On May 25, 2015 we introduced a post entitled, Will Google’s Mobile Algorithm Cost You Leads?, with a quote from Kristin Hall, former leader of Google’s affiliate publisher development team. She is currently on the board of directors of the Performance Marketing Association. One month later, on June 22, in our post Beware Buying Mobile Advertising, we quoted her again. In fact, we ran the exact same quote. In case you have forgotten, here it is again:
“We are in a mobile world and we have to think mobile first.”
Do We Really Have to Think Mobile First?
Paraphrasing former president Bill Clinton, “It all depends on what the meaning of ‘we’ is.”
‘We’ certainly includes companies like ARM Holdings, the market leader in enabling mobile devices, because thier proprietary processor designs provide the architecture for the digital world. Their highest demand is for mobile applications. But they are not in the home improvement business.
‘We’ also includes search engine, ecommerce and social media giants like Google, Alibaba, Amazon and Facebook. But they are not in the home improvement business either. Google, for instance said in May that it has a bigger usage on mobile than on desktops in the U.S. and nine other countries.
‘We’ Are in the Home Improvement Business
In this context, ‘we’ includes a wide array of home improvement businesses of all kinds across the entire United States.
‘We’ also includes Keyword Connects, whose business is generating exclusive, qualified leads for home improvement businesses.
‘We’ are a different ‘we’ than the ‘we’ Kristin Hall is addressing. Granted, we need to be aware of the rise of mobile usage, but we don’t need to be alarmed.
Mobile Is Not Replacing Desktop PCs
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicated that, “The share of overall consumption coming from mobile devices is growing, but desktop web usage isn’t dropping. In fact, it might be increasing,” based on data provided by comScore. That data clearly indicated that mobile usage has increased and surpassed desktop. But it just as clearly indicated that desktop usage was increasing as well.
Additional information from Smart Insights and Aquisio, helps us to have a clearer picture of why we know the PC is not dead.
- 80% use smartphones for internet searches. 91% use a PC or laptop.
- Of persons surveyed, who own both mobile and desktop devices, only 22% listed smartphones as their first choice for internet access.
- PC “add-to-cart” rates are nearly double that of smartphone searchers.
- Although mobile ad spending has increased, the spend on desktop digital is still greater.
- In Australia, which should be fairly representative of elsewhere, an overwhelming majority of users in all age groups prefer to use PC’s than smartphones and neither do they feel secure using smartphones.
- In the UK – according to the comScore data, Amazon’s unique PC visitors outnumber mobile users by four-to-one, while Apple.com users (surprise!) are about equal.
Our purpose in this blog post is to remove the angst our clients may have from concerns about the need to go mobile. Our common purpose is generating leads for your home improvement business. In order to do that successfully, we need to be aware of what ‘we’ really means when it comes to the urgency of being mobile ready. The usage of mobile is in its infancy, especially when it comes to commerce.
Spending disproportionate amounts of time, energy or money maximizing for mobile at this time is unlikely to have much ROI. Keyword Connects believes that our integrity is not based solely on our ability to deliver exclusive, qualified leads for your business. It is also dependent upon our providing the kind of factual information that helps you get the most out of your lead generation efforts.
Visit our website and learn how a relationship with Keyword Connects can benefit your business. While you are there, be sure to download our eBook, The Five Online Metrics that Matter for Home Improvement Lead Generation. It’s absolutely FREE.
