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Make money online with .mobi
By Gil | March 30, 2008
If your not familiar with .mobi, its the newest top level domain (like .com and .net) aimed at delivering the Internet to the mobile phone. mTLD Top Level Domain, ltd - also affectionately known as dotMobi - is the ICANN appointed global registry for the .mobi top level domain.
The case for dotMobi and mobile sites
Why design a dotMobi site when the mobile web is virtually unknown - and when those who do occasionally visit the mobile web, myself included, will often get a ‘page cannot displayed’ , or ‘file too large’ error? The answer to that seems to be in the .mobi top level domain itself. A .mobi top level domain name will let the mobile user know that this site will work on their mobile phone. Plus, there are some major players backing the .mobi top level domain, such as Ericsson, Google, GSM Association, Hutchison, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefónica Móviles, TIM, Visa and Vodaphone - so expect to see a big marketing push for dotMobi.
Need another reason? How about this…there are 4 mobile phones sold for every 1 computer. With that in mind, the potential growth… and monetization… is huge!
Of course, the real deciding factor on whether or not dotMobi sites will take off, will be the market place. If companies are willing to put out advertising dollars for mobile sites, the publishers and mobile content will appear. Then additionally, for the advertising dollars to keep flowing, the advertisers will need to see a return on investment. Whether or not this will happen remains to be seen, but there is some promising evidence… The appearance of mobile ad networks…
How to monetize a mobile site
The easiest way to make money off your mobile content is to use an ad network. There are two major front runners: Google and Admob.
Ok, we all are familiar with the Google Adsense program. Well, Google has unleashed Adsense for mobile. It works much the same way as the normal Adsense program. 
The ads come in only two sizes, a single or double ad unit which looks very similar to the regular Adsense text ads. On a mobile site, you probably really woundn’t want more than a two ad unit anyhow, as space your space is so limited.
The mobile Adsense ads are contextual, just as regular adsense, and will show ads that are targeted to the content of your mobile site. If you already have an Adsense account, Adsense for mobile is already available to you - just log into your account, click on the Adsense Setup tab and you will see the Adsense for mobile option there.
An alternative to adsense is Admob, which caters exclusively to the mobile market. Admob claims an impressive 2 billion mobile ads served each month! Their portfolio of advertisers is impressive as well, including companies such as MTV, Paramount, and JC Penney, to name a few.
Unlike Adsense for mobile, Admob offers graphical banner ads in addition to text link ads. Adding ads is also a snap. After you have signed up, just log in and just cut and paste code in the appropriate scripting language (PHP, ASP, etc…).
Of course, you DON’T have to have a .mobi domain to offer mobile content. Many sites use code to detect the user agent (browser) you are using to access the site. If a mobile browser is detected, the site delivers a trimmed down version of the site’s content to your mobile device. In fact, there are many plug-ins already available for popular bulletin board, CMS’s, and blog software that will auto-detect if you are accessing with a mobile device, and deliver alternate content customized for mobile devices.
Still, the mobile web is in its infancy. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Expect to see more about dotMobi in future posts!
Topics: Make money online |
March 30th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
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