Time for a little blatant self-promotion. As part of our dedication to continuous learning and development, and creating valuable resources for the online marketing community, MediaVision staff will showcase weekly presentations on a number of SEO/SEM related topics.

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting mobile search, with particular reference to SA and UK markets. I’ve taken a bit of a shine to anything mobile over the last couple of months, not only because it is touted as the way to go, but also because I find the whole subject absolutely fascinating. I especially love the lead that Japan has built over the rest of the world, and the fact that most of the future developments are expected to come from the emerging markets in Africa, India and South America. It’s also nice to know that the US market seems to be at a loss for once, and is pretty well surpassed by UK, European and even South African mobile penetration.

Finally, the news that many SEOs have been waiting for, and that provides even more incentive for us to get our hands on an iPhone.

The popularity of the iPhone has grown significantly since its launch. Brett Tabke from Webmaster World states that iPhone owners access the internet via their phone 5X more than owners of other mobile devices, including laptops. Considering most SEO fanatics are techies at heart this stat makes sense and so does this tool .

The ProSEO – SEO Content Analyzer, which was released by Infinidigm can be download directly from I-Tunes to your phone. According to Infinidigm, “ProSEO is an SEO tool written for the iPhone that helps website owners determine several important features about almost any webpage“. The tool was developed so that anyone can determine key “On-page” factors that affect a page’s performance in the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages).

CEO of MSFT, Steve Ballmer, stated in an interview at a Churchill Club Event in Silicon Valley that although his company resides in third place in the search race, it would continue to devote 5 to 10 percent of all operating cash flow to try and push forward to raise their command of the market share.

My questions are: what are they doing with that cash allocation, and will it be enough to get anywhere close to where Google and Yahoo are within the time that is available? Google and Yahoo have been at this game for years, and although Microsoft have made improvements to MSN search and Live Search, such as the overhaul Live Search received back in October 2007, they are still currently far behind the leaders.

Microsoft has been doggedly chasing after Google for years. For spectators it`s a bit like watching a Chihuahua tackle an eisbein bone – you feel kind of sorry for it. The little dog is doing its best to peel off the good meat and has vague hopes of getting to the marrow inside the bone, but you just know that a Great Dane is going to come along and walk away with the prized treat. Microsoft got into IT first, it was the first IT company to be really global and then Google came along and stole all of Microsoft`s kudos. It`s got to hurt.

It`s been making headlines in search engine news for some time now, but many people, SEO`s included, still aren`t aware of how big the mobile revolution really is. And it is huge. Smartphone sales are rising and even regular cell phones are starting to incorporate a limited range of smartphone-like capabilities to support internet functions. It`s time that search engine optimisers pulled their noggins out from the sand and addressed the mobile phenomenon head-on.

The very first thing that SEOs need to realise is that people don`t want their pc (or laptop) web experiences to be replicated on their mobile phones. They want a whole new experience that is far simpler and more relevant than the current levels of desktop searching. And that is where SEO can either come into its own or fall apart completely.

The only country in the world where mobile web marketing has truly taken off is Japan. The Japanese have been using their mobile phones to access the internet, send emails, buy items and pay for store bought items via “electronic wallets” for years, and they haven`t been using iPhones. Their mobile technology companies churn out 100s of new models annually, each with more sophistication and more features than the generation before. The question is: why have they managed to embrace mobile technology while the rest of the world struggles to do so?

Smartphones in Japan

Serkan Toto, who lives in Japan, believes that there are five specific factors that have enabled the mass adoption of the mobile web in Japan:
• The overwhelming presence of advanced cell phones that cater to unique consumer needs
• Tech savvy consumers who rely on their phones for web experiences
• A reliable technical infrastructure
• A relatively sound regulatory policy
• A mutually beneficial relationship between carriers and content providers

Vodacom, a South African-based telecommunications company, recently announced that that it will be launching a free mobile soapie (ad sponsored) to all Vodafone live users. This soapie, SoLikeLife, is specifically designed for mobile phones, a concept that they aptly named a mobi-soap. Episodes are available to download free of charge through Vodafone Live (or via sms for those without Vodafone Live access from their mobiles). The story revolves around two 20+ South African`s who meet and fall in love, etc and is all played out in a virtual cell phone world.

Image From the SoLikeLife FaceBook page

This is a very interesting move by Vodacom, as there are more mobile users than there are internet users. Almost every teenager from 14 years upwards has a cellphone of sorts; just take a look at the big hype around Mxit, a cheap instant messaging service that`s very popular among teenaged cell phone users.

I recently upgraded my mobile, finally, after the long 2 year wait we have with mobile contracts in SA. While it has a bigger screen, higher screen resolution, and is 3G compatible, it`s not as feature packed as the models higher in Nokia`s N Series range, but hey, my N73 rocks . Instead of the standard GPRS for internet access on my mobile, 3G presents a faster connection speed, and to my amazement (yes I did know about it, but we need to test/play with things before we realise what they can do), webpages load faster than before. No more waiting to get to the office or home for internet access. I can now browse the internet fairly quickly on my mobile to find what I need at the exact moment I need to, wherever I am. Now, I realise that I`ve been slow to reach this stage in mobile technology, because other mobile users have been enjoying this benefit for quite some time, and it`s made me wonder if we in the SEM industry have taken note of this.