Mobile phones are the search medium of the future and over half of the people surveyed by TextPlus, the free texting and calling app, revealed that they try to multitask by walking and texting.
Now if you extrapolate the figures further, the stats showed that 3 billion of those people on mobile phones were SMS users. So that could be as many as 65% of 3 billion who are texting and walking? It's an awful lot of people who are not looking where they are going.
Video footage from 2008, which showed padded lamp posts in London's Brick Lane has been all over the internet recently as a result of publicity about this survey. Despite the promises in the film, there does not seem to be any news of the continuation of this practice into other parts of London and Birmingham.
But what it does show is how all encompassing the mobile phone has become. We are so reliant upon these tools that we cannot stop using them - even when we are travelling. More statistics have shown that a significant proportion of road traffic accidents have some mobile phone involvement - whether it is people having a conversation, trying to work the GPS element or just trying to text whilst driving.
Which is why it is so important for local business owners to get their heads around mobile. These ubiquitous devices are computers in the palms of potential consumers. Google knows this and, last year, instituted its SoLoMo campaign to try to promote awareness of a new three pronged marketing message.
So - Social Media for reviews and social proof that a website/business is worth visiting and can be trusted to provide good service.
Lo - Local people buy most of their goods from businesses located within a five mile radius of their own location.
Mo - Mobile phones are the future. And Google has embraced them in their SEO algorithms. Given the choice between a website which is a squidged down version of the one that people see on a PC and a dedicated mobile site which has been designed for tapping thumbs not mice, Google will favour the mobile friendly business.
But, more than that, its Google Places Pages, which were originally designed to be the champions of local business and help them rise above national purveyors of the same products, are now cutting a swathe through the search engine results pages on mobile.
The red balloons that used to highlight local businesses on a regular screen are still being used to emphasise them on mobile. It makes them stand out - even for those users who might be multi-tasking and trying to dodge the street furniture as they walk.
These local specific Pages now click through to the same information that a consumer can see on a regular PC. And with Google favouring the business which can provide the best answer to the search query and which is closest to the searcher, it is vital that you give all the information that any mobile user might require.
Your location and phone number, opening hours, your main products or services, a mobile friendly website, lots of reviews from happy customers or constructive feedback from the less satisfied. Pictures so that people can see at a glance what it is that you sell.
If you don't yet have such a page, create and claim yours today - or risk being left behind with the discarded telephone directories.
----------------------------------------------------
Let us help you with Google Places (which has now become known as Google Plus Local) SEO http://lollipoplocal.co.uk/google-places-seo and optimisation http://lollipoplocal.co.uk/google-places-optimisation to direct mobile traffic to your site on the internet, contact Lollipop Local, Suite 1, 103 Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 1JL 01702 476517
EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=273579
No comments:
Post a Comment