Tag Archives: mobile apps

Everywhere you go these days, whether it’s a restaurant or the train station or the office, people a fiddling with their mobile devices. They’re texting and they’re emailing and they’re scrolling through page upon page of seemingly crucial information. In short, everyone’s eyes are glued to those little screens.

So how, as a business owner, can you get some of those eyes glued to a screen with your site on it? And how do you get that to translate into business for your brand? This week we look at the mobile market. I’ve put together some basics and some not-so-basic information to guide you along as you enter this exploding and potentially lucrative arena.

  1. Be consistent. Your mobile site should not be markedly different in terms of branding from your main site. Don’t adopt a completely different logo, for example, on your mobile site, or a radically different URL. Many companies simply put an “m” in front of their standard URL—for example, “m.companyname.com”
  2. When creating a mobile outlet, keep things simple. Visitors to mobile sites don’t like to have to wait a long time for it to load, and they don’t have the same high-speed access they have in their homes. Therefore, you need to keep your mobile site limited to the basics, with only the most important content there.
  3. Be sure to test your site thoroughly. You should make certain your site looks consistent on multiple devices before you release it. It should have a maximum width of 570 pixels and should not require a lot of scrolling or resizing for visitors to view it successfully.
  4. Take advantage of QR codes. QR (“quick response”) codes are those square digitized barcodes that appear in magazines, newspapers, and direct mail advertisements. Users can download apps that enable their camera phones to read the codes (though many phones now come with the apps preloaded), and the app then directs them to a site with a special offer or additional information. Use QR codes in your advertising or in your retail outlet to generate new customers.
  5. Generate a mobile app. By creating a mobile app for your customers, you will make it easy for them to simply click once on the screen and immediately access your mobile site. There are a number of ready tools on the Internet to enable you to create an app, many of which allowing you to add special features, so it doesn’t have to be complicated.
  6. Follow the three-click rule. If you have a retail site, the purchasing process should involve no more than three steps: find the product, fill in the information, submit. Too many steps and you will lose customers

Going mobile doesn’t have to be daunting. There are loads of tools and guides to help you make the transition easier. Following a few simple guidelines will help you avoid some of the pitfalls and enable you to take advantage of this exciting new market.

Thanks!

Sean

Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog

(Image by Carnero)

Google released its Google Wallet mobile payment system this week, which works with Citi-Mastercards and the Google Prepaid Card, meaning that you can make a payment simply by tapping or waving your phone over one of the PayPass systems located at your point of purchase.

This is very similar to Barclays Contactless debit and credit cards, which you can swipe over the traditional chip and pin machine to make a payment, but the Google Wallet features a fantastic new element called SingleTap – which combines users’ coupons, loyalty cards and the payment method all in the one tap.

By downloading the Google Offers app (which allows you to browse the latest deals available to you) directly to your Google Wallet you can make a payment with your chosen payment method, apply a coupon you’ve saved and add the purchase to your loyalty card for that particular store or outlet.

Although the process appears to be seamless and a great alternative to carrying around a purse or wallet full of different cards, Google Wallet will only work if you have the screen on and the phone unlocked. Plus, if you haven’t used your Google Wallet for a while you will be asked to enter your unlock code before you can use it again. Also, as there are only certain types of cards which can be tied into the Google Wallet process, it doesn’t guarantee that your card will work with the system.

As with any wireless payment method, Google has a good deal of security in place to prevent fraud, and they have also added an extra layer of protection for your Google wallet with their Secure Element which works with standard smartphones.

Privacy is another big issue with the Google Wallet, as many people wouldn’t like the idea of Google knowing what they were buying – so the good news is that for now Google does not keep track of local transactions made with your Google Wallet. So if you look at your Wallet history you will only see a date, and amount and an approximate location, which only you can view.  

The one main critique which comes from this privacy issue is that receipts are still given in paper versions to you at the till, the receipts for your purchases are not yet stored within the Google Wallet app.

Once more big name financial institutions come on board with this system I can see Google Wallet really taking off, and this is sure to be the start of big changes in the mobile technology industry – that much is clear to see.

Thanks!

Sean

Internet Marketing Academy

Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog