Next time you’re on the bus, in line for coffee or at the movies, take a look at what the people around you are doing. Chances are, at least half (if not more) of the people you glance at will be on a smartphone or mobile device of some sort.
And if you’ve taken a minute to do this little survey of your environment, you probably looked up from your own mobile device to see other people on their mobile devices.
What does this mean? In short, it means that like the title of this post suggests, optimizing your digital content for mobile devices is not an option if you want to stay relevant and keep the attention of your audience.
In the next year – few months even – having a website or other digital property that isn’t optimized for viewing on a smartphone or mobile device will be like trying to pay your mortgage with favours. Unacceptable.
Need proof? The following stats aren’t meant to scare you – they’re just listed here to help put things in perspective and to inspire you to a) work with your site developers and digital marketing team to come up with the best strategy for online optimization and b) start working on getting your site and strategy optimized now. The information below is from a webinar posted on eMarketer :
- Globally, ⅓ of search traffic comes from mobile phones. This means that if a new user finds your site, one out of three times, they would be using a mobile device to view your page.
- Video, video, video. 55% of mobile users watch video on their phones, while that number jumps to 64% for tablet users. According to the eMarketer webinar, mobile devices account for 30% of all digital views worldwide.
- It’s not just about your website: 79% of smartphone owners access SM networks. 83% of social media users access networks on their smartphones.
- When it comes to mobile optimization, how easy is it for customers to purchase on your site? Consider that when buying on mobile devices, the money’s in the tablet! Worldwide, 43% of people buy on their phones while 72% buy on tablets.
- Perhaps the biggest (and most important) number is about mobile commerce. Just 22% of the world’s mobile commerce comes out of the states, at a whopping $76.8 billion. And by 2019? That number is expected to double, but still represent just 28% of all mobile-commerce.
Just looking at these stats, there are five ways that you can start to think about optimizing for mobile in 2015. We’ll start with the obvious (thanks to Google ):
- Optimize your site for mobile devices. If it’s not responsive, make it responsive now. If you’re not ranking first in search results for your industry and keywords, don’t hurt your chances by having a site that can’t be viewed on mobile devices. And if you are ranked in the top 10 (good for you) and your site is unresponsive, don’t hurt your ranking by delaying a website redesign.
- Leverage any video you already have or consider including video in your online marketing strategy. Luckily, we’ve got the resources to help!
- While you’re building and re-building your video marketing strategy, take a look at your social media marketing as well. Research the platforms that are relevant to your audience and post, share, engage and connect.
- While you’re looking at your site, take a look at opportunities for mobile-commerce. Consider who purchases from your site now and where there are opportunities to start making money through your site. Even if it’s purchasing access to content, get in touch with someone who can help you figure out how to leverage this (literally) booming part of the mobile industry.
- Got a brick-and-mortar store? Get ready for proximity payments. And mobile advertising, which is expected to overtake desktop advertising in 2016.
At this stage, if your site still isn’t ready for being viewed on a smartphone, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. But the good news is there’s no shortage of help from experts who are easily accessible.
