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Dictionary.com sees exponential growth in mobile

Dictionary.com saw more than 30 million app downloads as of April and engagment levels on mobile are nearly three times more than online.

The company extended their business from online to mobile with the help of Google and AdMob. In addition to its strong growth in apps, Dictionary.com also saw mobile traffic grow four times faster than online.

"Over the past couple of years, Dictionary.com has gone from an online guide to more of an everyday tool," said Shravan Goli, president of Dictionary.com, San Francisco.

Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/ is an online and mobile dictionary.

Wordy Web
After launching a mobile site in 2007, Dictionary.com added iPhone, Android, Blackberry and iPad apps.

"Our goal is to extend our learning products on mobile platforms," Mr. Goli said.

"Dictionary.com is not just an online dictionary and thesaurus; we also have educational tools like flash cards and spanish dictionaries," he said.

"On a mobile perspective, we want to see the Dictionary.com brand as a cross-platform place for educational content."

With more than 30 million downloads, Dictionary.com claims that the app is the world?s most downloaded dictionary app.

The company currently gets nine million unique visitors on its mobile Web site each month.

Successful mobile
Once Dictionary.com realized that they had a substantial number of mobile users, they started working with Google?s Adsense for Mobile Content and was able to start generating traffic.

Dictionary.com said that similar to the Web, they believe that both sales and ad networks will co-exist and complement each other as ad inventory scales.

Additionally, the compnay saw that it takes more than just transporting desktop content to mobile platforms to mobile ? it is also important to keep the same interface and theory of the brand when thinking about mobile.

Dictionary.com is known for having a clean, simple design, so the company knew they had to include it on the Dictionary.com mobile platform as well.

In addition, Dictionary.com saw that its users came to the site for a quick bit of information that they think of in a precise moment. Therefore, they added features like voice-to-text, which lets users say a word and prompts the app to find the definition.

According to the company, knowing their user was key to developing a relatable, practical app.

To do so, Dictionary.com pays close attention to user reviews and gives user feedback in the app.

The company also believes that by creating a strong online brand, Dictionary.com is able to stand out in the app marketplace.

When thinking about mobile, Dictionary.com offers three takeaway points: stay flexible, be willing to experiment and pay close attention to user feedback.

"Going forward, we will continue to see mobile as a big part of our digital strategy, but the focus will be more on offering more educational and learning products," Mr. Goli said.