that people are using their smart devices more and more in their day to day activities. From simple internet browsing to complex business transactions, people’s preferences are inclining towards mobile around the world, and Pakistan is no different.
Take a look at the traffic source of one of my recent projects. The nature of the project is informational & the keyword intent is transactional.
This is the data for one week. As you can see, mobile traffic is greater than desktop traffic. On further exploring the data, specifically Google traffic, we can see that there is only a 5.5% difference between Desktop and Mobile traffic. Moreover, direct mobile traffic is 5x higher than desktop traffic.
With ever-decreasing prices of smartphones and the internet in Pakistan, inevitably, mobile traffic sources will only go higher. This is the point which entrepreneurs in Pakistan, especially internet-based entrepreneurs, have to take very seriously. Your future business strategy should not only be focused on the internet, but it also involves mobile marketing.
How you can Get Mobile Traffic for your business?
1. Create a Responsive Website
The basic but essential, get yourself a responsive website. This is the least you can do for your business. Although the majority of themes are responsive nowadays, yet some websites are seems to be using decade old technology. Visiting these websites on mobile is a nightmare as well as a sure way to not only increase your bounce rate but also lose a visitor forever. Simply put, a responsive website will adjust itself (its design) based in the screen size of the visitor’s device without any fixed resolution limitation.
However, there are certain drawbacks to responsive design. Most of the responsive themes will load all the codes including JavaScript, CSS, and images for mobile users irrespective of whether they use it or not. Since most of the websites are still designed for desktop using heavy images, numerous JavaScript & hundreds of queries, it will simply become a hindrance for mobile users due to the load time. If a desktop visitor has 8 seconds to decide whether to continue to browse your website or exit, then a mobile user has even less patience than that. Your mobile website should be extremely fast which can only be possible if you reduce the size of code and number of queries as well as images. In responsive, it’s quite difficult to achieve it which leads us to the next solution known as Adaptive design.
2. Create an Adaptive Website
Unlike the Responsive website, which uses client-side resources to provide mobile experience, the adaptive website uses server-side coding to present the best possible layout for the user depending on which screen size he/she is using. In adaptive design, you design separate layouts for each screen size and after identification of the screen size, the server presents the matching layout to the user. You can also restrict features in a different layout, thus, preventing any usability issues which may occur during browsing a website on mobile.
Using standalone versions will not only speed-up your mobile website, but it also helps you in providing only the features that you think are best for your mobile users. The drawback is you have to create multiple versions of websites which will increase the cost. Also if you decide to limit some features for mobile users, this means that a user who has used your desktop version might feel different whilst using your mobile website. This also means that you have to be 100% sure about features that your users are using.
3. Get an App
The final solution is to make a dedicated app for your website. The biggest advantage of a dedicated mobile app is the complete control over user experience as well as features. However, this solution is best for sites that have a high number of returning visitors. For instance, an eCommerce website should have a dedicated app and encourage its users to use it. Similarly, a news website usually gets higher direct traffic compared to search traffic. This means that it’s also good for them to use an app. However, for a small website, which heavily relies on search traffic, using an app won’t be as effective as having a responsive or adaptive website.
Whatever solution you go with, make sure that your users are getting a smooth and non-interruptive mobile experience. I have seen many websites where it’s simply impossible to use their menu while browsing on mobile. Things like that can cost you a potential customer. A better mobile website also means better ranking in Google, thus, making it a critical factor in your search marketing strategy. Google’s recent announcement of preferring AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) in search simply proves that a mobile-friendly website is a must for you if you are doing online business.
