Hiring the Internet

You can thank the iPhone for really catapulting mobile Internet access. Forget the touch screen or multilateral capabilities – it’s all about the Web! For people who are idle and yet on the go (on public transportation, waiting in a long line, etc.), there are worse ways to pass the time than online browsing.

There are new statistics backing the rising popularity of mobile Web usage. According to the Online Publishers Association, 1 in 10 users stated that they made a purchase based on mobile Web ad, 13% looked more information on a product or service, and 11% reported going to a store to look up the product. MySpace Mobile reported 7 million unique visitors within the first 6 months of its launch, while Facebook had 4 million unique registrations.

On mobile devices such as phones, marketers can take advantage of the following different forms of response mechanisms:

• Banner ads
• Text, picture, audio, or video message direct to phone
• Landing page
• Click-to-call functionality
• Email
• Mobile television with commercials
• Personalization of advertisements based on user’s data

You may notice that some of these advertising forms are available in traditional access to the Internet. However, texting has provided the bulk of revenue for mobile Internet Marketing worldwide. Some of the campaign types may be slow to the game because of the current limitations of mobile Web access, which is still in its infancy.

Web marketers should be aware of the following caveats:

1. Small screen size – Complicated and large designs must be adjusted for smaller screens.
2. Limited access to different types of sites – Many mobile Web devices cannot access sites that have secured connections or require programs such as Adobe Flash or other software, PDFs, or video sites.
3. No tabs or windows – On a computer, a Web user can open up various Internet browser windows or tabs simultaneously. This capability allows the user to multitask or backtrack for more complex browsing. Unfortunately, this is not the case for most mobile devices as of yet.
4. Slower connection speed – Many Web users have an Internet connection that is faster than that of a dial-up. Mobile devices, however, typically have connection speeds that are slower than those of dial-ups.
5. Broken or compressed pages – Due to the size of the screen and to the slower speed of mobile Web devices, websites may be viewed with their layouts broken up in unintended ways or will not appear at all.
6. Constrained email campaigns – Mobile Web devices often have character limits for email messages, so the text in email campaigns is limited.

Bear in mind, however, that this new inroad into Web advertising is still raw but growing. In the second part of our primer, we will discuss upcoming potentialities to mobile Internet access. One association is developing “the first complete, open, and free mobile platform” for handheld devices. Want to know who, how, and when? Stay tuned this week to find out.

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