As a nation we are becoming increasingly dependent on our mobile devices for updates, news and general communication. It has become apparent that mobile devices have become the newest battleground for advertising.

According to ComScore, 42.7 million people in the U.S. owned smart phones in an average month between November 09 to January 10, which is up 18 percent from the prior August through October period.

Apple’s plan to launch a new mobile ad platform called “iAd” this summer marks Apple’s first major step into a small but growing industry. iAd will allow businesses to insert advertisements directly into applications offered on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. According to Steve Jobs, “This is where the opportunity to deliver advertising is, not as part of search but as part of apps.” Apple will sell and host the ads, and give the developers 60 percent of the revenue.

Speculators say that Apple’s new venture may be a knee-jerk reaction to the search engine giant Google’s attempt to purchase AdMob, which controls about one-third of the market for advertisements on mobile applications and web pages?
Apple anticipates that their new iAd platform will help cut down on mobile device users’ frustrations by keeping consumers within their existing application or experience, and will make it possible for users to engage in a variety of activities at once, without being forced to leave the application. Apple currently offers more than 185,000 applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.
If Apple’s venture into mobile advertising doesn’t assure the importance and competitiveness of mobile advertising, then I am not sure what will. Now is the time to strike when the iron is hot and make sure that you have a mobile presence.

Paid placement traffic and SEO traffic are two different beasts, so why do we often send both sources of traffic to the same end result? Paid placement marketing campaigns provide something that SEO doesn’t, you have complete user experience control. By not exercising that control, you could possible be handing your business over to your competitors. Landing pages can cater to visitor’s specific needs as spoken by their search queries. Below are a few ways that you can best capture your PPC (Pay-Per-Click) audience with a landing page.
 
Calls-to-action. Websites often don’t have strong calls-to-action available within a click. Keep in mind visitors don’t like to guess what to do and who you are, they want to know immediately. Adding a prominent call–to-action on your landing page will help increase conversions. Tell visitors what you want them to do, don’t just assume they know. Include a brief contact form that will allow you to capture leads without detouring potential customers.

Copy. On average, most websites have an overwhelming amount of content. You need a tight correlation between visitor’s search queries and your website content to engage and capture potential customers. Most consumers are looking for a quick answer to their questions and don’t have the time or patience to read through pages of content. Illustrate your most prominent information in a bulleted or numbered list. Be sure to incorporate your PPC keywords in your landing page copy. This will not only help improve your Quality Scores, but will also help potential customers better connect with your content.

Simplicity – The key to successful PPC landing pages is to keep the user from getting distracted. Limit your navigation and users ability to leave the page or get confused and frustrated. One page with simple, straight-forward content and a relevant form is enough information. If visitors need more information before converting; give them the option to view your full website. You don’t want to distract your paid placement visitors from what you want them to do. Less is more.

Load Times – If it takes more than 10 seconds to fully load your website, that’s to long. It should take less than 5 seconds and could affect your Google Adwords Quality Score. Numerous images, or animated graphics and large flash files, could hinder your load times and if visitors have to wait for a flash animation to load before they can get information about your services, they’re more than likely not going to stick around or even come back.

Always go back to the old school marketing and sales mentality of K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid).  Avoid clutter, reduce the amount of content that you display and make the calls-to-action prominent. Control the user experience.

With 2009 behind us, and a fresh new year ahead, we need to focus on how we can best position ourselves for success in 2010. As past years have shown in all industries, with a new year comes new trends and new technologies. Trends have shown that 2010 will present new internet marketing efforts with a large push toward mobile marketing. Mobile marketing is all about marketing to people through their smart-phones and mobile devices. 2010 has the potential to change business opportunities by engaging with consumers through their mobile devices.

The mobile market industry is exploding. According to the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), mobile marketing expenditures are expected to exceed $2 billion in 2010. The MMA states that there are 54.5 million mobile Internet users on a regular basis and more than 172 million phones are capable of browsing the Web. There’s been a lot of hype about mobile phones for years, but the mobile web market has finally arrived.

2010’s mobile technology advances could revolutionize internet marketing. To stay ahead of your competition you must keep an eye on the ever-changing trends. Stay one step ahead of your competitors by being sure to place your business in the mobile marketing arena.

Create a mobile website, mobile ads, engage in text message advertising, or create a mobile application. Whether your business taps into one level or all levels, the opportunity exists to bring your business to new heights. Whatever marketing avenue your business decides to venture toward in 2010, be sure to make mobile marketing one of your New Year’s resolutions.