While clearly every business is a bit different, we can begin finding some answers by looking at a host of sources for Internet Usage Statistics. One such source, NetMarketShare, shows that mobile browsing, as a percentage of overall web browsing, has grown from 3.79% to nearly 8% in the calendar year 2011 – a nearly 100% annual increase! While impressive indeed, the growth figures alone only tell a bit of the story of how the mobile revolution may impact your business.

Mobile Web Usage by the Numbers

To gain a little more insight into the problem, we began to look at some empirical data from many of our client sites that we’ve built and monitored over the past number of years. What we found was startling, but not totally unexpected. Overall, our average clients’ mobile traffic patterns mirror the findings of NetMarketShare. While a handful of sites remain in the low single digits in terms of mobile traffic, a number of them have crept up to 10% and above. While your individual site numbers may not be at 10% yet, every web visit is an opportunity to connect with prospects and potential customers, so we feel that it is imperative that every company or organization begins to take a serious look at developing a mobile web strategy…here’s why:

In looking at some very basic web analytics such as bounce rate, time spent on the site and page views, we see some marked differences in the behavior of mobile visitors to non-optimized sites as compared to their desktop counterparts:

• Bounce rates are on average 13% higher
• Page views are up to 50% fewer
• The average time spent on the site is up to 75% less

When you look at these factors, the conclusion is clear. A non-mobile optimized website virtually eliminates the value of having mobile visitors at all.

The Benefits of a Mobile Optimized Site

On the other hand, when we look at clients who have mobile-optimized sites, we see desktop and mobile visitor stats that are nearly identical and sometimes even better for mobile device users. Our conclusion is that it’s never too soon to consider a mobile web strategy. Sales is, and always has been a numbers game. With the cost of customer acquisition being what it is and with your competition only one click away, can you really afford to be losing 10% of your web prospects?

Remember, whether your mobile web traffic is 1% or 10% of your overall traffic, the numbers will only continue to rise, making a mobile website a business necessity.

There are many ways to mobilize a website and we’ll cover them in the weeks ahead. If you have any questions, please visit the Mobile Applications page of our website or reach out to us and we can discuss your mobile strategy.

Today, ‘the Perch’ is an actual place on the SJU campus where students gather together to meet, greet, play and compete. My kids say I’m obsessed with it, embarrassed that I insist on going there on almost every trip back to campus when I visit them. (Yes, that would be two more hawks in the family!) So what’s wrong with a little obsession over a place that’s so full of life and energy?

In all seriousness, SJU is the place where I got my wings and found this passion for marketing and for life. The SJU mantra — ‘not for spectators’ – says it all. In that same vein, this blog promises to be a place to find engaging, innovative ideas that you can put into action. From this vantage point, we’ll make sure you’re poised to strike with all the vision, experience and insight we have to give.

Yes, we know, it’s long overdue…but it’s not like we haven’t  been busy. Along with all of the usual stuff; rebranding, go-to-market strategies, active selling via the web, going mobile and just flat out helping our clients kick their marketing efforts into gear, we’ve actually put together a really nice pair of shoes!

Along with the introduction of the blog, we recently completed a new AJAX-driven web site that includes an optimized experience for our mobile visitors. And yes; we eat our own dog food…the site is built upon the most recent version of our in-house CMS.

In addition, we’ve published a new content-managed Facebook page that provides a small glimpse at our recent portfolio examples as well as a feed from this blog. And if that is not enough, you’ll have to take the time to follow us on our newly created Twitter account so you can open an active dialog with us online. And soon, we’ll turn our attention to LinkedIn as well.

The next time we see you, we’ll hand you one of our new business cards that includes a QR Code that will make it easy to find us on all of your favorite social hangouts.

So, subscribe to our RSS feed and make sure you receive our posts.  We’ll be sharing our insights and best practices in the world of marketing and technology – and the mystery behind our blog branding.