Using Cell Phones to Expand Your Audience
Cell phones allow users to access information online through an alternative portal. The influential players in the search engine world have introduced new online portals such as local search and local yellow page listings. These products continue to help consumers and search engine users find relevant answers to their everyday queries.
Many of us take the power of search engines and the internet for granted. The manner in which we find products and answers to our questions has evolved significantly during the past decade. The addition of the internet and broadband connections has dramatically changed the ways that people and businesses communicate. The methodology we use to find information both online and offline will continue to evolve.
The increase in vertical internet usage may come at the expense of previously popular online portals. The growth in traffic that websites receive from computers may actually flatten or even decrease as more people use their cell phones or TVs to access the internet. Website traffic will likely decrease for companies that are not positioned correctly for all mediums. It is important that search engine marketing and optimization companies keep abreast of new innovations and online portals.
In Europe, internet use on cell phones has become quite popular. Europeans are using their cell phones to access their favorite websites, look up information, and chat online. Internet access on cell phones around the world becoming increasingly prevalent.
Opera, a browser company based in Norway, has recently developed what it calls its SSR technology. Opera’s SSR technology works on cell phones and other small devices like PDA’s. Equipped with Opera's Small-Screen Rendering™ technology, these small Internet devices can display full HTML-enabled internet without any horizontal scrolling. To view Opera’s technology, download their browser at www.opera.com/download/. Open a webpage in their browser then press shift-F11 to see is a screen shot of what that page would look like on a cell phone.
Google and Yahoo have both released services for small internet devices as well. These services allow users to access information and have questions answered on their cell phones. Yahoo’s new mobile service offers localized search results. Google’s SMS (Short Message Service) offers answers to questions for a nominal fee.
As technology continues to improve, so will the ability of the major search engines to offer their service through new portals. Cell phones present a significant growth opportunity in search and online browsing. Opportunities also exist in broadband, digital television, automobiles, and other mobile devices.
Will these new mediums cause an increase in online usage and searching? Online usage will likely increase as connection speeds and accessibility increase. Given this theory, as more portals to search and browse online are added, you will inherently increase the time that consumers and individuals will spend online. In time these increases can mean growth in both sales and brand awareness for online businesses.
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