By now you’ve probably heard about the mobile index scheduled to go live by the end of this year.
During the surging waves of Google leaks and announcements last year, thousands of marketing professionals and savvy businesses owners underwent a mild Y2K period of running around aimlessly to get prepped for the arrival of the unknown.
Touted as the biggest web shift since Tim Berners-Lee started the trend of putting pages online back in 1991, it’s likely you’ve seen something about it.
Blogs on the subject were written and read with equal ferocity and everyone with an online voice in the industry took turns guessing what sort of fireworks this would cause and how to prevent total collapse.
Anticipation, excitement, and dread were doled out and consumed in equal portions.
But then months passed. And more months.
The firecrackers fizzled out.
The launch turned into a quiet test. Then another.
And the mobile first index hype transformed into the internet version of watching a year-long car race.
The gripping thrill of the first trips around the track has now been fully blunted by a six month lull in any meaningful action.
For marketing personnel, this means busily going about our daily grind with one eye peeking every now and then to look for progress or a pile up.
But for the average business owner, this is actually a massive opportunity.
Whether the launch goes smoothly or burns out in a blaze of glory, the inevitability of mobility is clear.
Gender, ethnicity, income level, global politics, and geography all come together on this one issue.
The facts are staggering:
- 95+% of Americans own a cellphone or mobile device.
- More people have cellphones worldwide than toilets.
- More than 77% of people in the US own a smart phone.
- Only the 65+ show any resistance at all to this development and even 80% of US adults in this age group have some kind of cellphone (likely forced upon them by a concerned family member).
- Usage is growing at an exponential rate and the ways smart phones are used is expanding.
- Social media is now a cultural and practical way of life… and a big part of huge business opportunities.
- Mobile searches convert better on average, leading to more calls, visits, and purchases.
And on around the racetrack, every lap closer to the point where we simply implant our smartphones in our brains to free up our eyes and hands for other tasks.
But what does all this mean?
Simple.
It means that you now have the perfect window to make your business (model, site, and marketing) as mobile friendly as possible.
Here are a few of several hundred checklist questions…
Is your website responsive (mobile friendly)?
Do you know how mobile users fit in your product or service buying cycle?
Are you tracking how much of your business comes from mobile?
Will the mobile version of your site rank for the right key terms in the new index?
Is this shift going to put me ahead of my competition or behind?
If you aren’t sure, hopefully you don’t end up one of those business owners picking up the pieces of an outdated business model in a year or two.
Don’t take chances. Be sure.
Talk to your marketing department, hire a reputable SEO consultant, find out if your website is not only sized for smartphone users but designed for a satisfying user experience.
Get the information you need to make informed decisions.
And if you need a free professional assessment to gauge your readiness, all of us here at 561Media will be happy to help.
But whatever solution you choose…
Just make sure to take advantage of this lull in the action to get your business ready for the next big step in the mobile device revolution.
For many it will be the difference between strong bottom line returns and struggling to stay in business.
