Have optimized Joomla site- Do I need .mobi name?

[Nirmalanow]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum. I just used osmobi.com to optimize my Joomla based website (endless-satsang.com) for mobile users. I am using their free service so that visitors on a mobile device see my site optimized for mobile screens. However, they offer a premium service (for $45 a month) that would allow me to use a .mobi url.

My questions are:

Can I just register a .mobi domain name and then redirect people to my normal .com domain? They would still end up seeing the site optimized for mobile viewing.

Would this .mobi domain name be indexed or recognized by google if it is just used to redirect people?

I guess I am not clear how simply having a .mobi extension benefits me if it is still the same website with an autodetect feature that reconfigures the website for mobile users.

Perhaps the premium version of osmobi means that google sees my .mobi site as a completely different site than my.com site. How much difference does that make in searches made on mobile devices?

Thanks for any input for a complete newbie.

[coast]

Hi Nirmalanow,

Welcome to mobility!

If you have a .mobi domain name, you can have a mobile version of your site made for free for the first year using instant mobilizer if you have your .mobi registered with GoDaddy or Moniker. They haven't announced prices for what happens after the free year, but I would be shocked if it was anywhere near what you're being charged.

Here's an example of how the site would look:

Non mobile site http://valleyoflife.com (not my site)
mobile site with instant mobilizer http://valleyoflife.mobi

You don't have access to your stats with instant mobilizer, but the mobilized site will have a link to your desktop site, and you'll see the traffic from that link in your stats program on the .com.

Here's how the .mobi looks to google: http://www.google.com/search?q=valle...ient=firefox-a


Hope that helps.

[Nirmalanow]

Hi Coast,

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I have registered a .mobi domain with godaddy and my new .mobi site should be up in about 24 hours: nirmala.mobi

I am going to also keep the free osmobi.com service for people who browse to my main site's address on their mobile device. I think the conversion looks better using osmobi than using instant mobilizer because osmobi allows me to customize the look a bit.

Is there any way to do this with instant mobilizer? i.e. can I remove certain elements from my .mobi site that do not display well in the instant mobilizer view of my site?

Thanks again!

[Annelies Maesen]

Hey Nirmalanow,

If you use the OSMOBI free version, visitors that go to your usual URL (endless-satsang[dot]com) will be redirected to the appropriate mobile version. The mobile version is available at www[dot]osmobi[dot]com/DSTWAR/...

Of course, if you (manually) install a .mobi-domain (e.g. www[dot]endless-satsang[dot]mobi) that redirects towards your .com domain, mobile users that visit www[dot]endless-satsang[dot]mobi end up on the mobile site as well.

The advantage of the premium version is twofold:
1/ it is much easier to set up the redirect from a different domain.
2/ the mobile version will be available at an URL that starts with www[dot]endless-satsang[dot]mobi/ … This might be important for users of e.g. iPhone, where the URL stays visible while looking at the site. They see an URL that is familiar to them.

For OSMOBI, some users choose to install a .mobi domain, but we also have users that choose to use for instance an alternative, such as m[dot]endless-satsang[dot]com.

The advantage of OSMOBI on instant mobilizers is - as you already mention - that it offers a number of editing possibilities: changing colors, fonts, content, navigation, etc. OSMOBI is free of charge, under certain limitations (s.a. 500Mb data traffic per 24h).

As for the stats: OSMOBI basic usage statistics in the tool, and offers an integration with Google Analytics, which allows you to clearly track the mobile users.
Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to ask further questions if there are any!

Kind Regards,
Annelies

Sorry for all the [dot]s, I could not post with URLs in the message!

[Nirmalanow]

Thanks Annelies,

I do like the look of the osmobi version better and so I will keep the free version for visitors to the endless-satsang.com url.

I also wanted a .mobi site that would be indexed and searched by mobile search engines. And it seems that using instant mobilizer on my godaddy account will accomplish that.

I am still not clear if just redirecting the .mobi address to my endless-satsang.com url will get me indexed and searched by mobile search engines. Does anyone know if a simple redirect from a .mobi domain to a.com domain will get me into the search engines that search .mobi sites, or do I need to continue to use instant mobilizer to have the site appear as an independent .mobi site to the search engines?

As for the premium version of osmobi, it would be an elegant all in one solution, but the price is just too high. We are a small non-profit religious organization. The godaddy approach costs $15 year (discounted to $8 the first year) versus $45 month for osmobi premium.

Thanks again!

[noonoo1]

I'm having a nightmare errors with osmobi.

[Nirmalanow]

I also had some problems after editing my site heavily (in part because I was learning how to edit). It messed up the way my site appeared on destop browsers.

I ended up un-installing the osmobi template and plug-in and then re-installing them but then doing less editing to my site and now everything seems to be working fine.

It is new and should improve as time goes on.

[noonoo1]

The OSMOBI client module is not reachable on the given URL, please make sure you have installed and enabled the module on your website.

For the millionth time

[Nirmalanow]

Please don't take offense, but are you sure you enabled the osmobi plug-in on the plug-in manager on Joomla? I did not do this at first and it gave me that same message.

If you have tried a lot, you probably already figured that part out.

[newton]

$45 A MONTH!! Damn lol Why not just get yourself a redirect script for free or if using wordpress go with the wptap iphone plugins ($50 +/- to own with free upgrades for lots of templates + plugin) or the wordpress mobile plugin (free)

[coast]

I know of mobile redirect plugins for Wordpress and Drupal but not Joomla. However, now I am recalling that Gerry has made almost every .mobi he has in Joomla. If you use a table-less version of Joomla, it shouldn't be too difficult. Do a search for Gerry and look at his sites, here is the first that comes to mind:

http://iCPR.mobi

[newton]

http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=428&t=455483
http://www.nearsoft.com/blog/mobileb...es-mobile.html
http://mobilecommercetools.com/joomla-mobile.php
http://www.jfoobar.org/blog/330-joomla-goes-iphone.html

just a few i found which might help

[noonoo1]

Please don't take offense, but are you sure you enabled the osmobi plug-in on the plug-in manager on Joomla? I did not do this at first and it gave me that same message.

If you have tried a lot, you probably already figured that part out.

Yes, plenty of times, i believe the error is a Java issue, Annalise says its to do with;

"Java 1.", // definitely a spammer
"Java/1.", // definitely a spammer

[Nirmalanow]

I can easily set my domain settings on Godaddy to forward the traffic coming to my .mobi domain to go to my .com site instead, which will then appear properly on a mobile device thanks to the free version of Osmobi.com.

My question still is whether forwarding the .mobi address to my endless-satsang.com url will get me indexed and searched by mobile search engines. Does anyone know if a simple forwarding from a .mobi domain to a.com domain will get me into the search engines that search .mobi sites, or do I need to continue to use instant mobilizer to have the site appear as an indexed .mobi site to the search engines?

This is assuming that if I use instant mobilizer that my .mobi domain will show up on searches. I hope that is correct.

[acc]

.... My question still is whether forwarding the .mobi address to my endless-satsang.com url will get me indexed and searched by mobile search engines. Does anyone know if a simple forwarding from a .mobi domain to a.com domain will get me into the search engines that search .mobi sites, or do I need to continue to use instant mobilizer to have the site appear as an indexed .mobi site to the search engines?

This is assuming that if I use instant mobilizer that my .mobi domain will show up on searches. I hope that is correct.

Why would - how could - why should - search engines index NON-existent pages for an unpopulated/unserved domain name? A domain name without an internet presence but meerly used as a pointer to another URL deserves no "indexing", whether mobi or any other extension. If the .com site is that important and you plan on building it out, for the sake of about $10 per year it is foolish (IMHO) not to put up a mobile site on a sister .mobi name and then include links from it back to your .com site. (BTW, even if the hyphenated .com address' term is near and dear to your heart, at this point it is still also possible to acquire keyword phrase names for low reseller prices and even reg fee depending on the terms.)

Keep in mind that every additional website is another doorway on the web to your message/products/services. Include unique, relevant content on that .mobi site and it too will bring you visitors. And the mobile search engines will dive right in. As some have stated before, because of the newness and lack of competition in the .mobi namespace and mobile web at the moment it is easy for a mobile site to get noticed. Take advantage of that opening.

Best of luck.

[Nirmalanow]

Thanks acc. That is what I thought...that forwarding would not be indexed by the mobile search engines. It is my understanding however that a site that is converted by instant mobilizer will appear to be a different site to the search engines and therefore will be indexed separately from my .com site. Does anyone know if that is true?

One of the advantages of a joomla site is the ability to create different versions of one site using the same content but different templates, so you do not have to update more than one version of your content to have a desktop and mobile version.

I realize that both Osmobi and instant mobilizer are halfway measures, but at least it is a start at making my site and its content more accessible to mobile users. And the Osmobi software does a pretty good job of creating a very nice mobile version of my .com site (endless-satsang.com), again because of the flexibility of Joomla. I wish it did not cost so much for the premium version so that all potential visitors would see that nicer version. But for now I am saving money and hoping the Instant Mobilizer version works well enough and is indexed by mobile search engines. Again, does anyone know for sure if that is so?

[coast]

To repeat,

Here's how the .mobi looks to google: http://www.google.com/search?q=valle...ient=firefox-a

Google shows results both for the .com and the mobilized .mobi.

[Nirmalanow]

To repeat,

Google shows results both for the .com and the mobilized .mobi.

Thanks, I just wanted to be sure.

[benflippin]

a mobile joomla site is WAY to easy ...dont pay 45per month...thats crazy...

[Nirmalanow]

I will not pay $45 a month. Fortunately for now I can use the free osmobi and so far I have not exceeded the limits for free users. And if I am also using Instant Mobilizer, then maybe I will stay under the limits for a longer time.

[Nirmalanow]

To repeat,

Google shows results both for the .com and the mobilized .mobi.

Do you know how long it takes for a .mobi site to show up on Google? I submitted my .mobi site created using Instant Mobilizer to Google 2 weeks ago, and also added links to it to my exisiting .com site (that have already shown up in cached versions of my existing site). But when I search using "site:.mobi nirmala" or just plain "nirmala.mobi", I do not see my new .mobi site in the search results on Google. This thread shows up, but not my new mobilized site!

Is it possible there is some problem because of the duplicate content with my .com site? Would Google have ignored the new .mobi site because it is identical in content to my .com site? That did not seem to stop google from indexing the valleyoflife.mobi site you mentioned.

Any perspectives would be appreciated.

[Accent]

I change a few words and have had little or no problem with duplicate content - one of my sites is 85% from Wikipedia (attributed) and gets thousands of hits/month. It is easy to rewrite it a little.

[coast]

Is it possible there is some problem because of the duplicate content with my .com site? Would Google have ignored the new .mobi site because it is identical in content to my .com site? That did not seem to stop google from indexing the valleyoflife.mobi site you mentioned.

Any perspectives would be appreciated.

A few years back, Matt Cutts (Google demigod) wrote on his blog that Google doesn't penalize duplicate content if the content is on different TLD's. I don't know if that is still the case or not, but it seems to still be the case.

[Nirmalanow]

I change a few words and have had little or no problem with duplicate content - one of my sites is 85% from Wikipedia (attributed) and gets thousands of hits/month. It is easy to rewrite it a little.

I cant really change wording using Instant Mobilizer, so I hope that Coast is right about duplicate content. I just wonder how long it will take before Google has indexed my nirmala.mobi site, since the reason I got the domain and used Instant Mobilizer was so that my site would be included in mobile web searches.

[Nirmalanow]

Well now I know. My site just showed up on Google when I searched "site:.mobi nirmala"
So I am good to go!

Thanks again for all of the suggestions and help!

[Mobistro]

I have a website Mobistro and its mobile version is the sub-domain, as with advent of mobile technologies and mobile application it is fruitful from business point to have mobile version of your website or having .mobi website is entirely different site and is good to increase traffic that you get from mobile device like iphones, blackberry, android, nokia.

Did you know that there are almost 3 billion mobile phones in use worldwide? Traffic from browser-based mobile devices (aka Smart Phones) is approaching 10%. With a myriad of mobile-based browsers catering to iPhones, Blackberries, Google-phones (Androids), Nokias and a host of others, mobile-based development is complex and expensive.
Mobistro offers restaurant owners mobile version of their restaurants that really very effective as most user search for restaurants on their mobile.