Mobile Search Survey Confirms Importance of Mobile Web For Business

The importance of having a web page that can be found and read by customers using mobile search from Internet-ready cell phones and mobile devices was underscored by new research from Internet domain registrar, dotMobi, and AKQA Mobile, the mobile division of AKQA, an international creative advertising agency.

The survey amongst consumers in the U.S and U.K. “indicated a strong consumer desire for practical mobile content on cell phones,” according to dotMobi. AKQA Mobile’s managing director reports that, “The enormous popularity of mobile devices has had a profound effect on the lifestyle of the consumer, unleashing new levels of connectivity and personal mobility.”

The results highlight not only the strong co,lnsumer demand for mobile search, but the necessity of having a website that can be found from a mobile phone and content on that site that is mobile search-friendly. Nearly fifty percent of the survey respondents who said they had a poor experience the first time they used the mobile Internet reported that a “poor experience” made them “reluctant to access” that site, or the Internet, again from their mobile phone or device.

Other key findings from the dotMobi/AKQA survey were that:

• Approximately 90% of respondents are “interested in learning about the mobile Web, demonstrating a need for brands to make their mobile properties findable via mobile search, marketing and advertising.”
• 86% of the respondents “said they were interested in knowing which sites are easily accessible on a mobile phone.”
• 50% of respondents were unaware that there are web sites that are accessible by mobile phone.

One further finding seems key, particularly given all the press about the hottest, new mobile device – the Apple iPhone. “Only 2 percent of participants in the survey who have purchased a phone in the past six months chose an iPhone,” according to dotMobi. “This indicates that brands that don’t optimize their mobile services for a variety of mobile phones will provide a substandard mobile Internet experiences for a vast majority of consumers.”

While the dotMobi/AKQA research was geared towards companies marketing large consumer brands, it underscores how important mobile search is becoming, and will become, for small, local business. Sesimi.com builds and hosts small business web pages that are optimized to appear in the local search queries that customers are using to find local products and services online. A Sesimi.com web page is easily and affordably capable of being optimized for mobile search as well, affording small businesses the same advantage in online marketing that large companies are accessing to get their brands and products in front of an increasingly mobile, Internet-savvy host of consumers.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Mobile Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.