If you've taken the time to build a site designed specifically for mobile, we want to hear from you!
 
At Google, we believe that building a mobile-ready site is critical for businesses of all sizes and we’re looking for some great examples.  We’d love to hear about what you’ve done, how you did it, and the success you‘ve seen. Please fill out this form and tell us about your mobile site.  
 
We’ll spotlight some of the best submissions in case studies. If selected, you can tout your success and spread the word about your truly great mobile site experience.
 
Think you’ve got what it takes? We hope so!  Here’s the kind of info we’re looking for about your successful mobile site:

• Your strategy for success (simple layout? prioritized content?)
• What you learned along the way (experiments? trial and error?)
• Metrics that show how far you’ve come (numbers tell the tale!)
• Why your mobile site works and what advice you have for others

If you’ve got a mobile site success story to share, fill out this form to tell us about it and you may be featured by Google for being an innovator in the mobile space.   
 
If you’re still working toward mobilizing your site, we’ve got the resources to help you get from here to there (and everywhere that mobile goes). Use our Mobile Site Builder to build your site, or learn from our Mobile Website Best Practices.
 
Posted by Adam Compain, Mobile Specialist, Mobile Ads

Smartphone penetration link updated 8/9/11.

This is the first in a series of posts capturing insights from the Think Mobile event in London.
 
Google’s recent Think Mobile event in London hosted a capacity crowd of over 400 delegates, with a further 9,500-plus viewers streaming it live on desktop and mobiles.  This is the first in a series of four blog posts where we’ll summarise key points and include video footage from the thought leaders who presented.  For a sneak preview, check out the three-minute summary from Google UK MD Matt Brittin here that finished the day on a real high.  

Ian Carrington of Google took the prize for sharing “killer stats” at Think Mobile UK as he highlighted data on just how fast the mobile market is developing:

• In 2010 there were 500 million people connected to the mobile web, today there are around a billion.
• In the middle of last year, Wall Street tech futurist Mary Meeker predicted that smartphone sales would overtake PC sales by the end of 2012. That in fact already happened in Q4 2010 – fully two years earlier than expected.
• UK smartphone penetration in 2010 was 24%; in 2011 it has soared to 36%

Ian also announced some of the results of Google’s research (we’ll soon be sharing the full report with you on this blog)  in the UK with notable stats including 44% of us go to bed with our phones within arm’s reach, 65% of us use our smartphones to kill time commuting and 91% of us use our smartphones during downtime in the workplace.



Smartphone usage is clearly booming in the UK.  However, only 17% of advertisers today have a mobile optimised site. “This is the single largest barrier between you and the mobile user,” Ian announced, adding “it’s time for a little less conversation and a little more action.”:

Step one: develop and integrate your mobile strategy Start off by finding out what your objectives are. “Is it about downloads? Is it about customer acquisition? What are you trying to achieve? Once you’ve defined that, integrate it into all your other marketing activities”

Step two: build your mobile destination This could be a website or an iPhone or Android app. To show just how much this step is worthy of your investment, Ian pointed to Ebay. “They’re having a sale on a mobile device every single second, and they’re doing over $2bn worth of revenue in a year on mobile. In actual fact, they sell three to four Ferraris per month via a mobile phone!” he said.

Step three: connect with your users “People are looking at your business through a mobile lens,” he continued. “Are you optimising your advertising campaign? Have you separated out your AdWord campaigns to target desktop customers in a different way with different bidding strategies to your mobile customers?” If you’ve answered “no” then it’s time to consider making these changes.

Step four: mobilise your business with data “Be creative with the data you’ve got,” Ian advised. “You’ve got all this data from your AdWords and Google Analytics accounts on what people are doing today with your business on a mobile phone. Very, very few people are actually looking at that data – so start looking at it and understand the insights it’s giving you.” These valuable details can directly inform step one – your strategy.

Get more “killer stats” and insights by watching Ian’s talk here and look out for three more blogs on the key takeaways from Think Mobile UK.  

Posted by Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads UK

Mobile has finally delivered on its promise and it’s transforming our lives in almost every way, connecting our physical and digital worlds. Smartphones are driving an explosion of the mobile web. Check out the video below and learn about five trends we’re seeing in mobile. As marketers, you’ll need to take action, so stay with us through the end for some key steps to get started on mobile today.

Why is going mobile important?

1. 85% of mobile devices will be web enabled by next year.
2. Mobile search has grown 4x in the past year.
3. 1 in 3 mobile searches have local intent.
4. 30% of restaurant searches are from mobile devices.

It’s time to use mobile to your advantage. And it’s not too late to be early.
 
Hungry for more data? Check out  our new mobile insights page.
 
Posted by Suzanne Mumford, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

Updated links added 7/29/11

We’re excited about the growth we’ve seen in tablet usage over the past year, and we’re continuing to improve the user and advertiser experience on tablets with full internet browsers. Today we announced the launch of a refreshed Google Search for tablet users. Now tablet users can experience an optimized version of Google Search designed to maximize the screen real estate of a tablet and be easy to navigate via touch.  
 
In turn, we’ve updated the look and feel of search ads on tablets to customize the experience for tablet users. Aside from the visual changes, the number of ads which show on Google Search will now be dependent on the orientation of a tablet:

• If you enter in a search query when the tablet is in landscape mode, there will be a maximum of two top ads above the search results.
• If your search query occurs when the tablet is held in portrait mode, there will be a maximum of three ads above the search results.
• Similarly to high end mobile devices, there will also be a maximum of three ads at the bottom of search results regardless of tablet orientation. 

All campaigns targeting tablet devices will show on this new tablet-optimized search experience. However, here are some ways in which you can make use of AdWords account features to review and manage tablet ad performance:  

• Earlier this month we introduced the ability to target tablet devices in Campaign Settings, offering greater control over specific tablet device types and the ability to target specific types of tablet users.
• Just as you can segment by Search or Display network traffic, you can now segment by the type of device in your Campaign reports to view traffic and conversions from ‘Tablets with full browsers’.

We hope that this updated tablet search experience will help users continue to find the most relevant information, and advertisers to see improved performance on tablet campaigns. We’re excited for the ways in which tablet devices will help businesses and consumers connect with each other. Learn more about targeting tablet devices here.

Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Product Manager, Mobile Ads 

Do you or your business promote a mobile app on Google Search? You can already drive customers to your app and drive downloads in the iTunes App Store or Android Marketplace via Click-to-download ads, but today we’re making these ads more visually appealing by adding a new feature: application icons. 

   Previous Click to Download format, no icon         New Click to Download format, with app icon.

We’ve improved the existing Click-to-download format by automatically finding and displaying the icon that is registered in the iTunes App Store or the Android Marketplace. The icon gives richer visual information to users, and more clearly indicates the purpose of a Click-to-download ad. This improves the ease by which people can discover and download new mobile apps. A click on the app icon or ad text link will bring users to the download page in the iTunes App Store or the Android Market.

If you are already running Click-to-download ads, you’ll automatically begin to see app icons appear next to your ads on Search. If you’re interested in getting started with Click-to-download ads, learn more here.

Posted by Takashi Sakamoto, Software Engineer, Mobile Ads

Simply Business is the UK’s leading insurance broker for small businesses. With the company’s customer acquisition taking place entirely online, Simply Business faces a challenge. In order to expand their customer base, it’s essential that the company look beyond traditional methods in their highly competitive business-to-business field.

Simply Business explored other avenues that would enable them to acquire new customers, and recorded good results using click-to-call functionality in mobile search advertising. They then decided to give mobile display advertising a try through a one-month trial. Simply Business created a campaign and launched display ads on the AdMob network using click-to-call and click-to-site within their banners.

Through AdMob, Simply Business was able to reach a core audience of business customers, a perfect target group for their products and services. The campaign was tailored to BlackBerry devices and ads were served in AdMob’s news and business channels. These content-based bundles of publisher sites include well-known brands frequented by professionals, such as The Independent, News24 and Aljazeera.

As soon as the campaign went live, the company noticed a sharp rise in calls to the call centre. With their mobile site already tagged with Google Analytics, Simply Business witnessed increases in clickthrough rates of up to 800% compared to previous weeks. The quality of calls and leads surged beyond expectations too.

Off the overwhelming success of their AdMob activity, Simply Business is putting increased emphasis on mobile advertising in the future. They’re currently building a new improved mobile-optimised site based on the findings of the campaign.

In common with plenty of business-to-business enterprises, Simply Business requires advertising that is response-driven. All too often, display advertising is considered a vehicle for branding rather than direct response. But the experience of Simply Business illustrates that mobile display is capable of driving exceptional results in real conversions. Because advertising on the AdMob network uses a cost-per-click model, it’s attractive to performance marketers and in business-to-business, where return on investment is critical.

Learn more about the AdMob activity of Simply Business and how to repeat their success by reading the full case study here.


Posted by Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager, EMEA Mobile Ads

Mobile capabilities launching today -- video coming this Summer

Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Publisher blog

Display advertising is becoming about much more than ads in web browsers. People are watching video, reading newspapers, magazines and books, and listening to digital music at an ever-increasing rate. They’re turning to a plethora of new devices—smartphones, tablets, e-readers and even video game consoles to consume information and browse the web.
 
In order to help growing publishers capture new monetization opportunities from these emerging trends, we’re continuing to evolve DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business to give publishers a complete solution that can deliver ads across all screens and formats—including display advertising on the desktop, video, mobile ad delivery and more.

Today, as part of this effort, we have fully integrated mobile ad trafficking, inventory management, forecasting, reporting and ad serving directly into the core platform you’re familiar with. Later this year, we will be integrating video capabilities into DFP Small Business so you can begin managing and selling your video ad inventory all from a single platform. If you’re a DFP Small Business publisher and are interested in early access to video functionality, please let us know here.

As part of today’s release, you’ll find mobile specific targeting options, creative types, and mobile-optimized ad tags built directly into the workflow you’re familiar with.

Mobile Targeting

In addition to helping publishers sell their mobile ad inventory directly to advertisers, the Google AdSense and AdMob networks are integrated into DFP Small Business to help you fill any mobile ad inventory you haven’t sold directly. These networks allow you to manage all of your mobile inventory, whether it is sold directly or indirectly, so you can fully monetize your mobile web content.

Over the next few weeks we will be enabling all DFP Small Business accounts with these exciting new mobile features. For publishers who require greater levels of customization and an advanced mobile feature set including support for feature phones and richer ad formats, we will be rolling out advanced mobile functionality into the premium version of DFP over the next few months. Contact us to learn more.

We’re committed to helping publishers streamline operations by offering a complete solution to manage, serve, and report across all sales channels, formats, and devices. 


Posted by Marcel Gordon, Product Manager, DoubleClick