Search Engine Positioning

WAP Search Engines and how to Wap your website for mobile users

Posted on | March 12, 2008 | No Comments

You could call them the “handheld generation”… consumers who, for the first time, can get information on the fly. With the help of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology, today’s consumers can beam the Internet onto their cell phones and mobile devices wherever they are – in their cars, at the gym, at the mall, almost anywhere.

And this opens up a whole new world of marketing opportunities for online businesses. Are you taking advantage?

So far, it’s mainly larger companies dealing in information or services that have these special WAP websites for mobile users. They have recognized the great potential of selling to busy people on the move. But this market niche is an opportunity almost anyone can tap into, if you move before the crowd.

What’s a WAP Website?

WAP websites are not the same as the sites you view on your PC or laptop. They are built using WML (text only) or XHTML (text and images), languages specifically meant for sites that will be viewed on small devices with low memory and narrow bandwidth.

More and more people are turning to their WAP-enabled cell phones and other mobile devices to access information like weather forecasts, movie reviews, dinner reservations, sports scores, stock market news. Even comparison shopping.

WAP websites are not the norm – yet. Spend a few moments perusing the Yahoo! Mobile Web Directory and you’ll see some pretty sparse categories. But industry watchers predict that the number of Wireless Application Protocol sites will expand rapidly. And so will the WAP search engines that list them. Getting into that loop is the next frontier for many online businesses eyeing the mobile market.

WAP Search Engines

As you might expect, Google anticipated this trend and has come up with a user-friendly solution. Its mobile web search allows cell phone searchers to use Google much the same way they would on their home computers. They conduct a search through their cell phone browser, and Google automatically converts and displays all search results, even ordinary, non-WML sites, in a mobile-friendly format: 

“To ensure that the highest quality and most usable web page is displayed on your mobile phone or device, Google
may resize,adjust, or convert images, text formatting and/or certain aspects of web page functionality.”
-Google.com                                                     

Naturally, you can expect this automatic conversion to sometimes deliver less than ideal results. So a specially-designed WAP site where you control the look and the layout is probably still the best solution for serious businesses that want to reach out to the handheld generation.

The Un-Google Alternatives

Here are a few of the other WAP / Wireless Application Protocol search engines and directories:

Well, you get the point… the competition is heating up and more is on the way as search engines and online businesses recognize the windfall that mobile search is about to become.

Mobile Local Search

For companies doing business in their own region, mobile local search will be of great interest. Google and Yahoo! are two of the main providers at the moment, but you can hear the stampede of new contenders approaching.

In an interview in CNET News.com, Stephen Baker of Fast Search & Transfer (an enterprise search company) said, “The next killer app on the phone is going to be local search.”

Local search allows mobile users to find out about stores and services in their area. They enter WHAT they seek (sushi), and WHERE they’re seeking it (Austin, TX). Both Google and Yahoo! Local Search provide the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the businesses listed, as well as a map. It’s kind of like a mobile, automated yellowpages that’s at your fingertips whenever you want it. So, if you thought being in the boring old manual yellowpages was useful, imagine what this could do for your business!

WAP Web Builder Notes

For those who want to make a WAP /  Wireless Application Protocol version of their website but have never coded WML before, here are some free online tutorials:

If you don’t have a WAP-enabled cell phone to view your site on, there are even online simulators that let you see how your creation (or your existing site) will look on the mobile screen. These ones are free:

 

Summary

If you sell a product or service that could be useful to busy people on the move, mobile search is an  emerging opportunity worth learning about and incorporating into your marketing plans. The technology hasn’t totally caught up with the full potential of mobile search, so you have some time to contemplate it… but not much. Investing in a WAP website now will help prepare you for the inevitable rush that’s coming.

Category: Expanding Search Engines, Market

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