MobileHippo 2013: That's a Wrap!

Hello everyone,

We’ve made a lot of great progress over the last year to improve your MobileHippo experience. Here are a few things you may have missed.

Yes, you are getting that much traffic from mobile. MobileHippo's new Activity page will show you total page views, which pages receive the most traffic, which mobile devices are viewing your site the most, and how often your QR codes are getting scanned.

Navigation, navigation, and more navigation. We introduced new navigation options like Images, Icons, Buttons, and Tile Menus. Not only that, you can now customize individual navigation items with icons and background colors.

Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Flickr photo albums. Using our new photo album widgets, you can add photos to your favorite social media site, and they will automatically be added to your mobile site.

Restaurant menus and hours. Enter your menu and hours on Locu, and publish them on your website, mobile site, and across the web. MobileHippo’s Locu widget will automatically update your mobile site whenever you update Locu.

Mobile data collection. Turn your forms into mobile web apps. MobileHippo’s form builder received multiple upgrades this year with the addition of Auto Numbers, Find Me (Geolocation), Hidden Fields, and Restricted Access.

Thanks to you, we’ve had a wonderful year. We look forward to 2014. Happy New Year from all of us at MobileHippo.

The MobileHippo Team
www.mobilehippo.com

Your #1 Priority Needs to be Building a Mobile-Optimized Website

It wasn’t that long ago when having a website was unnecessary. People looked up businesses using the phone book, and asked friends and family for recommendations. Businesses promoted themselves by advertising through traditional channels (like mailers, flyers, billboards, television ads, and magazine ads), or earned new business through word of mouth referrals. It was a simpler time, but then came the Internet.

The website revolution

At first, many business owners wanted a website simply because their competition had one, but they didn't understand how to take advantage of it. Over time, however, the Internet became more and more significant, and business owners saw increased sales as a result of their online presence. Today, most businesses can’t survive without their website. If you want to succeed nowadays, even as a small, local business, a website is generally a must-have. The same change is now taking place with mobile technology.

The mobile revolution

In the beginning, mobile phones were just like ordinary phones, but without the cord. Today, we’re all walking around with miniature computers in our pocket. And with the rise of smartphones, consumers have eagerly made the switch from desktop browsing to mobile browsing. In some industries, over half of the Internet traffic already comes from mobile devices. And even where the 50% mark hasn’t been exceeded, it’s trending in that direction.

So, why is this a big deal? Well, if your website isn’t mobile-optimized, you might as well not have one at all when it comes to mobile visitors. Sound extreme? Studies of user behavior show that if a site isn’t mobile-optimized, most users hit the back button and rarely return. Instead, they head to competing websites and bring their business with them.

Identify what mobile consumers need the most when they interact with your business, and build a mobile-first, not desktop-lite (responsive) destination. If your website isn’t mobile-optimized, you simply “don’t exist” to what will soon be the majority of users. It’s a harsh reality, but there’s also a huge opportunity to get ahead.

Think mobile-first

You wouldn’t depend entirely on the phone book for your business, right? Mobile is coming to be the same way. Depending solely on a website that isn’t mobile-optimized is a very costly mistake, and these losses will only grow in the coming year. For that reason, when it comes to the Internet and digital marketing, your #1 priority needs to be building a mobile-optimized website. Your customers are already mobile. Are you?

Ready to go mobile? Click here to get started today.