We live in a world where mobile and tablet usage exceeds that of desktops. Mobile has assisted in the massive adaption of the internet, social networks, digital communication and eCommerce. From a business perspective, user interaction has changed dramatically. Gone are the days when customers had to queue and wait for their turn to get service.
The average consumer now owns 3.8 connected devices, and typically uses digital channels round the clock, 365 days a year. The size of the mobile commerce market will be $463B worldwide by 2019. Ignoring opportunities arising from mobile channels can seriously impact your revenue and bottom-line. Your website is your primary ecommerce and branding asset. It acts as your brand ambassador and your digital sales department.
1. Start with an audit
Most people use mobile phones to search information which means that mobile pages generate a higher numbers of page views. Your goal should be to understand whether your mobile website is being indexed on search. Of course, this assumes that you have a mobile website. Secondly, if your site turns out to be slow, users may bounce and abandon your website even before the page loads. Mobile networks and mobile data connections can be unreliable, and you must ensure that your website is optimized for mobile, to attract and retain the customer. Google provides a library of tools which help you to discover any issues with your desktop and mobile website. The mobile-friendly testing tool and google search console provide in-depth insights to identify issues on a page by page level. To test whether your website is mobile friendly, simply type in the URL of the web page that you want to check. Results typically take less than a minute and include a screengrab with a detailed report of major mobile usability areas of concern. Another great resource provided by Google is the page speed insights tool which allows you to measure the performance of a page by fetching the URL twice, once for mobile and once for desktop devices. It gives you a benchmarked score alongside highlighted parameters that impact user experience such as image and content optimization opportunities, browser caching, minifying html and java scripts. By simply implementing the recommendations given to you by google you can significantly improve your chances of driving higher conversions.
2. Your site should be built to succeed
To best leverage and drive results one must deliver intent driven mobile friendly content. Best practices include adaptive responsive website design, delivering dynamic content and separate mobile friendly URLs. Google recommends responsive website design as the preferred format to deliver mobile-friendly websites. At Milestone we have taken this approach to the next level and have recently announced a new website design concept of “Mobile First.” Milestone’s mobile first designs are a departure from the responsive technology that most sites employ, elevating the experience to what users want to do in every moment of the customer journey. At the heart of mobile first design is a fundamental focus on user intent and task management. Content is now prioritized to what is most important to the user during the moment of truths popularly called as “micro moments.” Further, intuitively designed web pages with simple call to actions (CTA’s) help drive conversions. Forms and gesture workflows are optimized for smaller screens and all the content is wrapped in schemas to ensure they will appear in the most important googles SERPs. If you haven’t already, you should definitely be implementing schemas, writing keyword rich intent driven content and implement conversion features to make the most of your existing website.
Most importantly, users are looking for an experience that is safe and reliable. With so many data breaches in the news, it is important to build your website to run on a secure connection. At Milestone, all websites are built on secure HTTPs foundations. Google has also recognized the value of providing a secure experience and rewards HTTPs websites with higher search index rankings.
3. Delivering the right user experience
Another important development gives the user an app-like experience without requiring an app download. This innovation is called Progressive web app (PWA) and makes mobile commerce even more attractive. Once you add PWA capabilities to your web site, users can fully access previously visited pages while offline. And businesses can now send intent drive notifications to encourage the users to take a favorable action. This win – win nature of interaction is gaining strong momentum. The ideal marriage of mobile first with PWA has the potential to deliver a real world near “app-like” experience that will make mobile websites a true joy to interact with. The future is headed in an intuitive, fast, and convenient direction, conversions and boosting revenue being the real value drivers for a business.
4. But don’t forget the basics
Adding new features and technology is always exciting and is of great value however one must not forget the fundamentals should always remain solid. For example, you should be using your Google Analytics account to keep a track of key metrics such as bounce rates, sessions, user demographics, sources of traffic and target audience profiles. Once you know what type of traffic is coming to your site, then you can deploy techniques to optimize and make the most of your mobile and digital presence. You must also continually monitor your keyword performance and social presence. People spend time on social networks and come to your website by looking at a post from their friend’s timeline. Its important that the connections between social and local search is maintained. Local and organic search optimization is an ongoing process. Elements that drive search engine optimization should be continuously monitored and improved. Search engines constantly evolve their algorithms to make their results more effective. By providing periodic updates you ensure your website is up-to-date with the latest technology changes in the search engine universe. Lastly, don’t forget what your customers say about you on the review sites. If your product is strong and you back it up with great service, you will get good reviews in the long run. Reviews go a long distance to boost your search engine rankings and directly impact the purchase process.
Milestone works with Fortune 1000 companies in finance, retail and hospitality to drive online leads and revenue by helping location-based businesses establish an exceptional digital presence. You can learn more about our products and services at https://www.milestoneinternet.com or schedule a discussion with one of our consultants by writing to us at [email protected]
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Contributed by : Gaurav Varma, Product Marketing Manager
