There are so many sites catering to Mobile device interests, it's liekly many of the people this site is intended for are reading elsewhere.  How can the existance of this site reach more folks "in the WinMo business?"

We need to post links to this site wherever we think it's relevant and of interest - Thanks.

The Undude:

How can the existance of this site reach more folks "in the WinMo business?"

Hey, Undude - Thanks for volunteering to be on our publicity team! Haha.

Actually, you raise a great point. I'm sure we all read some of the same blogs/news sites/etc., and a number of them have already linked to us. We also have a strong tie to Windows Mobile Training, where sales reps and other industry people see ads and a link for our site.

One thing that members of the Connection community can do is use the invitation form to send a link to friends and colleagues in the mobile industry - word of mouth is definitely one of the best ways to reach out to the right people. You can actually enter multiple e-mail addresses in the form, separated by semi-colons, and then just send once.

Thanks for the interest - and any other suggestions are welcome! (For example, sites that might be interested in linking to us, etc.)

B 

 What about some of the MS newsletters?  Like the one i received yesterday - "Your Mobile World for May 2008" I was half expecting it to be in there. (Maybe it was in an earlier one and i missed it?). Theres alot of MS newsletters and maybe the site can put into a few of those. 

I'm in the process of redesigning our accessories site (dedicated to WM devices) and on the front page I am putting a blurb about this site for mobile professionals with a link to join.

yrless:

on the front page I am putting a blurb about this site for mobile professionals with a link to join.

Thanks yrless- we appreciate this.

 I just added a mention of this site on the Windows Mobile Facebook page which has 1,825 fans.

 This is my number one forum now.

Biomehanika:

 I just added a mention of this site on the Windows Mobile Facebook page

Thanks Biomehanika - we appreciate this and thanks for a link to the Facebook page.

To the people who are running this site, how has this site been doing - month to month growth?

Hi, Undude - thanks for your recent contributions, and for this question! You're one of the group of contributors that's been with us since day one, and since then, we've been very successful overall. We've been averaging around 200 new registered users every month, not including May, when we had nearly 1000 people register right after our launch. And we've had multiple contributions from at least 100 people in total, which is significantly above average for a forum of this size. Looking at activity from non-registered users, the numbers are pretty impressive: We've had about 36,000 unique visitors since launch day, or about 10,000 unique visitors per month.

But obviously, we want to keep growing the site and seeing more contributions from a wider range of people in the industry. Part of continuing to get the word out will be things like our Windows Mobile merchandise giveaway, which has brought in a good number of new registered users. Referrals from regular visitors are also going to be key - we really do rely on word of mouth for most of our outreach/marketing.

We also are in the process of planning some really unique events on the forum that should attract even more new users. For example, we're working on the details of a live chat session sometime in October, when we'll have a panel of industry insiders available for a few hours to answer questions about Windows Mobile and talk about upcoming hardware and software. Sound interesting?

Please keep the suggestions coming, and thanks again for all your support!

B

Hi Undude, you have some great questions!  Thanks to our moderators for providing some answers.

Another thing I'd like to encourage our members to do is add this site to their favorite Facebook pages, as biomehanika mentioned.  If you go to the Homepage tab, you'll see a Facebook icon in the upper right corner.  Click on that and it will add this site to your favorite pages.

Many of the Windows Mobile oriented sites and forums I visit or participate in have a style and core focus.  If I'm remembering correctly, I think this site was originally created to provide a unique forum for folks working in the mobile retail trade.  Is that still the case?  Is that still the core audience you are aiming to reach? 

If so, then what would help attract that kind of a base/membership?  The key question / challenge of course is providing people a reason to come back to the site regularly.  Some sites provide news, other have extensive help forums. What is the reason to come back to this site that I can't find elsewhere to make it worth adding as a regular stop on my WinMo sitelist? 

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions.

Thanks again for the really great questions, Undude. You're right that many other forums and blogs provide plenty of news, reviews, help, and opinions, and we definitely want to offer something unique that encourages people to choose to visit us as well as those other sites. And certainly, we aren't trying to compete with the well-known and highly respected WM news, opinion, and support sites. You'll see them quoted all over our forum, and that's because those other sources of insight do what they do very well.

There are two things we are trying to offer that make us unique. Number one is exactly what you mention above: Our explicit focus on the interests, needs, and challenges facing people who work in the mobile industry selling or supporting phones - Windows Mobile or otherwise. And that focus means that many of our staff members and forum contributors are highly experienced sales reps, small business or enterprise consultants, or technology and support gurus, and can provide one-of-a-kind insights, information, and advice that anyone who visits the site can take advantage of.

The second big thing that makes us different is our direct connection to Microsoft, and specifically the Windows Mobile product development, marketing, and customer support teams. This forum is operated by Microsoft to enable communication between mobile-industry professionals as well as between industry pros and Microsoft, which means that our members have a direct communication channel into those Windows Mobile teams that make decisions about the product and how it is sold and supported. Facilitating that communication is, in fact, my job, and having that explicit mission for the forum does make us pretty unique, I would say.

There's another reason that direct connection to Windows Mobile makes us special: We can directly call on internal Microsoft experts, OEM contacts and mobile-operator partners for information and support, and we can even offer direct communication with them in the form of members-only chats, webinars, etc. We haven't hosted any of these yet, but we have several sessions on the calendar for the fall and winter.

I hope that helps clarify how we see our mission and our goals. And I also hope it makes it clearer that we created this site as a resource and opportunity for you - to share experiences with other industry professionals, to let Microsoft know what you're thinking and doing, and to hear first-hand what Microsoft is thinking and doing, too.

The bottom line: To be unique, we need our members to keep coming back to share their unique experiences and opinions. That's the only way we can be the one-of-a-kind destination we want to be.