When you’re considering a mobile surfer as
part of the audience for your site,
keep in mind the different uses for the mobile
Web. Google has done a lot of
research in this area and has defined three
types of mobile surfers:
Repetitive Now:This is the group of mobile
surfers who have a set
of online activities that they conduct from their
phones on a regular
basis. Some of the repetitive tasks these
surfers perform are checking
the weather, reading news stories and blog posts,
and checking stock quotes.
Bored Now:The Bored Now group of Web surfers have a few minutes
of downtime and don’t know what else to do in such a short amount of
time. Out comes the phone, and the Web browser is opened to occupy
their minds for just a few minutes. This type of mobile surfer is probably
the most targeted because this is the only area where true e-commerce
dollars can be captured. Bored Now surfers are selecting ringtones,
downloading videos, and adding themes to their phones.
Urgent Now:“We need it right now” is the motto of this group of mobile
surfers. These people are booking, changing, or checking airline flights,
booking hotel rooms, finding directions, or locating restaurants. They
need information now, so they pull out their phones to find it.
Mobile content is definitely different from the content that you find on other
Web pages, and because it is, participation in AdSense for Mobile has some
different requirements. Obviously, the Web site must be mobile-compliant,
but it also must be developed with a server-side scripting language, such as
PHP.
Article layout:The experience of reading on-screen is very different
from reading on paper. On-screen, it’s much easier to get lost. Eye strain
is also much more common when you focus on a computer screen for
too long. Computer screens have an invisible bar that scrolls across the
screen refreshing the image constantly.
Your Web site visitors will love you for it. Potential Web site visitors are
more likely to stay on your site, reading your articles, viewing your other
types of content, and eventually clicking your AdSense ads if you’re offering
them content they can’t find elsewhere. The only place to get that kind of
content is to either write it yourself or hire someone to write it for you.
Titles and headings:Because reading is much more of a chore online,
many people don’t completely read everything. Those who do read
everything skim a page first just to make sure it’ll be worth their time to
read through it. That means you need to catch your visitors’ attention as
quickly as possible.
Links within articles:One last element that you should include in
your articles and blog posts is links to other, related articles and blog
posts, both on your Web site and on others’ Web sites. Linking to other
resources provides additional information for your site visitors. Usually,
those visitors will click through those links and then click back to the
page from which they came. If you worry about visitors clicking away
from your site, never to return, set your links up so that they open in a
new window. Opening links in a new window keeps your Web site open
and in front of the visitors. When they’re finished examining the site
you’ve linked to, they can close the window and be right back on your
Web site.
Google Mobile is a service for workers who are on the go and who are able to send
and receive information from their cell phone, Blackberry, or other palm device.
Google Mobile actually is a suite of services, each of which is available in a ‘‘small
screen’’ version: Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google News, and Google
SMS, the text messaging service.
It’s easy to use the service: go to http://www.google.com/mobile.
Enter your mobile phone number in the box provided and click the Send
me the link button.
In a few seconds, your cell phone will let you know a message has been received.
AdSense gives anyone with a Web site the ability to place ads there from Google.
Google makes sure the ads relate in some way to the content on the Web page. You’ve
probably seen AdSense ads before; they’re the contextual ads that often appear in a
block of two or three and are often lined up vertically on the page.
AdSense also gives you the option to add a search box to your site. This enables
your visitors to perform a search and turn up search results that complement your
own content. In either case, if someone clicks on one of the ads you display, you earn
a bit of revenue. You are paid either using the cost-per-click or CPC model or the
cost-per-thousand-impressions or CPM model. In CPC, you are paid a small amount
every time someone clicks on an ad. In CPM, you are paid when your ads are displayed 1000 times—in other words, when the page that displays an ad is viewed 1000
times. In either case, the earnings you make depend on how rich your site’s content
is and how many visitors your site attracts. Before you start working out the exact
size and format of the ads you want to run, your first job is to create a Web site that
has the content to make AdSense ads actually work.
part of the audience for your site,
keep in mind the different uses for the mobile
Web. Google has done a lot of
research in this area and has defined three
types of mobile surfers:
Repetitive Now:This is the group of mobile
surfers who have a set
of online activities that they conduct from their
phones on a regular
basis. Some of the repetitive tasks these
surfers perform are checking
the weather, reading news stories and blog posts,
and checking stock quotes.
Bored Now:The Bored Now group of Web surfers have a few minutes
of downtime and don’t know what else to do in such a short amount of
time. Out comes the phone, and the Web browser is opened to occupy
their minds for just a few minutes. This type of mobile surfer is probably
the most targeted because this is the only area where true e-commerce
dollars can be captured. Bored Now surfers are selecting ringtones,
downloading videos, and adding themes to their phones.
Urgent Now:“We need it right now” is the motto of this group of mobile
surfers. These people are booking, changing, or checking airline flights,
booking hotel rooms, finding directions, or locating restaurants. They
need information now, so they pull out their phones to find it.
Mobile content is definitely different from the content that you find on other
Web pages, and because it is, participation in AdSense for Mobile has some
different requirements. Obviously, the Web site must be mobile-compliant,
but it also must be developed with a server-side scripting language, such as
PHP.
Article layout:The experience of reading on-screen is very different
from reading on paper. On-screen, it’s much easier to get lost. Eye strain
is also much more common when you focus on a computer screen for
too long. Computer screens have an invisible bar that scrolls across the
screen refreshing the image constantly.
Your Web site visitors will love you for it. Potential Web site visitors are
more likely to stay on your site, reading your articles, viewing your other
types of content, and eventually clicking your AdSense ads if you’re offering
them content they can’t find elsewhere. The only place to get that kind of
content is to either write it yourself or hire someone to write it for you.
Titles and headings:Because reading is much more of a chore online,
many people don’t completely read everything. Those who do read
everything skim a page first just to make sure it’ll be worth their time to
read through it. That means you need to catch your visitors’ attention as
quickly as possible.
Links within articles:One last element that you should include in
your articles and blog posts is links to other, related articles and blog
posts, both on your Web site and on others’ Web sites. Linking to other
resources provides additional information for your site visitors. Usually,
those visitors will click through those links and then click back to the
page from which they came. If you worry about visitors clicking away
from your site, never to return, set your links up so that they open in a
new window. Opening links in a new window keeps your Web site open
and in front of the visitors. When they’re finished examining the site
you’ve linked to, they can close the window and be right back on your
Web site.
Google Mobile is a service for workers who are on the go and who are able to send
and receive information from their cell phone, Blackberry, or other palm device.
Google Mobile actually is a suite of services, each of which is available in a ‘‘small
screen’’ version: Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google News, and Google
SMS, the text messaging service.
It’s easy to use the service: go to http://www.google.com/mobile.
Enter your mobile phone number in the box provided and click the Send
me the link button.
In a few seconds, your cell phone will let you know a message has been received.
AdSense gives anyone with a Web site the ability to place ads there from Google.
Google makes sure the ads relate in some way to the content on the Web page. You’ve
probably seen AdSense ads before; they’re the contextual ads that often appear in a
block of two or three and are often lined up vertically on the page.
AdSense also gives you the option to add a search box to your site. This enables
your visitors to perform a search and turn up search results that complement your
own content. In either case, if someone clicks on one of the ads you display, you earn
a bit of revenue. You are paid either using the cost-per-click or CPC model or the
cost-per-thousand-impressions or CPM model. In CPC, you are paid a small amount
every time someone clicks on an ad. In CPM, you are paid when your ads are displayed 1000 times—in other words, when the page that displays an ad is viewed 1000
times. In either case, the earnings you make depend on how rich your site’s content
is and how many visitors your site attracts. Before you start working out the exact
size and format of the ads you want to run, your first job is to create a Web site that
has the content to make AdSense ads actually work.