Mobile is the new frontier of marketing. Some statistics note that over 70% of the people in the US have a smartphone that can run apps and browse the internet. So the burning question is whether to create a mobile version of your site, a mobile app… or both.
Looking at Mobile Web Pages first, we need to answer the question if you should create a mobile version of your site rather than if you could create one. To answer you need to know how many of your visitors are viewing your site on mobile devices? This information is easily found using Google Analytics. The next question is “What is the number of users or threshold that warrants mobile version of your site?” As a general rule if more than 20% of the visits are on mobile devices, you’ll want to create a mobile version of your site. The next step is to determine the most visited and read pages – which is found with Google Analytics. Applying the 80/20 rule it’s a best to convert and deploy the pages that get 70-80% of the page views and time-on-site visits. This is an iterative process and you’ll want to measure this on a monthly or quarterly basis as you add new pages to your main site.
As a general rule a device-detect-redirect must be put in place such that your site detects if the user is on a computer or mobile device, and then automatically directs them to the properly formatted version.
Looking at a Mobile Application, again the should vs. could question needs to be answered. It’s been said that in the 80′s everyone was working on a screenplay, in the 90′s everyone was working on CD and in the 2000′s everyone is working on a mobile app. I have a lot of customers say “Yeah we need to create a mobile app!” My first question is “What do you want the app to do?” While many of them have a clear idea of the app’s purpose and/or function, some of them have to pause and think about it. From a business model standpoint, you’ll need to know if your app is the product, or a way to engage with your product. If the app is your product you’ll want to charge for it. If your app is a way to engage with your product you should have a clear path to commerce and revenue.
In the next newsletter, we’ll cover the different types of mobile apps and revenue models in more detail.
If you’re looking to create a mobile app, please feel free to contact us for a free consultation at (831) 713-5860.