Thoughts on Newspaper Mobile Websites...

I've put together some ideas on what features would be beneficial for our newspapers' mobile websites. Please add any additional features/thoughts/comments below.

Newspaper Mobile Website Features:

• Weather Updates by Zip Code (also a great way to gather geographical
information for mobile ad targeting)
• Link to Breaking News Feed “Top Headlines” with short teaser on Main Page.
• Articles should have the option to leave comments/feedback from registered
users. “Registered” users would have to indicate age, location, and gender. Once
we gather a large enough database of “registered” users, we can begin offering a
more accurate targeted advertising option for the mobile site.
• Main Page should have links to Entertainment Page, Blog Page, Sports Page,
Contests, etc. with teaser of 20-25 characters from most popular/recent post in
each category.
• Needs option to sign up for text alerts on local breaking news stories, ideally
delivered by zip code/region relevant to individual users (default to link to userentered
zip code or automatic location updates when GPS is enabled).
• Local/National Sports Scores
• Ideally, the site main page should have the option to be customized to individual
registered users (would also like to work on this option for main sites) to act as a
sort of mobile home page, featuring teasers and quick links to the information
that is relevant to each user.
• Also needs to include the option to view the full site as well. I’ve been on a few
mobile websites that include limited access and do not offer the option to view
the main site (yes, I’m talking about you Chase.com).

Revenue Opportunities:

Based on the Smartphone user demographics, we could market
the new mobile advertising opportunity as a semi-targeted campaign that can reach our
higher income, higher educated, young “executive” readers (I’d also like to look into
options for more accurate targeting through user registration).
Since many Smartphones still don’t have the capability to view flash, we would need to
review the types of ads served through the mobile site and determine whether it could
be incorporated into the impressions sold through current banner ad packages or if it
would have to be sold separately. We’d also need to consider how this may affect the
products that we currently sell as 100% Share of Voice (ie. Sponsorships,
Pencil/Billboard ads, etc.), since our mobile readers would not be able to view those
ads.
It also might be beneficial to sell the mobile site advertising on a pay-per-click basis
rather than by impressions since the ads themselves will be smaller, simpler and
consequently less effective on the “branding” side.