Image by rzymu on BigStockPhoto.com

Plan for a mobile site that meets your strategic needs

This is the first of a two-part series on the mobile Web. Tomorrow:
• The ultimate infographic on the mobile Web

Target audience: Mid-size and small businesses, Web publishers, mobile developers, entrepreneurs, educators, journalists, general public.

As we’ve been saying, the time has come for you to offer your readers a mobile version of your website in one form or another.

But before leaping in and creating a mobile website just because you need one, pull back and plan for a mobile site that meets your customer’s needs, fulfills your business objectives, and integrates the features you need now and in the future.

Here are some guidelines to help you plan a successful mobile website:

Plan for user expectations

1In a previous post, we discussed how people use the mobile Web. Mobile device users already know what they want when they get to a mobile website, and are more likely to take action once they get there. To plan for this type of user behavior, answer the following questions about potential visitors to your mobile site:

Include features on your mobile site that will encourage mobile users to share your content, contact your business, access your social media sites & find your business
• Why are they most likely coming to your site?
• What information are they most likely seeking?
• What types of actions are they most likely to take?

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Afew days ago I sat down with Gal Brill, the founder and CEO of UppSite, an Israel-based start-up that can turn your website into an app in just minutes. At top is a video UppSite produced about their service, and at bottom is my interview with Gal.

As the Web turns increasingly mobile — with a majority of online Americans set to access the Internet through their mobile devices rather than their desktop or laptop computers within a couple of years — any sensible Web publisher should be thinking about how to optimize his or her site for mobile users.

I’ve written about a few such services, including WPTouch Pro (Have you made your site mobile-ready?) and OnSwipe (Make your site ‘swipeable’ on the iPad). But UppSite is the first service to come along that can turn any website or blog into an app — on the iPhone or Android — for free, in a matter of minutes. That’s pretty cool. (A Windows Mobile version is coming in a few months.)

Watch, download or embed our video interview on YouTube.

CEO Brill likens UppSite’s entry into the marketplace as akin to WordPress’s disruption of the blogging world, when it make it drop-dead simple to get a blog up and running in 5 minutes. UppSite’s mission is to help you enter the mobile era “in a truly easy way,” he says. In the coming years, he hopes and expects millions of sites — particularly small or mid-size publications — to do so.

“We’re democratizing the mobile era for any publisher,” he says.

A cross-platform solution that actually works

Up until now, online publishers have had to deal with the nightmare of developing and maintaining applications for each separate operating system: iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android, Windows Phone 7 and so on. Not only that, you’d be out of luck in some cases, depending on whether your site runs on WordPress, Blogger, Drupal, etc. While other services often offer little more than a prettified version of an RSS feed, UppSite promises native apps that offer a complete version of your site, with all of the important content and functionality.

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How Mobli can take virtual experiences to a new level

As we all know, there’s a huge amount of data on the internet– the biggest challenge is sorting it all and finding what’s relevant for you. This is such a big challenge that there’s a whole branch of the tech industry, called Big Data, that is dedicated to finding, sorting, and doing something with all this information.

If you’re wondering how big “big data” is, Microsoft’s R&D center in Israel is focusing on finding new ways to use it.

I’ve written in the past about mobile service Mobli, but today I want to focus on a different aspect of the product and what it means for the future of social media. So what does discovery and big data have to do with Mobli? The coolest feature about Mobli is not how you take the photo or edit it but how you find and discover content on the app, and on the flip side how you get your content to the people who are most interested in it.

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Or, surefire ways to sabotage your blog posts & jeopardize your reputation

Target audience: Businesses, brands, bloggers, social media marketers, SEO marketers, Web publishers, educators, journalists.

Guest post by Neil Patel
Co-founder, KISSmetrics

Blogging is a lot like fishing. Some people do it all the time and never catch anything, while others catch everything. Why is that? It’s not luck.

So let’s call it what it is. When you look around at successful blogs — in any industry, on any topic — there are several undeniable bases to success. And it starts with blog posts that kill it rather than blog posts that get killed.

What kills a blog post? Here’s a list of 12 sure-fire ways to fail. Ignore these warnings and you’ll have a tough time being successful. Do you do any of these?:

Crafting cute, clever or confusing headlines

1Awful headlines are commonplace — but a losing proposition. Your headline is going to appear in many places. At the top of your post …

In search engine page results …

Feed readers …

And email subject lines.

The goal of the headline is to stop readers cold and draw them into your post. You can’t do that if you use cute, clever or confusing headlines.

You can stop readers cold, however, if you write headlines that are unique, ultra-specific, useful or urgent. Here are a few examples:

• 6 Lessons You Can Learn from the Rise of DropBox (unique)
• 100 Ways to Becomes Twitter Power User (ultra-specific)
• How to Become the Person Everyone Wants to Interview (useful)
• 10 SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore If You Want High Rankings (urgent)

As you can see, headlines can share multiple qualities. The best ones often do.

Never linking to old posts

2In the example above, I linked to four older posts of mine.

I did that for several reasons.

1. They helped me prove my point.
2. Those links drive traffic to those older posts, giving them new life.
3. Those links contain keywords I want to rank high for.
4. Links are one of the best ways to direct Google spiders through your site.

Just because you’ve published a post doesn’t mean you should forget about it. Each post is a valuable asset, so give new life to your old posts with new links.

Never linking to other bloggers

3A long time ago I wrote a post without any links. It was an important topic, but I was busy and just wanted to get the post out. I actually intended to go back and put in links when I had more time.

However, an influential blogger who had started reading my posts commented almost immediately. He said, “Don’t you want others to join the conversation?”

I immediately went back and put in links.

The value in linking out to other bloggers is threefold:

1. You draw others into the conversation. Linking to others opens yourself up to discussing the topic at hand. This allows you to listen and trade ideas with others, learning things you didn’t know before you started and creating relationships.
2. You give credit where credit is due. If you write something that is based on an idea that you got from somewhere else, you must link to that blogger. It’s proper manners on the Web.
3. You get the authority juice. Inbound links no doubt have high impact on your search rankings. But so do outbound links…especially if you are linking to authority sites.

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A scene from last year’s CMS Expo. (Photo by Chris Hammond on Flickr)

Guide to events & conferences for the coming month

May brings us another month chock-a-block with conferences on social media, technology and marketing.

Which events listed below will you be attending? I’ll be traveling to four conferences (speaking at three of them) this month and will be following these remotely: SOBcon Chicago, NEXT, Content Marketing Strategies, Internet Week New York, Mobile Marketing Strategies, Government Web and New Media Conference, TechCrunch Disrupt NYC and D9, among others.

For the full year, see our full Calendar of 2012 social media, tech and marketing conferences. And Socialbrite has our calendar of nonprofit and social change events for May.

Hope to see you at some of these! If you know of other must-attend events, please share by posting the information in the comments at the bottom.

May
Digital Hollywood Spring	Apr 30-May 3	Marina del Rey, Calif.
Digital Hollywood is the premier entertainment and technology conference in the country. Dozens of media and entertainment execs convene to discuss the state of digital content. (I’ve spoken at four or five Digital Hollywood events.)
99% Conference	May 3-4	New York
Taking its moniker from the famous Thomas Edison quote “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration,” the 99% Conference represents a shift in focus. Unlike other conferences that focus purely on ideas and inspiration, the 99% is all about action. For two days, 99% brings together some of the world’s most productive creative visionaries to offer a behind-the-scenes look at their processes as they share road-tested insights on pushing ideas forward.
SOBCon Chicago	May 4-6	Chicago
SOBCon is one of the best learning forums for marketers, small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs in the US. The theme this year is “Creating and Leveraging Opportunity: Strategy and Execution.”
NEXT Berlin	May 8-9	Berlin
NEXT will be a highlight of Europe’s largest festival of the digital scene, the Berlin Web Week, starting on May 2. This year’s conference is dedicated to the post-digital era. Why? Because the digital revolution is over, digital has won. So it’s time to ask what’s next, what’s beyond digital?
All About The Cloud	May 8-10	San Francisco
Join 500+ executives from ISVs, resellers, platform and infrastructure providers, along with industry leading analysts, venture capitalists and media, gathering to explore, debate and discuss all aspects of cloud computing. The cloud is here to stay and it is changing the way every one of us consumes IT services and delivers applications.
Content Marketing Strategies	May 8-9	Berkeley, Calif.
The Content Marketing Strategies Conference is the only event that specifically focuses on helping companies of any size understand the pivotal role content marketing plays in demand generation, sales, SEO and social. Attendees will walk away with an action plan to kick-start or enhance a content marketing program. Use code “linkedinvip” to save an additional $100.
CMS Expo	May 8-10	Chicago
Come to CMS Expo to stay ahead on the “X Factor,” and many trends that can help your business succeed. Discover how to best put leading CMSs, apps, add-ons and talent to work for your corporation, small business, non-profit, education or government unit. Get straight answers from the best in the business. Experience CMS comparison panels, insightful learning sessions and case studies, empowering keynotes, business networking and more.
Content Delivery Summit	May 14	New York
Now in its fourth year, the Content Delivery Summit is a one-day conference designed to bring together telecom carriers, service providers, content owners and industry vendors for a detailed look at CDN platforms for the delivery of video and content acceleration. The summit will include case studies on real-world deployments, demos of new technology platforms and discussions on business model considerations for video and rich media.
Conversational Marketing Summit	May 14-15	New York
Leading agencies, marketers, platforms and entrepreneurs come together for the marketing industry’s most rigorous and thought-provoking annual two-day gathering that bridges the innovations of the Internet with the practice of marketing. Conference site has not been updated for 2012.
Confab	May 14-16	Minneapolis, Minn.
After years of focus on Web design and technology, professionals everywhere are finally starting to realize the value of content, including people in user experience, marketing, IT, business management and elsewhere. Help drive the content strategy conversation forward.
Internet Week New York	May 14-21	New York
Since its debut in 2008, Internet Week New York has quickly become one of the world’s top festivals celebrating digital culture as well as a global showcase for New York City’s thriving technology industry. Internet Week New York is expected to bring more than 30,000 people from around the world to nearly 300 events at the festival’s headquarters and at dozens of locations throughout the city.
Streaming Media East	May 15-16	New York
Streaming Media East is the one online video show that is solely focused on giving you real information you can apply immediately in your business. Come see, learn and discuss what is taking place with all forms of online video business models and technology.
Privacy Identity Innovation	May 15-16	Seattle
Privacy Identity Innovation explores how to protect sensitive information while enabling new technologies and business models. It’s the only tech conference focused on examining critical technological, ethical and legal issues – and highlighting new business opportunities.
Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit	May 15-17	San Francisco
Global Strategic Management Institute will be hosting this year’s summit. Presentations will include case studies, informative presentations and hands-on workshops that cover Mobile Disruption, Integration, M-Commerce, Apps, Analytics and much more. Attendees will leave the summit with valuable information and leading edge tools needed to keep your organization competitive in a constantly evolving mobile industry.
Government Web and New Media Conference	May 16-17	Washington, DC
The annual Government Web Managers Conference is a networking and educational event for Web content managers, Web writers and editors, and government employees who contribute content to government websites. It’s designed for government employees and contractors who use online tools and social media to meet their agency’s mission.
WebVisions	May 16-18	Portland, Ore.
WebVisions explores the future of design, content creation, user experience and business strategy in an event that inspires learning, collaboration and entrepreneurism.
Bloggy Boot Camp	May 19	Philadelphia
Join a powerful mix of ordinary and extraordinary women, ranging from young, single girls in their 20s to mothers to retirees. All span a multitude of backgrounds and experiences. What connects attendees is an interest in discovering new blogs and being a part of a community that provides support, friendship and a platform for learning. Connect with your tribe in person at Bloggy Boot Camp.
TechCrunch Disrupt NYC	May 19-23	New York
TechCrunch Disrupt returns to New York with the pizza-and-caffeine-fueled Hackathon on May 19–20 followed by the full conference on May 21–23. Watch startups compete in the Startup Battlefield. Last year, Ashton Kutcher and Paul Graham shared their investment strategies with Charlie Rose, Keith Rabois shared why Square will be more profitable than PayPal, and GetAround battled 30 other companies to take home the Disrupt Cup.
CeBIT Australia	May 22-24	Sydney, Australia
If business is a game then it’s the toughest of all to win. The players, rules and goalposts are constantly changing. The cloud, mobile apps, ecommerce – if you stop moving you get left far behind. But get it right and your business can clean up. At CeBIT 2012 you’ll learn how to play the game by its new rules and how to win safely, securely and within your budget.
Social Media Summit	May 23	Harrisburg, Penn.
With several hundred attendees each year, the summit expores the impact social network sites have on our daily lives. Panel discussions make it ideal for laypersons as well as tech gurus. Attendees come from around the U.S. and several foreign countries and range in occupation from CEOs to students. Sessions are held concurrently.
JUMP New York	May 23	New York
Join 40 international experts and the brightest minds in on- and offline-marketing for a one-day conference dedicated to helping you and your team be the best you possibly can. JUMP is all about joining up online and offline marketing to get better results. It’s for digital and offline marketers.
Cloud Connect	May 24-25	Bengaluru, India
Cloud Connect India is the best place to discuss and learn about the latest trends in cloud computing, with the biggest names in the industry. From cloud in the enterprise to the mobile cloud, virtualization, security, cloud communications and security, the event will cover the most relevant and latest updates from the industry.
D9 Conference	May 29-31	Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
D is different from other conferences: no canned speeches, no marketing pitches, and no bull. Instead, creators and executive producers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher put the industry’s top players to the test during unscripted conversations about the impact digital technology will have on our lives now and in the future.

A Twitter best practices page on Scoop.it curated by Debra Askanase.

Why Scoop.it, Bundlr, Pearltrees, Storify & Pinterest should be part of your Web marketing plan

Second of two parts. Also see:
• Top tools to help you curate business content

Guest post by Gianluca Fiorelli
SEOmoz

Target audience: Businesses, brands, social marketers, SEO marketers, website developers, Web publishers.

In the last couple of years, the tools available to content curators have really taken off on the Web. Some are worthy of the hype and have partly changed the nature of content curation (Pinterest anyone?), and others have a great user base in the content marketing field but are less known to social media or SEO marketers.

Below I’ll list and describe the most interesting ones. It’s a very personal selection, so please add your own favorites in the comments.

Scoop.it: An all-in-one solution for content curation

Scoop.it is probably the best site for content curation right now. Even though it offers several ways to share the content you curate in your Scoop.it magazine on your social sites and to embed on your site, it’s mainly meant to be viewed on the Scoop.it site.

The final product is a magazine, where it’s possible to publish content suggested by the Scoop.it suggestion engine — from the sources you have set up, from its bookmarklet, and from the other curators you’re following on the site itself.

The overall quality of the curators present in Scoop.it is quite high, even though you must dig to find the truly remarkable ones. The system suggests users related to your topic. But if you want to explore topics you’re not curating, the Scoop.it search system is not the best one.

Scoop.it offers the opportunity to republish your curated content on your site: via widget, which you can configure as you want, and via RSS feed. If you have a WordPress or Tumblr blog, you can connect it with your topic page and republish your curated content there.

Scoop.it is a freemium product, and the free subscription is powerful enough for your typical content curation needs. But if you want to use your brand, your own domain/subdomain and have analytics (and connect your magazine to Google Analytics), then you need to subscribe to the Business plan.

For more insights about Scoop.it, read this post, which Gabriella Sannino published on Search Engine Journal, or this great guide by Chris Dyson on his blog.

Bundlr: Clip & save text clips, images, video and more

Bundlr is a “clipper site.” Think of it as Pinterest but not limited to just images and videos. In fact, with it you can clip and save in your bundles practically everything you find relevant online: text clips, images, video, code snippets and more.

Bundlr, as with any curation content tool, lets you share on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus what you have clipped, and it lets you add your note about the clip. This is especially interesting for social content curation. Moreover, the page can be curated by more than one curator or can be kept private if you are curating a topic for internal use only (both available in the pro version only).

Bundlr lets you embed your topic page in your own site, too. The embed will get updated as constantly as you continue to clip new relevant quotes and images about your selected topic. Another way to embed a page in your site is via RSS.

Alternatives to Bundlr include:

• Snip.it is in beta and very Facebook oriented.
• Bagtheweb.com is a mix between Scoop.it and a clipper site. Its most interesting functionality is that you can create a network of “bags” to create a deeper curated content experience about a topic and its subtopics.
• Clipboard offers the opportunity to embed (or share on social networks or with a link) just one clip. For instance, click this link.
• (Oh, yes) Pinterest.

Storify: Curate coverage while adding commentary

Storify fulfills perfectly the “chronology” concept of content curation. With it, it’s possible to narrate a story aggregating the best content about the same topic from different sources, while commenting on it and offering your own vision about the event presented, as this Storify by Charles Arthur about sexism in the web marketing industry nicely displays.

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