FoneGigs – the FIRST job board dedicated to mobile marketing jobs – is set to launch in May 2010 and will provide all the mobile search manager jobs that are available in the market.

Typically, a mobile search supervisor is responsible for the development and execution of all mobile search efforts across several clients and to meet established sales goals and cost per lead goals.

A mobile search specialist should be able to monitor conversions, run multivariate testing initiatives, copywrite text ads and manage bids on a daily basis. Regularly provide analysis on market trends and what the competition is doing, assist with management of budgets to ensure mobile search marketing expenditures are within the budgetary guidelines.

Find all the latest mobile search specialist jobs at FoneGigs!

Will Optimization For Mobile Apps Soon Outweigh Search Engine Optimization?

I wrote recently about the concept of location becoming more important than standard SEO in terms of mobile search, but with the proliferation of mobile apps becoming a de-facto branding method for many advertisers entering the mobile channel, optimization is taking on an entirely different role.

A great article published by Patricia Brusha on HospitalityNet discusses mobile apps and their growing popularity among marketers, and posses the simple question “could apps be the new search?”  She describes the current state of mobile apps and likens it to a time 10 years ago when Websites were gaining popularity.  At that time, consumers would ask a business “do you have a website?” and usually be quite impressed when the business would say yes.  Today, not having a website means you’re really not a business, and the same concept will soon evolve with mobile apps as well.

Mobile Marketing: Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Wireless Technology

In terms of optimization, a paradigm shift is beginning to happen in the mobile space whereby marketers are putting less importance on search keywords in hopes of driving consumer awareness of their Website, and instead are having to optimize different forms of media in entirely new ways.  Mobile apps are a perfect example.  Users usually discover mobile apps in app stores or other centralized repositories — not in search engines — and as such, those behind the mobile apps have to optimize their apps to be in a position where they’re noticed.

read full article here.

MoVoxx Debuts Location-Oriented “GeoSense” Ads For Mobile Apps & SMS

It’s no secret that location is where it’s at in terms of mobile advertising and its future, but getting accurate location data and integrating it correctly with advertising while maintaining relevancy, user privacy and other roadblocks has been a tough hill to climb.

MoVoxx, an innovative new mobile advertising company, has debuted a pilot program that aims on bringing together all the pieces of the puzzle to make real-time location-based mobile advertising a reality once and for all.  MoVoxx itself admits that it’s not going to be easy, but says it has mastered the three elements of real-time location-based ads that have hindered other companies trying to master the concept before it- a wide reach, a way to determine where the user is to serve the local ad, and a way to monetize.  Here’s what they’ve come up with.

read full article here.

As the proliferation of smartphones continue, we’re seeing a shift in user behavior that mimics that of the traditional Web in terms of how we access it, what we do Online and especially how we search.  As more people access the Web and perform searches using mobile devices, we’re slowly seeing how paid search and other traditional campaigns are being effected by the key differences in getting users via mobile as opposed to the desktop.

I came across an excellent article over at Search Engine Watch that outlines what it means to your paid search campaigns when more and more users are searching from their mobile phones instead of the desktop.  Beyond simply getting more search volume, the article suggests it also means that;

1. Mobile search queries are shorter in nature from mobile devices.  While many reports state that the number of keywords in a user’s search query is growing, it’s actually the opposite on a mobile phone whereby the user is much more likely to type a shorter query due to the keyboard, nature of the user and other various mobile limitations.
2. Mobile search queries are more local in nature.  It’s estimated that 15 percent of mobile search queries have a local modifier, according to a survey by the Kelsey Group.
3. Mobile users are consumers that you want your message in front of, but e-commerce sales are far and few between.  Data shows approximately 0.6 percent of clicks actually turn into sales.  However, more than 30 percent of clicks are looking for a local office/store, which has benefits of its own.

read full article here.

FoneGigs has launched a complete list of real-time search engines. The directory will be updated frequently. Please let me know if you wish to recommend a real time search engine that is not covered in this list or update certain information that is listed. Email Eric at eric(at)fonegigs.com.

Brands can increase ROI by combining mobile search, display: Microsoft

Microsoft claims its Mobile Marketplaces is adding numerous advertisers daily and to date campaigns have exceeded expectations with click-through rates in excess of 20 percent.

Brands such as Thumbplay and Jamster are examples of advertisers using the new mobile ad product. Microsoft Mobile Marketplaces is a mobile ad product that illustrates the performance advantage of combining mobile search and display.

“Advertisers in the Microsoft Mobile Marketplace have a broad range of goals,” said Jamie Wells, global director of trade marketing at Microsoft, Redmond, WA. “Early entrants are primarily mobile content providers who are interested in increasing their campaign ROI by maximizing user conversions and downloads of music ringtones.”

Microsoft launched the marketplace to a select group of advertisers during the critical holiday shopping season. Consumers are on-the-go and more pressed for time during the holidays.

So far, Microsoft launched Marketplaces for Ringtones, and additional Microsoft Mobile Marketplaces are already in the works, including Holiday Shopping, Mobile Games and Wallpapers.

Here’s how Marketplaces work: A user browsing a Microsoft mobile media property, such as Mobile MSN, Hotmail, Messenger, CNBC or Fox Sports, is presented with a display ad promoting a specific consumer product vertical, such as “Last Minute Holiday Deals” or “Hot Ringtones.” RRJ6NFM42D7N

read full article here.

The FoneGigs Directory of Mobile Search Firms

This directory provides a list of mobile search companies along with their profile, contact information, geographies they cover and more. This directory is refreshed monthly! Please let me know if you wish to recommend a mobile search company not covered here or update certain information that is listed. Email Eric at eric(at)fonegigs.com. Click on the image below to download the free directory.

FoneGigs Mobile Search Company List

Sign up to hear about Mobile Marketing gigs at FoneGigs.com. To download the free directory of 40+ Mobile Ad Networks, click here.

Real-Time Search Makes Move Into Mobile

OneRiot and search engine Taptu plan to announce Tuesday that people have an option to browse the Web on mobile phones for trending topics and the most relevant results.

Taptu is the first mobile search engine to link into OneRiot’s application programming interface (API) to develop a mobile app. The API allows companies to syndicate real-time search results. The service is available on the majority of mobile devices, including iPhone, iPod touch, G1, Nokia N 97 and 5800, and BlackBerry Storm 1.

People can search on their phone for real-time news. “You hear there’s a hurricane and want to read the latest buzz on your mobile phone,” says Tobias Peggs, general manager of OneRiot. “So, you do a search for ‘hurricane,’ but you don’t want to see the Wikipedia page. You need quick access to real-time news.”

read full article here.

Most of Microsoft’s efforts since the relaunch of its search engine as Bing have been on the PC side—but the company now seems to be getting around to improving its mobile search experience significantly as well.

In a blog post Friday, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) said it had unveiled a version of Bing optimized for touch phones, including the iPhone, T-Mobile G1, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Imagio, and Samsung Omnia. (Support for additional devices is coming). I’ve been playing with the new version on my iPhone and the main difference between it and the default Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search I use most often is that I can click anywhere on an entry to get to a site rather than just the blue headline link. There’s also a new movies vertical, which lets you sift through current movies by clicking on images of movie posters.

The standard mobile Bing version also has some new features, including real-time updates on football games and flights. None of this, though, seems game-changing enough to move Microsoft’s paltry mobile search share very much, especially when compared to the impact of the company’s deal to become the default search provider on Verizon phones.

via: MobileSEONews

Question:Bena. Your site Mobile SEO News came to the top of my Google search on SEO in Mobile and I wondered if you could help me?

We are a charity in Bayern and I know you are based in Seeheim-Jugenheim – is there a very low cost way to take my site to mobile?  Will you consider doing it for us for free?  Do I need a mobile site or just to mobile search my online site.

Bena’s Answer: Hi. Thanks for your email. As you can imagine I get a lot of emails requesting me to help them and I can’t help everyone for free.  But I took a look at your site and taking it mobile or getting it in search results will be very easy.

Before I answer, I want you to think what you want from a mobile site. Is it just to be mobile or do you want to get customers, do SMS services that can make your charity money?  I can only help when you know what you want. But I can suggest the following if you are nowhere on mobile at the moment.

You have 5 graphics on the page and not too much content.  The site is a very simple blog.  To get it onto mobile you can use a rendering engine like Skweezer (www.skweezer.com) and then redirect your online site to your mobile site or promote it via a mobile button (Mippin www.mippin.com will also do this for you)

But if you want to get instant benefits on mobile for SEO- follow these simple steps:

Create an XML feed (pointing to your content)

Dont worry about your pictures – mobile sites should be very clean and as a start just getting your content mobilised will help you.

Go to a free mobile site creation company – zinadoo www.zinadoo.com , wapple www.wapple.net , mofuse www.mofuse.com , winksite www.winksite.com and make a site with our your feed and then submit a sitemap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitemaps) to Google see here: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=34627

Just for you I have created a feed for you and a sitemap to submit to Google- see attached.

When you do this – I would start mobile search submission see here: http://www.mobileseonews.com/2008/12/mobile-search-e.html

OK, its not rocket science and its the very basics but I hope it helps any true beginners.