It’s hard to find even the smallest business that does not maintain a web site. But most small business web sites are not optimized for mobile devices. In fact, even many larger businesses, who maintain dedicated marketing budgets, don’t address the expectations and needs of their mobile consumers. But small local businesses have the most to lose by not catering to their mobile prospects. So if you run a small business that relies on local customers, we think you will want to pay close attention and read on.

50% of all searches that are made from a cell phone have local intent

Referring to Google’s statistics on local intent searches (source http://bit.ly/12mk9nQ) and accounting for the growth rate of Smartphones, one should expect that approximately 50% of all searches that are made from a cell phone have local intent – “dentists Cary”, “carpet cleaners Holly Springs”, “Photographers Apex”, “Pest Control Raleigh”, etc. See the chart below and you will quickly recognize the peril of not catering to your mobile prospects.

The Our Mobile Planet research was commissioned by Google and conducted by Ipsos MediaCT in partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

 72% of mobile users place importance on mobile-friendly site design

For searches made from a cell phone, Google reportedly gives preference to sites that are optimized for mobile browsers. This is understandable given Google’s own studies, which have found that 72% of mobile users place importance on mobile-friendly site design (source: http://bit.ly/12moEyE). And in terms of the very critical analytic ‘Bounce Rate’, where smaller is better, having a mobile site is super mportant. According to a Google survey, 61% of respondents indicated that when they don’t find what they’re looking for quickly (within about five seconds), they’ll bounce out and find another site.

Check Your Site Now

Go ahead and open your web site on a phone. You can also use a Smartphone emulator to see how your site will appear. (However, note that while emulators provide a useful quick checkout, ultimately you need to open your site on an actual phone.)

Mobile Ready Checklist

Answer the following questions to confirm your site’s “mobile friendliness”:

1. Can your site be navigated using only a thumb?Mobile browsers should never be required to “stretch”, “pinch”, or “poke” with their index finger. A well designed mobile site is one that requires only up/down scrolling and ‘fat-finger’ clicking of elements.
2. Does the display area of your site require any left/right scrolling?A mobile- aware site will only require up & down scrolling. When it comes to cellphone navigation, right/left scrolling is a big ‘no-no’.
3. Do the pages of your site load very quickly over cellular (3G)?Before you begin your test, turn off your smartphone’s WiFi connection so you can observe the performance over cellular to match real-world conditions.
4. Are the most important mobile elements easily accessible?One-click operations like phone dialing, emailing, texting, etc. should be right in view. Other important mobile elements will include navigable directions to your place of business, your hours of operation, testimonials and reviews, watching a video presentation, purchasing an item, booking a reservation, redeeming a coupon, and so forth. Remember that the most common elements requested by a mobile user will differ than those who are viewing from a standard screen.
5. Are there presentation elements that simply don’t show up on a phone?You know that snazzy animated Flash introduction that you paid a lot of money for?  Unfortunately, it won’t show up on most cell phones.

Finally, ask yourself this – “…if I found my site on a phone would I be compelled to take action or would I quickly bounce out and look for another source of information?”

Before and After

The left  image shows a typical small business site before it has been made “mobile aware”. The right image shows the same site after being mobile optimized.

If your site is like most small business web sites it probably won’t be formatted correctly for a mobile phone.

Quick and Affordable Mobile Enablement

Adverscan offers several approaches to getting your site mobile enabled – quickly and affordably.  But what really separates us from the rest of the pack – aside from our 20+ years of mobile and handheld computing expertise – is that all of our plans allow you to also fully tap into the power SMS (text) marketing!  What this means to you is that when you are ready to evolve to the next step in your mobile marketing strategy, you will be ready immediately.  In fact, we will even gift you some SMS credits at no charge so you can see what this power can mean to your business.

Option 1:

 

If you are technically competent, we offer a build-it-yourself mobile web package, which allows you to create a gorgeous mobile site that provides every conceivable capability you could imagine, free of charge.  You pay only $12 per month for hosting.  And there is absolutely no term commitment (you can cancel anytime). Furthermore your 1^st month is FREE, so you can develop and test your site before you actually pay for your 1^st month. And no, you DO NOT need to create a separate domain name for your mobile site name. Simply create a subdomain like m.yoursitename.com from your domain provider. (The instructions for Go Daddy are typical).  Finally, from the Adverscan mobile site builder, you will see ‘drop-in’ ready redirection code that can be inserted into your main site. With this single line of JavaScript code installed, anyone who finds your web site on a phone will automatically be presented with the mobile-friendly version you’ve created.

Option 2:

 

If you are not technically proficient, or you simply don’t have the time, Adverscan can develop your mobile site for you. With our assisted options you pay us only $269 one-time for development. After that, you simply pay the $12/per month in hosting fees. Just like the DIY option (above), you can cancel anytime you want and you can bring your own domain name. The only difference between option 1 and 2 is who actually develops the site – us or you. For options 1 and 2, if you later decide to upgrade to one of our mobile marketing plans, your mobile site hosting rate will drop down to only $8/month!

Option 3:

 

We also offer alternative options that involve either migrating your current site to a responsive design.  If your site is built on a major CMS like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, this becomes fairly straightforward. Alternatively, we can create a new web site for you that utilizes a responsive web site theme. These options are typically more expensive on the front-end because of the higher development costs, but may cost less over time due to reduced hosting fees.

Up Next…

In our next blog post for this series, we are going to explore the ongoing debate “Mobile vs. Responsive Web Sites”.  This is an interesting topic that deserves a fairly deep dive into the advantages and disadvantages of both.

What constitutes clutter? Is it an excess of stuff, a collection of your favorite items, or little piles around the home? Is clutter in the eye of the beholder? Find out which type of clutterer you are.

The definition of clutter is:

1. Untidy stuff – a messy collection of objects
2. Disorganized mess – a condition of disorderliness or overcrowding

THE PEEK-A-BOO CLUTTERER

I have entered some homes and wondered why the homeowner even called me. Everything is in its place and orderly; that is, until they open the closet door or dresser drawer. Even though the clutter is hidden, in their mind they know the clutter exists. That’s enough to cause them to feel some anxiety. Once I get started organizing in a situation like this, I can understand the clients feelings. Often, there are items randomly placed in drawers that don’t make sense. This makes it difficult to find what you need when you need it and confusing when it is time to put back items.

The Peek-A-Boo Solution: The best way to approach this situation is to empty out the drawers or closet and sort items by category, purging anything that is not needed. Once you have finished sorting, take a look at what categories you have created and assign a home to them depending on where you will use them and the space that is needed.

THE LEAVE-NO-SURFACE-UNCLAIMED (a.k.a. The Museum Clutterer)?

Then you have the client that feels the need to fill in every space in their home, like a museum with everything on display. Each item tells a story and is carefully placed. However, there is no surface left untouched. To some, this may seem cluttered, but not to the person that gets enjoyment out of seeing the objects. If, however, every surface is full because items are left out for fear of forgetting about it or loosing it then soon those same items will be lost in a sea of clutter.

The Leave-No-Surface-Unclaimed Solution: Learn from your natural tendencies and keep your items in order by creating organizing systems where you tend to place them. Not everything can remain out in the open so create a home for those other items by thinking of “where would I look for this when I need it”. For all those loose items that don’t have a logical home, try creating a special drawer in your house and put all of them in this one place called “I don’t know where it belongs” or “it doesn’t have a home”. Then when you need it you only have to look in this one spot.

BUSTING-AT-THE-SEAMS CLUTTERER?

These people have so much clutter there is no place to sit. They save every newspaper and magazine, placing them in four foot stacks around the room making it difficult to navigate. The kitchen surfaces are buried under stacks of mail, groceries, and cooking items. They may be so use to the clutter being there that they actually don’t see it anymore and may even find comfort in their disorganization.

The Busting-at-the-Seams Solution: If you are a “busting at the seams” clutterer and feel that it has affected your quality of life, you may be chronically disorganized and can determine if you are by answering these questions. People that are chronically disorganized can benefit from working with a professional organizer, who will help them set up systems and establish routines to live a more organized life. The wonderful news is that organizing skills can be learned and professional organizers have the tools and strategies to help their clients be successful.

Whether you are a peek-a-boo clutterer or a busting at the seams clutterer or a leave-no-surface-unclaimed, it doesn’t matter the extent of the clutter- it is how you feel about it. If the clutter causes you to feel some anxiety or feelings of overwhelm, then it’s time to take action and address the issue. This can be done by reducing the amount of items in the home and organizing what is left. If you are they type of person that has the need to leave items out in order to not forget about them, then you may want to establish ways to do so in an organized fashion by using organizing products. Regardless of your type of clutter, a professional organizer can help.

Deborah Zechini, Professional Organizer & Certified Organizer Coach, Order in the House