Send and Receive Text Messages on Your PC

Text messaging is great--except when it isn't. For one thing, it's expensive (unless you have an unlimited messaging plan, which itself can be expensive). Plus, it forces you to type on your phone's tiny keyboard--not always the fastest or most convenient method.

Indeed, when you're sitting at your desk and want to text, say, your spouse, do you really have to pull out your phone, navigate to the messaging app, then mangle those cramped keys?

Actually, you don't. Pinger Textfree Web brings free and easy text messaging to your browser. Using a large, attractive interface, you can compose a message to any mobile number and view the replies. It's not unlike using an instant-messaging service like Meebo.

Registering for a Textfree Web account is free, and it includes a textfree.us e-mail address. (If you're an Android or iOS user, you might be familiar with the eponymous apps, which are great for messaging without paying your carrier for the privilege.)

In my tests, messages sent from Textfree Web arrived almost instantly, the replies came just as quickly. And trust me: it's so much nicer composing texts with a full-size keyboard. Cheaper, too. The service even lets you attach images to your messages, effectively recreating MMS. (If someone wants to send you back an image, it needs to go to your Textfree e-mail address.)

If there's one downside, it's that you can't import contacts, so you'll have to enter phone numbers manually--at least the first time. Textfree Web keeps a (brief) log of recently sent and received messages, so it's easy to resume a conversation with people you've texted in the last 72 hours.

This is a great service. It lets you keep your phone in your pocket and text to your heart's content, all at no charge.

Contributing Editor Rick Broida writes about business and consumer technology. Ask for help with your PC hassles at hasslefree@pcworld.com, or try the treasure trove of helpful folks in the PC World Community Forums. Sign up to have the Hassle-Free PC newsletter e-mailed to you each week.

By Rick Broida

Don't Look Now, But Must Know Social Media Marketing Tips Are Found Here

Whether you have an online or offline business, building a relationship with customers is important. Luckily, social media sites exist and provide a way for you to lure visitors to your website while helping you to interact with people who are already buying what you have to offer. Here are some great ways to do social media marketing for your benefit.

Take advantage of the holiday season to post content related to these new challenges. Depending on the kind of product you are selling, you could post recipes, advice on shopping or tips on familial relationships. People will be more likely to read this type of content simply because it mentions the upcoming holidays.

If you are considering using a consultant to assist you with your social media marketing campaign, make sure they use the sites they would recommend. If they truly believe and know how to utilize Facebook, Twitter, and others, they should have a page of their own. Do the research to verify this to be sure they are a company you want to use.

One rule of thumb to avoid with social media marketing is to not annoy your customers. Some marketers over do it by constantly sending their customers messages they really do not need or want. This can annoy your readers and cause them to not want to visit your site, especially if you're always bombarding them with messages!

Respond with care to tweets that contain rude or hateful messages. Everything you tweet is a reflection of your business. It may be tempting to shoot back a sarcastic tweet but, that will harm you in the long run. Remain professional and calm when you respond. Remember, the whole world has access to what you tweet.

Get a WordPress blog so you can use the WordPress Retweet button. This features allows your visitors to post a link to one of your articles in their Twitter feed in a simple click. You could also add Retweet buttons on your website if you take the time to code it yourself.

Keep in mind that Facebook fan pages are for businesses and personal pages are for individuals. If you mix up the two then you are putting yourself at risk of being deleted. While it is a good idea to be a bit personal on your fan page it is important to separate the two.

Conduct Facebook polls. Using the the "question" feature on Facebook, you can develop a poll to ask your followers a question. It can be about their thoughts on a new product, their opinion on how you're doing with customer service or anything else to which you'd like an answer. This keeps them engaged. When your followers feel more involved, they identify more closely with your brand or product.

Use these great tips to build relationships with both prospective and current buyers. As you use social media sites to do this, you will be encouraged by how easily it is to connect with your target market. Keep building those relationships with your customers, and your business can't help but to grow.

Will Plain-Text Ads Continue to Rule?

In general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.

From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

    Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.

    Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.


Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.
From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.

Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.

Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.
Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.

Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.

Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.

After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.

by Jakob Nielsen’s

Jakob Nielsen’s

n general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/

n general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/#sthash.gNNNHJ5B.dpuf

In general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/#sthash.gNNNHJ5B.dpuf

In general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/#sthash.gNNNHJ5B.dpuf

In general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/#sthash.gNNNHJ5B.dpuf

In general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/#sthash.gNNNHJ5B.dpuf

In general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/#sthash.gNNNHJ5B.dpuf

In general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/#sthash.gNNNHJ5B.dpuf

In general, advertising doesn't work on the Web , a fact that has been clear to usability researchers since 1997. Users ignore ads because they are contrary to the Web's basic imperative , which is to let users go where they want and get their information needs instantly gratified.
From the beginning, it was also clear that this indictment of Web advertising had two exceptions:

• Classified ads work because as far as users are concerned, they are content , not advertising: people actively seek out the classifieds when they are looking to buy. This explains the success of eBay, Monster/HotJobs, and many such sites. The superiority of Web classifieds portends dire times ahead for traditional printed newspapers, as their most lucrative income source continues to migrate online.
• Search engine ads work because search engines are the one type of website that people visit with the explicit goal of finding someplace else to go. Thus, if users see an ad for what they're looking for, there is a high probability that they'll click that ad. Advertisers can satisfy a user's immediate needs because they target ads based on the user's query terms. (This also explains why ads on search engine homepages don't work: it's impossible to target the ad to the user's current quest until the server knows what that quest is.)

Both are examples of request marketing : prospects have explicitly asked for the promotions they are being shown, as opposed to having unwanted messages thrown at them.
 
Text-only ads on search engines have become particularly successful in recent years, and non-search sites are now experimenting with this format in hope of replicating that success. However, it's doubtful that their efforts will work because non-search sites lack the equation's crucial element: users' single-minded goal to leave the site as quickly as possible.

From Banner Blindness to Box Blindness?

Text-only ads might continue to work better than traditional graphics-based ads for some time to come. Web users have long exhibited strong banner blindness and avoid anything that looks like an advertisement. Text-only ads don't resemble the designs that people have trained themselves to screen out, and the resulting visibility surely contributes to the success of text-only ads.
 
Also, text-only ads benefit from a temporary novelty effect , as does any new advertising format that people have not yet learned to ignore.
Over the long term, however, the novelty effect will obviously fade. Users might also develop box blindness , ignoring little text boxes just as they've long ignored banner-shaped areas of the screen. Thus, text-only ads are not guaranteed a bright future outside their native search engine habitat.

Communicative Content

Text-only ads might have one durable advantage: because they're a low-end media format , users might take them more seriously. Being forced to express a message in a few words concentrates the advertiser's mind, and probably leads to more communicative ads that are better focused on explaining how users will benefit from the product or service.
 
Although there is no inherent reason that you can't use text for mindless chatter -- like "where do you want to go today?" -- there is no way users will click on such ads. Ignoring users' immediate needs is certain death on the Web.
Companies that run rich-media ads that ignore user needs can delude themselves into thinking that they're "promoting the brand"; in reality, they're simply being ignored because they don't connect with people's needs. The text-only format more clearly exposes content-free messages as useless, however, and thus might save advertisers from the bad instincts they honed on old media.
After ten years of watching Web users, one clear conclusion is that they are utterly selfish and live in the moment . Giving users exactly what they want, right now, is the road to Web success, and having to write small boxes of text encourages advertisers to travel it.
- See more at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/will-plain-text-ads-continue-to-rule/#sthash.gNNNHJ5B.dpuf

All Aboard The Successful Mobile Marketing Train!

Mobile marketing is a dynamic strategy; you just have to understand what to expect from using mobile devices to market your business. It can garner you a lot of exposure if done correctly. In order to make sure it happens, pay close attention to the tips in this article.

A map can help to provide basic directions for visitors using a mobile device. Many consumers will turn to their mobile devices when they are trying to reach your store. Customers that can find you are customers that can buy from you. Verify that your map displays correctly and is usable on mobile devices. Adding a direct link from your site to Google maps can be very helpful.

Use your conventional website to advertise your mobile site. When you advertise your mobile application on your website, you will increase your traffic. Regular customers who visit your site will then know how to access your business anywhere they go.

Begin by building up your mobile marketing database. Resist the temptation to merely accumulate a large volume of cellular numbers and incorporate them into your mobile marketing attempts. The reason is you must have their permission before you begin doing this. You can accomplish this by using web forms or you can have the person sign up via text messaging.

You need to use short code that is dedicated. Even though it's more expensive, it can safeguard and promote your brand. It also provides a bit of legal coverage.

Sending out mobile emails can really help you reach your customers while they are on the go. Because of this, keeping all emails friendly to mobile devices increases their effectiveness. This can be accomplished through clickable phone numbers, pages with navigation tabs, and other features that make your site easy to navigate on a mobile phone or device. As time goes by, the number of people checking e-mail from mobile devices is only increasing, so it's smart to design e-mails for this audience.

For a great way to bring in customers and help your brand become more well-known, use QR codes in your campaigns. These codes make sharing coupons, promotions and discounts easy for you and fun for your customers. QR codes are convenient to scan with a smartphone, and even easier to use. QR codes allow immediate interaction with your customers.

It is important to have specific goals for your mobile marketing campaign. At first, you need to understand what goals you'd like to achieve through mobile marketing. For example, consider whether your goal is to increase sales or lengthen customer retention times.

Ask your friends to test your campaign before you make it public. For an unbiased opinion, you could pay a tester.

When developing content for mobile marketing, be sure that you keep your message brief and easy to understand. Get your message across to them as soon as you can; they need to know what you are trying to say.

So much needs to be done when using mobile marketing as a business strategy. It's a good thing these tips were here to guide you.

Cap on Mobile Roaming Fees

Finally, the European Commission has finally decided to flex its muscles and attention towards fixing the scandalous mobile roaming charges instead of pursuing metric martyrs and wonky vegetables.

The changes, due to come into force across the EU's 27 member nations from July 2009 will not only affect call charges but also data charges which are directly associated with web browsing. The commission is seeking wholesale caps for data roaming with a proposed €1 per megabyte safeguard limit for wholesale data roaming fees which is hoped will stimulate competition and transparent retail prices.

For many years supporters and advocates of mobile web services, including Commercetuned, have been frustrated with the slow consumer take up speed of mobile web having been restricted by high prices for data as operators tried to claw back revenue from the ill fated 3G bidding process. We recently reported figures from Nielsen on the increase use of internet services via mobile phones and the potential impact it could start to have in shaping web search.

We work in a globalised society and the European Union has always tried to model itself as an efficient unified trading block. Therefore it has been ridiculous that on most tariffs in the UK consumers are given unlimited web data access in with operators such as T-mobile (a German owned operator) but if I visit Germany and want to use Google (on T-mobile) to find local information then we are whacked with roaming data fees in excess of £3 per MB or €3.6. We therefore fully endorse this proposal and greet this reduction in data costs as an exciting next step towards a prosperous mobile web....wherever you are.

by Paul Rudman

Facebook Explains Why Vine Can't Access

Facebook has clarified its platform policies in response to the news that it has shut off friend-finding access to Twitter's new video sharing app, Vine.

Within hours of Vine's launch, the ability for users to find Facebook friends also using Vine disappeared. The move was not unlike a decision Twitter made in July to prevent Instagram users from continuing to find contacts using Twitter.

In a post on its Developer Blog, Facebook clarifies some of its platform policies. While not mentioning Vine by name, it's clear this is the app the company is referring to when it writes:

For a much smaller number of apps that are using Facebook to either replicate our functionality or bootstrap their growth in a way that creates little value for people on Facebook, such as not providing users an easy way to share back to Facebook, we've had policies against this that we are further clarifying today (see I.10).

This is the text from section I.10 (emphasis ours):

Reciprocity and Replicating core functionality: (a) Reciprocity: Facebook Platform enables developers to build personalized, social experiences via the Graph API and related APIs. If you use any Facebook APIs to build personalized or social experiences, you must also enable people to easily share their experiences back with people on Facebook. (b) Replicating core functionality: You may not use Facebook Platform to promote, or to export user data to, a product or service that replicates a core Facebook product or service without our permission.

In other words, if developers want to access data from the Graph API to build a personalized Facebook experience within the app, those developers must make it easy for users to share information within the app back to Facebook.

Moreover, developers will need Facebook's permission to promote or export user data to a service that "replicates a core Facebook product or service."

In the case of Vine, while the service allows sharing back to Facebook or Twitter, the sharing functionality or secondary social network appears to meet Facebook's definition of "replicating a core Facebook product or service."

While it's possible Vine could ask permission from Facebook to have access to the Graph API, given the ongoing social war between Facebook and Twitter, that solution seems unlikely.

By Christina Warren

Get The Results Your Business Needs With These Mobile Marketing Tips

Mobile Marketing can refer to any relationship occurring and being conducted using mobile data services between an organization and a customer. This article can help you to better understand how this can work for you. It's most definitely a marketing medium that should not miss out on.

Make at least five minutes of fun for your mobile customers. You should compose unique and fun texts that will leave an impression on your customers. When they are idle during the day, they will look to your text for fun. The more you put into keeping it interesting, the more of an impact you will have.

Take advantage of using SMS, or text messaging, to connect with your consumers using mobile devices. This is a way to generate leads, collect consumer information, and build customer relationships. Mobile device users are conditioned to read text messages, so your messages have a very good chance to be read.

There are many free online QR code generators who also give you access to tracking statistics, so use one of them for your mobile campaign. This will allow you to keep track of which campaigns work the best and where the QR code should be on the product to get the most use out of it.

Make sure that you give your customers an easy way to opt out of mobile marketing messages. Options such as codes to text to be removed from a distribution list make interaction easy. Even if customers choose to stop receiving mobile messages, they will likely remember that you made it simple and be more prone to opt back in if they see the value in your messages.

Your mobile campaign should be linked to the core of your marketing strategy. Using mobile devices is a great way to get some attention, but you should encourage people to report their attention on your main strategies. This means you should do your best to get them to visit your website if this is the main tool you use.

Some mobile marketers get out of hand with their messaging and can send five to six messages a day per customer. Doing this sort of aggressive campaigning, will simply turn customers off to your business, especially if they have to pay for each individual text that they receive from you.

Keep track of a customer's buying habits, and use those results. Personalize your messages to a customer based on their actual habits and you will find that people become more interested in your business. When you take the time to make a person feel important, they will become return customers much more easily.

When designing your next mobile marketing campaign, it is important that you remain aware of the visual limitations of most mobile and smartphones. The screens are often very small, and highly pixelated images are unlikely to do your product or brand any special favors. Opt for clean graphics that will be visible on even the smallest display.

As outlined above, the term mobile marketing refers to a relationship between a consumer and a business that is conducted using mobile data services. There are many types of mobile marketing, however. By using the information in this article, you can gain a better understanding of how it works, and how you can put it to use in your business.

SMS Text Message Marketing to Reach More Customers

 There are quite a few ways to reach out to current and potential customers, but some are far more efficient and cost effective than others. While many businesses focus on things like advertisements in newspapers, on billboards, in on television and the radio, they miss out on one of the most popular mediums in the world. Billions of people have cell phones and they take them wherever they go. If you want to personally reach your target audience, the best way to do that is through sms text message marketing.
One of the things you have to realize about sms text message marketing is the fact that it's not just about the sheer volume of potential people to market to. Marketing to cell phone users has a much higher redemption rate than other marketing methods like newspapers, email, and direct mail. It also boasts a much higher open and read rate than emails, as people don't have time to sit at their computers and sift through their inboxes all day. Your responses and costs per customer acquisition will be much lower since more people will actually be listening to what you have to say. Because of this, the return on your investment with these kind of numbers just can't be matched any other way.

Another solid benefit to sms text message marketing is how fast it is. You can set up a campaign and start advertising in a matter of minutes. You won't have to wait for it to be published or mailed like you would with other promotional techniques, and your customer will get the message seconds after you sent it. They'll then open it and read it. If you are looking to get people to see an offer of some kind online, you can get instant results using text message marketing.

So if your company is in need of a more effective way to communicate with their customers, consider an sms text message marketing campaign. You'll be pretty amazed by the responses you get, and when you see how much better your return on investment is, you'll want to focus more on cell phones than other mediums.


By textmessagemarketing

Anyone Can Get Great Results With This Mobile Marketing Advice

Mobile marketing can help you reach a whole new group of people to market your product. It is rare to find someone today who doesn't own a mobile device, whether it's a cell phone, smartphone, tablet computer, iPod or any other device with web connectivity.

Investing money is the best way to optimize your website for usage in a mobile marketing campaign. It can be hard to make a mobile site that is appealing and attractive. For best results, it is best to outsource this task to someone who is qualified to do it.

Watch the competition to see what techniques they use for their mobile marketing to get an edge on them. Do what it takes to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Make sure you give A/B testing a try with your mobile page. Mobile pages need to be tested for usability, just as much as any other web page. Develop at the same time, two platforms for your mobile page (A/B), and see what platform is most effective with your consumers. You then can progress with your mobile campaign with the one that works best.

If your mobile marketing messages contain a link, you should link to both your mobile site and your main site to cover the widest range of mobile devices possible. If your regular website has flash, you should link exclusively to the mobile version of your website.

If you truly want your mobile marketing plan to succeed, keep your messages limited in number, and make sure each one extends an offer of significant value to the customer. If you do this, then customers are much more likely to find your offers interesting and respond to them positively.

Make your website even more useful with mobile-friendly maps. Most people use mobile devices to aid them in traveling to various locations. Create an easy way for consumers to reach your store front. Even your maps should be treated like marketing materials. Also consider linking your customers directly to Google maps to provide alternative directions.

It is important to have your own dedicated short code. This will cost you more but serve you better in protecting your brand. In addition, it gives you a measure of legal protection.

When you are creating your mobile marketing campaign, make sure to keep all platforms in mind. There are a lot of different devices and platforms used by mobile users, and to get the largest possible audience, your mobile campaign should reflect that. Use scripting that works on every one of them to truly be successful with your campaign.

Mobile marketing will continue to grow as the demand for mobile devices continues to increase. Soon you will not go far in the world without the appearance of some mobile device in a person's hand. Mobile marketing may well be the only way to reach out to all of these people. These tips are a window into the world of mobile marketing that can help you crush your competition and deliver the services your customers want. Start today!

Supporting SMS Marketing With Pinterest

 

Despite its rapid growth, Pinterest isn't as well understood as many of the other social media networks that can support your text message marketing. It's not for everybody, but certain industries and projects go well with Pinterest's highly visual format. If you're thinking about adding the site to your SMS marketing campaigns, it's best to keep a few things in mind. 

Who It's For
Pinterest works best for businesses that communicate well with pictures. Interior designers, architects, artists, tourism bureaus and wedding venues are some examples of companies that often do well on the platform.
Businesses that don't have visually compelling products, and almost all service companies, are usually better off focusing elsewhere. It's hard to put up a compelling photo of your legal or accounting services.

The Basics
Users browse Pinterest to look at photos arranged in categorized "boards" (think photos pinned to a bulletin board). If an image catches the eye, that user can click on it to link to the site where it's hosted. That's how Pinterest marketing works. 

With SMS, you can send a single image from a board to your subscribers, with a link to that board as part of the message. Your mobile users can then navigate to view an entire board of compelling images of your products, then follow those images to a website where they can make a purchase. Bonus points for combining the opportunity with some kind of limited-time discount, poll, contest or other key SMS strategy.

The Five Rules of Pinterest Marketing

1. Don't Post Proprietary Images
   Pinterest's EULA says any image you post becomes their intellectual property. Only post images you own, and only those images of yours you won't mind seeing used elsewhere. 
2. Use the "Recent Activity" Feature
   This lets yo u track social sharing of your images over the past hours or days. Use it after Pinterest-related broadcasts to gauge the effectiveness of any given batch.
3. Double-Check Your Landing Page
   Remember that your SMS subscribers will most likely view your landing page from a mobile device. If you don't have a mobile-optimized version of your website, check your landing page from a variety of devices to make sure it's attractive and easy to navigate.
4. Get Social
   Share images from other uses, mixed in with your promotional content. As with other social media platforms, users who only ever post advertising are quickly ignored by the crowd.
5. Use Only Your Best Images
   You'll be competing for attention with high-quality, compelling images from all over the world. Put only your best stuff up there.

By Jason Brick

Guiding Your Product Through The Wilds Of The Internet

When you think of internet marketing, do you see it as one more thing you must work at, in order to promote your business? If so, then you have a narrow view of the subject. It is so much more than that and it can be personalized so that it works for you. Read on to find out how.

If you have already come up with a great name or idea for a product or service that you want to market on the internet, you should go ahead and find the domain name for the website. These are very cheap to hold, so if you wait too long, it may be already gone.

Creating an internet video is another way to get your business out there and known about. If you put it on a website like YouTube, you are sure to get recognition for it because there are many visitors that could possibly see your video and in turn, visit your website.

Make a commercial! While some people don't like the idea of making commercials, studies show that they are much more effective at influencing customer buying habits than the printed word. There are low-budget options to use, just make sure the commercial is entirely relevant. With a little effort and investment, you can increase your consumer base with just a few words.

Use before and after shots. If your product or service is one that changes the appearance of anything in any way, make sure you include photos that show how this process occurred, and how well the end product looked. Doing this can increase your customer potential, as people rarely see results before they purchase.

Once you have gotten one of your internet marketing websites established you should move on to another. This does not mean to leave the first alone, but allow it to grow organically and begin focusing your energy on the second or third project. This helps to diversify your prospects and bring in more money.

A good way to promote your product or webpage is to make a page on a social networking site. You can find a lot of potential viewers and customers on a social networking site. Another benefit about social networking sites is that sometimes people find you because of how much time people spend on such sites. It's free and can create great exposure for your page and/or products so there's almost no reason why you shouldn't make a social networking page.

Address your customers directly in your ad. Use pronouns such as "you" and "your". People should feel included in your audience and relate to what you are saying to them. If you use the third person instead, people might feel as if the product is not really designed for them.

After reading through all of that, do you still see internet marketing in the same way? Do you now see that it is so much more and that they are very simple things that you can add promote your business? There is work involved, but you decide on how much to put into it.

Mobile Marketers Win Important FCC Text Message Ruling Decision gives marketers legal basis for sending text message receipts

Companies can safely get back into text messaging marketing programs, now that the Federal Communications Commission has clarified a '90s-era communications law.

The FCC's declaratory ruling released Thursday confirmed that companies and organizations may legally follow industry best practices and send a final, onetime text to confirm receipt of a consumer's opt-out request of a text messaging program.

SoundBite Communications, a company that manages text message programs for more than 450 companies, filed the petition last March in response to a growing number of class action lawsuits that alleged receipt text messages were in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Passed in 1991 before text messaging grew into a robust marketing strategy, the law restricts the use of autodialers to make non-emergency calls without prior express consent to any telephone number assigned to mobile phone services.

Last year, Barclays paid more than $8 million to settle a class action suit filed in California that it violated the TCPA because it sent a confirmatory text message. Other companies that have been threatened with lawsuits include American Express, Twitter and Facebook, and SoundBite clients Gamestop and Bank of America.

"When Barclays settled, that created a cottage industry [of lawsuits] overnight," said Jim Milton, SoundBite's president and CEO. "When we filed the petition, we said enough is enough."

Left unabated, the lawsuits could have cost the mobile marketing industry billions of dollars, said Michael Becker, North American managing director for the Mobile Marketing Association, which supported SoundBite's petition, along with 11 companies, including AT&T Mobility, 4Info and Mogreet.

"Some companies just stopped using text messaging because it put them at legal risk. It was easier to stop than fight," Becker said.

The decision was an easy one for the FCC, which hadn't received a single complaint about the practice. It actually got complaints from consumers who did not receive a confirmation text.

"Today's common-sense order ends the legal lacuna and the courtroom arbitrage it has inspired," commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement. "Hopefully, by making clear that the act does not prohibit confirmation texts, we will end the litigation that has punished some companies for doing the right thing."

"This isn't spam, it isn't robo dialing. It's a permission-based marketing model. The FCC's ruling recognized that," said Becker. 

Now that the legal impediment is out of the way, the mobile marketing business should get a boost. "I don't know that it will be an immediate snap back, but it will certainly help," Milton said. "There's no question this had an impact on the industry and it shouldn't have."

By Katy Bachman

WhatsApp: the new text messaging

As texting turns 20, could this popular app that allows phone users to chat for free take the place of SMS?

 

You've heard of texting, right? Billions of people use text messages, which have just turned 20. And you've heard of BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), the free system for users of BlackBerry phones where, unlike texts, sending or receiving messages costs nothing because it's done as data that you have already paid for in your contact.

OK. But have you heard of WhatsApp? If you're under 25, the answer is almost certainly yes. It is a cross-platform mobile messaging app that allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS, and has an estimated 250 million users worldwide. That's more than four times as many as BBM, and it has the mobile operators increasingly worried, because it works like BBM – over data – but on any phone that can run the app, including phones running Android, Windows Phone, Nokia's Symbian and S40, BlackBerry OS and Apple's iOS. To communicate with someone, you both have to have WhatsApp installed. (It will recognise your contacts who do have it from their phone number.) That's a potential market of many hundreds of millions of users, and although the company hasn't released any formal numbers, it's safe to say that it's already really big, and likely to become even more so.

WhatsApp was started in 2009 by two ex-Yahoo staff, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, and presently handles more than 10bn messages per day. And it's also one of the most popular paid-for apps on any platform. Why a paid app (you have to buy it on the iPhone; it's free for the first year on other platforms) rather than totally free? Koum and Acton recently posted on the company blog to explain: "These days companies know literally everything about you, your friends, your interests, and they use it all to sell ads," they wrote.

"We wanted to make something that wasn't just another ad clearing-house. We wanted to spend our time building a service people wanted to use because it worked and saved them money and made their lives better in a small way. We knew that we could charge people directly if we could do all those things. We knew we could do what most people aim to do every day: avoid ads."

Text messaging may still be pulling in the money from pay-as-you-go users, but these days they can get data bundles that let them send endless numbers of WhatsApp messages, and never touch the gold-plated text message (whose per-message cost, especially on PAYG, is miles out of kilter with what it costs to deliver or send).

Tero Kuittenen, of the Finnish consultancy Alekstra, says: "I believe we are facing a period of accelerating erosion of SMS volumes – this is not going to be a linear process." WhatsApp, he says, has grown tenfold in a year: "Even though WhatsApp is such a fresh phenomenon, it has already played a major role in pushing Spain's SMS volume into 25% annual decline."

So if you haven't heard of WhatsApp, you might soon do. And if you have, when's the last time you sent a text?

by  guardian

13 SMS Text Messaging Services for Marketing in the Mobile Age

Ninety nine percent of the time statistics can drive you to heavy drinking. In researching this post on SMS or Text Message Marketing, I wanted to find out how many people use text messaging, how quickly they are read, and are business owners using it as a way to reach customers.

More than any other topic that I’ve written about recently, the data is all over the place:

• Text Messages have a 98 percent read rate
• Text Messages have a 100 percent open rate
• Texts are typically read within 15 minutes of being received
• Mobile phones have reached 100 percent penetration in the United States

Let’s go with something more trustworthy: Do you know very many adults without a mobile phone? How about business owners without one? Have you had a customer without a cell phone? Here’s the leap, but I have pretty good evidence it is true: If they have one, they likely use text messaging on it, too.

Text message marketing is a permission-based approach to sharing short updates or specials with your customers. It lends itself to point of sale or retail offers, but not entirely. My gut or intuition tells me that it’s a good way to share news, updates, ideas, and special offers with customers with whom you have a relationship and who express interest in signing up.

Here are 13+ services that can make it easy and affordable; some are completely free if you keep your efforts small and focused:

Fanminder is a great service that I’ve reviewed before and think has a lot to offer. They offer a combination of social, email, and mobile phone marketing. It is free to text to up to 100 numbers. Pricing starts at $15/month after that.

Signal is pretty robust and lets you send text messages, QR codes, barcodes, and mobile optimized web pages. You can do coupons, sweepstakes, polls and plans start at $29/month with a free trial.

TellMyCell is useful if you want to give your customers a specific keyword to text in and receive a special offer (or any response really). You can have unlimited contacts and unlimited groups, but you pay on a per message basis. You can pay-as-you-go for five cents per message or plans start at $29/month after free trial.

Trumpia sells texts in packaged units (i.e. 500 or 1,000) and they don’t expire. You can use them in your text message marketing in a variety of ways, from appointment reminders to event coordination to standard marketing messages. Plans start at $25/month with 30-day free trial.

ReachPeople.com charges by the number of contacts and number of messages. They have a full free plan with up to 25 messages and 100 contacts. Paid plans start at $29/month. I like that they had a voice broadcasting option if you wanted to leave a voicemail for a group.

Simple Texting has one of those sites that is just clear and easy to grasp and the main screen calls out to business owners. I like that. You can integrate with social media like Facebook and Twitter. Free 30-day trial, then $15/month for up to 250 messages.

CallFire offers a variety of telephone-based services like IVR (interactive voice response – you know those automated attendant types) and a virtual call center service. But their SMS plan is a basic flat rate of three cents per message and it has a free trial.

SnapGiant knows that many small businesses (including restaurants and food service businesses)  use text message marketing and their page gently reflects that. You only pay for outgoing messages, not incoming, and unused messages roll over to the next month (that’s kind of cool). Plans start at $19.95/month after free 30-day trial.

Mozeo is another text platform with flat message pricing – five cents per message. Unlimited contacts, unused messages roll to the next month. You pay a one-time charge for keywords (as in your customer texts in PIZZA to your number to get a special offer). You get 10 free text messages to trial the service.

TXT180 offers 500 messages for $14.95 per month. Discounted to only $9.95/month if you prepay for 12-month contract. No free trial.

SMS Marketing has a one-time flat rate of $35 to setup your web-based text messaging account, then a per message fee. You get unlimited autoresponders and can schedule text message offers with ease. It even comes with one free keyword.

TextMagic is a text messaging service that you don’t even need a phone to use. You can forward your emails to this SMS service, too. You buy credits in 200 pack increments starting at $27. I discovered this 

UK-based service via a terrific post at the Content Marketing Institute: Why SMS is a Must for a Younger Audience.

Betwext is one of the only text message marketing companies that had unlimited keywords (which could be important if you intend to do a lot of different campaigns) and a low rate of only one cent per message. There is no monthly fee and that’s sure to shake up the marketplace.

Some Bonuses:

If you simply want to replace your mobile phone text plan for something less expensive, these five options are worth a look:

Go SMS Android App. Free texting. Handcent is another.

JaxtrSMS is sort of like Skype but just for texting. If you text another Jaxtr user, it’s free. Otherwise a low message fee based on destination country. Makes international texting pretty easy.

Kik Messenger  is texting for smartphones. Or more like texting with an instant messenger feel. Free.

Google Voice  is a free voice-over-IP phone (like Skype) but offers free texting, too.  You can send to up to five people at one time.

GroupMe is part of Skype and is a novel way to text a group of people. Totally free. Might not work in a business situation with a group of customers, but might be good for internal teams.

If you just want to be able to get Twitter or Facebook updates on a mobile device, but not cell phone type text messages, then Boxcar for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad is a notification app that allows you to get updates from many different web services (Curdbee, FourSquare, GitHub, Google Voice, just to name a few more). Free for the iOS world. Android and PC versions coming.

Notifo is another that handles notifications to the iOS platform.

If you’ve been contemplating how to offer your customers a way to get special marketing offers, via cell phone, then one of these 13 text messaging solutions will help. Like all services we review, I try to pick ones with transparent, affordable pricing and that make it easy for a busy small business owner to figure out. Let us know what services you’ve been using in the comments below.

By  TJ McCue