In a previous blog I wrote about mobile users and the on-the-go type of usage that differentiates them from regular type of Internet users. One of the areas where this is most notable is Search. It relates to the keywords that mobile users type when searching for something, be it movie tickets, a restaurant menu or a local florist. It also pertains to the search results that they will get when clicking on the Search button.

Two interesting statistics show that there is a huge uptake in mobile search and especially in its local nature.

The first is from comScore M:Metrics that reported that in June 2008, 20.8 million U.S. mobile subscribers and 4.5 million European mobile phone subscribers accessed search during the month, an increase of 68 and 38 percent from June 2007, respectively.

The second is from The Kelsey Group which is forecasting that the percentage of mobile searches that have local intent will increase from 28 percent in 2008 to 35 percent in 2013.

So given this information, I want to explain why I believe it  is important for local businesses to take advantage of the soar in Mobile Search by creating a mobile website that is tailored for mobile users.

• Users searching from a mobile device require quick and reliable information. In many cases it is a very impulsive need and if your website doesn’t provide them with the information that they are looking for, they will quickly move to the next search result. A survey conducted by Gomez Inc. discovered that mobile web users do not have much patience for retrying a website that is slow or not functioning. 40 percent of the respondent to the survey said they’d likely visit a competitor’s mobile website instead.

• A small local business website has a much higher chance of ranking high for local searches than regular searches. Mobile users searching for businesses in a certain category and that are located in the geographical vicinity to a certain business should see that business rank higher in their results compared to running the same search from a desktop computer. This is due to Google’s ability to use the location of the device conducting the search (upon the user’s approval). Google can do this  either by using the GPS capabilities embedded in Smartphones or for mobile devices without GPS, users can update their current location manually.
• Google has added a small icon that identifies websites that are tailored for mobile devices in order to help mobile users using Google Search for Mobile focus on the sites that will display well on their devices. An example below shows the result when searching for Pizza. Notice the “little green icon” next to the URL indicating that this is a mobile friendly site.In order for Google to identify your site as mobile friendly, you need to submit your mobile sitemap to the Google Webmaster Tool. See instruction how to do it.

Google Green Mobile Icon

• Lastly Google has also recently launched (Sep 09) a new redesigned experience for Local Search for mobile. If you go to google.com from a mobile device you will notice a link labeled “Local” on the top. Clicking on it will lead you to a directory structure (restaurants, shopping, gas etc.). When you either perform a query search or browse through the directory Google will list only businesses in your geographical vicinity. The main benefit is that mobile users can now search for businesses without typing.

Google Local Search for Mobile

So it’s now easier for mobile users to find your business, only question is if your website is ready for mobile?

To mobilize your website contact us at www.dudamobile.com, we have created mobile sites for several local businesses and would be glad to help you out.

With the huge buzz around Apple’s App Store and Blackberry’s App World it seems that mobile applications are taking over, but is an app the right solution for everyone? Doesn’t it seem like we have gone back fifteen years and once again being required to install packaged software? An interesting research by Pinch Media shows that less than 5% of downloaded apps continue to be used 20 days after being downloaded.

There are some cases where an app makes more sense as for example: businesses who have a very large and dedicated user base (e.g . Facebook) or solutions that requires special capabilities of the mobile device that are not accessible through the web (e.g. gaming).

But in the majority of the cases businesses and individuals will gain more from going through the mobile web route. The development costs will be lower, the potential market size will be bigger and it will be much easier for people to find your site by using any search engine.

Before making a decision several criteria should be considered. Below I summarized some of the main points to help you make the right decision for your business. Feel free to comment or add to my list.

The answer is simple, it’s all about REACH and ENGAGEMENT.

Reach

According to Comscore 63 million US mobile phone users accessed news and information from their mobile devices in Jan 09. This is no surprise with new versions of internet enabled mobile phones entering the market this year like mushrooms after the rain (iPhone 3G, Palm Pre, Google Android etc). The internet is now in the grasp of many hands. It is today by far the most personal gadget, accompanying us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week wherever we go. Businesses understand this and have followed by creating websites that are tailored to the mobile user. A reports by Nielsen Mobile show that businesses that have added a mobile website have increased overall traffic to their website by 13%.

Engagement

Now fact is that most website display pretty poorly on mobile devices as they were not built to fit a small screen. A recent study shows that the average success rate for a user to complete a task via his mobile device was only 59%. The reason is that websites were not tailored for a mobile on-the-go type of interaction. Mobile users have different needs, they might be standing in the corner of a street trying to get precise information like your businesses address or the price of a product. How long will it take them to get to that information? If the information is not visible and the site is not appealing, chances are that they will just give up and search for a more mobile-friendly website that is willing to provide them with that information and keep them engaged.

So what do you do about it?

You basically have two options:

• Do nothing and hope that the mobile browsers will improve with time
• Create an optimized site for mobile

I will cover both these options in my next post: Better mobile browsers won’t solve the mobile web problem

A mobile browser is an automated machine that only knows how to squeeze a websites into a small mobile screen. A good mobile solution will have to include some degree of configuration to select and prioritize the content. It requires someone who is intimately involved with the website and understands the business and can make such decisions. There is a lot of clutter in regular websites, usually created by large banners, jumping ads and promotions that just add to the noise and confusion in a mobile device.  Only a human can make the decision what content is relevant and should be “mobilized” and what not.

Now some people might say that the iPhone provides exceptional user experience. I agree that it is indeed an improvement compared to other mobile browsers, but it is far from being optimal. I like to compare the iPhone browsing experience to reading a newspaper in a dark room with a flash light. At any moment you can only see a limited part of the page, usually caused by the need to zoom-in and zoom-out in order to read the text. You wouldn’t agree to read your newspaper like that, so why accept it on your mobile device?

This is something that many businesses have understood and for the reason they have built dedicated iPhone websites (e.g. m.ebay.com, m.nbc.com, mobile.fandango.com) that are very different from their regular internet website. In addition business would like to add mobile specific features like mobile ads, location based services that use GPS functionality, click-to-call etc. All these features are not available on the PC website.

Creating an Optimized Site for Mobile

Creating a mobile optimized site can be a daunting task. You need to think about supporting multiple devices and multiple browsers. Then you get to the topic of maintenance, how do you keep your regular website and your mobile site in sync? And the biggest question is how do you achieve all this without getting into a heavy investment. This is exactly the pain we identified and solved at DudaMobile. Using our platform we are able to build mobile website that are based on your existing website. What that means is that you only have to maintain your regular website. Any changes you make will automatically be propagated into your mobile site. How do we do that? Well that’s the uniqueness of the technology we have developed. The good thing is that you don’t need to care about that. We take care of building, hosting, maintaining and supporting your mobile site. All you need to do is just promote it.