A Mobile World
Is your website mobile friendly? Do you take mobile into account when you plan your email marketing or social media?
30% of web traffic came from mobile devices in February 2013!
Yet, 39% of businesses have no strategy in place for mobile optimisation and a further 37% said their strategy was ‘basic’ in a census carried out by Econsultancy.
If mobile is not part of your plan, you could be losing out to your competitors. If it is, it’s likely you are a step ahead as our world turns increasingly mobile.
Growth in Mobile Internet Use
The growth in mobile use over the last year has been enormous.
Nielsen’s survey shows that 97% of the UK population owns a mobile phone, with smartphone ownership now at 61%.
Forty-nine per cent of UK adults accessed the internet on their mobile phone in Q1 2013, up from 20% in Q1 2009. The largest rise in mobile internet take-up was among those aged 25–34, up 40 percentage points to 74%, but the fastest growth was among those aged 55–64, increasing more than five-fold in four years. According to Ofcom – pdf.
It is not only device ownership that is growing but confidence to use them for online shopping to, “A fifth of mobile internet users have bought goods or services from their phone.”
The top 4 regular smartphone activities for adults are:
- SMS (92%)
- Email (68%)
- Browsing the web (66%)
- Social networking (63%)
Mobile Use Over Christmas
The Christmas period saw some telling signs of how the mobile device has embedded itself into our way of life.
A report from John Lewis stated mobile devices accounted for 76% of their online traffic on Christmas Day.
Mobile traffic on Christmas Day was the highest of the period, accounting for 48% of all online traffic, according to new data from IBM Analytics. Double from the same period in 2012.
Mobile Use on Social Media
Facebook are making great efforts to ensure they are not left behind in this mobile race. In its latest earnings report Mark Zuckerberg stated “48% of its daily active users only use mobile devices while 49% of its total ad revenues come from mobile ads.”
Twitter on the other hand have always been mobile friendly, with 80% of users now accessing Twitter on their mobile devices.
Mobile and SEO
If the message about mobile wasn’t already compelling enough. News that Google are now penalising sites that do not have a correctly configured mobile version of their website should get you into action.
Your Mobile Checklist for 2014
If you haven’t optimised your website for mobile then this checklist should make a good start.
It’s not just you’re website to consider though, your marketing is important to.
Ensure your have mobile friendly email, this study provides some great insight into mobile email marketing.
Don’t forget your social media. Did you know your Facebook updates display differently on mobile devices? If not then this complete Facebook image size guide will ensure your image posts are cut short!
If you need help with your ensuring your marketing is mobile then get in touch on 01379 330330.
[Photo Credit: Matthew Burpee]