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By Taylor Hawes, Marketing Director
There’s no fighting the fact that mobile internet usage is a trend that’s here to stay. As such, offering your website’s information in a format that’s easily digestible by mobile consumers is no longer a luxury – it’s a “must have” for any company that’s serious about courting the growing number of smartphone and tablet users who rely on their mobile devices for internet access.
With this in mind, the following are a few specific mobile web usage trends your business needs to be aware of, as well as the recommended actions you’ll want to take in order to maximize your own company’s mobile presence:
TREND: “Mobile to overtake fixed Internet access by 2014” (Smart Insights Marketing)
If you’ve ever set foot into a coffee shop or restaurant and seen more than half the establishment’s patrons bent over their smartphones, it isn’t difficult to imagine mobile internet usage overtaking desktop access in the near future.
However, as a website owner, this statistic shouldn’t just surprise you – it should spur you to action. If 50% or more of all internet activity is occurring on digital devices, then your website needs to be accessible to these users. Mobile marketing research suggests that website without mobile-optimized versions frustrate users, which it’s why important for all businesses to make mobile website versions a priority in their upcoming marketing plans.
Fortunately, you have several different options for creating a mobile website version that don’t involve hiring an expensive developer or custom-coding your own new site. If your website runs on WordPress, you can install free plugins like WPTouch or you can work with a responsive theme that automatically adjusts to fit your viewers’ mobile browsers.
Alternatively, you can take a look at GoMobi – a mobile site creation tool offered to HostGator customers. With GoMobi, developing a mobile-optimized website version is as simple as clicking a few mouse clicks and selecting the aesthetic elements that’ll best complement your existing brand. It’s an easy-to-use solution to the issue of mobile website development and even offers advanced features such as click-to-call and ecommerce integration.
TREND: “4 out of 5 consumers use their smartphones to shop” (comScore)
Since our mobile phones and tablets appear to be glued to our hips, it’s only natural to imagine that these tools would play a role in the buying process – whether in terms of product research or the actual completion of mobile-based sales.
In fact, the data is quite clear on this point. Consumers are using their smartphones to shop, and they’re doing so in greater numbers than ever before.
As a result, your business needs to be prepared. In an ideal world, every website that sells products would offer a fully-functional, mobile-optimized site version that allowed consumers to browse, research and purchase products – all from the comfort of their digital devices.
This type of setup is possible using tools like GoMobi, but the ability to buy via smartphone isn’t the only thing you should be concerned with as a business owner. As you develop your own mobile shopping environment, pay particular attention to your website’s usability. Even though you’re working with a much smaller amount of screen real estate, it’s still imperative that mobile visitors be able to easily access a product’s features, images and past reviews in order to facilitate these device-based purchases.
TREND: “60% of mobile users prefer to read news via mobile browser vs. app” (Pew Research Center)
One final question most website owners have when it comes to mobile development is whether to release their content via mobile-optimized website version or standalone app. Here again, the data is compelling.
The majority of readers prefer to read and digest content from their mobile browsers – rather than in company-released apps. Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t offer your readers an app, as there are certainly situations in which offering both of these tools will benefit your company’s bottom line.
What it does mean, though, is that mobile website version development should be your first priority when it comes to courting this generation of internet users. First, make your website easy to access via mobile device browsers – whether through the use of platforms like GoMobi or other types of responsive design. Only after this crucial first step is completed should you look into standalone app development.
The bottom line is this: you can’t hide your head in the sand when it comes to mobile website optimization. Research conducted on mobile internet usage trends make it clear that this type of internet access is here to stay and will only continue to grow in the future. By taking the time to implement these recommendations now, you’ll prevent your business from losing online traffic and sales, both from those consumers who are already using their smartphones to access the web and those who will be coming in the future.
(This article originally appeared in Gator Crossing, The Official HostGator Blog.)
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A Mobile Strategy is a Sales No-Brainer
With smartphone use soaring, mobile marketing offers an almost guaranteed way for small business owners to attract more customers—and more sales. In the Small Business Mobile Survey released in May 2012, 69 percent of small businesses say they believe mobile marketing will be critical to their growth over the next five years.
But as every busy business owner will admit, knowing that something is important and actually acting on it are two different things. For example, only 60 percent of small businesses that responded to the survey say they have websites. Of that 60 percent, just 26 percent have a mobile-friendly website (which is optimized for a smartphone screen), and a paltry 14 percent have a stand-alone mobile website.
Seeing a Mobile Bump
If you need further convincing of the benefits that going mobile can bring, consider this: A whopping 84 percent of the small-business owners with stand-alone mobile sites say they have seen an increase in new business activity as a result of their mobile marketing strategies. I don’t know about you, but 84 percent is close enough to “all” to persuade us that mobile marketing is pretty much a guaranteed way to increase your sales.
(The information above is condensed from http://www.openforum.com/articles/a-mobile-strategy-is-a-sales-no-brainer May 29, 2012.)
The amount of time and money people are spending on mobile devices is growing rapidly, yet many businesses don’t have a website optimized for mobile—and it’s costing them.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Mobile traffic currently makes up 10 percent of global Internet traffic, and next year more people will use mobile phones than PCs to get online, according to Gartner. Purchases made on mobile devices amounted to $6.7 billion in the U.S. last year—about 8 percent of total online sales—and are expected to nearly double to $11.6 billion this year. By 2015, U.S. mobile sales are forecast to reach $31 billion.
Despite this trend, many businesses have not optimized their websites for mobile, frustrating visitors with tricky navigation and slow loading times.
A recent Google survey underlines the damage you might also be doing to your brand by not having your site optimized for mobile.
Inside the Minds of Mobile Shoppers
The survey, which tallied responses from 1,088 U.S. adult smartphone owners, found that:
- Mobile sites lead to mobile purchases. This is a no-brainer. Shoppers are more likely to buy a product or service if your site is optimized for mobile. Three-fourths of survey participants say they are more likely to return to a site in the future if the experience on mobile is good.
- If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, shoppers will go elsewhere. If shoppers can’t find what they’re looking for on your standard website, they’ll seek out a competitor’s mobile-friendly site instead of switching to a PC to revisit yours.
- A bad mobile experience can damage a company’s brand. A bad mobile experience can create bad feelings about your company. Nearly half of the survey participants say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they happen across a site that’s not mobile-friendly, and that it makes them feel like a company doesn’t care about their business. More than half admit that a poor mobile experience makes them less likely to engage with a company in the future.
(The information above is condensed from http://www.openforum.com/articles/take-your-site-mobile October 5, 2012.)
Create a Mobile Website with goMobi
goMobi is a service that makes your business easily available to mobile users with a fast and easy mobile website. Millions of people are now using their mobile phones to surf the Internet and look for information and services. goMobi ensures customers can easily find your business anywhere, anytime. Thanks to its intuitive and easy-to-use interface, your customers get immediate access on their mobile phone to all the key information about your business and are able contact you with just one click or touch.
See a goMobi Site in Action
Why goMobi?
goMobi helps you address the rapidly growing number of mobile web users, and provides you with an easy and welcoming way to grow your business. goMobi is the perfect solution for any business looking to capture more business from mobile users: it is easy to set up and maintain, helps you increase your business’ visibility and maximizes every lead.
Find out what successful companies are doing and why they think mobile is important.
- Lessons from a Decade on the Mobile Web
Amy Gales, Mobile Marketing Manager, AutoTrader Mobile - Want to engage young people? Think Mobile Web
Christian Louca, Global Managing Director, YOC Performance - Why HTML5 Changes Everything
Dimitrios Kontarinis, Vice President of Innovation, Velti - What comes first - mobile web or mobile app?
Ilicco Elia, Head of Mobile, LBi - Five Top Tips for a Great Mobile Website
Phillip Clement, Sales and Marketing Director, Bemoko - Mobile’s Role in the Advertising World
Russ Lidstone, CEO, Euro RSCG London
For more information view our Insights into the Mobile Web YouTube playlist, or to order, visit http://gtr.bz/gLrYw today! Already have goMobi? View our goMobi video tutorials playlist on YouTube.
