Is dot-mobi a Necessary Component of Your Internet Marketing Strategy?
Apr 18, 2007 by Jake Matthews | DomainsWhat’s all the dot-mobi buzz about?
About a year or so ago already, the domain extension dot-mobi (.mobi) began to get some buzz. Momentum slowed a bit, but as mobile web users access web sites ever more frequently, dot-mobi is becoming more relevant. Dot-mobi signifies a tool for mobile access rather than a vertical such as .edu, representing educational institutions. It’s signifies a means of access rather than an category or classification of subject matter.
But what does it mean for a company’s bottom line? A recent Wall Street Journal article discussed the dot-mobi domain name extension and the potential use for such a domain name to access the web on a mobile device. What’s intriguing is that one person they interviewed in the hospitality industry reports that since creating a website for mobile devices on a dot-mobi extension, his call volume for bookings at his establishment rose significantly. I don’t doubt this for one second and this is why I’ve advised many clients to wake up and at the very least register this extension.
In all, dot-mobi is not necessary in order to reach the mobile device web audience, but will be necessary to capture more and more mobile traffic. As Matt Lake points out on CNet Reviews the dot-mobi extension will likely end up being forwarded to most “forward compatible†versions of dot-com, dot-org and dot-gov sites. I tend to agree with Matt.
With proper knowledge and skills, one can code a mobile version of a website in some dated languages that work, or even in some forward languages and house that site right on a dot-com name. Web designers and developers can in fact create completely mobile versions of websites with the appropriate amount of content and links, right on the same domain name that they currently own.
However, since major wireless, search and handset makers are backing dot-mobi, I suggest that this extension will catch fire at least in the sense that typing it into a mobile browser, may become popular. Additionally, wireless service providers will likely begin to offer “Do you want to see the Mobile (.mobi) version of this site?” when searching, surfing and browsing for products, services and brand names. It may be pushed on us regardless of whether we like it or not. Not too far down the road, it will be expected that while browsing the web on your mobile phone or hand-held one should be able to type in the .dot-mobi extension and see a great, easy to use website.
So, how should business owners handle dot-mobi? Here are a couple of rules of thumb:
- Check your current website to see if your relevant business information (phone, address) on your site can be accessed from various mobile devises; perhaps a Razr, Treo and a Blackberry – that should give you a good cross section. If you have a basic HTML website without a lot of content management features or eCommerce systems management it may be wise to simply register a dot-mobi extension and forward that to your existing .com or .net site if it already checks out well on a mobile device.
- Have your developers simply create a mobile version of your website right on your current domain name and have this link available on the homepage. Chances are that your site has some authority already on that domain name and you can retain that.
- If you have a complex website with an eCommerce system and tons of information that is constantly updated through a content management system, you may want to simply acquire your dot-mobi domain name (same as your .com) and create a “brochure†version of your website on the dot-mobi. Reason is, ideally, what you want to do is capture the user’s attention on their mobile device. Let the person find you as quickly and simply as possible and then and ring you by phone to acquire or purchase your products or services, find your place of business or speak with customer service. At the very least, you’re being found and making a positive impression.
What are some reasons to acquire the dot-mobi extension?
- As many already know, Mobile Top Level Domain, Mtld a company owned by Microsoft, Google, Vodaphone and Nokia is leading the way as the source for the dot-mobi domain. As such, dot-mobi is going to have considerable boost and natural exposure being that it’s backed by such major players in the online and mobile space.
- I’ve heard that there are 4 mobile phones to every 1 computer! C’mon get with it.
- Webmail by phone Think of the content that your email drops contain and the links back to your sites – you’ll want your email drops to be effective and for mobile browsers to access the links from the emails as well.
- Currently, about 75% of mobile devices can access the web, according the WSJ article and the Online Publishers Association. And many now have HTML browsers installed, or something very close, so nearly full versions of sites can be seen.
- Unlike other fly by night domain name extensions, dot-mobi is probably something that people will get comfortable with. It makes sense. Even major brands like Procter & Gamble are on this as another WSJ Article points out from way back.
And where can you acquire dot-mobi domains? Here are a few places:
- Source it from MTLD
- 007 Names
- Qualispace
- Or go to ICANN’s Accredited Registrar page to find a full list
As a side note, here’s a funny one: They said – “forget about dot-mobi let’s just put mobi in the dot-com domain name.†HMMMM. So, next time I launch a web site that is not mobile, or before I go mobile with it, I’ll call it www.staticnewswebsite.com, just so everyone really knows that that’s not the mobile version. Ha! Sorry for being sarcastic.
There will always be organizations with an agenda, (Remember the dot-travel?) trying to promote yet another domain name extension, but I don’t think that Mtld/dot-mobi is. And, while dot-mobi is probably not going to make or break your organization, this is one domain extension that is important to protecting your business online and taking advantage to ensure that you capture every last surfer and searcher! Cell phones and mobile devices are not going away, so try to get an edge in this space in any way possible. At the end of the day, people are not going to care whether you are on have dot-mobi they are simply going to want to find you and find you fast. Don’t hide.
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What’s in a Domain Name? Your brand, your business!
There are thousands of websites living on the internet that hold fringe domains for major brands. These sites take an internet user who types in the wrong domain in the address bar for a well known company name and send the traffic to other websites — most likely for “referral fees”Â. It’s important to not let your brand be affected by a similar scenario where you run the risk of blurring your brand image and sending users who intend to find your company’s services and products to other websites.
I am puzzled how so many big brands – well known brick and mortar companies – and organizations have not paid proper attention to their brand relative to their domain names. Too often a business owner or head IT person forgets to register all of the domain names surrounding their business and products. This oversight can leave a business vulnerable to lost traffic and a blurry brand image.
When a company neglects to register the proper domain names, variations and fringes of relevant domains, a blurring of the brand begins and unsuspecting web surfers browse on through, never reaching their intended destination!
Following are a couple of real world examples of major brands getting it wrong and they’ve allowed “fringe” domain names to get the best of them; they’ve fallen victim to domain name prospector’s who profit directly from their brand.
Hello, anybody home? Is this Wal-Mart?
I would never mistake a Wal-Mart while driving down a highway. I hate them and frankly they SCARE me! They destroy the landscape (personal rant…) With huge, well-lit marquees standing tall above all other signs (even the Golden Arches) and massive footprints on our landscape and of course “Low prices — Always” – who could miss that? (that’s the part that really annoys me — sorry — personal rant continued…)
It’s clear though that many people do LOVE Wal-Mart and they look for them on the web. But on the web, it may be a different story than driving down the street. There are individual internet users who will mistake a fake Wal-Mart for the real Wal-Mart. If a user were to type into their browser bar www.wall-mart.com what they would get:
ALERT: Hey un-savvy web surfers, that’s not Wal Mart! This site is referring traffic to yet other websites.
I say, who was the genius long ago who registered the domain name www.wall-mart.com? Something is going on there.
Or better yet, see www.wallmart.com
(Server not found!) Are you kidding me???? Is this because so many people are mis-typing www.walmart.com that this server gets overloaded? Well fix it then!
This is an example of a major corporation (to say the least) leaving their web traffic in a lurch because they are not paying proper attention to their domain names. What happens to the user who lands on this site is that they probably become frustrated when they are sent to comparison shopping website such as www.bizrate.com or something of the like. This can negatively impact a brands image on the web.
I know some people who have actually just started to learn to use the internet. For sure, they may spend a ½ hour on that website and the affiliated sites to which it sends traffic. I know even more internet users who have been on the web for many years and still don’t know when they are not on the real corporate site. Eventually they realize it, become frustrated and are forced to go to Google or Yahoo! Search to resolve their navigational dilemmas — all to find Wal-Mart on the web?
Other big brands — like major league sports and their franchises — the NBA, the New York Knicks have allowed this to haunt them as well. Reference: The New York Knicks
www.newyorknicks.com ???
Hey un-savvy web surfers, that’s not the official site of the New York Knicks! It’s a fringe domain, an orphan domain sending traffic to alternate locations.
In another post, I’ll address what it is that these “fringe”sites are doing on the web. But, for now, what do these sites with the odd, simple link-related content do to your business? They blur your brand image and perhaps more important for (the small or medium sized business) is that they redirect YOUR valuable traffic.
The above examples apply to major brands, companies and organizations, but they provide lessons for the small or medium sized business. What can one learn from these examples of domain name hijacking and brand protection from fringe domains and orphans sites popping up around your brand?
Protect your Corporate Name, Brand, Branded Products and Services online:
Reasons to protect:
- The above examples!
- Domain name prospectors snatch up domains specifically to hijack companies and their brands and charge a ransom for the name as they are misspelled. Don’t let them force you to pay exorbitant rates for your own name either in .com, .net? .info or any other name?
- Why would you want to get into protracted court battles over Trademarks, Service Marks and domain names?
How to protect; rules of thumb:
- A small to medium sized business should be willing to spend somewhere between 2%-5% of an annual internet marketing budget on domain name acquisition for its major company trademarks, service marks, and brand names. The budget should be higher as the company is early on in its internet presence — say years 0-5. Beyond that, the budget can be much lower.
- Register private if you don’t want to be contacted at all by domain name “prospectors”Â
- If you are even thinking about starting a company or taking a company to the web — GO GET THE DOMAIN that you want, and register as many names as possible around that. Register the possible variations and extensions:
- Commerce related extensions such as .com, .net, .info. Consider .org and others secondarily if your interest may be to create a user group, blog or a community around your brand. If you are in travel look at the new offerings in .travel and if you are looking to go purely mobile, look at .mobi. There are more to consider — too many to list here.
- Hyphenated versions of your major names
- Misspellings of your major names
- Register your corporate domain name for as long as possible and set it for auto-renew options in your accounts. Register all of your domain names for at least 1 year.
- Register domain names for products and services that are not rolled out yet and possibly any nick names of your products. (Example — BMW.com — Bimmer.com???? or M3.com ??ï)
- Register a couple of creative names and or variations of your company’s name and / or products and services for future blogging and social marketing concepts.
- Optimize your content. Optimize, Optimize, monitor, watch and react; optimize again.
- Monitor how the search engines treat your site, content and domain against other domains. Watch for variations of your domain name that may be sneaking up on you with irrelevant or competitive content or possibly content that can damage your company’s brand or image. You’re must take advantage of your site’s search optimization.
- Don’t register domains purely for Optimization purposes. Stick to your brand and names that are relevant or creative plays on your company’s name AND, last but not least…
- A final rule of thumb is related to your content. AHH CONTENT — Beyond your domain name, keep your content relevant and current and you will win on the web. Offer up new and interesting content to your users and be active in online communities in your business vertical so that your name is consistently distinguished and so people know who you are. Any domain name with good solid, relevant content should be enough to protect your brand. Develop solid content that accurately reflects your business, the web surfer intending to find you will find you and they will know exactly who you are.
Domain Name Resources:
Recommended Registrars:
Random, but interesting article on domain name battles – http://www.sdsc.edu/SDSCwire/v2.11/domains.html
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