By Bob Speyer and Justin Delos Reyes – Web Success Team

It is no secret that mobile usage is on the rise. Everywhere you go, you see people either chatting on their phones or walking with their head down, sliding their finger across a little glass screen. Mobile devices connect people to the digital world whenever and wherever they please. This presents a valuable marketing opportunity that your business should capitalize on as soon as possible. Below are the reasons why you need to implement a mobile website into your online marketing strategy.

Everyone Can Access Mobile Websites

Mobile apps are great not just from a consumer’s perspective, but from a brand’s perspective as well. A well-developed app that is engaging and fun to use can do wonders for your business. But there is one glaring drawback to mobile apps – many of them aren’t developed for every operating system.

Mobile websites, on the other hand, can be visited by any person that can access the Internet on their phone or tablet device. In other words, mobile websites are practically universal while apps are not. Nobody is excluded from learning about your company or interacting with it on a mobile website like they may be on an app.

Mobile Websites Are Easy to Develop
Google launched a free tool on June 29 that can help every brand jump-start its mobile website building efforts. There are 5 templates to choose from (Restaurant, Social, Lead Generation, eCommerce, and Local Business). If your brand doesn’t fall into any of those categories, you have the option of creating a custom template to suit your needs. Just fill out your company’s information, upload a logo, select the colors of your site, and you’re done.

One of the best features (in addition to the fact that you don’t need to have any coding experience) is that you can easily integrate Google Analytics into your mobile site. This will allow you to gain valuable insight into how your mobile website is being accessed and will help you determine your online marketing strategy moving forward.

Brands that prefer to have a custom mobile website over Google’s templates, can certainly contact a marketing agency who has mobile web development, as well as social media and search engine optimization (SEO) capabilities. Online marketing agencies like this can create a simple site that can fulfill your marketing objectives at the same time.

Traffic to Your Other Sites Will Rise
A simple mobile website can boost traffic to your traditional website and social media pages. Since many smartphone users can land on your mobile site when they conduct searches on their phone about your brand or products/services, it serves a great launching pad for your other marketing platforms on the web. All you need to do is put a text link to these pages onto your mobile site and users will have an easier way of finding you on their favorite social networks.

If you liked this article you may also like:

• Guidelines for Creating an Effective Mobile Website
• Is Your Business Prepared for the Year of the Tablet?