Why it is important to optimize your site and videos for mobile devices

Consumers are passionate about their mobile devices, in fact, Google’s Jason Spero, Head of Mobile Advertising, reports that 15% of all Google searches are now done on mobile devices. Hubspot, a software marketing firm in Boston, did a study which shows that 80% of business people browse the web and check email from their mobile devices.

What does this mean? It means that consumers are looking for your products and services (cars, restaurants, video production services, clothing, computers, etc) on their mobile devices and the number of consumers doing so quadruples every year. If your website or web video is not mobile ready then you might be missing out on sales opportunities because mobile web visitors will find your site difficult to view and move on to the next search result.  Interestingly enough, Google says, that 79% of its largest ad customers do not have their websites optimized for mobile viewing. In my view, that’s not necessarily surprising but it is an opportunity for small and mid-sized companies.

While large companies may have much bigger budgets for web development, they are slow to adapt to change  with respect to optimizing their websites and their videos to meet the growing demand for mobile Internet consumption.  Small and midsized companies tend to be more flexible when adding a mobile version of their website.

As I am the person primarily responsible for our website, I am investing much time on learning how to ditch Abobe Flash which Apple, on their iPhones, iPods and iPads, does not support. I have been using Adobe Flash for a long time and generally find it very valuable but Apple’s resistance to Flash on iOS devices forces me to look at alternatives. Fortunately, several of the web video hosting companies we use, e.g. YouTube, Vimeo and Blip.tv have optimized their sites for mobile viewing. In other words, videos that are hosted and then embedded in our clients’ websites can be viewed on mobile devices. But many website administrators are still using Flash based video playback which will not play on iOS devices but will do fine on Android phones and Android tablets – ideally though, you want your videos to be seen on every device by everyone.

Additionally, you may also want to investigate the possibility of a mobile app with which your customers and prospects can easily view your product offerings, product videos, and blog entries. App development costs can be as low as a few hundred dollars and your clients will appreciate the ease and convenience of staying informed of your company’s offerings with a free or low cost app.

2011 has already become the year during which businesses are focusing more and more on making sure that their websites and videos are mobile ready, and in the coming years mobile optimized sites and videos will become the norm.

Are you working on a mobile marketing strategy?

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