According to In-Stat, blogging, photo and video sharing, location-based socialization services, games and messaging will all converge to deliver a complete social networking experience on the handset, but the pieces of the puzzle are still fitting into place.*
Wikipedia's latest global mobile phone stats as of December, 2007 is 3.3 BILLION SUBSCRIBERS. This huge growth in human communication channels is historically unprecedented. It is this reason alone that business owners need to pay attention to the mobile society growing around them. Only 34% of business owners have taken the first step toward this mobile emergence by registering the .mobi version of their companies domain name. It may be too late to get the .mobi domain name extension registered for your business entity. I advise clients to look into this issue immediately because mobile extensions are a very important part of your future business success.
The U.S. market for ad-funded mobile entertainment will grow to $336.35 million by 2013, expanding the total mobile media market by 4.6 percent, according to a new forecast released by the Mobile Entertainment Forum global trade association. The MEF says brand-subsidized content will yield the majority of revenues at $262.7 million, with the remainder generated by premium content up selling. Mobile video and TV are expected to account for 41.4 percent of ad-funded revenues within five years, followed by music at 34.5 percent and gaming at 24.1 percent.**
One important part of the previous statistic is that publishers are content creators. This means that mobile content operators will be looking for and paying for content. In addition, publishers that are content creators are in a great position to be the host of excellent content within the mobi ecosystem. Publishers that plan in advance can be the place where mobi users come for information. Most internet users find their information and related Web sites by searching. The world of mobi, most users simply type in the .com address of a web site they know serves that information online. So, making mobi a part of your plan now is very important.
So what can you do now to take advantage of this mobile revolution with no budget, no staff and no clue? It has been proven over and over again that mobi users are looking for fast information like movie listings, business listings and phone numbers. Thus, I would suggest that your business look into an online business directory that serves your niche. Then, point or build your .mobi address to harness the power of this online directory. Business directories are easy to build and sell to advertisers. In this tight economy smaller ad buys like online directories are very appealing to budget worried advertisers.
When it comes to creating content for mobile devices, mobile writing guru Lynn Walford*** offers The Ten Commandments (RULES) of Mobile Content Writing:
1. Content shall be designed for mobile users first and foremost.
2. Thou shall be creative and find new solutions.
3. Thou shalt not worship fancy media and high bandwidth.
4. Thou shalt not make wrongful use of copyrights.
5. Remember your users and make their lives better
6. Honor thy carriers, handsets, and screen size.
7. Thou shalt not steal ideas from other media unless it works.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness to viral marketing.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s screen size.
10. Thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s iPhone.
A really neat mobile content creation site is Mobilemo.com. Mobilemo lets you instantly create and manage your own mobile site without the need for programming skills. Its full-featured control panel enables you to create interactive pages, add friends, make comments, and publish reviews with ease.
The essence of this blog entry is to encourage business owners to start paying attention to the mobi world and the mobi ecosystem. All to often business owners and magazine publishers play catch up when it comes to technology. My challenge and my mission is to keep you ahead of the technology curve. Keep reading and keep up.
Need some help with your online strategy? Want to make money from your Web site? Contact Ryan Dohrn and the Brain Swell Media team today. ryan@brainswellmedia.com or 803-634-3886.
http://www.RyanDohrn.com or http://www.BrainSwellMedia.com
About this blogger: Ryan Dohrn ( http://www.ryandohrn.com ) is President and founder of Brain Swell Media, an internet consulting firm that helps business owners and publishers make money online. http://www.BrainSwellMedia.com or FreeAdvice@brainswellmedia.com
SOURCES:
*http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/five-mobile-social-networking-services-you-should-get-know
** http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/mef-ad-funded-entertainment-to-336m-by-2013/2008-05-29
***http://www.mobilecontentwriters.com/Mobile%20Content%20Articles%20from%20Mobile%20Content%20Writer.htm
