I Do Web Marketing

This is a guest post by Divya Rawat. Want to contribute? Contact me!

Mobile internet is going to dominate the world sooner than we think. It already is, in many ways.

Here are top 5 things you should keep in mind for your mobile website design and usability because this is one medium you can’t afford to ignore:

1. Keep Your Mobile Website Design Simple

This goes without saying that you have to be careful about how you code your pages and what graphics you use on them. Mobile sites are not as capable of displaying very heavy content or poorly coded content because these web browsers aren’t as specialized as regular web browser. There are more chances of pages hanging and sites getting stuck and you obviously want to avoid that!

2. Mobile Website Screen Resolution

It is quite disturbing to scroll up, down, left, and right all together while reading on a mobile device. It’s hence a good idea to see if you can get some standardization done. See which are the most common resolutions for mobile devices and try inculcating them.

There are also a number of responsive themes that adjust to the tablet or smart phone screen sizes. These are good investments for your website.

3. Simply Operation On Your Mobile Site

This means that you should make the navigation as comfortable for the user as possible. The navigation toolbar should be on the top, above the text. At places, users might be required to enter preferences. You can change this by offering them a set of choices to select from so that it’s easier to navigate and browse through your content.

4. Colors On Your Website

The right color scheme is important because reading on smaller devices is different. The standard white and back will certainly work, but you can always explore more option. You just have to be careful about the selections. Also, see that you use the color demarcation when it comes to hyperlinks. The links which have been opened or explored should change color. This makes the user experience more complete and helps providing clarity.

5. Test Your Mobile Website Regularly

You might have hired the best web development company to design your site, but you still need to test the progress and usability of your mobile website. Users may be finding it difficult to access the site from some devices, whereas it must be relatively easier on other devices; there may be important feedback or reviews; or there may be things that are working very well for your site. There are various related areas that may need your attention and hence, a constant evaluation is a must. It doesn’t mean that you make your mobile website and forget about it or contrarily, obsess over it! it only means, you need to deal with mobile website usability professionally.

Your website is the main platform to communicate with your users and hence, it’s important to put the right efforts in the right direction!

Author bio:
Divya is a SEO and SMO expert with an iNetZeal. She has many years of experience and enjoys blogging on related subjects.

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

Mobile marketing has positioned itself as the advertising wave of the future. As the prevalence of smartphones and tablet devices surges upward, creating a strategy aimed at targeting customers through their mobile devices takes on prime importance. Companies must understand and act on the mobile-specific habits of their customers for searching, responding to advertising efforts, and purchasing.

Real-Time Marketing

Mobile marketing comes as close to real-time marketing as you can get. When you send a text message to a customer who has opted in to receive your alerts, that customer will almost always check the message within minutes. While email marketing, online marketing, television, radio, and print all require the audience to be in a certain place in order to receive the message, mobile marketing travels with your customers wherever they go. For this reason, it’s easier to create time-sensitive marketing messages that offer discounts or coupons if acted upon within a certain time frame. In addition, as customers increasingly rely on their mobile phones to perform internet searches about local places, businesses can cater to their needs by creating mobile friendly websites designed to keep users engaged.

Location-Based Services

Mobile devices have made it possible for businesses to market to customers based on location. Promote local specials, increase foot traffic through discount offers, and generate business during slow times, all by marketing to your mobile customers based on where they happen to be at any given point during the day. You can also take advantage of applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla that encourage customers to check in at various locations in order to earn perks.

Purchasing Behavior

While mobile marketing opens up vast doors of opportunity, it also requires business to be on their toes regarding privacy concerns. Mobile marketing is inherently a more personal form of interaction since users tend to be much more wary about handing over their mobile information. For this reason, businesses should use opt-in procedures that guarantee your messages reach only those customers who want them. This more personal approach generally means an increase in purchases as well, since your messages will be targeted toward an audience that is already engaged with your brand enough to opt in. You can also encourage customer action by personalizing your messages based on customer location, preferences, and past purchasing behavior.

As customers increasingly rely on their mobile devices to stay connected and to perform internet searches, a company’s proficiency within the field may determine success or failure of an overall marketing strategy. Businesses must begin crafting strategies to take advantage of the unique opportunities available as mobile marketing continues to increase both in prevalence and performance.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

Apps like Foursquare, Gowalla, and now even Facebook’s check-in functionality have become all the rage these days. They represent a growing segment of the marketing industry that allows businesses to deliver advertising messages directly to their customers’ mobile phones based on their location. While check-in apps like these may be trendy, they don’t represent the whole picture when it comes to location based marketing. Whether you’re ready to dive into Foursquare or not, location based marketing can help your business in a variety of ways.

What is Location Based Marketing?

Location based marketing seeks to reach customers where they are by putting advertising messages that relate to their current location in front of them. It’s not a new concept. Phone books have been offering location specific ads for years. But with the new technological aspect, the process has become more personal, more effective, and more desirable. With the advent of mobile marketing, companies can use location information gleaned from a mobile phone to provide instantaneous marketing messages when people come within the vicinity of their stores.

What Can Location Based Marketing Do for Me?

The applications of location based marketing present new marketing vistas for the savvy company. Interactive point-of-sale texts that provide information about a product the customer is considering, location-specific coupons that entice customers into a store, incentives for checking in multiple times with an app like Foursquare, and mobile ads that appear when a customer is within a certain radius of the store can all help drive traffic and increase overall sales in your brick-and-mortar store. The key is to respect consumer privacy by using opt-in measures that allow them to choose which ads they want to see.

What is the Future of Location Based Marketing?

The future looks bright for applications like Foursquare. The company already has plans in the works for improved user experience, increased capabilities, and proactive recommendations. Spending in the location based marketing field is expected to surge to $4 billion by the year 2015 as companies like Google and Facebook jump on the band wagon with location specific features.

Location based marketing seeks to build a bridge between traditional and digital marketing. With millions of users relying on their mobile phones for internet access and product research, companies would be wise to take advantage of the opportunities available to incorporate location based marketing into their overall marketing strategy.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.