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09.29.06
.Mobi - The Birth Of A Mobile Internet Revolution?
 By
Matt Jackson
The recent announcement that .mobi domain names had been released for general sale caused very little stirring on the Internet.
It has been heralded as the dawn of a new era for the mobile Internet but many believe that once the initial land rush for domains has passed, it will become just another top-level domain like all others. .Mobi domains have already been purchased by a lot of companies. Initially, from May of this year, trademark holders from within the mobile communication world were given the opportunity to secure the domain associated with that trademark. Then in June, all remaining trademark holders were given the opportunity until finally this month, September, domain names go on general sale.
Why Has The Mobi Domain Been Introduced?
The principle behind the mobi domain name is that it will make finding websites designed for use on mobile or cell phones easier. It is also hoped that the release will herald a new age of mobile Internet with the inclusion of industry standards. Above all else, though, the hope is that mobile Internet browsing and surfing will become as commonplace as the cell phone itself.
Guidelines And Suggestions
As well as having to apply and adhere to guidelines before you can register a domain name, the .mobi domain raises certain questions in terms of accessibility, design, coding, and optimization. Style guides have been released by mTLD that contain a combination of enforced guidelines and advised best practices. Again, though, this only accounts for a portion of the user experience.
The Rise Of The Mobile Internet
Running a .mobi website could potentially be very profitable. So far the mobile Internet simply hasn't grown as many expected. While this has partially been because of the high and difficult to understand tariffs it is also because the mobile Internet offers very little in the way of a valuable user experience. There are very few sites with mobile compatibility and even those that have attempted have struggled because of a lack of well-worked guidelines.
Mobile Search Engines
As you can probably imagine the main focus of all guidelines concentrates on ensuring that websites load quickly and accurately and that the content and site is easy to navigate. The major search engines already have mobile search engines in some cases; probably the most notable expectedly being Google's own addition.
.Mobi Sites Should Be Short And Succinct While Still Offering Value
From a user perspective, the most important thing is having quick access to relevant data. Humans do not have the capacity to read as quickly off screens as they do off paper. When writing standard website content it is important to reduce the size of pages, the length of paragraphs, and the structure of sentences. When transferring this onto a mobile screen, which is potentially very small, the need becomes even more pronounced.
Some General Guidelines
Among the mTLD guidelines there are several important factors you must look at when creating page content for a .mobi domain. These rules are enforceable and this means that if you are found to break them you could potentially lose the right to use the domain name. A lot is fairly common sense. If you use color elements on your page, ensure there is a non-color equivalent. Limit the amount of content to specific details regarding the user's requirements. Limit the amount of graphics that a page uses and ensure that the graphics themselves are not too large. These are just some examples.
Specific Text Content Guidelines
There are actually surprisingly few guidelines that look specifically at the actual word content of the .mobi page. Use clear and simple language, use introductory and relevant text before you progress a subject, and keep the number of keystrokes to a minimum. It really is quite basic stuff and more care should be taken to ensure that you really are giving your users the most valuable experience.
Accurate And Informative Page Content
Every page should be tightly channeled towards the topic it is based on. A cell phone screen is not the place to be injecting surplus words or sentiments. Similarly, just because the page will be read on a cell screen doesn't mean everyone can understand "text talk". Only very few sentences should be used per page and each must provide value.
Being Part Of The Revolution
The mobile Internet is virtually untapped and even though a land rush to register the most popular domains is predictable it doesn't look likely to be as popular as similar releases like the .eu domain. However, as the price war wages between mobile Internet providers and the quality of the mobile network increases, there is a very real chance that the majority of the population that owns a cell phone will start to regularly access the Internet through their cell phone browser. You could be one of the first to take advantage.
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