So, I was a little surprised to see this advert for #tweetsgiving on my mobile.

What is tweetsgiving?

For now, let's ignore the perils of assuming that your country is the entire market place. It's a common problem which, sadly, is prevalent in the USA. I clicked on the banner like a good consumer - hoping I'd find out what #tweetsgiving was.

Unavailable

I've talked before about having your service ready for the floods of people who are going to visit. You only get one chance to make a first impression - this first impression says "We're broken". Would you trust this site with your money? With your time? Would you click on the same banner again?

Well, I'm, a fool. I waited a few hours. Teething problems, I reckoned. Later on in the day - when I saw the same banner - I clicked.

Oh Dear

I was greeted by an unfriendly error page.

Third time's the charm. In my pursuit of finding the worst Mobile Badvertising out there - for you, dear reader - I clicked. Once more unto the breach...

That's It?

So this is what the advertising campaign is for? A block of text. No images. Nothing to convince me that it's genuine. No details about the charity - if it is a charity - or the projects in Tanzania. And - were I charitably minded enough to pay - no method of payment for those outside the USA.

How To Fix This

• Friendly error pages.  Things break, that's a fact of life - but when they do, ensure that they fail gracefully.  Make sure that your error pages are still useful to your prospective customers.
• If your site is broken - or under severe strain - withdraw the advert until you are sure you can satisfy demand.
• If your offer is limited by region - try to ensure that it is never seen outside that region.
• Given that the Internet is international - offer alternative ways for foreign customers to pay you.
• Make your site attractive.  You don't need to go overboard, but a few images, links to other sites or pages, downloadable content, will attract more customers that plain prose.
• If you're asking for money for a charity - show your potential donors that you are genuine.  In this case a link to the charity's site would have helped.  In the UK, all charities have to be registered - I don't know if the USA does something similar.

While I'm sure that the aims are laudable, this is truly a perfect example of Mobile Badvertising.  The site doesn't work and, when it does, you wish that you hadn't bothered.  What a waste.

Bootnote

There is one good thing about this Badvertising. The link to Quattro Wireless does go to their mobile page and not to some Flash-ridden abomination.

Quattro Wireless's mobile page