The WebSpecialist Blog

Mobile websites make talking to your smartphone-obsessed clients incredibly easy. But when a social media site updates its mobile capability, you can be sure that users are applauding. And that's just what Google+ has done recently to keep pace with other social media giants like Facebook and Twitter.

According to Mobileburn, the new mobile version of Google+ features a "What's Hot" newsfeed which informs users of friend updates and trending topics. Also, users are now able to see who's given one of their posts a +1 (which is the Google+ version of a Facebook like). These updates are intended to allow for desktop-like sharing from the ease of a smartphone. Sharing is one of the main draws of social media, and Google+ hopes to capitalize on that. Like any good mobile website, Google has gotten rid of features that were redundant and slowed down use, like the much-griped-about Incoming column. The changes will pop up soon on the latest versions of the app for the basic web, OS and Android.

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Mobile websites are the smartphone-friendly way for small businesses to communicate with followers. Yet a new study from analytics firm Flurry suggests that when it comes to smartphones, users are more interested in apps than browsing.

Flurry reports that the average smartphone user spends 94 minutes a day on apps and just 72 minutes on web browsing. These numbers are drastically different from last summer, when 81 minutes were reportedly spent on web browsing. App usage continues to grow — jumping 15 percent in December alone. The waning interest in mobile browsing could come from users switching from the web to an app to access social media sites like Facebook. Nevertheless, mobile websites are still a bright idea. Gigaom.com notes that with the arrival of HTML5, many apps will soon be accessed like traditional web pages, meaning a hybrid between mobile browsing and apps is just around the corner.

Have you considered either an app or a mobile website for your business?  Have you decided on one over the other?  What was the deciding factor?  Share your company's experience below.  

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Mobile websites that function just as well as, if not better than, their online counterparts are what every small business hopes for. Yet for businesses that offer a variety of savings on goods and services, the mobile website also has to serve as their customers' personal, on-the-go deal finder. Thanks in large part to the success of sites like Groupon (where iPhone and Android users can get the 411 on the latest discounts in their area), websites that are in the business of offering savings are seriously upping their game to meet the needs of the mobile world. Take the travel website Orbitz for example.

The airline and hotel deal broker has been pushing out savings on travel packages online since the early days of online vacation shopping. Yet in order to outpace with the plethora of travel websites, each of which says they're cheaper than their competitors, Orbitz has aggressively launched a mobile website redesign that could be game changer. Released last week, the faster, sleeker mobile website has taken a page from the book of Groupon and catered to shoppers who use their smartphones to get what they want. Users of the mobile site have access to last-minute deals and mobile-only specials on hotels in a section called "Mobile Steals."

Orbitz officials say the move was strategic — a full 65 percent of mobile bookings are for the same day. Mobile Steals features exclusive savings on resorts and spas that aren't featured online. And for folks who perused flights at their laptop but waited to buy, Orbitz now has a solution for them, too. The new mobile site remembers what deals users looked at from their computer and saves them.

Orbitz's move to a fast and user-friendly mobile website is on par with the trend of businesses to have their websites speak directly to smartphone users.

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While many shoppers will camp out this holiday season in ridiculous lines in the name of a good deal, the smart ones are turning to their smartphones to save big. Brands like Target, Wal-Mart and Toys 'R' Us have all hopped on the mobile website bandwagon to provide shoppers with the latest deals and ways to shop right from their phones. But interactive, shopping-friendly mobile websites aren't just for the big guys. Small businesses are using a combination of mobile-friendly sites and social media to reach out to smartphone shoppers, as well. Even the Salvation Army is using a mobile site to help ring in holiday donations.

"The shopping experience is in the consumer's hands and you can't fight where they're going," said Gihad Jawhar, vice president of Lowes.com, in an interview with Reuters. "Retailers can either hop on the bus or get left behind. We are choosing the first option."

Here at WSI WebSpecialist, we're all in favor of adding a mobile website to your business marketing arsenal. Google Analytics shows that some of our clients - particularly restaurants - have nearly 20% of all their website visits coming from mobile devices. If you're not sure how many of your website visitors are accessing your desktop website through their mobile devices, contact your webmaster and ask for this statistic. If it's more than the current national average of 7%, you should join the companies above in adding a mobile website to your holiday marketing efforts!

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File this one under "Well, aren't they clever!" The southern town of Mobile, Alabama is no longer just The Port City. It's also now home to Google's latest campaign to get small businesses interested in mobile websites.

According to The New York Times, Google chose Mobile (pronounced Mo-Beel) as the hub of its campaign for several reasons. First off, it's got a clever name! Trust us, Google wouldn't have been as excited if it were Sylacauga or Vestavia Hills, Alabama. Winking name aside, Google also had its heart set on Mobile because of the demographics. The city has a population, according to the Times, of 200,000, but that number swells to upwards of 600,000 if you include the surrounding rural areas. This small but healthy-sized city is the perfect place to launch GoMo, as it's being called. The GoMo campaign consists of around two dozen Google employees showing small business owners the benefits of having mobile-friendly websites. Small coffee shops and local clothing boutique owners are getting one-on-ones with Google's mobile website experts — all in the name of good PR. Plus a Mobilizing Mobile Expo is being set up in the center of town where small business owners can see the magic of mobile marketing firsthand.

And why not? Google is rightfully trying to show small business owners the advantages of mobile websites, which include faster load times, and a simpler user interface that doesn't require "zooming." The Times says that Google's research shows that 89 percent of people who own smartphones say "they use them throughout the day in places like stores and restaurants, while traveling, or while waiting in line or in doctors' offices." Google and marketers alike are sinking big bucks into mobile sites and marketing plans. But like the good people of Mobile, Alabama are discovering, anybody can mobilize their website.

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Lately, we have seen a lot of big brands, including Perrier and Virgin, jump head first into the mobile marketing game. Marketing big shots spend tons of time mulling over what their mobile websites should look like and how they should function. Meanwhile, every publication and blog from The Wall Street Journal to TechCrunch and beyond continues to weigh in on what an effective mobile marketing plan should consist of. But maybe, just maybe, you're already using a rocking mobile marketing plan — you just don't know it.

Is it finally safe to assume that in one way or another, all businesses, big and small, have a digital marketing plan that includes social media and directing traffic back to their websites? Our culture's collective romance with smartphones has eliminated the once very clear line between mobile sites and regular ones. All of the functionality and accessibility of shopping websites like Amazon and Groupon, as well as those of small businesses, are at our fingertips. We now use our phones to keep us in touch with our most-used websites and to help us find new ones. And social media is helping us bridge that gap even more.

Question: Does your business website display properly on tablets and mobile phones? Could anything be done to improve the user experience on these devices?

Consider this: Last month, a new study from comScore reported that social media use on mobile devices had grown a whopping 37% over the last year. This means more and more people are using their phones to check in with brands and friends. In fact, 69.5% of mobile users rely on their smartphones to update their statuses, tweet and create new content. Each time we tweet about our company's new products or post pictures on our business' Facebook page, we're actually engaging in mobile marketing. We no longer have to wait for our target audience to get home and turn on their computers. They can learn about our business' brilliant innovations from wherever they are.

So while we'd love to talk with each of our clients about their mobile marketing strategies, maybe we don't actually need to over-scrutinize. Maybe we just need to make sure they have an an easy-to-use mobile-ready website that helps them continue to do what they're already good at.

Care to tell us about your company's mobile website or mobile marketing? Got any interesting success stories? Sound off below with your comments.  

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