Top 10 Reasons to Have a Mobile Website

Bob Bentz    Mobile Websites     auto dealers, facts, mobile websites, stats

1. Google has a separate index for mobile content so it’s easier for your website to be found on mobile devices.
   

   Mobile microsites cost 1/5 of the price of an app with much of the same functionality.

2. Your regular website is hard to view on a cell phone.
3. 93% of U.S. adults own a cell phone.
4. 20% of Americans access the mobile web each day.
5. Mobile web will overtake the desktop within 5 years.
6. Google predicts 50% searches from mobile phones in 2012.
7. 5% of the top 500 online retailers have a mobile website/iPhone app.
8. Mobile advertising spending will surpass $6.5 billion in 2012.
9. Users average 13 hours online per week, up from 7 in 2002.
10. Smart phone sales have grown 96% in one year.

The great thing about a mobile website is that it can be created for about 1/5 of the price of an app with much of the same functionality.  While you may lose out on the pass-by traffic offered by the iPhone store, the savings and less time commitment to develop a mobile microsite makes it easier to complete.

Rules for Political Telemarketing

Bob Bentz    IVR     political, robocalls, telemarketing, text message marketing, voice broadcast

It is a big election year and many political candidates will be using our voice broadcast, or “robocalls,” to reach voters.  The question came up as to how the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 fits in with political candidates.  You probably know that political candidates are given more leeway when it comes to outbound telemarketing without a bonafied opt-in.

Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, politicians and campaign volunteers may call voters on their landline or wireless phones. But when a campaign uses an auto dialer to leave a “robocall” (precorded message), calls to wireless phones are prohibited.  In short, it is:

• legal for a campaign to call voters on their landline phones using an auto dialer to leave a robocall without the “prior express consent of the called party.”
• illegal for a campaign to contact voters using to use auto dialers and robocalls to their cellphones without prior express consent.

The same rules apply to text messages.  It is:

• legal for campaign workers to send texts to voters’ cellphones.  For this service, political candidates can use text message marketing services such as84444.com.

To learn more about TCPA, please visit the FCC’s websites on telemarketing andSPAM texts.

Please do not consider this legal advice.  You should consult your own attorneys to get your own legal opinion.

Magazines Use of QR Codes Explodes in 2011

Bob Bentz    QR Codes     2011, magazines, QR Codes, stats

The use of qr codes in magazines increased by 5 times in 2011.  The qr code enhancement seems ideally suited to the medium of magazines.

Why have magazines kept pace while the newspaper industry seems doomed?  One of the factors that could be driving the feature-oriented magazines is that they don’t need to be as timely as the breaking news of the newspaper.  And, there’s simply no way that a print newspaper can keep up with the other more timely mediums of today.

Magazines became an increasingly important part of the growth of QR Codes last year.  It simply makes sense.  By adding a QR Code to a weekly or monthly print publication, the magazine can remain timely.  That’s because all you need to do is to change the content on the back end of the QR Code and you are now just as timely as the internet.

A survey of the top 100 circulation magazines in the United States found that mobile bar codes use by magazines climbed from 352 in the first quarter issues to 1,899 in the fourth quarter during 2011.

How to Put a QR Code on Your Business Cards

Bob Bentz    QR Codes     Bob Bentz, business card, business cards, custom QR Code

Bob Bentz’s business card contains a custom qr code.

Business cards are getting a bit old fashioned. In fact, the day may come in the not too distant future when business cards are obsolete. For now, however, business cards remain a vital part of doing business. If you’ve ever attended a trade show, you know what I mean. I keep waiting for somebody to say that they don’t have a business card, but so far that has never occurred to me.

It is important, however, that you maximize the value of your business card. There is limited space on the business card so maybe it’s time to get rid of your fax number and other things that are truly no longer relevant in the business world.

Replace that space with an interactive QR Code. A QR Code shows that you are an up-to-date businessperson that knows that most savvy people today know how to scan a QR Code with their smartphone.

We recommend creating a Custom QR Code. A Custom QR Code on a business card can show your personality and makes your card stand out from the rest of the pack. Our apples-to-apples study shows that Custom QR Codes get 2.3 times greater scan rates than ordinary black & white QR Codes. In fact, after my recent trip to the CTIA Show, I noticed that my QR Code on my business card had been scanned a whopping 56 times!

Of course, if you’ve been reading about QR Codes, you know that there are numerous problems in the execution of this relatively new mobile marketing tool. Most important is that marketers are using them to simply send a scanner to a website that isn’t even optimized for mobile; this is truly a poor user experience and gives the user limited value. It is best to send the scanner to some unique and creative content. Video is a great choice.

Other people using QR Codes on business cards are using them to share contact details. There are numerous kinds of software on the web that enable you to download your contact details onto the scanner’s cell phone. This isn’t a bad idea, but I want to get the scanner’s information too. Moreover, I’ve included a text message marketing tool (Text BOB to 84444) if all they want is my contact details in digital format. That’s why my Custom QR Code sends them to my LinkedIn page. Once they LinkIn with me, I’ll have them in marketing database forever.

Apple Moves to Stop App Ranking Manipulators

Bob Bentz    Mobile Apps     apple, apps, rankings

On Tuesday, Apple – the operator of the world’s most lucrative mobile application storefront – directed a communication at its entire developer community. The message? Apple has no patience or tolerance for the manipulation of app rankings in the App Store.

“When you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership,” the warning from Apple reads.

The warning came in response to a growing number of claims that shady marketing practices and purpose-driven technologies are falsely inflating app store rankings via erroneous, repetitive download schemes.

In order to maintain the integrity of the App Store and its ranking system, Apple says it will clean house and not hesitate to remove anyone who tinkers with the legitimate established processes that determine an app’s rightful ranking in the App Store.

While Apple did not specifically release how it intends to accomplish this goal, there is no doubt that it has the know-how to make it happen.