The conversation surrounding mobile strategy has shifted drastically in the last year.
While it was considered a viable option to launch a separate mobile site or native app to engage consumers on their various devices. A few things have become crystal clear as we go head strong into 2013. For one, native apps are extremely difficult to get noticed let alone downloaded and used. We’ve gone from a little over 30,000 ios apps in 2009 to 775,000 in Jan, 2013. If you were searching for an app developer that actually makes money, finding one would be nearly impossible.
Secondly, consumers are firmly in control of the content they consume and insist on engaging on their terms. in fact 28% of American adult smartphone owners now access the Internet mostly on their mobile device. This requires website developers to shift their thinking from mobile as an add-on component, to mobile being a part of our online marketing DNA. All of the standard development practices have to be considered across devices: Image compression, screen scaleability, url structure, load time and SEO to name a few.
Lastly, mobile devices and location based search is here to stay. Over half of mobile users now own smartphones, tablet sales are most likely going to exceed notebook sales for the first time ever and we’ve reached a point where 1 in 3 searches typed into a Google search bar show local intent. Mobile website design needs to adapt to the consumer, not the other way around. Here’s to the beginning of what will be a banner year for responsive website design for the real estate industry.
If you like what you’ve read and even if you don’t, please share and leave us a comment below. Also, If you want to learn more about how to effectively market online using content and mobile strategies, check out our webinar “The Science of Content & Inbound Marketing for Real Estate”
Author’s note: This responsive theme is soon to be available in Placester’s Theme Gallery, contact support@placester.com to gain early access.
