Mobile Contact Page, YouTube Video and Email Share

We continue to look at different mobile page types with our Tuesday Tips. This week we are looking at the Contact Us page type, the YouTube video pages type and the Email Share page type.

Mobile Contact Us Page

The Contact Us page is exactly what it sounds like. Many websites and mobile websites feature a contact us page that allows site visitors to enter information that is sent to someone at the organization.

The Contact Us page type has two main features. The first option is to provide an email address where the contact form sends information to. When someone fills out the contact form on your mobile site, the information will be sent to the email address you provide here.

The second is a phone call button. This button functions the same way as the phone call button on the Info page type. The text displayed on the button can be customized and the phone number to be called can be customized.

YouTube Video Page

The YouTube video page is very simple. It only has one option and feature. Simply provide the URL to a video on YouTube and it will be displayed on that page on your mobile website. The URL needs to be to a specific video, not a channel.

Email Share Page Types

The Email Share page type is similar to a contact page, but utilizes the native email functionality in mobile platforms. You must provide an Email Subject and an Email Message. When a user clicks on this page on the menu it activates the native email functionality on a site visitors phone. The subject and message are inserted into the email. The visitor can then determine who to send the email to and customize the message content if they choose.

The Email Share can be used for encouraging people to share your mobile site. An example of what to put in the message contant is: "Hey there! Maile's Studio cafe is a great place for food, friends and fun. I highly recommend you checking this place out. Learn more: http://www.mailesstudiocafe.com". This makes it easy for people to share your site with friends and family.

Mobile Website Tips for Multi-Location Businesses

Many small businesses and restaurants have the opportunity to open additional locations. Often times, multi-location businesses have a cohesive marketing strategy for their brand while allowing each location to host their own events and even their own promotions. But, it is unlikely that each location would have its own website. A single website for all locations is much more common and generally a more efficient and effective option.

In this post, we look at a few ideas and methods for handling multi-location businesses on your dynamic mobile website.

Show Off Your Locations

Use Info Pages

Squareberry's mobile management offers a "Location" page type which allows you to simply show off locations and provide directions etc. But, utilizing the "Info/About" page type allows you to provide more details, links, images, text and more.

On your mobile website, you can create an Info/About page for each location your business has. Each of these pages can feature a phone call button, location, links to social media pages and a general content area where you can add text/images about that specific location.

Use Sub-Menus

If you have a lot of information, photos, videos and more about each location you can utilize sub-menus on your mobile website. Simply add a sub-menu for each location and then add an assortment of pages to each location's sub-menu. This means you can have an Info page, Contact page, Video page etc. for each location. Your mobile website visitors can select the sub-menu of whatever location they are interested in and find a plethora of information and media options about that location.

Events and Promotions

Your upcoming events and coupon promotions are an essential aspect of your marketing. The flexibility of Squareberry's Mobile Management Area allows you to lay them out in a variety of ways. Events and promotions can be featured on your mobile website in a variety of ways.

You can add a Calendar Page for each location featuring only categories of events and promotions relavant to that location. Alternatively, you can use topical calendar pages with certain categories that include events from all locations. This option helps in cross-promoting events from location to location.

The best solution always depends on your business and your customers. Make it easy for people to find your events and promotions while still communicating newly scheduled happenings and cross-promoting your locations.

Make Your Mobile Presence a Helpful Tool for Your Customers

There are so many companies, mobile websites, mobile apps, online tools and resources out there. When you are competing in a cluttered market, you need your presence to stand out as much as possible. Your mobile presence should be a useful resource and tool for your followers and customers.

Provide Helpful and Informative Mobile Content

The easiest way to make your mobile presence a resource is by feeding in useful and relative information. Squareberry offers a "News" page type in the mobile management area that allows you to stream in a Twitter user's tweets or RSS feed. Using this, you can instantly make your mobile website/app a source of valuable news and information.

Instead of one large RSS feed or a single News page, you can break things up into more detailed pages to offer a more comprehensive experience. Start by adding a Sub Menu to your mobile content. You can call it "News", "Resources" or whatever else works for you. Then, add News pages to this sub-menu, each with a different source. For example, if you are a financial consulting company, you can have news pages for Stock Market, Retirement, Investment, Financial News, etc. You can grab a different RSS feed for each of these topics and create a more extensive news sections of your mobile presence.

Quick Mobile Tools

It is easy to add elements to make your mobile website a useful tool. A financial firm can add or link to mobile financial calculators, provide tools for quick quotes etc. A restaurant can have a simple form for placing an order for pick-up.

The more useful your mobile presence is to your customers and followers, the more likely they are to keep coming back and utilizing your mobile presence. This keeps your organization at top of mind. When your organization becomes a useful resource and tool, you are associated with and instantly thought of when the topic, type or need or geographic area is on the mind of the customer.

Making Your Mobile Website a Place to Come Back To

The key word in the title of this article is "back". Like your website, Facebook page and your actual business location, you want people to come BACK. One visit is good, but repeat visits is what you are looking for. Your mobile website needs to be an ever-updating hub of happenings, news and fresh content. Tell people to use it and keep them coming back.

Events and Promotions

For many businesses, special events and coupon promotions are what draw people in. Your mobile website should serve as the ideal location for people to find this information. Create calendar pages on your mobile site to show off your upcoming events and promotions. People, who are out and about, will be drawn in by your happenings.

Mobile News Source

News pages are a great way to keep your mobile website fresh. With Squareberry, you can feed in RSS (such as a blog) or publish your Twitter feed. These options give your mobile website fresh news content without the need to login and update the news page. Your mobile website keeps updated via your existing main news publishing tools.

Keep It Updated

The most important thing to do is keep your mobile website updated with fresh content. Squareberry's calendars will automatically hide past events/promotions, but page content needs to be maintained (if applicable). Don't leave a message about New Year's on your home page until March. Out of date content can turn off potential customers who will think nothing has changed at your business.

If you are a restaurant, keep your current menu updated/available on your mobile website. Squareberry offers an intuitive Menu/Catalog page type which allows you to easily create and update a full menu of items.

Tell People It Is the Place to Come Back To

Signs on your door and/or tables can go a long way. You are probably already featuring Facebook on your collateral, do the same with your mobile website. Tell people they can easily see what's going on, gets news and find promotions on your mobile site. Spreading the word helps get them on your mobile site. Fresh content, news and events/promotions keep them coming back.

Mobile Website Page Type Alternative Uses

Mobile Website Management

For this week's tip, we will take a look at the various page types in the Mobile Management Area of the Squareberry platform. Many of these page types are straightforward, but have alternate uses you may not have thought of previously. Let's take a look.

Mobile Website CMS Page Types

Mobile Menu/Catalog Page

This page type allows you to create a catalog of items or a restaurant menu. But, it could also easily be used to create a staff page. Each staff member could be added as an item and even be organized using the spacers. This is the perfect example of using a page type for an alternative and useful function.

Mobile Website Contact Page

A contact page's function can change by simply changing the name of the page. If you are a restaurant and you make a Contact Page called "Order Now", it instantly becomes an order page. Simply have the contact info be sent to an email inbox that takes orders.

Mobile Calendar Page

This page type shows upcoming events and promotions from the categories you select. But, try making it more specific. You could make a calendar page called "Daily Deals" and have one category called "Daily Promotions". Then you can schedule a single promotion for each day.

Mobile Info Page

The Info page type can also be used as an interesting "Contact" page. While it does not have a contact form, it offers a phone call button, links to social media sites, location features and a content area for adding any text and media you want. This page type can easily be used as your page for providing contact info to mobile site viewers.

Think Outside the Box

Management systems always have specific functions and features. Thinking outside the "standard" use case is a great way to make interesting and effective content. The above examples are just a few ways you can use a mobile website page type for an alternative function.

Mobile Website Sub Menus

Sub-Menus are pretty much what they sound like. Instead of having all your pages on one large menu, you can have lower levels of navigation that allow users to move through your site in organized areas. Sub-Menus on a mobile website can be equated to a drop down on the main menu of a standard website.

Utilizing sub-menus on your mobile site can improve navigation and increase the time people spend on your site. Sub-Menus can be used strategically in a few specific areas. Here are some tips for utilizing sub-menus on your mobile website.

Restaurant Menus and Product Catalogs

This is a great place to use sub-menus. Instead of plopping your entire catalog of items or your entire restaurant menu on one large page, you can use sub-menus to break it up and organize. For instance, a restaurant could make a sub menu with 3 pages: "Breakfast", "Lunch", and "Dinner" - each of which are their own distinct page outlining the food items for that meal. The sub-menu in this situation divides the content in an organized way, so you do not have too much on one page.

A retail store with a plethora of items could implement this same strategy to break up their catalog into departments or types of products. The degree of specificity you take it to is up to you. You could have 4 levels deep of sub-menus to clearly organize everything, or keep it simple with a 2 level structure.

Photo Galleries and Media

You can also organize media on your mobile website with sub-menus. The simplest way to break this up is by media type. For instance on your main menu you have "Media" which opens a sub-menu. This sub-menu then has "Videos", "Photos" and 'Audio Clips". Each of these pages feature media of that certain type.

You can also break your media up more categorically. Let's say you are a non-profit organization who does a variety of activities. You could have a sub-menu called "Media" and a photo gallery on that sub-menu called "Building Projects". In this gallery you feature images of various building projects. You could have more galleries, all featuring images of their own distinct activity type.

Mobile Website Sub-Menus

No two organizations are the same. No two mobile websites are exactly the same. It is important to figure out what works best for your mobile site. Sub-Menus can be very useful, but be sure to not overcomplicate your mobile website or make your navigation so complicated that users get lost.

Catalogs and Restaurant Menus

Yes, Even on Mobile

Don't be fooled. The Mobile Web can be just as feature rich and informative as desktop websites. More and more people are browsing on mobile devices and using their phone as a primary resource for information and search.

Catalogs

Some people may never see your full website. If they find you on their mobile device - that may be it. That could be your only chance to catch their attention or sell to them. Why not have your catalog or featured catalog items right on your mobile site?

For example, if you own a stationary store, you will want to show off the products you offer. Including a catalog of your products on your mobile site is the best way to show off what you have and why someone should visit your location to make a purchase.

Restaurant Menus

Most people searching for a restaurant website online are concerned with a few factors: hours, location, prices and food. (What else do you need to know?) Your mobile site needs to offer all of this information and in a sleek, easy-to-use fashion. You may not need to include every single menu item (though there is nothing stopping you). But, people want to know how much things generally cost and what you offer. Be sure to show the range of your offerings to get interest from as many people as possible.

Also, do not forget about the Phone call buttons. Most mobile users are on phones and including buttons such as "Order Now" or "Call Us" can help encourage people to call your restaurant right then and there. Of course, be sure that someone is there to answer the phone and take the order.