First, you should audit your current reach with your website. Google Analytics’ capabilities allow for mobile visitor tracking where tracking by device and carrier is possible. As Search Engine Journal writes, “[t]his will give a benchmark of your current stats, and give you a good idea of how mobile savvy your visitors are. If more than 5% of your visitors are on mobile devices, NOW is the time to start developing mobile-specific search campaigns”.

From this data you’ll also be able to decipher how your users are finding your website, and get an idea of a keyword list. Then, it’s time to build your mobile-optimized AdWords campaign.
Before launching, ask yourself this: Is your website mobile-ready? “Your mobile ads need device-optimized landing pages. Start by creating mobile-optimized landing pages for the most popular device according to your device report in Google Analytics,” advises Search Engine Journal.

Is your website ready for a mobile search campaign?

Flurry, a mobile analytics company, recently published data that looks into the usage of mobile applications. According to Mashable: On both iPhone and Android phones, social networking apps were used most frequently — about 20 times per month — with news coming in a distant second. In fact, in terms of frequency alone, we’re using social networking apps at double the rate we’re using news applications, and four times the rate we’re firing up mobile games.

Why are these facts important? It’s clear that social networking is used at greater rates than entertainment and games. It’s up to you to be in front of the computer screen, and the phone screen.

Flurry states that it gathers mobile application usage data from over 1 billion end-user sessions across more than 50 million unique handsets from more than 200 countries.
ComScore will be able to add the following metrics to their reporting: frequency of use, length of use, user geographic location, new v. repeat usage and Wi-Fi v. carrier network usage.

Is this the next step in solidifying mobile analytics?

Google says, “just in time for the holidays, we’ve made it easier to find discounts when you’re on the go. If a business adds a mobile coupon to its Google Local Business Center listing, you’ll be able to access it from your mobile device. Just go to google.com on your phone and search for a local business”. From there, users can go to the business’ Place page, pull any coupons and then show the business the coupon for redemption.

Have you started using coupons in your Place Pages?

Google is addressing its search functions by introducing Search Options (new tools for searching various types of content posted within different time ranges) to mobile. ReadWriteWeb states, “[f]or many smartphone users in the U.S., search options will include the ability to pare down and filter results to get very specific, optimized pages. This will apply for owners of iPhones, Android devices, and Palm WebOS devices”.

While Google focuses on its search, Yahoo!’s approach to mobile is more about its homepage. “At once rich and simple, the new homepage is accessible by more than 1,900 different mobile devices, which Yahoo! says represents a 500 percent increase since the mobile site launched in April”, says ReadWriteWeb. Highlights include constantly updated content. The “Today” section displays ten of the leading stories from all over the Internet. Users are shown top news, business, entertainment, and sports content. Also, Yahoo!’s video integration allows for quick loading. Users can incorporate content from social networks such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter through the Social Pulse feature.

How is mobile changing the way you design your website?

Users concerned with privacy issues will be relieved to know that the location-based search option is opt-in only. Locations can also be edited or removed completely. With location-based search, Google will be able to leverage even the mobile web. How will other search engines respond to this?

What will it cost to run ads on apps? “The costs to advertise inside apps is generally at parity with the cost of advertising on the mobile web, according to mobile-ad executives. Standard mobile banner ad rates to reach 1,000 viewers, or CPMs, start at $3 for remnant inventory and $10 and up for the most premium inventory. AdMob said its average CPM for its iPhone network, which serves predominantly in-app advertising, is $11.50”.Will app ads be the next big thing? Developers will definitely have an incentive to create new apps, as ads will be a new form of monetization.

The four search services that Getfugu showcases are: See it, Say it, Find it and Get it. See it works with the user’s cellular phone camera. The user would take a picture of a company logo, and the company would reply with content from that company. Read Write Web reports, “the content could be mobile discounts and coupons or simply information about some sort of special promotion.” The voice search, referred to as ‘Say it’, lets the user speak their queries by using either brand names or keywords that are more generic. Local content, known as the ‘Find it’ function, uses a mobile device’s GPS function to find results that are closest to the user’s proximity. Lastly, the ‘Get it’ function “refers to Getfugu’s unique search service called “hot-spotting.” This function is limited to touchscreen devices and involves interactive video content. When you watch a video on your phone, any item within the video can be “hot-spot enabled” so that when it’s touched, you’re offered more information about that item and given a chance to purchase it”.

Getfugu also includes other benefits such as the inclusion of games, ringtones, mobile content as well as the possibility of receiving cash rewards. But will Getfugu take off? For one thing, the user would more than likely have to have a SmartPhone to use all of the capabilities. Can Getfugu find a way to make its product more accessible to a wider range of users?

According to Google’s blog, “[t]he new application improves the way you use your phone. You can get transcripts of your voicemail, archive, and search all of the SMS text messages you send and receive”. This is after Google’s work with voice-to-text and text-to-voice capabilities.  The service is currently under beta, but will be primarily free for users. It can also be integrated into Gmail accounts. Furthermore, settings are fully customizable. For instance, if a user does not want their voicemails transcribed, they can turn that setting off. How will Google Voice affect day to day phone use?