The Ultimate Guide to Mobile-Friendly Marketing

Originally published on Independent.ie

According to a recent study by Internet retailer, 60% of global mobile consumers use their mobile device as their primary or exclusive internet source. A similar study conducted by Shopify revealed that 50.3% of eCommerce traffic comes through a mobile device.

These findings show that consumers are more mobile savvy than ever. Below, I’ll talk you through my top tips for making your site mobile friendly and marketing effectively to consumers on mobile devices. It’s all about reaching people in the way they want to be reached on the device they prefer.

Mobile Friendly Sites Vs. Responsive Sites:

Whether you choose to create a mobile website or go responsive, your site must be mobile friendly, according to Google’s recent algorithm update. Otherwise, brands risk incurring search penalties with the possibility of being demoted down search engine rankings.

Here’s an explanation of mobile and responsive sites to help you choose the best fit for your business:

Mobile Site: A mobile site is a site that is purpose built for a mobile device. The downside is that you will need to hire a developer to create another mobile version of your website to ensure you deliver an optimised page that is smaller and easier to navigate. The plus side is that you can customise your site for mobile users and tailor individual elements to deliver the best mobile experience possible.

Responsive Site: A responsive site is a website that displays and scales on both desktop and mobile devices. This might be the easiest option as when you find a responsive template it automatically renders to fit your consumer’s screen which means you only need one website. Ifyou don’t want to work with a developer (which can prove costly) many website template providers like WordPress offer responsive design themes you can quickly and easily implement.

How to Check Your Website Meets Google’s Mobile Friendly Requirements:

Use Google’s mobile friendly test to check if your website is optimized for mobile devices. The tool works by analyzing your URL and creating a custom report addressing a number of mobile friendly criteria, including font legibility, size and proximity of links and content fit.

Creating Mobile Friendly Content:

Those reading content, researching or shopping on the go don’t have time to scroll through heaps of text. That’s why it’s important to keep your content short, snappy and to the point.

On smaller screens your call to actions will have to work harder so choose your words carefully and remember that less is usually more.

When creating copy it’s also important to consider navigational issues. For example, buttons and links should include clear and concise instructions that mobile users can quickly grasp. It’s also essential to ensure that your content (including your images) scales and displays correctly on mobile devices. For example, Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm’s criteria states that your mobile page content must fit horizontally within the specified viewport size.

Break your content into bite-sized chunks, paragraphs bullet points, numbered lists and subheadings to enhance viewability on mobile devices.

SMS Rules for Marketing and Reminders:

You can use SMS marketing to send targeted and personalised messages to your customers and those who have opted in to receive text messages off your brand. If you plan to send text messages to consumers as part of your mobile marketing strategy you will need to know the SMS Marketing and Data Protection Law rules. For example, you can only send text messages to people who are not customers when they have opted into the service.. You will also need to provide clear instructions to them for how they can opt out of the service at any time.

When marketing to existing customers, you will need to ensure that the product or service you market to them is similar to the one they have already bought from you. You are also required to give customers a clear choice of opting out of the service when they first gave you their details.

Stay tuned for next week’s article, where I’ll explain how Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising works to help you achieve success.