Top 10 Reasons a Mobile Version of Your Website Will Help Your Business

Mobile devices are the future of online internet access, as the majority of internet access will take place through a mobile device within 2 years. It is important to keep in mind that if you decide not to have a mobile site designed for your company, your competitors most likely will.

Let us help you ensure that your mobile visitors have a positive experience with your website. Zeto can help provide you with a mobile website that is user-friendly, intuitive, fail-proof and fast. Visitors to your mobile site will be able to access just what they’re looking for quickly and easily. How your website looks on the web and how easily a visitor can access your key information is just as important as the product and services that you are selling.

If you’ve been putting off taking your site into mobile-device friendly waters, now is the time to go for it. We make creating a smart phone-friendly site easy and affordable. 2012 is the year to take your site and its impact on a mobile device to the next level. We invite you to contact us or call 720-530 5595 today.

Top Ten Reasons Why a Mobile Version of Your Website Will Help Your Business

1.  Maximize Mass Appeal and Usage

Mobile web access is predicted to surpass PC use by 2014. Read that one more time—mobile web access is predicted to surpass PC use by 2014. Nine million more smart phones shipped in 2010 than personal computers. By 2014, 90% of the world will own a mobile phone capable of accessing the internet. And as of June 2010, 264.5 million data-capable devices, including 61.2 million smartphones or wireless-enabled PDAs are in the hands of consumers. Are you positioned to stay ahead of your competitors in this emerging market? Every business owner wants to be found by consumers; mobile is the place for maximizing your visibility. The explosive growth of mobile devices has been impressive and will only increase its upward trajectory. Additionally, 3 in 10 U.S. consumers made at least one purchase from a mobile device in 2010. A 123% increase from the same time period in 2009. Younger generations (18-34) are even more likely to make purchases from mobile phones. 

2. Ensure Functionality 

This is probably the most important reason to consider a mobile website. Your website needs to be designed and architected properly to display successfully on the typically smaller screen of a mobile device. Mobile websites should function on all mobile operating systems without having to download any software. If this is not accomplished, your website’s current layout may display your current site incorrectly on a mobile device, or the site may not even load at all. For example, if you have a Flash-based site and are trying to pull it up on an iPhone, which does not support Flash at all, your site will fail to load. Besides adapting to the smaller screen of a mobile phone, mobile sites are designed to be easier to navigate using touch or a keypad and provide direct access to the information that a customer is more likely to need while on the go. Things like simpler site architecture and layout, abbreviated site content, bigger graphics and typeface sizes are part of creating a mobile-friendly site. 

3.  Maximize Accessibility

Mobile web visitors want information quickly without having to zoom in and scroll around to find it. The ability to zoom isn’t even an option on some mobile devices. An ideal mobile website has text and links that are displayed on a larger scale than on a traditional site, to ensure that the information displayed will be easy to read on all mobile phones, not just SmartPhones. This, paired with ensuring that your mobile site will display successfully on all mobile operating systems without downloading any software, will ensure effortless and speedy access to your site’s important data. 

4.  Optimize Speed

Studies show that any mobile website that takes longer than 4 seconds to load will lose 25% of its visitors. In the age of rapid-fire technologies, shorter attention spans, and multi-tasking on the go, slow-loading websites are quick to frustrate customers who may switch gears immediately to take their business elsewhere. Ponderously large images and bells and whistles simply aren’t as important to people on mobile devices. Those accessing mobile data are usually on the run and want their data served up simply and quickly, without any roadblocks. Additionally, users are paying for the amount of data they download on their smart devices, so a lean, well-designed site will limit the amount of data downloaded and needed to view the site.

5. Empower E-mail Blasts 

Did you know that 43.5 million people used their mobile phones to check e-mail in 2010? A mind-boggling 40% increase from 2009! Designing a mobile-friendly site ensures that when your customers open your digital newsletter on their mobile devices they be able to easily and successfully click through to your site. With a site that renders properly and is easily accessible, your email marketing campaigns have a better chance of being effective and not losing customers on the click-through. 

6. Be Found Faster

Mobile searches are one of the fastest-growing online resources. Google®, Bing® and Yahoo!®—among many—are heavily investing in mobile. They know that millions of people use mobile searches to look for what they want. The best way for your business to be found is to be listed in top search engines and have a fully optimized site that is user-friendly. 

7. Supercharge Your Sales

Mobile devices have changed the way that consumers shop. Shopping is now at your fingertips 24/7. Besides getting real-time price comparisons from multiple online retailers that influence purchase decisions, found through search engines or applications, mobile devices are used to offer secret deals and increase real-time foot traffic in local businesses though ‘free membership’ coupon sites like Groupon® or Living Social. Similar boosts of internet retail traffic are generated the use of popup flash sale sites offering time-sensitive offers. Rue La La, Ideeli, Gilt Group, and Haute Look are examples of ‘flash sale’ internet retailers who offer shopping sites which architected to be easily accessed and used by mobile shoppers on the go.

8.  QR Code-Friendly

QR codes are a powerful way to get your consumer to take action and bring more online dimension to your marketing efforts. A mobile website can be optimized to place your QR code’s call to action at the front of your mobile homepage to display properly in a mobile environment. QR scanning applications exist that enable mobile device users quickly scan QR codes, and these QR codes can be linked to retail promotions, how-to videos, stories about a product, launching a web site, launching a pre-filled tweet, watching a trailer, audio commentaries or special ‘hidden’ offers.  QR codes can be linked to deliver a text message with a promo code to offer a mobile device user a special discount. Also, since the QR code can lead to a specific web page, certain platforms allow for the creation of a special code that will pre-populate the visitor’s shopping cart with specific products linked from the scan of the QR code. QR codes can also be linked to a special landing page where people exchange their contact information for a treat, or a discount. For more ideas on how to use QR codes, read: 101 uses for QR codes.

9.  Capture Coupon Redemption 

2011 seemed to be ‘the year of couponing’. Extreme couponing shows, the availability of websites offering digital coupons like eBates, Coupon Cabin, Retail Me Not, paired with coupons e-mailed straight from retailers to consumers on their mailing lists  all contributed—and continue to contribute— to the rise of mobile coupon redemption.. Both enable access to up-to-the minute data and deals from retailers. In 2014, more than 300 million people will be redeeming coupons on their mobile phones worldwide. A shopper holding up their SmartPhone to display a digital coupon to the checkout attendant at the register is an ever-increasing sight. A mobile website can be optimized to place your coupon at the front of your mobile homepage. The ease of obtaining it will result in more redemptions and increased sales. The frustration of forgetting printed coupons left at home by accident, realized only once you are standing in the checkout line, is quickly becoming a thing of the past. 

10. Leverage Being Local

Not getting enough local attention for your business? Mobile marketing can help you by engaging local search -maps and directories that make it easy to find your front door. Tools like Google® Maps and local directories provide general information that include your location, contact and address. Enhance these tools with a mobile website that can turn traffic into customers by including easy-to-access information such as ‘About Us', ‘Find Us', ‘Hours of Operation', ‘Coupons' and ‘Reservations.' If your goal is to turn a local lead into a local sale - a mobile site may be just what you need.

 

 

 

 

 

Permalink || Monday January 23rd, 2012