Increasing Your Mobile Footprint: Why You Are Already Behind

By Jenna Scaglione on December 8, 2011 in Internet Marketing

Technology has come a long way from the ancient beeper and the phones that required fancy fingers and an hour of extra time just to send a text.

Fast forward to 2011 and mobile smartphones are taking over the planet. People are using their mobile devices for everything from finding a restaurant review and checking in when they arrive to posting on Facebook and listening to the hottest music.

Microsoft Tag released a 2011 study which detailed the massive growth of mobile phone usage.

Here are some interesting stats:

Smartphones make up 1 billion of the over 4 billion mobile phones in use in the world
Over 50% of local searches are performed on a mobile device
Nearly 86% of mobile users access their devices while watching television
Over 200 million access Facebook on their mobile phones
By 2014, mobile internet should take over desktop internet usage.

The takeaway? Mobile technology has already skyrocketed in popularity and will continue to do so in the coming years. As marketers, if you haven’t taken advantage of the technology, there is no better time than the present.

Mobile Technology Marketing

Mobile Tagging

Mobile tagging has become very popular in recent years, more so since the introduction of QR codes into the market. QR codes were first released in Japan where they are used quite liberally on all types of media from billboards and fliers to TV commercials and product displays. If your business has a physical location, QR Codes can greatly enhance your marketing campaign. For more information on QR Codes, check out this article: 3 Reasons You Should be Using QR Codes to Promote Your Business.

Mcommerce

Mobile commerce is a current hot topic this time of year due to the increase in gift sales. According to the Experian Simmons 2011 Mobile Consumer Report, over 33 million U.S. mobile phone users access the technology for shopping related activities and 2.3 million have purchased goods from their mobile devices.

Mobile Website Optimization

Regardless of whether you are selling products and services online or managing a physical location, your website should be readable to a mobile audience. A 4 inch screen will seriously minimize your website’s influence if it is not optimized for mobile viewing.

Below are some tips for optimizing your website for mobile devices:

Less is More

When your website shrinks to fit the size of a mobile screen, the visible content shrinks as well. When re-designing a mobile site, pay close attention to the main features and products and focus on displaying those by removing all of the filler content.

No Duplicates

It can be tempting to want to include as much information on your mobile site as possible, but unnecessary clutter only dampens the user experience. Start by removing redundant images and content to keep it simple. If you are an online marketer, focus your mobile site on how you want to convert visitors, whether an opt-in, ebook sale or Twitter follow. Ecommerce stores would benefit by removing long product descriptions and additional images under products and focusing on short, brief content, just enough to land the sale.

Fast Load Time

Stay lightweight. Load time is as much an issue with mobile technology as it is with desktop browsing. Avoid the dreaded abandoned site and optimize your mobile site by removing flash and excess images. This will speed up your load time.

Browser

Before you launch your mobile site, verify that it loads correctly in different browsers.

With the popularity of smartphones and mobile devices climbing at an exponential rate, you can’t afford to wait any longer. Take advantage of the present wave and optimize your business for your mobile audience.

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Jenna Scaglione (93 Posts)

Jenna Scaglione is a content writer, internet marketer, and a lover of family, friends and life. Jenna enjoys learning, growing and discovering the newest and latest trends on the internet. Known as "Lady Content", she lives in sunny Socal where she helps her clients around the world increase brand awareness on the internet through content writing and social media.