Hooray! It’s February the first….Thank God we’re out of January, eh?
- MOBILE: NSDesign.mobi
Actually to be fair, there was one really good thing about January – we have begun selling mobile websites (as in mobile versions for “normal” websites).
I’ve been really excited about this ever since I saw the technology some months back.
MOBILE STATS
- Handsets now out number desktop computers 4 to 1.
.
- 80% of Americans own mobile phones & 50% of those will be connecting to the net with it by the end of 2011.
- Among consumers aged 18-29, 65% are already accessing the Internet on their phones.
- In the US the viewing of videos on a mobile phone is already approaching the time spent viewing online on a desktop computer.
That’s some pretty incredible stats if you think about it…
So if you’re not thinking mobile – you’re not thinking business.
For 2011, I’m willing to wager that mobile will be where it’s at.
Do you have a website? Are you a business? Then, you really will want to consider having a mobile site too.
- surelockhomes.mobi
The first mobile version of a website that I sold was to a Silicon Valley burglar alarm company called Sure Lock Homes.
They had an existing website which has been up for years and had absolutely no TEXT on the entire home page! As such it wins, hands down, my “worst website (ever)” award, I think.
So Greg, Sure Lock’s proprietor, said “Ok, sure it’s time I jumped into the 21st century” and we set him up with a new, simple, cost effective, efficient mobile website (for less than 100 pounds!).
See right. >>
Now people can find his site, call him directly at the click of a button, leave him a message, book a service call or estimate, email him, and so forth.
The only challenge now, from my standpoint at any rate, is getting the search engines to find these new mobile sites.
We’ve been running a lot of searches at NSDesign (or if you’re reading this on a mobile, then check our mobile version: NSDesign.mobi) – trying to see what Google sends back when we search various words on different devices. It’s been fun and a little interesting.
Though it’s not there yet, I do believe that once Google really gets a handle on these mobile (dot mobi) sites – it will be a case of, when you’re searching on your iPhone, Blackberry, or any other web enabled phone, it will deliver up mobile versions of the websites first.
It’s not quite working that way yet, in my own experience, but I believe it will change over the coming year or two.
So now it’s all about discovering ways to get these mobile sites appearing in searches. Manually listing them.
Our second client (bear in mind we haven’t “officially launched” these mobile sites yet) is James “The Glasgow Chauffeur” Walker.
James has a full website already, which does pretty decent in the search engines, but it’s awful to read on a handheld device. (Sorry James)
Now though, James has a lovely, clean, simple site for those customers of his who are searching for his chauffeur/executive travel/airport transfers. Many of his clients do find him via their phones and so that experience will be even better for them.
So you might have guessed that I am pretty excited about all of this…?
I can’t help it. Mobile is where it’s at.
Get in touch with me @nsdesign.net if you’re interested in getting one for your site!
Speaking of mobiles, I’m also looking at the feasibility of the soyouvebeendumped.com iPhone app (and later Blackberry and Android).
Have just had a marathon chat with James the co-founder at mVenture via Skype hearing about their wonderful, affordable DIY iPhone App platform. Definitely worth considering.
