It’s official. We’re in a post desktop world.
(Gawkwire) – It’s official. We’re in a post desktop world. With many of the internet giants including Facebook and Twitter recently releasing figures pointing to the staggering amount of traffic coming through mobile devices, it’s safe to say the future is here. Soon the world will be predominantly browsing on non-desktop devices, be they tablets, games consoles, eReaders or smartphones. One thing is certain, there is no going back to just ticking the box for your desktop website. Having a mobile optimized site is no longer an optional extra. If your customers have a poor experience accessing your business on mobile, or worse still, can’t access it at all, they are going elsewhere. And you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.
If you’re a small to medium sized business, there are a thousand other things competing for your time, attention, and hard earned cash. So how do you get up and running on mobile with a minimum of fuss and bother? What’s really important on mobile and how do you pull it all together? At dotMobi we are exclusively focused on solving these challenges and on getting small to medium a great mobile site at a great price. That’s why we created goMobi.
4 ThingsSmall to Medium Business Needs to do to get mobile right
- Build it Now
Don’t wait any longer. Not having a mobile site is literally like closing down your business one day out of every week. So said Google back in late 2010 based on an estimate that 15% of all web traffic was mobile originated. Fast forward to today and that figure could be closer to 30% in some markets. That’s the equivalent of 2 days out of every week. And if you’re not present on mobile, or you have a crummy desktop experience, your customers will simply end up at your competitors’ mobile ready storefront.
These days, many solutions offer easy to use editors (What You See Is What You Get or WYSIWYG editors) and technology that automatically converts desktop sites to mobile (transcoders) so you can publish a mobile website in just minutes. Our award winning goMobi solution does offer top drawer transcoding and WYSIWYG editing features to get you up and running straight away, but we recommend that you don’t stop there. Pulling content direct from your existing desktop site can get you started on mobile quickly, but the medium offers so much more potential than just being a cut down version of your desktop content.
- Think about Mobile. And local.
Go beyond publishing just a mobile version of your desktop site. Make your mobile site useful to customers on the go with features that are unique to mobile. According to Google, local searches constitute 40% of all mobile searches and some 95% of smartphone users have searched locally. So you definitely need to include features like click- to-call so your customers can call you. Maps and directions to your business can help customers with location enabled smartphones to find you if they want to make a visit to your physical location.
If you run a service based business, perhaps your clients will want to make a reservation, booking or request a call back, right from their phone. Features like coupons, reservation systems, and messaging features are all vital for engaging your audience and converting visits into sales.
If you’ve got a retail offering, you’ll want a mobile site that has real live e-commerce capabilities, and the ability to showcase a catalog of products on your site so you’re visitors can buy your products on their phone. 64% of smartphone owners are now using their mobile devices to shop online say eDigitalResearch. And in a study carried out by Adobe most users said they prefer mobile websites over apps for shopping. goMobi covers all of these bases and then some.
- Promote it
As with any site, you’ll want to promote it so that your customers know about it. goMobi comes with a number of tools that can help you get the word out. Here are just some of the options you have:
Run coupon based campaigns with the coupon feature–- it will help promote your site as well as drive engagement
Leverage your social media channels – goMobi supports Facebook, Twitter and more.
Encourage viral activity – goMobi supports Location Based Services like FourSquare, Yelp and more. 50% of smartphone shoppers use a GPS/mapping service to find a retail location, say Nielsen.
A QR code generator allows you to integrate your mobile site with print, online marketing and ad campaigns. It even generates a ready-made flyer for your site that can be used on your premises or in digital formats.
Built-in mobile SEO comes standard with goMobi so you can automatically optimize discoverability on search engines. 47% of consumers confirm they use their phone to search for local information, according to Local and the e-tailing group. Google say 50% of mobile searches lead to a purchase.
Link your desktop and mobile site with goMobi redirection feature. With goMobi’s redirection code generator you can easily direct your mobile visitors to your mobile site. And goMobi’s built in device awareness means it renders properly no matter what the accessing device is.
- Measure and iterate
goMobi comes with a dedicated Analytics tool to profile and analyze traffic accessing your site.
See how much traffic your mobile site is generating with advanced analytics. goMobi also supports Google Analytics. You can use this information to track how your promotions are performing, experiment with new approaches, see what works, and what doesn’t, and update your mobile site accordingly.
Remember, the mobile web is now. Check out goMobi.info to get started today.
