Want to go mobile but don’t know where to begin?

Want to go mobile but don’t know where to begin?

 

Start here with the Web Bureau’s To Three Tips to creating a mobile strategy that brings results to you...

 

You could say we may have mentioned this before...somewhere... in the odd blog post:

 

Mobile is the way to go.

 

What would be truer to say is that we’ve been banging on about it for ages!

 

Your customers are already there. The number of local searches on mobiles quadrupled in 2012. And in the last 3 months of 2013 alone, over 250,000 more smart phones where purchased (International Business Times).  

 

But while the market is growing, finding your way into mobile commerce isn’t the most straightforward of things to do: even the big boys struggle to develop and deliver a mobile strategy that will help them to achieve their business aims.

 

We would say that it’s simpler for small business to put together a mobile strategy that works – simply because the smaller scale allows for more focus and purpose. So there’s no reason to find it daunting. Especially if you’ve got the right partner on board...  ahem!

 

The best place to begin is not thinking about if your business needs an app or a mobile site.

 

In fact, you shouldn’t even be thinking about what your business needs at all.

 

What you need to consider, first and foremost, are your customers: start where they are (literally and metaphorically) and decide how you can give them what they want and need.

 

And then think about how your mobile strategy can take you to them.

 

Number 1: Optimise for mobile.

 

If it isn’t how do the 45% of people (18-29 year olds) who do searches on their mobile phone find you when they’re out and about - in fact, when they’re literally right up your street and ready  to make a purchase????

 

If you can only afford one kind of site, make it mobile optimised. A good web company will be able to offer you tailored advice on whether you should go for Responsive Design, Dynamic Service or a separate mobile sub domain – it’s a decision that can only be made by individual assessment of your marketplace, audience and ambitions.

 

If you’re on a very tight budget, we’d recommend investing in making your Facebook or Google business page work as hard as they possibly can as these sites are already optimised for mobile.

 

 

 

 

Number 2: Optimise for search & discovery.

 

Mobile SEO - You only need to think about mobile SEO if you’re using dynamic serving, in which case you should direct search engines to your mobile site by varying the HTTP header.

 

Local Search - If you’re a local business and you take on board Google’s stat that 40% of searches have local intent (with more than half of the resulting conversations taking place within the hour), you need to pay attention to local search. Local listings come higher up the rankings in mobile SERPs.

 

Your ranking is also helped by:

·         Naming your location prominently on the page, and listing your business in established local directories like Yelp, Bing Local or Google+ Local.

·         Link-building with other local sites – get in the loop with local news sites, public bodies and good blogs.

·         Using good quality, professional imagery.

·         Encouraging reviews on well known review sites

 

Number 3: Go to where your customers are.

 

Give your customers something they can use: an App, information via email or exclusive mobile content.

 

Small businesses will find that building an App is big investment, but depending on what you want to achieve, it may very well be worthwhile over the long term. We’d be happy to talk you through costs and methods and what an App could do for you.

 

Exclusive mobile content could simply mean offering subscribed customers offers or discounts direct to their mobile phone – a great way to build loyalty and join up the dots between the offline and online experience.

 

And with 41% of all email being opened on an email device, it’s very important to make sure those emails are easy to read on the small screen. Use mobile optimised email templates - ask your Web Bureau contact which they’d recommend.