Mobile Optimized Websites For Business

There is a lot of ways to mobilize your business, one of the best ways is to have a business mobile website that is optimized for mobile devices. Gartner predicts that in three years, more people will access the internet through their mobile phones than through their PCs. More than 50 per cent of consumers are unlikely to return to your site if they have a poor mobile experience, and 40 per cent would go to a competitor’s site instead.

Your mobile website will differ quite a lot from your ‘browser’ based website by having it’s content optimized for mobile devices. This means that images, content, navigation and products are all optimized to load fast, easy to use, require very little scrolling and easy to read. In other words you give the visitor the experience they are looking for and not some vanity site just because you can. Why would you build a mobile site along the guidelines I just outlined? Because mobile consumers are searching for Local Business Information and if they do not have a good visiting expedience then you just lost a prospect, contact or even worse a sale.

What Is An Optimized Mobile Website?

The information most mobile consumers want to find on a mobile website are

1. Your business address
2. How to get to your business, having a map is a plus
3. Your telephone number prominently displayed, tap to call is a plus
4. Your business hours, a major item that must be on the site

If you want to have your latest blog post or an article included that is fine as well. But do not try to make your mobile website an exact copy of your ‘browser based’ website.

Why You Need a Mobile Website

Now that you understand a little more about a mobile optimized website I will give you a few more reasons of why you need a Business Mobile Website.

1. Google has a separate index for mobile content. Not only do they have a separate index for mobile content, but also it is fairly empty
2. Your regular website is not going to cut it. On a mobile phone, there is a very limited amount of screen space. If you have ever had to side scroll to view something on a website, you realize how much of an inconvenience it is
3. 30% of Americans access the mobile web each day.This percentage is increasing every year. If you’re not representing yourself on the mobile web, your competition surely will take up the opportunity
4. Mobile web will overtake the desktop within 3 years.This is likely the most exciting and sought after information about the mobile web.
5. $1.6 billion purchased from mobile devices in 2009.This is likely the most exciting and sought after information about the mobile web. Companies like Amazon and eBay are generating over $US1 billion in sales through their mobile channels.
6. 93% of U.S. adults own a cell phone.
7. 5% of the top 500 online retailers have a mobile website/iPhone app. this means great things for the rest of us who are not in the top 500 online retailers, this presents a huge opportunity for local business.
8. Mobile advertising spending will surpass $6.5 billion in 2012. If someone is willing to spend their hard earned money putting their products in front of users on the mobile web, you can assume there is a pretty good reason for it.
9. Users average 13 hours online per week, up from 7 in 2002. As online usage increases regardless of the device used, accessibility is going to be the next lever to increase online usage. This market cannot be ignored.
10. There are an estimated 2 billion cell phones worldwide. Not only are there a lot of cell phones worldwide, but they seem to outlast their owners and are passed down to another owner.

I encourage you to download our 2011 Mobile Marketing Report today to learn more about Mobile Websites and the other channels available to business in mobile marketing. You can also view some of the mobile websites we have built and view sample mobile site templates we use. Don’t hesitate, your competition may have a mobile website right now.