That Mobile Internet Thingy Is Going To Be Big Someday

I was just doing my daily perusal of various tech news and ran into a couple articles on Mashable and ReadWriteWeb that really show the changing usage of internet users, both non-techies and the early adopters.

With mobile broadband becoming more ubiquitous everyday and it seems like every device in the world has wi-fi built in this trend of app based access rather than browser based access is going to continue.

One thing that will continue as well is a deeper integration of communications (group messaging, VoIP, etc) directly into the apps. Social=Communications and having SMS and voice directly in the apps on our mobile phones will only increase stickiness as we will not have to exit an app to go communicate what we are experiencing in the app.

The two articles that are linked to above show that consumers are spending more time on mobile apps than they are browsing the web now. That is a first.

What is driving this? Well recently the combined shipment of smartphone and tablet sales surpassed those of desktops and notebooks. This drives app usage as many people just click on a branded app rather than going to a browser. This growth will continue as wireless penetration continues.

With rural broadband growing by the day, and wireless being one of the most common ways to access these areas this affects not only metro areas but smaller regions as well.

One very interesting statistic is that the growth year over year is 91 percent for mobile app usage, and the general consumer is just now starting to understand the value of smart phones and tablets. In todays world it will not be enough to just target consumers with a great website, now it is going to take a mix of web, social media, and apps if you want to catch your customer each step of the way. I would venture to say many younger consumers will default to mobile apps before they even head to a browser.

Check out the articles linked to in the top paragraph. Interesting reads on both accounts.

Apple iPad And The Future Of Your Domains

I do not blog about it much but I am a bit of a gadget junkie, I had been waiting for the day that some sort of Apple tablet would be launched, now we know that is officially the Apple iPad. I even held off buying a new Amazon Kindle this past month as the rumor mill started heating up since it was obvious any Apple device would have more functionality than just reading books. I am not really big on single purpose devices so it was worth waiting.

As much as their may be a few people saying the iPad is not the end all be all of tablet computing devices they are really nitpicking items that the general user of the device will not care about, what you need to really look at is how the Apple iPhone changed the idea of what a mobile phone could be. It changed the way you accessed information and provided easy access to casual gaming without having to carry a separate device like a Nintendo DS.

With the growth of social networking due to the non-tech crowds acceptance and use of Facebook (have I mentioned that Facebook topped Google in traffic over Christmas, yes I have, and I just did again) apps for social networking were some of the most downloaded and used on the Apple iPhone. As a matter of fact Twitter apps were some of the most requested reviews on iFones.com during its initial launch.

Before I go any further on my thoughts on this Domain Name Wire did a story on this tonight as well, I had planned on doing mine later this week but wanted to give Andrew some link love while his article was still fresh.

And on that note, I think it is important to note that a source such as Domain Name Wire has pointed out the concerns with how devices like Apple iPad are changing how people access information. Although many domainers, and I am sorry to say this, have their heads in the sand and REALLY do not want to admit the times are changing they better be ready for it because it is happening even if you do not want it too.

I spoke to a few folks at the conference about type-in traffic and although the people that spoke to Andrew for his story may not be seeing it the people I spoke to admitted openly that type-in traffic had declined rapidly over the past few years. Now I have nothing that can show exact data but that coincides pretty directly with the growth of the iPhone, better smartphones in general, and also social networking.

Why does the iPhone and now the iPad matter?

It  is all about the apps and also about the way people use browsers on their mobile phone. This is also the same thing on all the Android based mobile phones that are coming out, it is all about driving people to the internet through applications, it is the same information provided in an easier to access manner with more functionality thrown in than a typical website allows. People like this, the app store is making Apple millions/billions of dollars. This is not going to change, you cannot hide from this anymore. The Apple iPad is going to accelerate this, probably more so than we can even comprehend right now.

To give you an idea, within 48 hours after the iPad was announced I had 26 emails from people to iFones.com with tips about their upcoming plans for apps that will be optimized for the iPad. Most were small time developers, but so were many of the developers that now rule the app store.

You cannot hide from this....

I typically access Facebook and Twitter from my iPhone equally as much as I do from my laptop, this means I never hit a browser. With the iPad this will increase even more, with the larger screen and other applications that will be available on it there are many times I am not even sure I will have to take a laptop with me for travel. This changes things.

With visual and verbal search on the iPhone and now on the iPad typing in a website name will become something that is more of a hassle than anything, neither visual or verbal search is big right now, but it is coming.

Look, I hate to see type-in traffic decrease as the next person but I also know that there are trends you cannot fight, you have to see what is coming and plan on how to take advantage of the trends. Social media, mobile computing devices, these are things that change the way people access the sites we have.

Your goal should not be to fight them, it should be to find out how to take advantage of them. It is possible you just have to find the way.

SEO+Social Media+Mobile Apps=Success

Staying in the same place = Failure

Long Tail Search Results, iPhone Apps, And A Third Grader On Google

I always like to sit back and watch how "non-technical" people use the tools (like search) compared to how people that live online constantly use them. It can be enlightening and show you why certain things work and why others do not.

As many people have shown with various graphs, numbers, marketing data, and other ways to show the same thing, long tail search is growing. The number of people using more than a couple words when searching grows every year which means that people are getting much more sophisticated and using the tools the same way many of us did that were early adopters. I know this is not earth shattering news to those that keep up with this trend, and anyone that buys names for network sites or who does any level of SEO research for high conversion keywords has probably spent a good portion of their time research long tail searches (up to several words or more).

Well tonight as I sat with my daughter on the couch (with both of our laptops out, bonding???) offering to help her with her creative writing home work (seriously, creative writing in third grade?), she shunned my help to use Google to search for writing prompts. I thought this would be a fun thing to watch, here is how the process went:

1) Search for writing prompts

2) Before clicking on one thing switches search to third grade writing prompts

3) Clicks on two entries that look likes made for Adsense sites, starts to click on ads but I stop her (someone can thank me later).

4) Blames Google for bad results. Says she wishes they would show something to help her, her brain works for a few minutes thinking.

5) Refines her search even further to something even longer

Now, even though she was not looking to buy, this is the basic learning process people go through as they search. This is why many smart people focus on the long tail terms for higher conversions.

I know a third grader may not sound like a good reference point, but in reality I think this means alot because if a typical (it is my daughter so I want to say brilliant) 8 year old refines their search to find more relevant searches as she becomes the consumer aged kid (lets say the tween years) how she searches is what matters. I watch her when she browses on her iPod Touch and she will sit in a Paneras on WiFi and search like any other mobile search user. Can you imagine what these kids will be doing in a few years.

The thing I hate to admit here but should be pointed out is that other than a few gaming sites I know my son visits I can honestly say I have never witnessed my kids actually type in a generic domain name. I know that may frustrate some but they are the future users. They hit Google or use an iPhone app for pretty much any information gathering online. Search traffic matters, social media matters, mobile apps matter, do not ignore that, instead think about how you can blend all those together to be successful.

OK, what is my point.

My point is watch what the kids around you do and how they use the Internet. They will be the ones driving how items are consumed online in the near future. Long tail search is just one way that we see all people changing their habits, but with kids using mobile search combined with local long tail search  to find products it may be just the way to determine how to make your next domain purchase or search engine optimize your next project, or even more importantly, figure out how to implement social media and mobile apps into your plan.