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Written by Clinton R. Lanier

Tuesday, 03 January 2012 09:58

A glance over the website analytics of New Mexico Tech for the past two years demonstrates a growing internet trend: more and more people are viewing websites with their mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc.). In 2011 over 4% of our web traffic (representing over 30,000 visits) came from mobile devices. This is in comparison to 2010, when only 1.5% of visits were mobile.

We aren’t alone in this trend, either. According to a study by Cisco Systems the growth rate of mobile internet devices was 159% in 2010 and 149% in 2009. The stats aren’t in yet for 2011, but if NMT’s analytics are any indication the growth rate will prove to be much higher.

Forecasts of the future are even more striking. According to a study by Morgan Stanley, mobile devices will overtake the PC for internet viewing by 2015. In other words, 3 out of every 5 people will view a business’ website on their smart phone, tablet or other mobile device instead of their desktop computer.

What’s more, the study projects mobile e-commerce will overtake desktop-based e-commerce before 2015. In certain markets—like media downloads (e-books, video, music and games)—this may well happen in 2012 or 2013.

The upshot of this is that your web presence needs to serve mobile web traffic. Mobile sites must be faster to download, they must be simple with few graphics and easily read on the small screens of mobile devices (the screen of the iPad is only about 9 X 7” after all).

Remember that you only have a brief instance—within 1-2 seconds—to grab the attention of an internet user and draw them into your site. If in that instant they judge your site as taking too long to download, too complicated to use, or not what they were looking for, they will quickly vanish into the virtual netherworld, shopping at a competitor’s website instead.

So my question for the small business owners of Las Cruces is this: how mobile is your web presence? Are you prepared for this trend?

If not, you need to be. Your website will soon grow very, very outdated unless you can compensate for the coming swell of mobile-based internet traffic. Here are some aspects to consider when planning your mobile presence on the web:

Speed is the key! Design a mobile site to be quickly downloaded by making images and graphics linked options instead of part of the design.

Touch-screen interfaced require big links. Make sure that links on your site are easy to see and click. Even better, make menu items large buttons instead of simply linked words.

Make the mobile site fully functional. In other words, ensure that your mobile site has every function and piece of information—or at least the option to access it—that your standard site does.

Give people the option. While most mobile web surfers are viewing via their wireless carrier’s service, some are viewing via wireless internet networks with faster speeds, so give them the option to view your standard website as well.

Cut down on the clutter—even more. I’m a proponent of minimalism on the web—the less the better on most websites. But mobile sites must be bare-bones and provide only the most necessary and basic information (while still providing ways to get to the detailed stuff if the user wants it).

The growing trend of mobile web traffic is a good sign for businesses that have already positioned themselves online—users will be ready to virtually shop anytime and anywhere. Web traffic will most certainly increase, and with it the opportunity to grow and increase revenue.

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How Is the ROI of Social Media Marketing Measured?

Written by Clinton R. Lanier
Monday, 19 December 2011 09:13
The speed with which companies have been moving to market through social media platforms and social networking sites has come at break-neck speeds over the past couple of years. Large organizations, like Coca Cola and Nike have doubled down on their spending budgets just this past year, and are expected to increase it once again for 2012. With all the paid experts at their disposal, clearly they know something about current and future trends in marketing. Small business owners, I believe, genuinely want to do the same. I think most feel they need to begin marketing via social media and try by dipping their toe in the water (so to speak) in the form of a page on Facebook or a Twitter account. But then what? How do they know whether or not their initiative is working? Unfortunately, most are used to the way traditional marketing campaigns are run: a commercial (or print ad) is created and broadcast about a specific service, topic, product or initiative, and then customers respond in some manner. Social media is different. Very different. And so when small business owners don’t see the crowds come storming in after they half-heartedly post for a few months, they neglect their Facebook and Twitter accounts altogether, ruining any chance they might have had of actually using them effectively. The truth is the Return on Investment (ROI) of social media marketing depends on understanding what social media can and cannot do, and then setting your own expectations accordingly. For example, social media is NOT a sales conversion platform (here I mean the continued platforms, such as Facebook pages, not Facebook ads). In other words, they really are not best used to drive customers to buy a product or service. Social media is likewise NOT a “campaign” driven mechanism. Unlike television advertising where a business can market a single thing, event or service for a short amount of time, social media initiatives are long-term and generate success over time. Add a comment
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Use online reviews, criticisms to your advantage

Written by Clinton R. Lanier
Monday, 05 December 2011 15:07
If You Ignore What’s Said About You Online, Does it Matter? Not too long ago someone wrote an editorial for this paper bemoaning the rise in popularity of online review sites, like the enormously popular Yelp. The point of the editorial was to decry consumer review sites as mechanisms for slander and false statements meant to hurt the business. The argument went something like this: people can get on there and say mean and untrue things about the business with no recourse. True. Very true. But also true is the fact that consumers love them and are using them on a daily basis to tell other consumers about you and your business or brand. These sites—actually Yelp in particular—work like this: consumers create user accounts, and then have the ability to provide recommendations and reviews about everything from plumbers to restaurants. Other consumers chime in with reviews and ratings, give feedback about other reviews or ratings, and create communities. The reviews and ratings can be—and often are—shared among other social networks, like Facebook or Twitter. And, they are further ranked at the top of the list for search engine results in search engines like Google or Bing—meaning that the reviews are often the first and perhaps only thing consumers might read about any particular business. And how popular are they, you ask? According to their most recent press release, Yelp saw a monthly average of 61 million visitors per month in the third quarter of 2011 (up from 16 million in 2008) reviewing their over 17 million reviews. And while they haven’t disclosed data about the number of users who write reviews, according to the Pew Research Center, over 24% of internet users have posted comments or reviews about products or services (there are currently over 272 million internet users in the United States). Add a comment
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