The Importance of a Mobile Search Strategy

Increasingly, mobile’s importance in our lives is becoming more evident. Our mobile phones can essentially be considered a permanent fixture of our daily routines. Can you leave home without it?

In conjunction with Nielsen, Google’s new report, “Mobile Search Moments: Understanding How Mobile Drives Conversions”, attempts to decipher what triggers people to do mobile searches and when, what actions follow as a result and how marketers can utilize this intelligence. This report explains the measurable connections between mobile searches and their correlated online and offline conversions.

What are the main drivers for mobile searches? Speed and convenience, with 77% of mobile searches performed in a location (work or home) likely to have a PC available to them.

Here are a few additional highlights from the report:

• 45% of all mobile searches are goal-oriented and conducted to help make a decision

• 81% of conversions (store visit, call or purchase) triggered by mobile search occur within 5 hours

• 55% of conversions from mobile searches happen within one hour

As a key factor in the decision-making process, a mobile search strategy is an essential piece of your overall marketing strategy.

What mobile search opportunities do you see for your business? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

Like this post? Connect with Erika Barbosa on Google+.

Image credit: Johan Larsson

New Strategies for Your Mobile Playbook

As you may have already noticed, I place a lot of importance on having a mobile strategy for your business. Interacting with your customers via mobile in some form or fashion is inevitably going to be a part of your business’s future. Mobile is a critical component to the overall success of your marketing strategy.

Google has released an update to the prior Mobile Playbook that includes new strategies on mobile creativity and ROI. The two main areas of focus expanded upon examples of compelling mobile creative and measuring the real ROI of mobile and its associated impact on a business.

The Playbook also features case studies covering the 5 mobile conversion types. This consists of mobile web, from apps, phone calls, cross-device and in-store. Using the “mobile web” conversion type case study as an example, TicketNetwork’s mobile site was designed with two critical components at the forefront – speed and simplicity. Four months after launch, ticket sales from mobile grew by 184% due to their efforts to build a mobile site that made the purchasing process easy for the consumer.

You can find the updated Mobile Playbook here. What mobile conversion type have you experienced the most success with?

Like this post? Connect with Erika Barbosa on Google+.

Image credit: mroach

Google Mobile Search via Handwriting Recognition

It is known that Google offers a few different ways to search including voice command to auto-complete.

The search giant is now introducing another search method – handwriting recognition. Still in the experimental stage, Google Handwrite will support 27 languages and will run on Android phones and tablets, and on iOS devices running iOS 5. Since it’s still in the testing phase, users will have to enable it within their settings to enjoy this new feature.

Searching via this method will allow you to scribble on nearly all of your phone’s screen space. The autocomplete suggestions will appear below the search box after a few letters, just as the typical search does.

Google Handwrite is intended to supplement the traditional keyboard. You can watch Mashable’s brief video about this feature to learn more.

It’s highly unlikely “handwriting” searches will consist of more than one or two words due to screen space. How do you see this form of query impacting a business’s website visibility in search?

Like this post? Connect with Erika Barbosa on Google+.

Image credit: photosteve101

Structuring Your Business for Mobile Success

Google recently released The Mobile Playbook, The Busy Executive’s Guide to Winning with Mobile, By Jason Spero and Johanna Werther. While exploring the Playbook, a panel of leading mobile experts reviewed the following 5 necessary questions for mobile success:

1. How does mobile change our value proposition?
2. How does mobile impact our digital destinations?
3. Is your organization adapting to mobile?
4. How should our marketing adapt to mobile?
5. How can we connect with our tablet audience?

The Mobile Playbook ends with a helpful action items checklist and an additional resources list.

I recommend reviewing this ebook if you are looking to further your business’s mobile strategy. One of my favorite tips from the Playbook is the GoMoMeter. This Google website (How To Go Mo) allows you to test a website’s mobile appearance, learn the top ten mobile design practices, and the ability to generate a custom report with improvement recommendations along with a vendor list to help you get started.

Please share your comments and questions about mobile for business below.

Like this post? Connect with Erika Barbosa on Google+.