Internet marketing

An important part of Internet marketing is keeping pace with changes in people’s online habits and the specific ways in which they access the Internet. This in many ways is inextricably linked to the pace of technological change, as evidenced by a recent report on consumer Internet searches.

Massive growth reported

At the end of April the British Retail Consortium (BRC) released the findings of its sexily titled ‘BRC-Google Online Retail Monitor’. According to the report, shopping motivated Internet searches on mobile phones grew by 181% over the past year, accounting for 11% of the total retail searches in the first quarter of 2011. This is compared to just 29% overall growth of retail searches in the same period.

This massive increase in the number of people using their phones to shop online is a testament to the leaps and bounds that mobile phones have taken in the past decade. Ten years ago it was perhaps not inconceivable that people would one day be shopping on their mobile phones, but many would have viewed this as more of a gimmick than a credible channel for respectable splurging.

Twenty years ago, if you suggested that you’d one day be shopping on what was ostensibly a house brick-cum-walkie talkie, you might as well have been talking about using your television set to go ice skating.

Keeping up with generation Now

But here we are today, with high speed mobile Internet access, crystal clear screens in wide screen format, and a new generation of Internet users who don’t just want to be able to access and consume anything they want, but to do so wherever they want.

And with new ways of buying come new ways of selling. As smart phones get smarter and consumers get savvier, those who stay ahead in the Internet retail game are likely to be those who do the same.

Is your usability mobile?

Back in 2009, Internet usability guru Jakob Nielsen carried out a study on mobile phone usability, concluding that: “the phrase ‘mobile usability’ is pretty much an oxymoron. It’s neither easy nor pleasant to use the web on mobile devices.’  He identified the ‘four main usability hurdles’ which mobile users face: small screens, awkward input download delays and mis-designed sites.

Now clearly these first three are in the hands of mobile phone manufacturers and networks, but the last one is very much in the remit of Internet marketing and SEO professionals. Pretty much any website worth its salt has got its head around usability guidelines for computer screens by now, but how many have paid special attention to the growing field of mobile usability?

With such significant growth, someone must have. But have you? Talk to your SEO agency to find out if you’re missing out on 181% of potential growth.