In this economy everyone is looking to increase revenue. Here's how according to mobile analytics and billing company Bango.

The Cambridge, England- and New York-based company has released tips and advice for mobile content providers on how to increase mobile revenues by 6 percent.

"Payout rates for mobile content are on the increase in most countries but particularly so in Britain where they approach credit card levels," said Anil Malhotra, senior vice president of marketing and alliances of Bango.

To ensure maximum return, Bango said to look beyond the headlines.

The headline payout rate is the best rate that is available in the market but it doesn't take into account other costs -- chargebacks, transaction fees and other hidden costs.

A place to start is the provider's pedigree in mobile Web billing.

Ask how many existing clients already use WAP billing and enquire what type of billing relationships the provider has with wireless carriers. Then closely examine the billing flow -- from the customer's point of view.

It is also important to consider speed of processing and connection reliability. There is a direct relationship between incomplete payments and how long it takes the billing platform to establish the connection and process the billing.

Bango says in most cases this should take no more than a few seconds.

A fast track payment flow, showing only the screens that are needed for compliance with local standards, means more people pay.

Also consider automatic identification of user and available payment methods.

Some service providers still ask for the user to enter their phone number, handset type or country.

Unnecessary user interaction means unnecessary payment failures. A sophisticated platform will automatically profile all user characteristics needed to process a payment, with the user needing to do nothing more than confirm the payment.

Service uptime and system resilience is also important. Content providers should ensure the billing platform provides independent uptime data.

Consumers who cannot pay on their mobile phone bills are offered alternative payment methods. This can lead to an increase of up to 10 percent more payments on some networks.

It is also important to check for hidden costs such as fixed transaction fees buried in the small print.

"Just as a bank may not always pass on interest rate improvements then make sure your billing provider does," Mr. Malhotra said. "Companies are starting to wise up to the true costs, especially those that do large volumes of transactions as they see the hidden costs affect the bottom line.

"The risk of not addressing it is potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, depending on the size of the business," he said.