Five Reasons to Take Your Business Mobile

Don't you hate it when the rules change? How many times over the last ten years would you say you have changed your website to meet the trends of the day? Ten years ago, the winner of the Internet game had the number one ranking in Yahoo, and now you need to have the Facebook page with the most "likes." When it comes to your actual site, if you don't have a mobile-friendly supplement developed yet you're already behind the curve.
 
To look at sales figures of iPhones and Androids over the last year, you will realize that their growing usage is not just a passing fad - while new technologies in years to come may enhance smart phones and present more sophisticated models, the fact remains that business who market via the Internet need to adjust and be ready for change. Part of this preparedness involves adopting some kind of mobile platform.

Why does your business need to go mobile? Consider these reasons:

1) You will broaden your audience. Comscore reported that in January over 40 million people just in the US owned some type of smart phone. When you consider not only the opportunities for mobile search, but exposure via Twitter and Facebook clients, the need to go mobile strengthens. If a user clicks through a link to a non-mobile site they are more likely to jump off quicker because they simply can't read it.

2) You have more opportunities for promotion. Is your business listed in Google Places? You may have seen those stickers on business doors with the square barcode. People can scan that barcode with their smart phone and visit your Google Places page. If they click through for further information, you want to be sure your site is also mobile friendly.

3) You can offer coupons. Foursquare and Facebook Places are good for boosting your business whenever users of those program check in to your store or showroom, but not everybody is registered with them. Some people want the deals but would prefer to keep their activities private, so a mobile version of your site with coupons and discounts can motivate traffic to your door.

4) You will learn brevity. One thing that makes a mobile version of a website successful is that it packs the meat of the site in a small space. If your site is text rich people may get tired of endlessly scrolling to get to the point. Building a mobile version of your site can help you determine the quick and dirty message you want to convey, and you can apply this brevity to effective marketing.

5) You will jump ahead of the competition...assuming they are not already mobile. Check your competitor now on your smart phone, is the site compatible? No? Good, get to work.

Regardless of the future of mobile, one thing is certain: mobility and the Internet is the future. However people will reach the Web in the next years, you need make sure your business is accessible if you expect to stay in business.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on mobile web development and Virginia web design. Printed with permission.