Mobile devices expected to account for 25% of paid search in 2012. We have all seen and read the reports of the expansion of mobile devices, but a good validation of the growth of any industry is to follow where advertising dollars go. According to several different reports, advertising spends on mobile devices more than doubled in 2011, and the trend is expected to continue. Here are a couple of factors to keep in mind when beginning to look at mobile devices, mobile search and advertising spends.
Do You Use Mobile Search?
Think about the last time you used an iPad or Smart Phone to do a search. Did you find what you were looking for? Was it fast enough? Were the results similar to that of you desktop? Probably not, but that may be the maturity of the market and the infrastructure. You can’t escape the speed with which we are moving from PC to device. Infrastructure, speed, and process will all improve at the same rate over the next few years.
One reason mobile search and mobile search advertising budgets could be lagging behind the growth of devices and applications, may have more to do with the systems setup to advertise and monitor advertising results. Can you say “opportunity?” It’s worth looking now.
Are You Setup For Mobile Search?
Do you have a mobile version of your website? How about a conversion funnel for mobile users? Don’t worry, most companies don’t have a good conversion funnel for non-mobile users! Now is a great time to get started setting up a new mobile strategy, and doing it the right way. Setup separate pages on your website for mobile users, track using analytics, and determine a base conversion rate. In the beginning setting this up for a smaller segment of your visitors will be easier than starting with your primary visitors. Take what you learn and what works and do it on your main site.
The More You Know…
Click Through Rates (CTR) may be higher, based on results shown, Cost Per Click (CPC) are lower based on current volumes, but this will change. In addition you can design better landing pages and conversion funnels for mobile users. You know more about them, like the fact that they use a mobile device for search! The best strategy is to design ‘campaigns specific to mobile’ and separate from other campaigns. It’s also a good opportunity to begin to build out sections of your website for mobile devices.
There are 1.2 billion PC’s in the world, and 3.4 billion smart devices, where do you think your next customer will come from? You do the math…
