Did you know that one in every three mobile searches has local intent? That means local businesses need to be prepared for more site traffic from mobile devices. An important first step to attracting customers on-the-go is creating a mobile-friendly website which can sometimes be complicated and confusing. We’re happy to announce that GoMo and DudaMobile have joined forces to make it even easier for small businesses to create a mobile-friendly website.

Starting today, you can create a free mobile site directly from howtogomo.com using a tool powered by DudaMobile. This do-it-yourself site builder, customized specifically for GoMo users, easily converts regular websites into mobile-friendly sites in five simple steps. And it allows you to add features like a click-to-call button, mobile maps and Google AdSense. Sites that are created with the GoMo-DudaMobile tool will be hosted free for one year.

Dog Nanny’s website was not mobile friendly. Visitors had to pinch and zoom to read content.	Dog Nanny’s new mobile site - created in just a few minutes - looks great on mobile devices.

Please note that DudaMobile’s technology is best for converting simple sites. If your site uses a lot of Flash content, framesets or e-commerce, we suggest that you Go Mobile by talking to your agency or working with one of the developers here.

Many small businesses are discovering that mobile sites mean more business. Now you have an opportunity to easily create a professional mobile site which will delight your customers when they visit you on the mobile web. Visit howtogomo.com/getstarted and build your site today.  It’s time to GoMo!


Posted by Nabil Haschemie, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

As part of Google’s ongoing GoMo initiative, we hosted two live webinars to help advertisers and publishers learn the benefits of creating mobile-friendly sites, hear tips and case studies, and tap into new resources get started. If you missed the live webinars, no problem! You can watch the recorded videos and download the slides for either (or both!) webinars.

Advertisers who watch the video will learn how to:

1. Mobilize your site.
Understand what it means, learn the benefits and get started with GoMo.
2. Maximize your mobile ads.
Hear why it’s important and learn practical how-to’s for making the most of your mobile investment.
3. Track, measure and iterate.
Get tips and see helpful tools you can use today.

Interested in learning more? Watch the recorded webinar and download the slides.

Publishers who watch the video will learn:

1. Why go mobile?
Your users have gone mobile in a big way, hear why you must follow suit.
2. Tips for building mobile sites     
Mobile is different.  Learn 10 practical tips for building engaging, uniquely mobile experiences.
3. Best practices in action
Hear from web publisher FindTheBest about the success they’ve seen from going mobile.
4. How to get started
Google is here to help. Learn about tools we’ve created to get you started on the path to delighting
your users and maximizing your mobile revenue.

Interested in learning more? Watch the recorded webinar and download the slides.

Posted by: Suzanne Mumford, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads and Joseph Corral, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

As part of our ongoing GoMo initiative, last week we connected with nearly 500 digital advertisers in a live webinar to share tips and tools on how to optimize advertiser websites for mobile.  This Thursday, we’ll be hosting a second webinar, GoMo for Publishers:  Mobilize Your Site and Maximize Your Ad Revenue, with an exclusive focus on the needs of online publishers.

Mobile web consumption is exploding.  For many publishers, mobile traffic represents more than 30% of total site visits, and the trends continue to point upward.  Despite this, 80% of online publishers don’t have a mobile-optimized website, and they risk losing their fastest-growing audience.  61% of consumers would likely never return to a site with a poor mobile experience.1  That’s why we recently launched GoMo for Publishers, to provide publishers with new tools to start optimizing for mobile.

Join Google on Thursday, March 22nd at 10:00 am PT/1:00 pm ET, to discuss why it’s imperative to build for mobile and delight your mobile users  We’ll show you all the tools you need to get you ready to go mobile. Sign up today and log on to learn:

1. Why go mobile? Your users have gone mobile in a big way, hear why you must follow suit.
2. 10 tips for building mobile sites   Mobile is different.  Learn 10 practical tips for building engaging, uniquely mobile experiences.
3. Best practices in action Hear from web publisher FindTheBest about the success they have seen from going mobile. 
4. How to get started Google is here to help. Learn about tools we’ve created to get you started on the path to delighting your users and maximizing your mobile revenue.

Sign up for the webinar today.  We look forward to seeing you on March 22th!

Posted by Joseph Corral, Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile Ads
Source (1): Compuware, “why the mobile web is disappointing end-users.” March 2011

It’s been four months since Google and its technology partners DudaMobile and Mobify provided over 500 Mobile, AL small businesses with free mobile-friendly sites.  The event was part of Google’s GoMo initiative, and provided small business owners with an opportunity to build sites made for the small screen complete with mobile-friendly features like click-to-call and click-to-map.  The Google team followed up with some of the business owners to see how the new mobile-friendly sites have helped their businesses grow.  Simply put, mobile-friendly sites drive results.  Check out how mobile-friendly sites helped to improve sales, site traffic and calls for five small businesses: Distinguished Young Women, Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center, Spring Hill Medical Center, USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park and Knotty N Nice.  

Stephanie Bradford, Communications Director for Distinguished Young Women, the largest and oldest national scholarship program for high school girls, commented on how the new mobile-friendly site is helping to raise nationwide recognition, “The stats we have seen further confirm the effectiveness of our new mobile site in reaching and engaging our target audience. With more than 85% of visits to the site from new visitors, we are confident that the mobile site is allowing us to realize greater awareness across the country. As we work to encourage participation in the Distinguished Young Women program, our mobile site is allowing us to connect with our potential participants, teenage girls, in a way they are familiar with and have come to expect from companies and organizations to which they are loyal.”

Kirsten Conley, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center, talked about how she’s changing her marketing mix, “We're able to give our guests and potential guests the information that they're looking for on the go.  We were stunned by the sheer volume of phone calls that came from the mobile-friendly site and reevaluated our phone system to keep up with the increase in incoming calls.  Lastly, we've begun placing more mobile advertisements as part of our marketing mix.”  The mobile-friendly site has brought 40% more calls and 20% more sales and site visits.  


Glenn Geiger of Spring Hill Medical Center, a full-service hospital, had this to say about his GoMo experience, “Once the site was running, the reports from DudaMobile were very eye opening.  The best thing was the tracking of actual phone calls placed to our hospital. Something we have never been able to track was delivered to us instantly, on a silver platter.”  Overall, calls to Spring Hill have increased by 80% since optimizing the site for mobile devices, with visits to the site and hospital increasing by 20%.

Karen Conner, Director of Sales & Marketing for the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, encourages other business owners to get started on building their sites if they haven’t already, “We are a military attraction and our potential visitors are most interested in just a few things, mostly admission prices and directions.  The new mobile-friendly site gives us that edge by making our information right at their fingertips.  No more zooming in to find the information and then potentially losing the customer due to their frustration.”  Conner said that sales, calls and site visits have increased by 20% since creating the mobile-friendly site.


Janna Peterson of Knotty N Nice, an informational site about natural styles for African Hair,
said that her mobile site has helped increase site traffic by 200%, “The business is growing and the mobile website would be to thank for that.  It's easier for people to access my site now and of course we have more traffic now.”  


Each site owner will continue to track their site’s performance by using Google Analytics or DudaMobile’s site analytics reports.   

Success stories like these exemplify how mobile-friendly sites improve sales and traffic for all businesses, no matter the size or industry.  

Let us know your mobile-friendly site success stories in the comments.  Visit howtogomo.com to mobilize your site today!

Posted by: Suzanne Mumford, Google Mobile Ads Marketing and Jessica Sapick, Google Small Business Strategy

Join Google for tomorrow’s webinar, GoMo: Mobilize Your Site and Maximize your Advertising and learn 3 ways to make the most of mobile.

1. Mobilize your site.

   Understand what it means, learn the benefits and get started with GoMo.

2. Maximize your mobile ads.

   Hear why it’s important and learn practical how-to’s for making the most                  

   of your mobile investment.

3. Track, measure and iterate.

   Get tips and see helpful tools you can use today.

On March 15th at 10:00 am PT/1:00 pm ET, Suzanne Mumford, Product Marketing Manager, will be presenting 3 ways to make the most of mobile for businesses, agencies and marketers.

To register, please visit this link: http://goo.gl/HBNKa

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Posted by Suzanne Mumford, Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile Ads

Do you know what your website looks like on a mobile phone? Just because you can see your site on a smartphone doesn't mean that it’s mobile-friendly. So, what is a mobile-friendly site? It’s a website designed specifically for mobile users and mobile devices. It’s fast to load and easy to use—no scrolling or zooming required.

The mobile opportunity is growing. Recent research [Ipsos study] suggests that smartphone ownership is quickly on the rise in the UK, jumping from 30% in Jan-Feb 2011 to 45% in Sept-Oct 2011. And those smartphone owners use their devices to search for information. Google mobile searches grew 400% in the last two years. Yet many British businesses still do not have a mobile website.

As 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site that they had trouble accessing from their phone and 40% of consumers would go to a competitor’s site, businesses need to get mobile in order not to miss out on customers who specifically search for their products or services.

The most important thing you can do to grow your business using the mobile web is to create a mobile-friendly website.  So today we’re launching an initiative called GetMo that provides tools, information and resources to help UK businesses “Get Mobile”

So, are you ready to GetMo?  Visit howtogetmo.com where you’ll find the resources you need to learn about what makes a good mobile site and how to start building one.

Here’s what you’ll find at howtogetmo.com:

• See what your customers see.  Enter a website address into the GetMoMeter and see what your site looks like on a mobile phone.  The GetMoMeter will analyse your site and give you customised recommendations on how to make your site more mobile-friendly.  You can even download a free customised report on how to better serve your customers mobile experience!

• Learn about why mobile matters:  Great infographics and the latest data will help you learn more about mobile trends and why mobile-friendly sites really matter.

• Get inspired by great examples: Look at the mobile sites of UK businesses who are doing it well and learn how to make your site better with our ten mobile site best practices.

• Find a mobile site builder who can help: Check out our list of mobile site developers who can help you build your mobile website.

Posted by: Rich Pleeth, Product Marketing Manager

Did you know: 8 in 10 consumers instantly abandon a mobile site if the experience isn’t up to par?1  Mobile consumers have high expectations from businesses today.  With Google mobile searches growing 400% in the last two years, it’s increasingly important for businesses to satisfy the needs of a mobile user by building a mobile-friendly site.  A great mobile site will help your business by allowing people visiting your website on mobile devices to easily complete what they intend to do, such as making a purchase or contacting you.

Join Google as we take the mobile conversation to a new level and connect the impact of your mobile site to your mobile advertising.  We’ll discuss the next steps that you can take to implement a mobile strategy for your business. Sign up today and learn 3 ways to make the most of mobile.

1. Mobilize your site.
Understand what it means, learn the benefits and get started with GoMo.
2. Maximize your mobile ads.     
Hear why it’s important and learn practical how-to’s for making the most of your mobile  
investment.
3. Track, measure and iterate.
Get tips and see helpful tools you can use today.
             

On Thursday, March 15th at 10:00 am PT/1:00 pm ET, Suzanne Mumford, Product Marketing Manager, will be presenting 3 ways to make the most of mobile for businesses, agencies and marketers.

Sign up for our webinar today. To register, please visit this link: http://goo.gl/CDM9F

We look forward to seeing you on March 15th!

Posted by Suzanne Mumford, Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile Ads

Source (1) Limelight Networks, Inc. 2011

Last November, we launched our Go Mobile (“GoMo”) initiative to help business build mobile friendly websites.  By popular demand, today we’re launching a new suite of tools on howtogomo.com designed specifically for the needs of web content publishers.

4 out of 5 online publishers don’t have a mobile-optimized website, and they risk losing their fastest-growing audience.  Online publisher Baby Gaga is one of the 20% who have made the leap to mobile.  Two weeks after launching their mobile-friendly website they saw a 64% increase in mobile visits. This leading destination for educational materials and social support for pregnant women also saw an 82% increase in mobile page views and a 50% increase in revenue from mobile (full case study).  

Today Baby Gaga’s mobile users don’t need to squint and they view more pages per visit.

Visit howtogomo.com today to:

1. See how you rate. Use the GoMoMeter to analyze your site’s mobile user experience.
2. Start planning.  Download the GoMo Publisher Guide for mobile best practices.
3. Find a partner.  Learn about vendors who can help with implementation.

As mobile continues to take off, we believe it's important for publishers to develop a strong mobile strategy now and make the most of this new opportunity. Baby Gaga’s decision to go mobile allowed them to improve the user experience for their mobile visitors and also to make more money. We want to help you do the same.

Posted by Chris LaSala, Director, Strategic Partner Development, Mobile

Are you looking for a way to bring your business site to new heights?  Have you considered how users see your site on their mobile devices?  As we approach the end of the first quarter, we teamed up with DudaMobile’s Chief Marketing Officer, Dennis Mink, to learn more about the why and how of optimizing your site for mobile devices.  DudaMobile is a mobile website creation platform that makes it easy to turn existing websites into mobile-friendly sites.  Read the interview below and download the full whitepaper here.     

Google: First things first.  What exactly does optimizing your site for mobile devices mean?

Dennis: Take a look at your desktop and smartphone screens next to one another.  The desktop is a whole lot bigger than the smartphone, right?  Optimizing your site means that you’re simplifying it, keeping it clean and making sure it is clear what action you want visitors to take when they visit.  A mobile-friendly site is focused on speed, because the on-the-go user wants your site to load as quickly as possible.  To improve speed, you remove content like images, sticking to one or two images per page, and any other data-heavy or flash content.  You also add mobile-specific features like clickable call and map buttons.

Google: We’ve probably all stumbled across bad sites while on our smartphones.  The pinching and zooming can be infuriating!  Just how much of a business threat is having a poor quality mobile site?

Dennis: If you take a look at the research that Compuware released, 19% of mobile users will form a negative overall perception of a company if they are dissatisfied with the mobile experience.  In fact, nearly 2 in 3 users are unlikely to return to a mobile site with which they had trouble and 40% of consumers said they’d visit a competitor’s mobile site instead. Optimizing your site for mobile devices is an absolute must.

Google: And on the flipside, how much of a benefit is it for business owners to invest in optimizing their sites for mobile?

Dennis: Brand Anywhere and Luth released that 51% of consumers are more likely to purchase from retailers that have a mobile-friendly website.  Also, to give some context as to how significant this issue is, Compuware released that 74% of mobile phone users will wait 5 seconds or less for a page to load and 77% of top companies’ mobile sites take more than 5 seconds to load.  Right now we’re watching business owners catch up to user expectations.

Google: What are the most effective mobile-specific features to update your site with when optimizing for mobile?

Dennis: Click-to-call and click-to-map. These are powerful features that allow users to call a business or view a business’ location on a map with one tap of a finger.

Google: What sort of businesses will benefit the most from these features?  

Dennis: In Q4 2011 we did a sampling of 500 different businesses and looked to see what percentage of users were calling the businesses or going to the business.  We analyzed how consumers responded to different categories of local business sites.  We found that 1 in 5 visits to a local business mobile site result in an immediate call to the business.  Looking more closely, 44% of the times users visited transportation companies’ sites, like taxi and car services, were through the company’s click to call feature.  Here’s how other local businesses compare:
DudaMobile Internal Data Q4 2011

So what does all this data mean?  Basically, more and more people are contacting companies through a site’s click-to-call feature.  More calls into businesses means more clients, and more sales.

Google: So let’s say I’m a small business owner with a very limited budget.  I want to optimize my site for mobile, but may not be able to afford the full-charged mobile update my developer is quoting.  What’s the most important advice for a small business owner considering building a mobile-friendly site?

Dennis: Think speed, size and buttons.  

First, with speed, put the most important content at the top, remove unnecessary text and compress images.  Make it easy to convert by guiding the user closer to purchasing with simplified forms and click-to-call options.  Make it local and include an address, map and option to search for nearby locations.  

Second, for size, say no to left-right scrolling and more than 7 links per page.  Say yes to menus, back/forward buttons and a clear search bar.  Compare the desktop and mobile versions of your site side-by-side.  A user can return to where they left off on a desktop and they’ll want to be able to do that on a mobile device too.  Tell your developer to include a redirect code on your mobile site so that a user is prompted to choose between the mobile or desktop versions.  

Third, with buttons, be thumb-friendly.  Make buttons and check-boxes large because thumbs come in all sizes.  

Finally, listen to your users.  Use data from user surveys and web analytics to improve your site performance over the long run.  

Google: What trends are you seeing for mobile sites in 2012?  

Dennis: When I think of this next year, I think, “hold on”.  We expect it to be a crazy year of growth.  From our side we are projecting to triple the number of sites optimized for mobile by DudaMobile (http://www.DudaMobile.com/) by the end of 2012.  

The writing is on the wall.  Small business owners, it’s time to take your site to new heights and make your site mobile-friendly.  

To read more, download the full whitepaper here.  To learn more about why mobile matters, test how your site looks on mobile and receive a free personalized report, visit GoMo.

Posted by: Suzanne Mumford, Google Mobile Ads Marketing and Jessica Sapick, Google Small Business Strategy

This week Barcelona lives up to its title as the Mobile World Capital with the launch of 26 new mobile websites for some of the city’s most famous attractions, restaurants, nightclubs and businesses.  Barcelona Go Mobile is a new initiative created in collaboration with Invest in Catalonia, the support of the Government of Catalonia, the City of Barcelona and Google that enables businesses to better engage with their mobile customers through new mobile websites.  

The City of Barcelona is leading the way by mobilizing their own site as part of this initiative and encouraging other businesses to take full advantage of the mobile opportunity. Other famous attractions and businesses participating in this initiative include FC Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló (Gaudí), Aquarium, Picasso Museum and Fundació Joan Miró.

Check out the next game with FC Barcelona or go shopping at La Boqueria market on your mobile

We know that given a poor experience with a website on their mobile phone, 61% of mobile users won't visit it again. In Spain, 44% of consumers have a smartphone1, but only 10% of large businesses have a mobile optimized site. In addition, giving users an easy-to-navigate mobile-optimized site is key to a good experience as one in four smartphone users in Spain2 make purchases on their mobile.

With the arrival of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, there is no better time for the city’s businesses to launch new mobile sites that give them the ability to connect with new customers and tourists who are among the most frequent users of smartphones. Every year the autonomous region of Catalonia receives more than 15 million tourists, making a mobile presence essential for businesses.

Experience the might of the Sagrada Family or plan your trip in the City of Barcelona on your mobile

If you live in Barcelona, are planning a visit or just want to see some of the best this world class city has to offer, pull out your mobile and visit these new sites today through barcelonagomobile.com to discover the best of Barcelona on your mobile.

Posted by: Frank Albert Coates, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile & Social ads EMEA


1TNS Infratest GmbH, Global CATI Enumeration Survey, 2012
2Ipsos GmbH Smartphone research, 2012

As part of Google’s Go Mobile (“GoMo”) initiative, we wanted to share the impressive results 1-800-Flowers saw from their revamped mobile site.  An early mover in the mobile space, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM began their mobile program over six years ago, and has since flowered to include both an app and mobile website as well as significant mobile advertising presence. Based on their analysis however, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM noticed that their mobile website still had room for improvement.  To address the problem, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM launched an initiative to revamp their mobile site. Amit Shah, Director of Mobile and Social Media at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, recognized that the best way to approach mobile was not to simply transport their desktop website onto mobile but prioritize specific features for the mobile user.

“Trying to bring all of your desktop site to mobile misses the picture. You need to bring the right things to mobile,” says Amit.

           Before    After

1-800-FLOWERS.COM prioritized features such as shopping cart saving but was careful to prune less used features such as order tracking, which they identified only a small percent of desktop users utilized. Next, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM identified key content that would improve the user experience specifically for their own customers. Finally, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM streamlined the mobile shopping experience as much as possible by significantly reducing the number of steps it takes to complete a purchase and ehancing features such as a calendar that allows users to easily choose the best delivery date based on shipping prices and personal delivery needs.



By thoughtfully analyzing user behavior on their mobile site, and building enhancements to make the browsing and purchase experience even more robust, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM saw heartfelt success in the performance of their mobile website.

• Increase in conversion rate and 25% increase in average time spent on site, despite decrease in steps to complete a purchase
• 53% reduction in cart abandonment
• Increase in the average order value on mobile

Get the full study here to learn more on how to optimize best for mobile or test how your site looks on mobile at http://www.howtogomo.com/en/#test-your-site and download a report with personalized recommendations for your mobile site.

Posted by: Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Hair Club, with the help of agency partner Integrated Media Solutions, uses Google mobile ads as a key way to reach new customers. With 35 years of experience, Hair Club is the world’s leading provider of proven hair loss solutions. In their marketing activities, their primary goal is lead generation from their target demographic of men aged over 25 and women aged over 35.

Hair Club launched their mobile strategy by optimizing their website for mobile and leveraging Google AdWords to target specific key terms on mobile devices. Separate AdWords campaigns were created specifically for mobile devices and Hair Club took advantage of mobile specific formats including location extensions.  On the mobile Google Display Network Hair Club began using contextually targeted call-only ads on relevant websites to generate additional qualified phone leads.

For their mobile site, Hair Club took steps such as prominently displaying a click to call phone number at the top of the page to drive new customers to their call center.  

“From our own research we know that 30% of the people visiting the Hair Club website do so because they’ve seen our TV ad, and often they are on the sofa with their mobile device or tablet. What better way to be able to have someone convert than calling on their mobile device?” says Lee Zoppa, Vice President of Marketing and Advertising for Hair Club.

The results show the campaigns are proving an efficient way to generate more leads and interest in Hair Club. “While desktop searchers constitute 94% of sales, mobile is rapidly gaining ground, capturing 6% of sales over the last three months,” says Lalita Warren, Hair Club’s Media Director.  The campaign exceeded Hair Club expectations with exceptional results:

• 30:1 return on investment on Google mobile ads
• 100% increase in mobile search ad clicks over the past year
• 11% higher conversion rate from mobile ads than desktop ads as tracked via online form

“Google mobile ads provide a successful, incremental platform for us. Mobile and tablet usage is increasing exponentially. Given our target demographic, we get more qualified traffic through mobile,” says Zoppa.

Get the full case study here.

Posted by Michael Schipper, Product Marketing Manager