It never received one mention in the press. You never watched it on the news.
But on April 16th. 2014 at 4:32 PM, a few people at Google, some coding guys in the UK, and Dan Anderson with Bellevue Public Relations, Inc. called each other and made a silent toast for what will go down in the books as a turning point in human communication.
For the first time in history, there were more consumers using the internet from smart phones than from the home or office computer, and that trend is expected to continue upwards with the advent of 4G and download speeds.
Since this time last year, the major wireless carriers, as a group, have increased their average download speeds for laptop-modem users by more than threefold. The Big Four carriers now have a collective average download speed of roughly 3.5 megabits per second.
As a result, easy to read “mobile websites” with thumb sized links are the newest “must have” for businesses that are competing for customers on the go. Nielsen reported on Monday that smartphone owners prefer to use retail websites, rather than retail apps, when researching products on the fly, comparing prices, finding retail locations, and redeeming coupons.
There is just one small problem. Have you looked at your website on an I phone or Blackberry? Have you tried while you were driving (we know it’s illegal) to find a phone number on a non mobile website?
“Desktop” websites accessed from smart phones look horrible and as a result, retailers are starting to slowly feel the heat as businesses are now discovering that consumers searching Google and Bing or Safari on smart phones are opting out of large desktop websites because they do not load correctly causing text to appear too small to read, websites to load slowly, and consumers on the go are tired of running their fingers across a small screen ten times to size a website so that they can read it correctly. In other words, no mobile website, no business.
“If the website does not load within 2.8 seconds, the user leaves the website and re-searches again until they find one that loads quickly”, said Dan Anderson, Vice President of Bellevue Pubic Relations, Inc, a Bellevue PR firm located on the Microsoft campus that builds mobile websites as well as offers PR for its 2000 plus clients.
Anderson told NWM on Saturday that businesses can no longer wait. They must have a mobile website now if they are to survive and it’s become more important to have a mobile website than a desktop site Anderson stresses.
“You have to understand that consumers today are in a hurry. They are the mom’s with 3 kids, the teen jamming his I pod on the bus, 40 something’s in the car on 520, and an elderly couple in an elevator looking for a coffee shop. A wide range of consumers right? Well these consumers all have one thing in common. If they Google for a Pho Restaurant in Boise and are greeted with a desktop website, or a slow loading site, they are gone. Period.” Anderson mentions as he searches for a Pho restaurant in Bellevue from his I-phone, and the first 5 options ere desktop sites.
“See this guy, see this mobile site?” Anderson motions, “I am going to lunch there because the number popped up with an easy to click call link”.
“It’s a matter of speed and convenience, and businesses are going to loose unless they get a mobile website that codes correctly on all smart phones, not just I-phones.” Anderson continued, “There are scams popping up on the internet with quick fixes for one or two mobile phones, but these mobile solutions don’t work. If you want a mobile website that works on all 120 devices in use today, then you have to get a mobile website from a mobile website developer.”
Bellevue Public Relations, Inc is leading the industry with a solution it has worked on for 3 years. Its coded a solution in such a way that a mobile website automatically loads when your website is accessed from any smart phone, so consumers never see the large desktop site, but the new mobile website. If your website is accessed from a home computer or an office computer your customers still see the large desktop version. The code Bellevue Public Relations has developed is one of the most talked about codes in Tech circles because it displays your mobile website perfectly on all 120 devices worldwide such as an I-pad, smart phones, I-phone and Blackberry. They offer custom websites with links the size of your thumb for all industries across the board and a Google maps link for customers that want to find you.
“In January we received 4 calls. In February we recorded 22 calls. So far in June we have had to hire 11 new coders and 8 customer service reps just to keep up with the current demand, and we have even been asked to showcase the 4G World 2015 Conference and Expo in Chicago this year” Dan Anderson mentioned to NWM.
After spending two hours hearing the phones ring, my determination is that mobile websites are here to stay, and with 51% of consumers now searching from them, it might be a good idea to forget out the redesign on the desktop website and spring for a mobile website for your business.
Bellevue Public Relations, Inc. is a Seattle based software and PR firm located in Bellevue, Washington.