Raise your hand if you have a smartphone? OK, does someone in your family have one? Well with great phones from Apple and phones running the Android OS, if your business hasn’t started thinking about a mobile strategy yet, you should.
Gartner released numbers that project mobile advertising to hit $3.3 billion this year. That would imply that businesses out there realize that this is a market worth advertising to. That number is expected to grow to $20.6 billion by 2015! Another quick fact is that in-store browsing has grown 78 percent from 2009. That means that more of us are using our phones to shop for and learn about products. Is your business website ready for mobile browsers from these devices?
Some tools have been made available to you in order to make your website mobile ready. One of the more popular ones right now is Mobify. You can learn more about it at www.mobify.me. The service allows for a mobile version of your site to make shopping on your site easier for mobile devices. If your website is running on WordPress, you can easily install a plugin that detects the browser coming to your site and then loads the regular version or a mobile friendly version.
Of course you can always go a step further and have your own iPhone/Android app. Most business owners I have talked to about this option have been under the impression that it is too expensive and/or don’t understand how something like a restaurant can benefit from an app. True, if you are a big company wanting a huge and complex app, it can be expensive but that is where economy of scale can benefit. There are low-cost, subscription-based solutions for developing an app for your company or organization and it includes even “push notifications”. This is where your company can make the most impact. A customer downloads your app and is now connected to you, the owner. Say you want to remind them of a drink special tonight, just send them an alert. All those installations now get a reminder alert letting them know of your new special, even when the app is not running.
So with the growing number of mobile devices trying to reach out and find your business, it is important that your website has something to show them. People are looking for easier and faster ways to connect with the businesses they wish to patronize and mobile is the way they are doing it. In June, I am organizing a free seminar on this topic to help out local businesses. Drop me an email if you would like to learn more.
Matt Chapman, of Avalon Park, is an iPhone/iPad developer and owner of Origin Technologies, www.origintech.net. Email him at matt@origintech.net