Mobile phones (including smartphones) are an important marketing channel that internet marketers cannot ignore.  Considering that more people browse the internet, shop and manage their social networking profiles via their mobile phones than from their computers, it is a question of when and not why every business must optimise its website for mobile phones.

Mobile optimisation goes beyond reducing the size and resolution of your website to fit the mobile screen; it must also aim to create a user-friendly interface in order for the business to get its message across to the user effectively.

Here are a few tips that you can put to action to optimise your website for mobile phones.

Create a set of guidelines to follow

Begin by using a site performance tool like Google Webmaster Tools. This tool will give you a lot of information about your website, especially how your page is viewed by GoogleBot. You can log into Google webmaster tools and from the dashboard, choose the site you want to optimise. Under Labs, you will find the site performance option where you can see your site’s loading time. Your site is assigned a number and ranking vis-à-vis other sites.

You will also find the page speed plugin to help optimise your site.  This page has further instructions about how to install the plugin. After installation, you can see recommendations related to changes you can make on your site to optimise page load time. The first thing to focus on is the size of your image.

Take care of the white space

This means the extra space in your CSS and Java Script files. Often there is a lot of extra space in these files which increases website loading time. To optimise your site, check these files to eliminate what you don’t need on your site.

Putting things in their place

The page speed pluging will also recommend that you put your images and style sheets on a different URL as web servers can serve only one file at a time although browsers can read more than one file at a time. When images are on another URL, it will enable parallel download of different files within your site. Although you will not see bandwidth savings with this, it will certainly ensure that your website loads fast and fully, increasing site performance.

Compress files before they reach the browser

This makes a big difference in your site’s performance. For websites on shared hosting, you can add the compression command.  Ask your server administrator to help you do this.

These tips will go a long way in improving your site’s loading time, making the visitor experience more pleasant for those visitors that visit your website via their phones.  If you have any other tips you would like to add, let us know.  Take a look at the most recent Mobile Insights study done by Nielsen for some interesting mobile statistics.

Apps rule in mobile marketing and considering that there are more than 5 billion mobile phones worldwide, it is not surprising that companies serious about mobile marketing are focusing on developing apps for their customers. Mobiles let companies reach their customers wherever they are. According to the September 2010 comScore report, 31.4% of mobile users downloaded apps.

The world’s largest automotive manufacturer, Volkswagen, recently introduced its “DAS” or Digital Auto Space app which is an interactive iPad app. DAS is a magazine that takes customers into the fascinating world of Volkswagen with stories, videos, 360 degree car views and other interactive features. Planned as a quarterly magazine, DAS will be available in five languages and is part of the auto giant’s digital marketing strategy aimed at engaging with their audience.

Volkswagen’s launch comes close on the heels of iPad apps launches from Mercedes-Benz and Audi. In fact, Hyundai, the Korean car manufacturer will offer its owner’s manual as an interactive iPad app.

Currently, Volkswagen is promoting the relaunch of their Golf Cabriolet with a world-first augmented reality app for the iPad2, iPhone and Android. This AR app is fun and lets you explore and play with the car as you would with a real car.  You can change the car’s colour, rotate the car and it also allows you to create a picture of you with the car which you can share across your social networks.

In March 2011, Volkswagen released a unique AR app for iPhones, the VW Test Drive a Print AD. This app lets users test drive cars across the print ads. Right now this is available only in the Norwegian Apple store and on VW’s website. The goal was to persuade drivers of the car’s benefits and what better way than to let them go for a drive? Augmented reality is a great way to provide a life-like experience and this ad was featured in Norway’s most popular print magazines. After downloading the app, users could position their phone over the print ad and check out the car’s various features while driving it and testing its impressive features like lane assist, adaptive lights and cruise control.
With its innovative apps Volkswagen aims to establish itself as a market leader. Brand-specific apps go a long way in promoting a brand and its products, helping with marketing and brand building.

Search engines have been adjusting the way they show search results to users, giving preference to local content in certain scenarios.  For businesses, this is an opportunity to take advantage of as consumer media habits are rapidly changing. In this scenario, businesses often face a dilemma when trying to understand these changes and how they should readjust their marketing tactics to suit these trends.

There are plenty of tips available to help you determine what you should be doing to optimise your website for local search. Below is a list of the most important ones.

• Keep your company’s website and profiles on local search sites, like Google Places, up to date. When prospective customers search, they do not want to find data that is no longer valid. Keeping listings updated will ensure that you do not lose sales and also make your business appear credible. It is a good idea to add optimised images and videos to make it even more useful.
• Make sure your website’s home page, about page, media page and contact pages have accurate information and in legible font that is large enough to read easily. Tiny print against dark background is a no-no and spells bad usability for your site.
• Avoid using vanity phone numbers that are a combination of alphabets and numbers.  The letters cannot be dialed on cellphones with numeric keypads, making it hard for customers to get in touch with you.
• Do not hide your phone number inside a graphic image. If you have to, include the number in the alt text and html as well.
• Flash-only websites tend to perform badly on search engines and also do not show up properly on mobile screens.
• Use descriptive keywords as link text rather than ask users to “click here”
• Take part in the conversation about your business across social media and track it regularly, responding when the need arises. If there are negative reviews, offer solutions and aim to convert them into positive ones.  Acknowledge unhappy customers, and take the discussion offline even as you let your community know that you are taking care of the issue.  For resolved problems, request the customer to post feedback.

Since Google’s aim is to provide users with the most relevant search results for their queries, you can use the above strategies to increase your chances of being found for your targeted geo location.  If you have any other tips feel free to share them!