lolusernames

Hey guys, this is kind of a general question. I've been intrigued by mobile marketing for a while now, because I do believe that it's where marketing is headed... I started to try to look into optimizing my sites for mobile traffic, but I kind of got information overload.

So I guess I'll start by asking a basic question... I know there are domains that are .mobi ... Are these mobile sites? Are these better to use when considering a mobile-optimized site than .coms/nets/etc?

Again, I'm sure this is a basic question... but I just don't really know where to get started on this.

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danoday

Your best bet is to get your appropriately keyword named .com URL.

The Web lives on .com.

Businesses that choose .mobi URLs have been likened to the first generation of businesses to go online -- who foolishly added "online" to their URLs when they didn't need to:

Instead of posting their tents at "XYZStores.com," they chose "YXZStoresOnline.com."

Ask yourself: When you do an online search for something, everything else being equal, which are you likely to look at first -- the URL that ends in ".biz" or the one that ends in ".com"?

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lolusernames

Honestly, the URL ending wouldn't matter to me as much as the title and description... but, i guess if everything else was equal, I would go with the .com simply because it's more familiar.

So .mobi domains aren't really necessary for mobile pages then. You can do the same thing with a .com domain name as you could a .mobi.

I guess i was thinking that if you bought a .mobi domain whatever content you put on there would automatically be mobile optimized, but I suppose that is not the case then? Sorry, like I said... I'm pretty new to the whole mobile idea.

New company launching March 10th. Their goal is to eliminate the greed that plagues so many programs, and help all their members succeed. Check it out here.

Jay Moreno

despite what everyone else thinks .mobi does have its place - if the client has a lengthy domain name i would much rather opt for using a shorter .mobi domain thats easier to enter in on a mobile device then cumbersome and long tld.

mobile has to be about end user experience... it should be a no brainer for the user to get access to the mobile site...

what would be easier to enter on a mobile device?

warriorforum.com or wf.mobi

naturally going to warriorforum.com you would still expect to be redirected to the mobile version too...

but deployed and marketed properly i would opt for entering wf.mobi over warriorforum.com on a mobile device any day.... it's easier for the end user....

hope that makes sense and you see where i am coming from... each to their own though at the end of the day!

cheers,

Jay

HypeText

Ok Jay, if short is the name of the game...whats wrong with wf.co? lol

Quentin

I know when I search on my mobile if it has a .com I tend not to visit as it will usually be a site that is hard to read on my mobile however if it has a mobi extension in most cases will be a mobile optimized sites.

Yes the desktop world lives on .com but the mobile world lives on .mobi

Quentin

midasman09

dotMobi Question;

Pretend that you're a Tourist coming into a city (Let's use Portland, Oregon as an example)

You have a Mobile Phone with Browser Access. You are looking for a "Place To Stay" or a "Place To Eat".

WHAT would you type into your Browser to find either of these?

Don Alm

4webmaster

For place to eat, I'll type: portland restaurant guide
For place to stay, I'll type: portland hotel guide

https://stevesuard.com

jasonx2

Not sure your mobile device but with mine I use Google Places and search "restaurant" when looking for a place to eat using GPS and brings up places in the area I am in. Has never failed me yet. Loading Places content for businesses has made me a few bucks in the last year simply by walking into a restaurant at an off hour, showing the owner how I "almost didn't find the joint" because of the poor Places content. I will often sell a small package that will make their places page grab more diners that would otherwise have never given them a shot.
One time fee
10 minute presentation
25 minutes work (at a later time)
And a check for $150-$200.

Just last week I was out of town about 100 miles from home and vehicle blew a radiator hose. Still had 100 miles to drive. Quick choice, looked up rental cars on device. They had the wrong #. Got my vehicle to a shop, asked him if there were other rental places because they must be shut down as the number was dead. He gave me a different # called and got a car for 5 days. Rental bill was $250!
After I got home I called the national #, told them about their listing and wondered how many customers they were losing because of this........
They were happy for the help and gave me a $500 credit for future rentals.
Will come in handy when I get out west and need a car this spring

ryankjones

Google claims it is easier for them to rank with the m.yourdomain.com approach. Of course, this is open for discussion and anyone can tell you what they think. If you want to spend the extra money to buy the .mobi domian, then go ahead. I don't think it REALLY matters in Google's eyes. BUT what does count in mobile SEO is the LOAD time for the mobile site. If it loads less than 3 seconds, you are doing it right! Anything over 10 seconds, you can forget it. Society as a whole has a very low attention span but especially on a mobile device :-) I make mobile sites that is how I know this.

lolusernames

Wow! Lots of very good opinions. Seems I have quite a bit to think about. Thanks for the information.

As far as what would i do if looking for a hotel... I'd tap my google icon on my phone and type "portland hotels" ... haha.

New company launching March 10th. Their goal is to eliminate the greed that plagues so many programs, and help all their members succeed. Check it out here.

Cringer

I'll throw my 0.02c in here too.

Ultimately I'm not too concerned about how my .mobi domain is taken up by Google - I'm more interested in how people are going to find my .mobi site. Taking on from where I think midasman09 is going with his line of questioning, I want tourists to find my site because the hotel their staying at is promoting my .mobi site either with a business card handed to them or with literature around the hotel lobby.

Why .mobi though? Well it goes well with the way I am marketing the mobile directory: LocationOn.mobi e.g. LAon.mobi, NYCon.mobi etc...

izignite

I would buy up all available domains right from the start. If you have your site on a .com, you can always forward or cloak the rest to this domain. At least they are there & available for future use & expansion.

I personally prefer to land on a .mobi site when using a mobile, although the domain type itself does not have any additional optimized benefits as far as I am aware

Green Moon

If all you want is a mobile version of a site, it is really worth buying the .mobi version? I did buy the .mobi version of my main site (a business information site) but have not yet decided whether to even use it.

JSKING

Most major websites instead use scripts that automatically detected where the user is logged.
and forward them to the mobile version.
Overall market Mobi has not developed as expected, and note that this extension was sponsored by mobile giants.