In our latest weekly video, MoFuse takes the stage.
This free service makes it easy to create a mobile version of your blog accessible to all those iPhone junkies out there.
Setup is a snap but editing your mobile “homepage” and creating custom pages requires a bit more sweat.
This video gets you inside the MoFuse dashboard and shows you what to do and how it will look…
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
As our recent post described, the number of folks who regularly read blogs on an iPhone, PDA, cell, or other mobile device is increasing dramatically.
Depending on your CMS and your blog’s theme, the default rendering of your blog on a mobile device may be indecipherable. If so, you may be unwittingly overlooking this increasingly valuable subscriber segment.
Obviously, the viewing size on a mobile device is considerably smaller than a desktop or laptop. If you have an iPhone, you’ve seen how it does a pretty good job on some sites, squishing everything into that little space. However, the text is so small that it is difficult to read. And… If there are images, ads, or an opt-in box… you can forget about those rendering and being functional.
This means that the increasing pool of readers viewing your blog on a mobile device can barely see your content and will never:
opt-in subscribe to your RSS click on an ad see an image
unless they remember to re-visit your blog on their desktop/laptop.
What’s worse is that, even if you have gone to the trouble of establishing a mobile version of your blog, the sites you link to (like your affiliate landing page or sales letter) may not be “transcoded” properly and look like complete jibberish on the iPhone screen.
In our recent FeedM8 video we showed you the basics of establishing a mobile version of your blog. The tasks are simple but understanding why you do each is a bit confusing.
So, here’s a recap:
Imagine someone on an iPhone (or other mobile device) heading over to mobile.google.com/search and typing in a keyword related to your niche. Presumably, Google checks it’s list of blogs with a mobile META tag (a tag in your header that indicates your blog is optimized for mobile viewing), you’re on the list so Google displays your listing on the results page. The person browsing likes what your listing says, clicks and, because of your redirect script, is taken seamlessly to the mobile version of your site at m.yourdomain.com. Here, they see a custom version of your blog that is fitted and formatted just for mobile readers - same content, different format.
See ours at m.web2center.com.
The META tag and redirect script that you installed (in your header) made this possible. Otherwise, if Google would have suggested your blog at all, there is no telling what your site would have been “transcoded” as when it appeared on that little iPhone screen.
CAUTION: The redirect script can be a problem. Recently, we experienced a rather alarming issue when we realized that the redirect script provided by FeedM8 was redirecting all visitors, desktop as well as mobile readers, to the mobile version of our blog. For this and a few other functionality reasons we have partnered with MoFuse.com. (More on the other reasons in a minute.)
I have to admit, this confused me for the longest time. Thanks to Dave Berube at MoFuse for clearing this up for me!
Some people (like me) thought that SMS was the mobile version of RSS. Well, it’s not.
SMS is simply the “language” used to send text to a mobile device.
So, your goal is NOT to get mobile viewers to subscribe to your SMS and desktop/laptop viewers to subscribe to your RSS. You want everyone to subscribe to your RSS feed, which you have hopefully “burned” via Feedburner so you can easily optimize and track your readership.
Therefore, you need to offer the same RSS subscription link to both your desktop/laptop viewers and your iPhone viewers.
Now, this is where some (like me again) get even more confused.
You might have noticed that some bloggers have placed their “mobile feed” button right up there with their RSS feed button.
Why do they have two?
Well, they either want to track the number of people who intend to read via a mobile device or they mistakenly think there is a difference between the two feeds.
Some savvy blogs, like Web2Center (now that we have our facts straight) have a mobile icon by the RSS feed icon that allows a person to quickly view the mobile version of the blog. More than anything else, this is an advertisement to people who happen to be on their PC at the moment saying: “Hey, when you have some time to kill at Wal-Mart waiting on your shop-till-she-drops girlfriend, we have a great, easy to read mobile version, check it out!”
So what is SMS used for?
Primarily, SMS is the technology that makes the “Mobile Link” feature work.
See the little box over there near the bottom right that says “Get Our Mobile Link” >>>
This allows someone to get a text message that links them directly to the mobile version of Web2Center.
SMS also allows for “Text Alerts”. Text alerts give readers the ability to ask for notification when selected keywords or key phrases are used in a post. So, when that keyword (phrase) is used, they would be notified via a text message and directed back to that particular post with a link.
As the importance of the mobile version of your blog begins to rival the standard version, customization will be critical. This is why, after recommending FeedM8 just a month ago, we have already decided to switch to MoFuse.
We are certainly not disapproving of FeedM8. Besides the redirect glitch, we liked FeedM8 and admired it’s simple interface and quick setup, which is especially useful to beginning bloggers.
It’s just that MoFuse had the killer features that, as our knowledge of mobile technology grows, we feel are critical to the future of our reader base.
MoFuse makes it easy to customize the mobile version of a blog. Not only can you upload your logo (like FeedM8), you can also create completely unique pages specifically for the mobile version of your blog.
Why does this matter?
Well, going forward we want to be sure that our opt-ins, our ads, our RSS subscription button, etc. are all perfectly accessible to both mobile readers and desktop readers. The only way to have total control over this is to create custom pages on the mobile version of the blog. MoFuse has an AJAX wysiwyg editor that makes this simple.
MoFuse is also actively seeking control over the way your blog is “transcoded” by search engines. Until MoFuse stepped in, a search engine like Google would render (or transcode) your blog the way it wanted. It could be a squished version of your full HTML or some version created by Google’s code. MoFuse has a sophisticated redirect script that ensures a mobile viewer will see the custom version of your mobile site as you intended.
As the numbers and activities of mobile readers expand, these features become even more critical and beg you to consider taking the time to open a MoFuse account, get familiar with the interface and “go mobile”.
P.S.: We will be doing a MoFuse video showing how to install the META and redirect script along with a few custom page creation ideas. Subscribe to Web2Center and get the video in your RSS reader delivered automatically.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The advent of RSS, along with a couple of other significant technologies, has made syndication (something that used to be very complicated and controlled by large media networks) as easy as opening up an eBay account.
Using RSS and the constantly increasing technology associated with syndication, anyone can “get published”.
And, what is even more powerful… anyone (with a bit of syndication know-how) can quickly and easily syndicate content to every social channel, hub, network, group, funnel and hive that is teeming with prospective subscribers and customers.
Knowing a few syndication secrets can extend your reach dramatically by using the built in power of RSS (and the technologies associated with it) to create an unlimited number of “sign posts” on the internet superhighway.
Putting you (your brand, your web site, your product or your current marketing campaign) trippingly out in front of highly qualified prospects.
Most folks think the power of RSS is put in motion by simply installing the RSS symbol on your blog.
This is a HUGE misconception that is held by most internet marketers and, subsequently, a golden opportunity for “real” syndication experts.
You see, without a real marketing “gameplan”, that little RSS feed symbol (or all those “cute” social bookmarking icons) are nothing but decoration.
In our work on client blogs at NetSmart Media and though the collective thinking power at Authority Site Center we have uncovered lots of syndication secrets that we use to automate and e-x-t-e-n-d tedious authority site building, social marketing, article marketing and email marketing tasks.
The great thing about syndication (done right) is that it is automatic and works for you behind the scenes, pushing your blog, your headlines, your content, your profile, your hubs, etc. into every profitable nook and cranny on the internet.
Of course, we have to keep most of these tactics to ourselves (for now anyway) but we will be sharing some of the new syndication methods involving RSS to Email, podcasting, social marketing hubs, video channels, mobile aggregation services and more in future posts.
The world of RSS is just now hitting the masses… the 89% (as of early 2007) who have yet to subscribe to an RSS feed are taking note and we think it’s time for social marketers to become syndication marketing experts.
We will monitor the interest in this area and share some of our syndication secrets accordingly.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
According to online statistics from eMarketer, less than 20% of internet users intentionally read content with the aid of an RSS reader. Indeed, even frequent internet users have no idea what that little orange RSS square represents and certainly don’t realize that there is a shift brewing deep in the bowels of online publishing and marketing.
But, that may change more quickly than we all used to think for 3 very potent reasons. There are advantages to RSS that will compel most, if not all, internet users and content consumers to “learn” to use an RSS reader and start managing RSS subscriptions. In the same way email eclipsed snail mail for content delivery, RSS will eclipse email as the consumers choice for opt-in messaging.
Here’s why…
I recently was asked to help a small business embed video into emails they wanted to send to established clients.
Their vision was clear:
Simple right? Nope…
This is simply not possible with email. Many brilliant companies have tried various tactics to embed video into email in a way that doesn’t consistently get blocked or stripped by the various email providers. With email, the best that can be done is mimic the embedded video look by putting a video preview image in the email which opens up the web browser and plays the video there when clicked. Ironically, even this comes at a significant cost because of the technical knowledge needed to make it happen.
So why is this a less than perfect solution?
Primarily because none of us likes to be bounced around. We want the view the video instantly, seamlessly. After all, we have been trained to expect this level of immediacy by seeing it everyday on Google’s “universal search” and countless blogs.
The good news is, embedded video and audio are part and parcel (fundamental elements) of RSS.
Adding video (and audio) that can be instantly viewed by someone receiving an RSS feed is as simple as adding text.
Readers get what they have come to expect and corporations as well as small businesses can provide dynamic, highly personal content without paying a coder or webmaster thousands of bucks.
I was shocked to see the stats on email deliverability rates for the typical online business. The fact is, even if you have come by a person’s email honestly (that is - you did not buy a bootleg list of emails from some guy in a dark virtual alley) the likelihood of them receiving a message from you is 60%.
So, let’s say you have a list of 1000 customer emails - which you have worked hard and paid real money to acquire. When you send a message, 400 of them (on average) don’t get it. It either automatically lands in their Spam Folder or gets deleted even before it reaches them.
Even companies like Aweber who make a living sending emails for other people and have intimate agreements with email providers like Gmail, AOL and Yahoo, only get a 90% deliverabilty rate - on a good day (they claim %99.4 but I use Aweber and when I factor in the whole opt-in and email management process, at least 10% of my emails are undelivered).
RSS is quite different. If someone has opted-in to your RSS “feed”, they will get 100% of your messages. No doubt about it.
This is obviously good for the company but how is this also an advantage to the customer?
Well, have you ever had the frustration of opting-in to something that you were interested in only to find (after searching for a few minutes) that it was buried in your spam box. Have you ever had to “whitelist” an email address so that each email that was sent wasn’t immediately deleted? Doing this takes TIME… the most expensive commodity any one of us owns.
Once consumers realize there is a simpler way to get 100% of what they want, 100% of the time, RSS will start to look like a (pardon the old expression) “no brainer”.
This may be the “tipping point”, the trigger that sends the general masses toward RSS.
Yes, spam is annoying… it takes time to delete… it contains inappropriate messages which makes parents steaming mad… and it is the constant burden of corporations and email providers.
Especially due to the latter, email will not be free forever. You may not have to pay if you send just a few emails to your friends and family each month but if you’re sending out a significant number of messages… you will pay. This will be the final attempt at curbing the clever spammer.
In fact, email providers are already debating and tweaking a platform similar to cell phone companies where you will have a sending quota.
However, this will only push spamming into a “higher” art form and challenge the surprisingly intelligent geeks behind this modern phenomenon to new technical heights.
All of this will only serve to highlight the value of RSS even more and compel the average folks into opening up a Google Reader account or using the one they’ve only been goofing around with more often.
RSS Content Client (like Outlook for RSS)
As it stands, messages which are sent via RSS are usually composed inside some sort of blog or other similar content management system and published to the world. All the folks who have requested the RSS “feed” then receive that message into the RSS reader they check whenever it is convenient for them. Generally speaking, the entire group of subscribers gets every message.
Now, imagine a software application that works like an email client such as Outlook that allows you to create a message, format it, add video and audio and then send it to just one (or a selected group) of subscribers via RSS… All without having to publish that content to the world.
This would be the silver bullet solution to all the woes of email.
RSS to One or Selected Groups
One of the current appeals of RSS is the fact that one can subscribe to an RSS feed anonymously. A subscriber is ensured of receiving only messages from that person or website (which is hopefully run by a person) and nothing else. Neither the website owner or the RSS service knows anything about the subscriber. This is a good thing and something that will continue to make RSS valuable.
However, at some point, a more personal RSS option will appear which allows the subscriber a choice. In the future, when someone chooses to subscribe to an RSS feed, they will have the option of sharing personal information with the publisher, perhaps just their name and a few selected interests.
They will be glad to do this for two reasons.
What “Killer-RSS 2.0″ Will Look Like
In this new more advanced world, I will have my own personal RSS address. Not connected to my business or my blog content, just me. Yes, like my email address.
When someone wants to hear from me, they will go to some fancy Web 2.0 service I belong to and subscribe to my personal RSS feed. They will sign-up for their own personal RSS feed and then subscribe to mine, providing me with their name (if they are a friend) and perhaps their interests if they are a business contact.
When I want to send them, and only them, a message, I will open up the fancy wysiwyg editor provided by the cool Web 2.0 service mentioned above, create a message and publish it.
Sounds like email right? Exactly…
The difference is, I publish the message not to my public blog but to a private space on the net and to my friend’s RSS reader. So, my friend checks thier RSS reader, sees my name on their list of subscriptions, notices that I have published a message to them (and maybe a few other friends) and either reads the message in their reader or in the private space online.
So, as this shift occurs, what we are calling RSS 2.0 will be viewed as an upgrade to typical email services with the added benefits mentioned above.
What do you think, will RSS be the email killer. If not, how do you see the RSS - email relationship working out? Let us know..
Monday, April 30, 2007
This is an interesting list of sites, compiled by FranticIndustries.com.
It lists the Top 40 Feedburner Sites rated by the number of rss feed subscribers.
Notice that these sites come out of all sorts of different niches and industries including recipes, technology, lifestyle, blogging, copywriting and so on.
I don’t think it should have any significant impact on your choice of feeds, but it’s good to see how other power bloggers are doing in the industry.
On the other hand I do think that you should visit these sites and take notes:
Observe, learn, implement.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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