A few .mobi questions

[kylewill]

how do you monetize .mobi sites? How does AdSense for Mobiles work? Most people who click on AdSense ads on computers do so because they happen to think its part of the site (hence the tendency to make the ads in the same format/color as the site). How do you think that can happen on a mobile phone when the information is concise and there is no free roaming mouse pointer? Wouldn't a surfer on a mobile site click on ads only if he really wanted to, as opposed to casual clicking, as it happens on a PC, because of the simple fact that you're much more conscious of ads (as they are more prominent) on a mobile than on a PC?

First off sashas, I like that you instantly bring up adsense, as if that is the definition of profit online. That is what any predictive industry is about, predicting that growth. Predicting the next big advertising delivery method for example.

I also like how most of the examples you give in this thread are based on current standards, instead of implied LOGICAL growth. For example, your statement about people in India desiring cheap, working phones purely for talking. Look how quickly the next technology gets cheaper from year to year, hell month to month. The point is, that in no time at all, cell phones used to browse the Internet will be the cheap phones for your countrymen!

So I started reading this thread, and after spending 10 minutes I realized I was going to be here for a while, and took an early lunch.

Is it really that much of a mystery, or are a lot of you completely clueless to Internet business? I cannot believe all the strong voices here with little to no Internet business experience...

A brief list of the most basic advertising/revenue generation ideas...

• mobi sites will advertise on other mobi sites.
• Brand recognition. You know, the mass advertising that is about getting a given image or message into people's heads... where its not always about the click. Big corporate advertising.
• SALES!!! I have actually bought a half dozen things from Amazon on my phone, and have bid on ebay many times.

.mobi is NOTHING like biz, info, or any other country codes. It is a product, that can be used to supplement an estabilshed dot com. .infos can be products too, but they dont tailor to a such a specific growing, heavily used application.

The key here is branding and idiot users. I have seen it in my own family. My living grandparents are hopeless, they will not be using Internet on their phones. But!! I have seen them progress to use a contact list!

My dad just started using the Internet on his phone. He was so excited when seeing a map of thunderstorms in his area, on his phone. These are the users that will truly feel the .mobi PRODUCT, not domain.

Unlike the nets and orgs, as I already stated mobi is more of a product. You can brand games.mobi and advertise it to the masses on the superbowl, resulting in minimal confusion to the .com. Advertising games.net will logically result in higher amounts of confusion, and .com push.

Another example of it as a huge promotional tool, adn why .mobi is more than just hype.. "Hello world, this is a commercial. We are Yahoo.com, you have heard of us! Well our games section is very popular, as you know! Play these games on your cell phone! Visit games.mobi!!!!"

All it is going to take is ONE spelled-out 30 second commercial. I picture one in the style of these PC vs. Mac commercials, quickly educating the user on how the given .mobi site is a stand alone product, and BOOM....it will be everywhere. Why? Cause CEOs are stupid. One CEO sees Apple doing it and its an overnight chain reaction. "OMG WE MUST LAUNCH LAPTOPS.MOBI! IMAGINE THE SUPPORT AND SALES WE COUULD GENERATE FOR PEOPLE WHEN THEIR LAPTOPS BREAK!" (stupid example i know, but im tired of wasting time on creative examples).

Nothing like this has happened, so please for the love of Jesus, stop comparing mobi to other extensions. There are similarities between .mobi and .info as a product-based domain to supplement a .com, HOWEVER the .info has little to no commercial aspects or just outright excitement.

[Gerry]

How do you think that can happen on a mobile phone when the information is concise and there is no free roaming mouse pointer?

The answer to all you baffling questions, your genius and intellect, your astute intellect and business sense, and you lame attempts to discredit mobi can be summed up in one sentence...

pick up the damn phone and use it!

[seanboy]

Never listen to cynics. They give the worst advice.

[sashas]

The answer to all you baffling questions, your genius and intellect, your astute intellect and business sense, and you lame attempts to discredit mobi can be summed up in one sentence...

pick up the damn phone and use it!

Doc, I asked a simple question not entirely related to your beloved .mobi. You obviously don't know/care to know/care to share, so stop bullshitting.


Coming back to my original question: if you aren't actually 'selling' something, such as some service or some product, how do you monetize a mobile website? This is not even about your .mobi, but about mobile internet, and something all the developers here should know. How do you get money from your content on a mobile website, be it m.xxx.com, or xxx.mobi?

[whitebark]

Never listen to cynics. They give the worst advice.

Versus those with a vested interest?

To quote a friend - "The truth is always somewhere in the middle for even the most jaded."

[PRED]

Doc, I asked a simple question not entirely related to your beloved .mobi. You obviously don't know/care to know/care to share, so stop bullshitting.


Coming back to my original question: if you aren't actually 'selling' something, such as some service or some product, how do you monetize a mobile website? This is not even about your .mobi, but about mobile internet, and something all the developers here should know. How do you get money from your content on a mobile website, be it m.xxx.com, or xxx.mobi?

simple

the same way you would with any other extension, if you have an informative and interesting site, as oposed to an ecommerce site that say sells clothes.

you use google adsense for mobile or admob

if you get popular enough you can also sell space or featured space, same other top sites would.

the google adsense for mobile only shows up on mobile devices so the advertises can just target mobile users.

for the pc site you can have autodetect and have a full blown site with different monetisation

so, you could have it as a main site or just a handy little site with basic stuff/info on and they can tuck in when they get home

[Gerry]

You obviously don't know/care to know/care to share, so stop bullshitting.

You have got to be ****ing shitting me.

All we have done is share and tried go convey our look and thoughts.

The real point is all of us, not just on this forum, are tired of your bullshitting, game playing, pointless points and counterpoints, answering your same ****ing questions over and over not matter how many different ways you concoct and misconstrue everything, and and just your entire immature ways of playing one forum against the other.

No one here gives a **** what you do or say on NP but you insist on bringing your shit over here and insisting we care about what you have to say and add.

And guess what? No one on NP wants to read what ever the **** you have to say or bring from DNF!

Grow the **** up, get some original thoughts and ideas in your pea brain, and quit acting like you even give a shit about all or any of this.

[seanboy]

Versus those with a vested interest?

To quote a friend - "The truth is always somewhere in the middle for even the most jaded."

I have maybe 25-30.mobis at the most, not quite the vested interest. I know a few people that own over 2000 .mobis

The best part about these tired .mobi bashing threads is watching you domainers attack other domainers for being domainers. Hilarious.

I promised myself that I would steer clear of these hypocritical threads. So I'm gone. Good luck to all of you.

[Gerry]

Doc, I asked a simple question not entirely related to your beloved .mobi.

name one person here on this forum that can not read through your bullshit. All you have done is post your points in a mobi thread about mobi.

Why in the hell is this any different because it is not.

Put me on your ****ing ignore list.

[Bill Roy]

Doc Com, one thing is for sure, based on your language in posts any of your sites, .mobi or other, will be covered in swear words!

Sashas, your questions are sensible questions. Normally on DNF if a domainer asks a question they will be given help and advice rather than be slammed and sworn at as seems to be the preferred method on this board. I have a couple of dozen .mobi's so thherefore I am interested also in the answers to the questions you ask.

It would seem that for the time being there is relatively little opportunity to monetize .mobi websites unless they consist of a multitude of links. Indeed one of the problems with using the mobile phone for internet access is the lack of display area. This rules out 'traditional' advertising as such IMO.

So if anyone would kindly please explain how .mobi sites can be effectively monetized at the present time please post it here.

[Gerry]

so stop bullshitting.

Who do you or anyone else here think you are bullshitting.

Go back to the original thread, the OP.

Someone comes on and asks a question about .mobi.

Immediately someone has to come on, tell them what they don't like about it, offer their opinion of the day as if it mattered in the first place.

Every damn mobi thread turns into an attempt to de-rail the thread and de-rail .mobi.

What kind of a sign are you all looking for to either get over it, get over your selves, and just accept the fact that it is not going away.

I read people say, "don't tell me about BofA, tired of hearing about BofA." Mention something else and its, "why do you have to mention everybit of news".

What kind of damn sign are you looking for?

AirFrance.mobi
Volvo.mobi
Zagat.mobi being advertised INSIDE NYC taxicabs?
Opel.mobi
Gastrol.mobi

Name one thing they have in common?

None US based, international companies that CHOSE to make a mobile site using and branding .mobi and CHOSE not to use any other tricks, redirects, proxy servers to deliver a message and reach a customer. And made a conscious and marketing decision NOT to use a .com, .net, .eu, .fr, or anything else because not a damn one of them says we are mobile.

This is not going away.

If you are still looking for a sign, then it will have to hit you on the head.

Don't want to hear or read about .mobi? then don't

Don't want to read about what I have to say and rip the damn arguments apart? Then put me on your ignore list.

Because I sure as hell will not put a damn soul on my ignore list. Some people have succeeding in life by not ignoring the good and the bad and making informed educated decisions by weighing the two.

And I for one don't want to stop laughing at the idiots in the world and the fools who make the village idiots look like geniuses. Just like the 2004 thread I posted. Not a sensible point to any of the points. Even before .mobi came out, while it was being planned I see the same points being raised today.

That is why I don't want to ignore anyone. 4 years from now I'll be posting this thread and reminding everyone how damn foolish you look.

Doc Com, one thing is for sure, based on your language in posts any of your sites, .mobi or other, will be covered in swear words!

Seems like the only thing some pissants respond to are stern language and swearing and the like.

If you are about to step into a pile of shit, you might want me to say "look out for that pile of shit".

Looks like I've been trying to tell sashas that for months now but he instead does not want to hear anything if it is not what he wants to hear.

The end result and now he has fallen in it face first and wants help up.

So you all go ahead and brush him off and tell him to look where he is walking.

[whitebark]

I have maybe 25-30.mobis at the most, not quite the vested interest. I know a few people that own over 2000 .mobis

The best part about these tired .mobi bashing threads is watching you domainers attack other domainers for being domainers. Hilarious.

I promised myself that I would steer clear of these hypocritical threads. So I'm gone. Good luck to all of you.

I don't see much of people bashing others for doing what domainers do - but I see people trying to show that some of the claims being made in support of mobi are a tad suspect or open to challenge.

The biggest one is: mobi = the mobile internet. It's just not true.

[Gerry]

The biggest one is: mobi = the mobile internet. It's just not true.

Then by all means, disprove that point and prove your point and move on.

[whitebark]

Easy Doc - I grab my middle-priced mobile phone and use it to access ANY tld. Any tld can do what mobi is supposed to do. But to you and some others that will never make any sense because for whatever reasons, believe that mobi is the only extension for mobile content delivery. You see that expressed daily on all domain forums. And it's just not true.

[kylewill]

Most, if not all of the points made against .mobi in this thread are rubbish.

Point...monetizing .mobi with advertising is a problem.
Its a hurdle, but I already listed examples of solutions. Before I mention anything, making a stand in the .mobi field will require you to be innovative. That means, you won't get away with producing a garbage content site on 'free insurance quotes' and littering it with adsense ads. MM kay? It is going to require original ideas, content/services/both designed for cellphone users.

Monetizing from advertising...
- Mass advertising, where companies want their logo/message littered all over to reinforce their product. This of course depends on your niche, and the caliber of your site (see above regarding quality unique product).
- OMG CELLPHONE SERVICES YOU NOOBS! SERIOUSLY! Ads for ringtones, movie downloads, music downloads, GAMES!!! EVEN MMORPGS ON CELLPHONES THAT ARE SUBSCRIPTION BASED.

Why are people like Doc Com, myself, and others irritated with the .mobi slams? Cause they are often coming with such assurance with no good points. When people compare .mobi to country codes, or .info/biz, they deserve a permanent /ignore and /kickban from #my-irc-channel. Or when their brain doesnt put together the most simplest and obvious advertising examples (see above). And we're not even having a serious brainstorming session here.. maybe someone will start an intelligent thread in the future labeled.. "Revenue generation from .mobi sites".

More to come... went off on a tangent now I'm forgetful.

[PRED]

So if anyone would kindly please explain how .mobi sites can be effectively monetized at the present time please post it here.

see my post 4 posts above yours

[Gerry]

Easy Doc - I grab my middle-priced mobile phone and use it to access ANY tld. Any tld can do what mobi is supposed to do.

Any TLD can do what mobi is supposed to do.

Incredible insight.

What you are saying is you can access any site on a mobile phone.

Can you use it? To its true fuctionality?

Or does your auto detection middle priced mobile phone render the site useless, take long to load, and only after you select the HTML mode does it show the site in its full glory and then even make it more of a pain in the ***, like me.

Better yet, have you used it on a .ca site?

Even more, have you ever used it to go to a .com vs the .mobi of the same business or site?

People say it is not technology, it is nothing new.

Then why has it not been done before?

Why was this never an issue until .mobi did come out?

Where were you members before all of this?

Why does mobi look mysteriously different from a .com site if there are no differences in dectection, browsing, scripting, technology?

Those that make browsers, including firefox, are working feverishly to get mobile browsers live. But the one fact will never change is a full HTML site that you see now will not render in its entirty, functionality, and usabilty.

That auto-detection that every one is so hyped on and keen on make the determination FOR YOU what you will see and not see. Graphics, log ins, and many other pertinent information that makes the site what it is, is nearly rendered useless by software making a decision for you.

A mobile site is constructed with all this in mind, no lose of usability, and created with the end user (the customer) in mind.

Auto-detection browser is like me letting you, sashas, or anyone else make a decision for me what I want to read and look at.

And we all know that will happen.

The only auto-detection I use is the BS auto-detector sitting on this side of the computer.

And that meter is off the scale with these mobi bashing threads.

[Bill Roy]

Question. So is it the .mobi suffix that allows for the smooth uploading of a site onto a cell phone or the website programming that allows for the smooth uploading of a site onto a cell phone?

It would seem that if it is the .mobi suffix then there is something of a gain to using a .mobi suffix. If on the other hand it is the programming then the answer would be to simply use the programming with a different suffix. This would become important especially for major key words. Imagine a company owning most of the keywords in a little utilized ccTLD. They for a few years have been slowly hoarding and acquiring more and more keywords. If they were to suddenly develop this whole portfolio on the cell phone compliant progam for cell phone reception then that company would be able to grab a substantial part of the cell phone website business for a fraction of the cost of obtaining the keywords in .mobi.

Serious question with serious consequences if the second possibility is the right one.

[Fearless]

Question. So is it the .mobi suffix that allows for the smooth uploading of a site onto a cell phone or the website programming that allows for the smooth uploading of a site onto a cell phone?

I think you stumped them BILLBO.

[jasdon11]

Billbo - are you saying that you don't know the answer to this, even though you have bought some .mobis?

Well the answer is, that you can program any domain to .mobi compliant standards, but why would you try to set up your own 'mobile friendly' group of sites when the likes of Air France, BMW, Ferrari, BofA, et al are making the public aware of the .mobi extension?

And most minor ccTLDs cost more to reg than .mobis anyway.

Question: Weren't think of those .st names were you?

I think you stumped them BILLBO.

Think again...