The Blog on Branding

Making Sense of Transcoding for Mobile

What looks good on one person may not look good on another person. This same philosophy applies to Web pages…sort of.

Similar to wondering whether or not you can pull-off cutting your bangs like Zoe Deschanel, it’s format and design that should be considered when your Web page is displayed on different mediums, namely a mobile.

Web pages are displayed differently on a mobile because it is a smaller screen than that of a PC. Elements of your site’s design will automatically be compressed and content altered due to the transcoding of the site that occurs when it is accessed by a mobile. The transcoding of sites for a mobile must be examined and understood in order to successfully harness the potential of mobile commerce.

Transcoding

Transcoding is the re-formatting of a Web page into something that looks good and works well on a mobile.

But what does transcoding involve?

• Converting complex Web coding into wml, xhtml-mp, mobile-friendly html.
• Breaking up large Web pages into a series of smaller pages
• Resizing or converting images
• Re-formatting page to increase usability

For example, Google will recognize that a mobile is accessing its site rather than a PC. It will attempt to deliver an uncluttered, stripped down version of its results page. Then, when a person clicks on a link, Google gives a text only page that works on a mobile browser.

They transcode the site for you, how nice! Seems simple enough, right?

Making Sense of Transcoding for Mobile

Continuing with the example of Google, there are several isues that arise with transcoding.

• If you try to save the bookmark of the page Google gave you, it will have a Google proxy address instead of the direct address to that page
• The text boxes for searching a site do not show up
• There’s no way to view a page in its original format and get out of Google transcoding

Although Google transcoding of all of the sites that you Google search for with a mobile is useful in certain respects, its various pitfalls raise the question: is transcoding adapting sites or crippling them?

The Effect of Transcoding on Advertising

The negative impact of transcoding is felt most by advertisers.

Often sites are transcoded badly which results in advertisements not appearing or not being rendered. When ads don’t show up, income is lost. And furthermore, would you want your company’s image delivered to potential customers in a stripped down, sub-par, transcoded version? Probably not.

Google would probably argue that altering or dropping ads is purely an issue of bandwith or screen real estate. But these changes still alter the look and feel of ads, and ultimately the revenue stream produced by these ads.

But don’t get discouraged by Google transcoding. There are still opportunities for mobile marketing.

Advertising Alternatives

Although your ad banner that uses flash can’t be displayed on a Blackberry or iPhone due to poor transcoding, there are still ample opportunities to reach potential customers, including but not limited to:

• Search
• Text messages

Search

Usually when someone is using the mobile Web, they are searching for something nearby such as a restaurant or hotel. Therefore, when ads that are pertinent to a search show up, they serve a purpose and are not just some annoying display taking up precious screen space.

According to a prediction by the Kelsey Group, “local searches will rise from 28 percent of all mobile searches in 2008 to over 35 percent by 2013. And as a percentage of mobile search ad revenues, local search is already half. So that is a $1.27 billion market opportunity in four years just for local mobile search.”

Text Messages

In addition to the advertising possibilities associated with local searches, text messages have also been well-received by mobile users, especially for those without smartphones.

According to a study conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, some 70% of consumers who have responded to a mobile marketing offer say they’ve responded to a marketing text message, compared to the 41% who’ve responded to a survey and the 30% who’ve responded to email offers.

Trying to Make Everybody Happy

The world of mobile commerce is still figuring out how to conveniently deliver information as well as create a positive experience for users and advertisers. Despite the current shortcomings, mobile advertising and mobile commerce as a whole still holds a great deal of promise that has yet to be fully realized.

Julia Cowher Julia isn’t a social networking narcissist but she is the fairest brander of them all. Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.