, RIM out performing Symbian, and Android still trailing all of them.

Never fear, however, as Neidhardt sees a bright future for Android. "As the trend continues, we will see even greater demand from big brands and advertisers for the Android platform, and therefore greater revenue opportunities for publishers and developers as Android continues to proliferate."

DudaMobile Turns Websites Mobile in One Click

Michael Garrity — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:15:00 GMT

A new service has just been rolled out by DudaMobile that consists of a self-serve platform providing existing website owners with the ability to create a mobile version of their site simply by typing in its URL.

This platform is mostly targeted towards small business owners who lack the Web development skills, or funds, that would allow them to create a mobile-friendly version of their current site. Of course, the service is free and open to anyone.

The two biggest and most convenient features that DudaMobile provides are one-click website conversion and automatic syncing between the main and mobile sites. Some of the other exciting highlights include mobile-friendly features like a click-to-call widget, a maps and directions widget, an SMS widget for texting business information, mobile analytics and, in time, Google AdWords support.

While there are already many free mobile website builders available, DudaMobile sets itself apart from the pack by offering automatic syncing between content from a desktop website to the mobile version in real-time as the changes are made. This is especially advantageous for those website owners with no background in mobile Web development, as they can simply make changes to their regular site as they normally would without having to worry about making sure it gets done on the mobile site, as well.

DudaMobile is currently hosting over 175,000 sites on this platform, with about 35 percent of them being small businesses, and some estimates say that users are creating 25,000 new mobile sites a day. However, many of these sites were forged prior to this new self-service platform.

The mobile sites that come from this new service work on all smartphones (including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows phones), supports WordPress sites and offers dozens of design templates. Those who are more familiar with CSS and HTML will even have the option to further customize their sites.

According to DudaMobile, users are seeing up to 40 percent conversion rates on the mobile sites' click-to-call widgets. In fact, in some special categories like taxis or restaurants, the number gets as high as 50 percent.

The free service offers 10 pages, five hundred MB of bandwidth and is ad-supported. Professional sites are $9 a month, offer unlimited pages and bandwidth, a mobile URL, and are ad-free. Unfortunately, only the professional sites allow for use of the aforementioned widgets, but both the free and paid services offer analytics.

Most Mobile Sites and Apps Lagging in Performance

Linc Wonham — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:00:00 GMT

The findings of a new survey show that consumers’ expectations for mobile and application performance are not being met.

Today’s mobile users demand exceptional Web experiences and highly satisfying, convenient, on-the-go mobile site speeds regardless of their mode of access, according to a study from technology performance company Compuware Corporation. The independent survey of more than 4,000 mobile users worldwide was conducted to understand consumers’ mobile Web and application expectations and experiences.

Key findings include the following:

• Mobile users’ expectations for mobile website speed continue to increase. Seventy-one percent of global mobile Web users expect websites to load as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phones compared to the computers they use at home – up from 58 percent in 2009. However, almost half (46 percent) said websites load more slowly on their phones.

• Nearly 60 percent of Web users say they expect a website to load on their mobile phone in three seconds or less, and 74 percent are only willing to wait five seconds or less for a single Web page to load before leaving the site. Fifty percent are only willing to wait five seconds or less for an application to load before exiting.

• Fifty-seven percent of global mobile Web users had a problem accessing a website in the past year, and 47 percent had a problem accessing an app on their phone. More than 80 percent of mobile Web users would access websites more often from their phones if the experiences were faster and more reliable.

• Mobile users do not have much patience for retrying a website or application that is not functioning initially – a third will go to a competitor’s site instead. Eight out of ten mobile Web users are only willing to retry a website or application two times or less if it does not work initially.

• A bad experience on a mobile website leaves mobile Web users much less likely to return to, or recommend, a particular website. Nearly half of mobile Web users are unlikely to return to a website that they had trouble accessing from their phone, and 57 percent are unlikely to recommend the site.

“We conducted this study as a follow on to our 2009 study that showed mobile users had high expectations, but the majority experienced poor mobile performance,” says Steve Tack, CTO of Compuware APM. “Almost two years later, user expectations for mobile continue to increase, but companies are still not meeting mobile users’ needs for fast and reliable experiences.

“Today, 77 percent of top companies across multiple verticals have mobile page load times of five seconds or more, while mobile users are only willing to wait five seconds or less for a Web page to load before leaving the site. Poor performance is preventing many companies from taking advantage of the opportunities being provided by increased mobile access.”

Google Sites Receive Automated Mobile Rendering

Administrator — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:00:00 GMT

The mobile web is not just changing how people consume content but how businesses create and format that content.

As it becomes increasingly important to provide the best possible mobile experience (whether through mobile apps, mobile ads or of course mobile sites), Google just added automatic mobile rendering in Google Sites for iOS 3.0+ and Android 2.2 devices and a mobile version of the Google Sites lists. Based purely on the screenshots provided by Google, it’s a vast improvement over the existing structure.

The adjustments that Google made include aligning the header layout and top bar, matching the site width to mobile device screen width, and better handling for sidebars, navigation and dropdown links. Users also have the option to hide specific links include sign-in links, print-page links and recent changes links.

Users of Google Sites can activate the feature under their General setting, by navigating to More Actions > Manage Site and selecting Automatically adjust site for mobile phones.

The 2010 Mobile Year in Review

Mike Phillips — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:30:00 GMT

The mobile Web is becoming ubiquitous, according to comScore's 2010 Mobile Year in Review. Taking into account full HTML Web browsing capabilities and phones with limited Web access, 90 percent of mobile subscribers in the U.S. and Europe can browse the Web on their mobile phones. The bad news is that there are more than 60 different browser versions active across mobile handsets, resulting in a fragmented experience for users and adding to the set of complications for developers and website owners.

Motorola's Droid (which runs Android) reached #5 on the list for top acquired handsets from 2009-2010. But, Android faces a challenge of consistency, as 68 different handsets are now using Android. The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 were the top two acquired handsets during the period, respectively. When asked about their top factors when choosing a device, consumers ranked the phone's operating system as most important, closely followed by "Selection of Apps" and "Music/Video Capabilities."

Key Demographics

It has been found that smartphone usage is rather varied, according to location and age. In Europe, those 55 and older account for 18.1 percent of the market. In the U.S. that figure is just 12.6 percent. The U.S. skews younger -- 18-24 year olds make up 16.7 percent (compared to Europe's 14.5 percent) and 25-34 year olds come in at 27.2 percent (compared to Europe's 23.6 percent).

But in the U.S., the fastest-growing markets are 13-17 year olds (up a whopping 86 percent to 4.3 million smartphone users) and those 55 or older (up 78 percent to 8 million users). Across the board, the biggest smartphone market is with 25-34 year olds, followed by 35-44. In Europe, 55+ adoption is far ahead of the same in the U.S. -- even above the U.S.'s 18-24 and 45-54 year old market.

Mobile Media Consumption

Overall, mobile media consumption is on the rise. Since December 2009, U.S. mobile media usage (browsed, accessed applications, downloaded content or accessed the mobile Web via SMS) has grown to 46.7 percent of the total audience, up 7.6 percent. In Europe, the total is 41.1 percent.

When it comes to accessing content, both browsing (up 9 percentage points to 36 percent) and using apps to get content (up 8 points to 34 percent) are on the rise in the U.S. Europe rose to 29 percent and 28 percent, respectively. It's interesting to note that in both regions, mobile browsing and app usage go hand-in-hand. Few consumers use just one or the other to access content. Apps might not be killing the mobile Web after all.

Fastest Growing Content Channels

It's no surprise that social networks led the way as the fastest growing mobile usage category in the U.S. -- up 56 percent. But the leading usage category remains email, and continues to rise with 39 percent growth. This is important information for marketers when designing email messages or newsletters. Consumers are reading email on the go, and on small screens.

European users, meanwhile, are warming up to mobile retail. Usage in that category grew 79 percent, compared to 53 percent growth in the U.S. It should be note, however, that mobile retail lags far behind social network in Europe, also.

Japan shows a very mature mobile market. Mobile media consumption there shows a much more balanced profile across age groups and 75 percent of Japanese consumers use "connected media" -- far and above the U.S. or Europe. Japan is also leading the way in the usage of a phone as a mobile wallet -- comScore found that 7.6 million Japanese used their phones to make purchases at a retail or convenience store, in December 2010.

One very interesting note is that Japanese mobile subscribers use email (57 percent) far more than those in the U.S. (30 percent) or Europe (22 percent). ComScore takes this as a sign of a mature mobile market, and that email is "a function to which they have been accustomed as a standard capability on their mobile devices for many years." Email is also credited for the lack of Japanese text messagers, the lowest of all the markets studied. While experts continue to declare that email is dying (with help from mobile apps and text messaging), the Japanese market indicates the exact opposite -- that as users become more savvy mobile users, email remains a top mobile activity.

Always On

Across three of the most common usage categories -- email, news and information access, and social networking -- daily interaction is on a steep incline; up 38 percent, 52 percent and 80 percent, respectively, in the U.S. This is a reminder that while marketers have incredible access to mobile subscribers at any given time, they should be careful to not overdo it. In fact, it might be easier than ever to get your emails unsubscribed or Facebook pages un-liked because of overexposure. A separate study by ExactTarget titled "The Social Break-Up" found that the top reason people unsubscribe from opt-in emails is that they came too frequently. Likewise, the top reason consumers "unlike" a brand on Facebook is because the company posted too frequently. That problem can be exacerbated by the always-on mobile device.

Finally, included in the study was data about the habits of online newspaper readers by device and time of day. PC's and iPads see peaks and valleys of usage but mobile users (apart from the wee hours of the morning) appear to be quite steady in their time of consumption -- meaning there might be less importance on when to send a message or update a page and more focus on the content, such as writing catchy headlines, for example.

The full report can be downloaded here, including a section on comScore's methodology.

Need a Career? Go Mobile!

Mike Phillips — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Dice.com - a job board specializing in the tech industry - released findings from an online survey that shows a major lack of mobile developers in the workforce. The very good news is that companies are looking to hire.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, "Almost 57 percent of employers and outside recruiters that hired for mobile-related jobs this year plan to boost such hires in the next 12 months, the survey, conducted on behalf of Bloomberg Businessweek.com, showed. More than half the respondents described the supply of quality mobile-software designers and engineers as 'scarce.' "

Driving this great need and opportunity is companies' desire for mobile apps - from iPhone to Android and BlackBerry. Of course, where there is demand, there is money to be made.

The survey found that:

The most common salary range for mobile developers was $75,000 to $100,000, with 28% of respondents saying they pay $100,001 to $125,000.
Experience with Apple's mobile platform carried the most weight on résumés, with 72 percent of recruiters saying they are hiring for development of iPhone applications, and 38 percent saying iPhone expertise is the most attractive among platforms.
About 60 percent are hiring for Android development, and 23 percent said new recruits with knowledge of Google's platform are most highly prized.
This month, Dice's site had 758 job listings requiring skills or experience with the iPhone, up from 264 a year ago. The site had 685 listings requiring Android skills, up from 158.

It’s a Start – Mobile Web Has Grown 2,000 Percent

Linc Wonham — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:30:00 GMT

We all know that the mobile Web is experiencing an explosive growth spurt right now, but few actually predicted these kinds of fireworks.

The 2010 Mobile Web Progress report from dotMobi found that there are more than 3 million mobile-ready websites today – that’s a 2,000-percent increase from the 150,000 sites revealed in the 2008 study. To compare it to the meteoric rise of the desktop Web, the number of websites grew from 150,000 to 2 million between 1996 and 1998 – a growth of only 1,333 percent.

And, most experts agree that this is just the tip of the mobile iceberg.

In its report, dotMobi broke down the mobile-readiness of the world’s top 500,000 websites as ranked by intelligence firm Alexa. Just over 40 percent of the top 1,000 sites are mobile-optimized, while 29.7 percent of the top 10,000 sites fall into that category, as do 19.3 percent of the top 500,000.

Is your website mobile-ready? More importantly, does it need to be?

Judging from the statistics above and the overwhelming growth of the mobile Web, the answer is eventually going to be yes. But the best way to determine the urgency of that transition can be found in your analytics.

Determine the percentage of traffic that presently visits your site through mobile devices, and find out what are the most common results of that traffic. It is from there that you should be able to draw conclusions about the immediacy of a more mobile-friendly platform for your website.

The Gap's Big Gaffe, and the Mobile Web for Your Business

Mike Phillips — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The Gap suffered a branding debacle this week; we'll discuss what we can learn from it, and also some interesting news from AOL. Then, you'll hear our conversation with Giovanni Calabro of Siteworx on the mobile Web, mobile apps and how to use them (or not) for your business.

Listen now, and subcribe to Website Magazine Radio in iTunes!

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If you would like to have your questions answered on Website Magazine Radio, please send email to mike@websitemagazine.com with "WM Radio" in the subject field.

Mobile Marketing Formula

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:00:00 GMT

A 2010 study by comScore suggests that almost 46 million mobile phone users have smartphones — almost 20 percent of the market share of total mobile users.

Those numbers are enough for advertisers to start taking the mobile market very seriously. But what is the best way for advertisers and marketers to gain traction in this growing industry?

Read "Mobile Marketing: Location, Location, Location" by Jamie Fortunaso now.

This article appears in the November 2010 edition of Website Magazine.

Website Speed Trumps Functionality for Users

Mike Phillips — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

"When Seconds Count” is the name of a report conducted by Equation Research on behalf of Gomez, released in September 2010. In this study, users were asked about their feelings toward website speed and how it affects their online visitation habits. The results are very interesting and point to the critical nature of website load time. This is important for developers to understand as websites are built, launched and re-launched. In an online environment where users expect deep functionality and offerings (such as streaming video and audio), speed cannot be an afterthought.

Included in their findings:

Nearly one-third (32 percent) of consumers will start abandoning slow sites between one and five seconds.

• 84 percent are only willing to try a slow performing website a few times before giving up.
• 39 percent say speed is more important than functionality for most websites, while only one in five rank greater site functionality as more important.

Speed also makes a difference when it comes to accessing a mobile site.

• A third of all Web users are also using a mobile device to access the Internet.
• More than half of mobile users expect websites to load as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phone, compared to the computer they use at home.

Slow load times are common and users feel frustrated with poor performance.

• Two thirds (67 percent) of users encounter a slow performing website a few times a week or more.
• More than a third (37 percent) said they would not return to a slow site, and 27 percent would likely jump to a competitor’s site.
• For mobile web users, slow website load times and poor formatting are the top two issues encountered on the mobile Web.

Web users have visited sites and not been unable to accomplish their tasks.

• More than 80 percent of users say they have been unable to accomplish their tasks – such as completing a purchase or a financial transaction – on a specific website at least once.
• Nearly half (47 percent) say they have frequently abandoned sites where they couldn’t finish their tasks in the past three months.

“When web users encounter web or mobile site performance problems, their patience and loyalty run thin,” said Matt Poepsel, vice president of performance strategies at Gomez. “However, many companies fail to realize that seconds really do count because their customers refer to best-in-class Web performers like Facebook, Google and Yahoo! as a measuring stick or standard for determining how fast all sites should be.”

Clearly, users are demanding a seamless experience on the Web - your site included. It's interesting to note that speed is considered more important than functionality, according to this survey. Just a few seconds can make the difference between a loyal, repeat visitor and a lost prospect. That makes landing pages a crucial part of the equation. For example, maybe a simplified landing page is best so that users stay on site and start to explore. Then you can direct them to other pages on the site where deeper functionality exists that might require a few more seconds of load time.

The mobile Web also represents a significant challenge. Typically, the mobile device is going to experience a longer load time - meaning that you are already at a disadvantage - even though users expect pages to "load as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phone, compared to the computer they use at home." As such, it is important to consider mobile Web visitors when designing your pages. This study presents a solid argument for developing mobile-specific pages of your website. Mobile Web usage is rising quickly and does not appear to be slowing. You've been warned.

Website Magazine Radio: Google and Yahoo Battle, The Mobile Web

Mike Phillips — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:03:00 GMT

It's time for another edition of Website Magazine Radio. This week we discuss new battle lines being drawn between Google and Yahoo! Also, we look at new data about smartphone usage and the mobile Web - and what it means for your online business.