Mobile Strategy for Small Businesses - BrightonSEO 2013

mobile is

HUGE.

Image/Graph etc.

Image Source

Source: Cisco's Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update

internet in year 2000

mobilein

2012

mobile in 2012 was

12x the size of

the entire internet in 2000

25%

of UK consumers have made a purchase using their mobile device.

Source: Econsultancy

77%

of smartphone users have

researched a product or service on their phone.Source: Google Databoard

about half then purchased the item

in-store.Source: Google Databoard

so businesses need to be

mobile-friendly.

the

problem is,

people are doing it

WRONG.

even big brands…

Forbes – interstitial ads

Image/Graph etc.

NY Times – no automatic redirects

Starbucks – lost CTAImage/Graph etc.

…or worse, they

don’t do

anything.60% of small businesses have websites; only half of these are mobile-friendly.

Apple – no mobile website

70% of

the top 20 UK retailers have a mobile-friendly website.Source: Econsultancy

only

Image/Graph etc.

Image Source

small businesses are even

less likely to have a mobile-friendly web presence.

60% of small businesses have websites; only half of these are mobile-friendly.

2 reasons.

they don’t see the

value.

71% of smartphone owners have researched a product on their device which they later bought.

but it’s easy enough

to show the

value of mobile marketing.

84% of small businesses saw an increase in new business due to mobile marketing efforts

so it seems more likely that…

…they just don’t know

where to start.

that’s where I come in.

BRIDGET RANDOLPH

SEO Consultant, Distilled

bridget.randolph@distilled.net

@BridgetRandolph

Mobile Strategyfor Small Businesses

BRIDGET RANDOLPH

Getting Started with

Mobile

1• Mobile Friendly Website

2• Search and Discovery

3• Reaching Your Customers

Where they Are

Step 1

Mobile-Friendly Website

where your online

customers primarily

interact with you.

61% of mobile users who land on a non-mobile-friendly site are likely to go to a competitor's site

3 main

approaches

• responsive– rearranges the layout

• dynamic serving– serves different HTML on same URL

• separate mobile subdomain– e.g. m.domain.com

choose

an approach based on

your goals and technical

capabilities

your

users’ needs.

(we did a flowchart for our Best Practice Guide)

www.distilled.net/training/mobile-seo-guide

but for a

small business with a

small website…

…I’d usually recommend using

a responsive template,

and a

CMS (like Wordpress).

individual Wordpress themes

• Designfolio (from PressCoders): free, or $79 with support licence.

• Standard: $49 or $99 with support licence.• Responsive (from CyberChimps): free.

premium Wordpress theme providers

• Elegant Themes: ~$40/year with full support.• WooThemes: free-$70.

or, if you don’t want to use Wordpress:

• SquareSpace: from $8/month (for the most basic service).

• Wix: around $10/month.

Simples!

Image/Graph etc.

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but I can’t afford that.

well,

if you do

NOTHING else,

Facebook.

Google+.

because they’re already

mobile-friendly.

and

start saving up for a mobile-friendly website!

Image Source

final point to

remember:

a mobile-friendly

website is

NOT a strategy.

it’s just the

starting point.

Step 2 Search and

Discovery

how people find

your website.

1.mobile SEO2.local search3.social media

1) mobile SEO

responsive design?

SEO of Responsive Design by Kristina Kledzik

You don’t need to do anything extra.

what if I can’t use a responsive design?

dynamic serving

Vary HTTP header http://goo.gl/km1qcZ

Up to 73% of mobile local keyword rankings differed from their desktop counterparts

separate URLs

There are

several areasto look at.

I wrote a whole post on Moz about it.http://moz.com/blog/how-to-optimize-a-mobile-site

A Checklist for Optimizing Your Mobile Site

2) local search

any business with a

physical location and/or

location-based

service area.

94% of smartphone users have looked for local info and 84% have taken action as a result

Desktop result for ‘plumber’ search in London

Mobile result for ‘plumber’ search in London

there are

several factors for local search rankings

on-page optimization for location

Image/Graph etc.

local listings

- Google+ Local (within Google Places for Business)

- other relevant local business directories- Yahoo! Local- Bing Local - Yelp- Merchant Circle- Angie’s List- Judy’s Book 

- Kudzu 

Google+ Local ≠ Google+

Image/Graph etc.

this is a Google+ Local page

Image/Graph etc.

this is a Google+ profile page

Image/Graph etc.

you need

bothand you should

merge them.

local linkbuilding(e.g. local news sites, government sites, blogs, etc.)

“NAP” citations(like links for local SEO)

• Name• Address• Phone number

consistencysignal to Google that they all refer to the same business

protip: use Whitespark’s

Local Citation Finder tool

- from $20/month

imagesstorefront and product

Image/Graph etc.

structured data

- Schema.org: /Place and /LocalBusiness- hCard markup- KML file for GoogleMaps

social profiles

- Google+- Facebook

24% of local search via apps happens on Facebook’s mobile app

reviews and recommendations

- Yelp- Google+ Local

- TripAdvisor- Yahoo! Local- Foursquare- Zagat (for restaurants)

for a great local SEO resource, check out David Mihm’s report on

Local Search Ranking Factors 2013

http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

Does it work?

case study – Coffee Corner

Image/Graph etc.

We managed to get them to the top of page 1 within 6 weeks, which took their

search traffic from 100 to just under 300 visitors per month

Gareth Brown, founder of Target Local

They’re also seeing visitors coming from their Yelp

profile.

3) social media

we’ve already seen that

social is important

for local SEO.

but it’s also a

marketing channel

in its own right.

4 out of every 5people who

use Facebook daily access it on a

mobile device.

social media is a good way for your mobile visitors to

find and

interactwith you…

…if you do it right.

first, you need to

remember:

it’s about

conversation, not

broadcast.

use the

‘dinner party’ test.

and have a content plan.

this is all just basic

social media best practice.

mobile-social

protip:make sure that the

content you share

is mobile-friendly.

so you’ve got a

mobile-friendly website.

and you’ve made it easy for mobile users

to find you.

now what?

now the fun part:

Step 3: Reaching Out

in this phase, you can reach out to your customers

where they are,

instead of

waiting for them to come to you.

you can bypass

the search process altogether with

- apps- exclusive mobile content- emails

1) apps

do I need an app?

probably not.

but if your business model relies on

frequent return visits,

it may be worth investing in an

app.

2 types of app:

1. native app (iOS, Android, etc)

2. web app (HTML5)

Image/Graph etc.

Apple's App Store contains ~775,000 apps

native app web app

pros• faster performance• more specific functionality• app store support

cons• ££££• high-maintenance• approval process longer

pros• cheaper• easier to maintain

cons• one-size-fits-all• can’t be accessed offline• no app store support

some tools to help you build an app:

- Bizness Apps: from $59/month (native apps)

- ViziApps: starts from £29/month (web app) or £99/month for (native app)

- AppMakr: free native Android app (with ads), or for $9/month native iPhone and Android apps (no ads). - Premium option: $99 one-time fee for white-label

version.

- RedFoundry: contact for a quote

These tools were featured on Mashable

2) exclusive mobile content

some ideas:

- loyalty app

- push notifications with

geotargeting

related to

- exclusive offers for mobile visitors

are you sure you need an app?

because if you want an

easy hack…

- check-in and

coupon services

Foursquare, Facebook, Groupon.

added benefit:

online visibility and

social proof

speaking of Facebook

and Foursquare…

bonus tip:

social media

competitions

3) emails

if you do email marketing, make sure you’re using

mobile-friendly email templates.

79% of smartphone owners use their smartphone for reading email

email providers with mobile-friendly templates

• MailChimp: from ~$10/month

• Campaign Monitor: from $10/month or $5/campaign

if you don’t want to use their full service, you can simply use them to

build your email and

export the HTML.

and finally…

bonus tip:

provide

in-store wifi and collect customer data such as email addresses or (quick!) survey answers.

Half of the smartphone users who researched a product on their phone later purchased the item in-store

this doesn’t have to be scary…

Image/Graph etc.

Image Source

in fact, it’s

really easy!MyPlaceConnect provides a service

to set this up for you - from €25/month

you might decide to do ALL the things.

Image/Graph etc.

or not.

but no matter your

individual needs…

…there are a few important things to remember.

mobile is

HUGE.Mobile commerce accounts for 23% of online sales

Source: Mobile Growth Stats 2013

need you

a mobile strategy.

start with a

mobile-friendly website.

and

build up from there.

it’s

easier than you think!

So get started now!

THANK YOU

bridget.randolph@distilled.net

@BridgetRandolph