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.MOBI - Business Blogging and New Media Marketing That Reaches The New Mobile Consumer
Is your business blogging and New Media Marketing ready for the next big move of the New Media Marketplace? After checking some of our standard sites against the new .MOBI mobile compatibility, I know we’re not. But we’ve taken the first steps to be road ready with our key marketing and membership sites, and I’ll share the first simple steps you can take too.
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With 4x as many mobile phones on the planet than computers, it’s clear that the mobile device is the next frontier of practical connection and marketing
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The third screen (cell phones and other mobile devices) is the next door of opportunity swinging open for business owners and marketers looking to market with business blogs and other New Media. A weekend with my nephews, a couple of new college graduates, and my wife’s new Blackberry Pearl convinced me that the bleeding edge New Media marketers and developers have got it right. The mobile device is the next frontier of practical connection and marketing. I’ve never felt as free, mobile, and connected as that weekend made me feel.
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The fact is that there are four times as many mobile phones on the planet as there are computers. And the new generation of mobile devices are making mobile Web access simple and painless. Any savvy business owner or marketer will quickly see the huge opportunity looming on the horizon.
Breaking free from the PC
People want to escape being chained to their desktop or laptops. And they want their content to be accessible at the same time. Yes — we all want our cake and be able to eat it too! And with today’s new mobile devices there’s no reason why people shouldn’t get what they want.
The only challenge with accessing business blogs, New Media, or any other type of web content is the way it appears on mobile devices. Cumbersome at best. Illegible, unusable, and utterly frustrating at it’s worst.
Enter the .MOBI top level domain and new mobile standards
The new suffix was approved by ICANN in July 06′, and open registration started on September 26th. The idea behind the new suffix is that consumers will be able to recognize Web sites and business blogs that are specially designed for use by mobile phones by the new “.MOBI” suffix.
Why a new top level domain suffix?
Where other suffixes (.tv, .biz, .us, and others) where nothing more than marketing ploys to get new registrants, this suffix is a practical one.
It’s about simplicity, discover ability, and predictability. When you see the .MOBI extension you know the content is meant for mobile devices. It just makes sense.
The good news…
Unless you have membership sites, business blogs, or any other type of New Media Marketing sites that you know are being accessed via third screen devices — you don’t need to run out and start creating specially formatted sites tomorrow.
But beware!
Even if that’s not the case in the next week or month, during the next 6-months the marketplace is going to rapidly transform right before our eyes as new Web friendly mobile devices are released in rapid fire fashion.
If you don’t want to get left behind — that means starting with a few simple actions today.
Three simple steps you need to take now for optimized business blogging and New Media Marketing
1. Go to GoDaddy.com and register your most important domains with the .MOBI suffix.
Be sure to grab your main marketing, membership, and corporate domain names. If you’re using New Media Marketing with a business blog, be sure to grab that domain with the .MOBI suffix as well. The reason we recommend GoDaddy is cost and service — plain and simple. And cost is a big one since the .MOBI suffix is only available with a two-year registration. GoDaddy offers the .MOBI registration for just $29, while other registrars are charging as much as $60 for two years.
From what I’ve read, this two-year registration and higher ticket cost appears to be an attempt to keep marketing hacks and spammers from misusing the suffix. It should help since most other opportunistic domain suffixes were priced lower or not much different from standard .COM suffixes.
2. Test your site or business blog using the .MOBI emulator
I know I was surprised when I checked our sites using Deb’s new Blackberry Pearl a couple weekends ago. If you want to see what your customers and prospects see when they visit your Web site or business blog, you don’t need a cutting edge mobile device.
Just go to the .MOBI emulator page and enter your URL. This cool tool will pull your actual site into a mobile device skin so you can Seeing exactly what a mobile browser would see is a big eye opener.
After you see the way your site looks, check out an example of content optimized for mobile viewing at my favorite auto manufacturer BMW.mobi. It shows the simplicity and fast loading nature of .MOBI sites.
3. Look before you leap
The community around the new .MOBI suffix seem to be serious about enforcing mandatory standards for any site using the .MOBI domain. That means you should not just put up a mirror site with the .MOBi suffix slapped on the end. That could get your site “flagged” at some registrars.
Check out the resources below and learn more about how you can take advantage of this mobile opportunity to optimize your business blogging and New Media Marketing.
Box! What box?
The .MOBI suffix and the gravitational pull of new mobile devices on consumers are going to transform the entire world of marketing. For some it will be a new world of opportunities. Unfortunately, for most it will be a world of pain and endless catch-up.
The best way to avoid the later is by realizing that THERE IS NO BOX when it comes to business and marketing in the marketplace of the New Millennium.
We’ll be coaching our members of the new BLOG interactive 360 program on ways to leverage mobile viewing of their business blogs and other New Media channels. A a matter of fact some members have already come up with very innovative ways to use the simplest of sites to connect with their clients and prospects. They’re way ahead of their competitors just by taking action. I’d like to invite you to take some action and gain advantage yourself right now.
As your Click and Mortar Business Coach I’d like to ask you to throw away your box. And the first step is coming up with some ideas, no matter how outlandish they might first seem.
Share your answer to this coaching question in a comment below:
If there were no limits, no barriers — how would you use the new .MOBI standards and mobile Web access to connect with, serve, and market to your target audience?
Make your answer as simple or grandiose as you like. Taking immediate action on something you just learned and making yourself accountable is how you demolish the boxes in your thinking.
New Media Marketing Reference Links For This Article:
Copyright © RPM Success Group Inc. 2002-2006. Full copyright reserved by RPM Success Group inc. Bloggers and journalists are welcome to link to posts or excerpt so long as full credit/attribution is given to AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com and RPM Success Group Inc.
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John-Paul Micek is the original Click-and-Mortar Business Coach. With four multi-million dollar businesses under his belt and over 8,500 hours of experience coaching owners and marketers to success from the inside out, J.P. is ready to help you get the profits, performance, and lifestyle you want from your business. He’s a published author (Secrets Of Online Persuasion,) a weekly columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin, and professional speaker. You can reach J.P. directly via [communicationcommando@gmail.com].
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