Mobile Website Showcase [IMAGES]

Looks like I may have to get me some frilly wear!!!

Another great post Will. Thanks my friend

Sam

I agree with that. I routinely use my Yelp and Foresquare apps to seek out local businesses in my area. Local businesses should leverage the popularity of apps geared to local markets that are already widely adopted by consumers.

WillR,
Great thread...thx.
Wanted to share this recent GIGAOM article with everyone in case you didn't see it. Certainly underscores what you just said...
Tuscan


Google pushes advertisers to optimize sites for mobile

GIGAOM By Ryan Kim Sep. 21, 2011, 3:00pm PT

Google has been prodding mobile website owners to optimize their sites for mobile. Now, it’s taking a more aggressive step by announcing that it will consider whether an advertiser has a mobile optimized site when assessing ads quality for all AdWords campaigns.
What this means is that in the coming weeks when Google looks at how to decide which ads to feature, it will consider how well a site is tailored for mobile devices, things like whether it works well for touch, is made for smaller screens, has shorter load times and avoids Flash. To be sure, advertisers who adhere to these guidelines won’t be guaranteed better visibility. But connecting to mobile optimized landing pages that perform better in AdWords will now be a factor in determining ad placement. This will only affect advertisers who advertise on mobile and won’t affect ads served on PC browsers.
This is interesting because Google rarely talks about what affects keyword quality scores in AdWords. Advertisers bid on ad placement based on keywords, but Google looks at a range of factors like click-through rates and ad quality to determine what goes where. So ads that are considered to be beneficial to users can be featured higher than ads whose owners sometimes bid more in AdWords.
This isn’t the first time Google has pushed advertisers to optimize for mobile. Last November, it said it would limit ad serving to mobile devices if advertisers directed people to landing pages with a lot of Flash content. And it’s put out a string of blog posts on the topic and released a simple tool for businesses to build mobile sites. Now, it’s saying that good mobile landing pages aren’t just devoid of Flash but have other characteristics that appeal to mobile users. Those characteristics include prioritizing content and making layouts simpler. And it’s now putting some weight behind its suggestions.
Why does Google care about this? Well, it can encourage more people to click on ads if it can ensure that the landing pages look good on mobile devices. Google is, at its heart, about advertising, so it makes sense that it wants to improve the experience, which should ultimately benefit the bottom line. But it’s also a recognition that the web is different on mobile devices, and as people move toward smartphones and tablets, it requires some adjustment.
Google said it’s in the interest of advertisers and web publishers to embrace mobile optimization. Google has said early this year that 79 percent of top advertisers do not have a mobile optimized site. But a recent study found that 61 percent of users are unlikely to return to a mobile website that was hard to access from a phone. Mobile consultant Tomi Ahonen wrote today that jeweler Tiffany & Co. optimized its mobile website and found that sales of jewelry on its mobile website grew by 125 percent.
While Google has a stake in optimized mobile websites, it’s not a bad idea for publishers and advertisers to get on board. The world is going mobile and yet, it’s still surprising to see how many websites are not built with mobile users in mind. This is not just a lost opportunity to engage with a customer, but it’s potentially lost business as well.

I have to agree totally with your view on the notion that apps are the way forward. There is such an importance that has to be placed on any business large or small having their own presence on mobile as the growth margin for each business using mobile along side the web is tremendous. Apps are a tool for enabling a quicker use of a particular source and will never take over the search engine optimised mobile web page

Will will you have new templates available for your existing customers?

Strongly agree - APPs are fine for large companies, BUT NOT local business owners. Local Business Owners simply want traffic and sales - not apps to download, etc.

Business Owners are struggling to understand the importance of mobile presence as it is, and adding APPS (and yes, they do have value) just adds more possible confusion,

I have to agree with you here. Major American companies do this - Regions Bank for one, ideally if you want to make it feel like an app just save it to the home screen of your phone and there you go. I had to do that when I had a Droid for a lot of sites that didn't make a site for the Android Market. At first I was kind of PO'ed but after a couple sites had this I was all good.

Bonn, I totally agree with you! 80% of Mobile Apps are only used once...

Small Businesses not only don't need Apps, but they don't have a sufficient customer base or returning customers, to justify the investment.

Selling a Business something that is not in their best interest is just bad business.

Feel the same. One of my potential clients is getting an app developed but doesn't have a mobile site. What happens when a user visits their website on a phone? It's going to look like crap and the app will sitting in iTunes.

I'm on the mobile web way more then playing with apps. Some great looking sites being displayed!