A few weeks ago, Twitter announced the growth of its user base to 225 million across the globe with 198 million accessing the platform through mobile devices. Not long after, Facebook unveiled that its users have grown to 1.28 billion per month with1 billion monthly active mobile users. Globally, there are 5 billion mobile users, 5 times bigger than the PC market. Marketing experts have predicted this trend a few years ago and soon, mobile might be the only means for consumers to research information that can shape their purchasing habits. For any business, this means that if mobile is not part of its marketing strategy, it will become obsolete.
Having a mobile-friendly site is now a necessity rather than an option. When we say mobile-friendly, we do not mean websites that are accessible by a mobile browser where users need to zoom in and out to get information. We’re talking about websites that actually had the mobile consumer in mind with its design—the easier it is for a consumer to browse and get information, the better.
On top of having a mobile site for your business, it is also important to complement it with a local mobile search strategy, a very effective initiative that specifically targets people within the areas that the business caters to. According to Google’s Mobile Movement Study, 88% of consumers who search for a type of local business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours. Can you imagine the amount of leads a business is missing without a local search strategy? Numbers don’t lie and experts do not see the trend to slow down any time soon. Businesses need to incorporate a mobile strategy in its marketing plan, otherwise, it will be a hard battle to fight. Those businesses that already have an established mobile strategy will only have their search rankings increase over time—and these businesses could be your competitors.
Why is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so important? Well, let’s be realistic. When an average person runs a search, they do not go past the first or at most, the 2nd page of the sear listing. This is most especially true for mobile users who are always on the go. Having your business visible at the first page of major search engines such as Google can dramatically increase your business leads.
In this highly mobile world, it’s either your business adapts to the trend or become a thing of the past.
