Six Steps to Mobile Search Domination
Do you remember when the internet first came out? It seemed like a cranky beast that made weird noises in a continual effort to load one page in 30 minutes or less. Fast forward to today and we see the world changed dramatically.
The noises are gone, and so are the wires and slow speeds. Today you can access information online virtually anywhere in the world quickly from your mobile device. Tablets, wearables, and mobile devices sprout up every day, as we experience a new world of possibilities. In essence we have gone past the information age, and reached the mobile age. In the mobile age, 80% of people don’t leave home without their mobile devices, and 61% of smartphone owners perform searches on their devices every day.
For marketers this provides challenges and a lot of opportunity. To help you take advantage of that opportunity, we want to help you dominate mobile search. It is the spot where information and mobility come together in an amazing congruence.
6 Steps to Mobile Search Domination
#1 Test site for mobile friendliness
The first step to mobile search domination is to double check that your website is mobile friendly. To put it simply, you can rev up the RPM on your car, but you just cause a lot of smoke if your brakes are on. If you want to get going, you need a mobile strategy. Your website is the hub of your mobile strategy, and needs to be mobile-friendly. Fortunately, the Google Mobile Friendly test assesses whether your site has a mobile component.
Once you have a mobile site, the next step is to create mobile landing pages. Just like a traditional landing page, your mobile landing pages help prospects sign up for your email list and purchase products on the go. Structuring landing pages correctly is a major part of conversion rate optimisation.
#2 Create Mobile goals
The next step is to create goals for your mobile search campaign.
A good way to do this is to create SMART goals. While not limited to mobile campaigns, every mobile campaign should be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. For example, let’s say you own a pet store in Melbourne. You have the option of a few different goals like calls, ecommerce purchases, store visits, etc. In this case, you want to increase foot traffic to your store. You create a mobile search campaign to get more visitors on a Saturday. According to research from iAcquire, 70% of mobile searches lead to an visit on a website within one hour.
Therefore, you can measure the increase traffic to your website and by extension to your store that day. Because this can be done in one day, it is also a timely goal. Furthermore, let’s say you advertise $100 for one day. At the end of the day, you want to increase foot traffic by 10%. At the end of the day, you tally up foot traffic to see if this goal is achievable and realistic.
If so, you have the start of a great mobile search campaign. If not, back to the drawing board before you invest too much money on the project.
#3 Specific target
Once you have your plan, you need to have a specific target in mind. Like a journalist interviewing their source, you need to know the who, what, when, where, and why of your target market.
Here are a few questions you can ask to determine the best mobile strategy.
- Who orders on their device?
- What would encourage them to visit your store?
- When is the best time to reach that audience?
- Where do they hang out?
- Why would they look at your information on their mobile device?
The more in-depth your answers about your target market, the more you can create a successful mobile campaign.
#4 mobile specific ads
Next, you need to create mobile specific ads. Fortunately, Google AdWords provides a number of different mobile ad formats for you to use for your next campaign. For example, you might want your ads only to be displayed on certain browsers or devices. That way, if you sell iPhone cases you only promote your product to iPhone users on Safari.
Additionally, you can create text or visual ads for mobile to decide which format works best. Refer back to your target marketing to determine what your audience would find more useful.
#5 Keywords perform well in mobile
Running a desktop campaign for Google search requires a lot of long-tail keyword research. That is because on average users now input between 5-10 keywords to find what they are looking for on desktop searches.
However, the same is not true for mobile. Remember that it is easier to type on a desktop than a mobile device. Therefore, users on mobile devices only type in 1-2 keywords to find what they are looking for online. That represents a significant shift to how search marketers do business. Keep that in mind when you run your campaign
#6 Mobile paid for app
Earlier this year, Google announced the launch of sponsored results on the Google Play Store. This is a huge move, because now apps can advertise on the Play Store to get more downloads. Considering that there are more than a million apps now on the Play store, this is a huge move to help app developers and small businesses market themselves on the Play Store.
Final Thoughts
Have you read through this article and thought that you need to get into mobile marketing? Then great, make sure before you jump in head first, you have a solid plan to help you develop your mobile search strategy.
Like all other marketing strategies, be prepared to test and modify your campaign as you monitor the results. If you are still struggling to create the right mobile strategy, then contact us to learn more about how Shout can help you dominate mobile search for your business.
