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

Consumers are mobile. New research we released this week demonstrates that smartphone ownership is on the rise and these consumers are searching, taking local action and purchasing. Mobile devices are transforming how consumers connect and live their lives. Download our new smartphone research here.

Businesses are going mobile. Last week we launched 26 new mobile websites for some of the Barcelona’s most famous attractions, restaurants, nightclubs and businesses as part of our Barcelona Go Mobile initiative to enable businesses to better engage with their mobile customers.  This week we challenged businesses to fall in love with mobile in 2012. The companies who do will be best positioned to take advantage of the new opportunities that mobile creates.

Marketers are jumping into mobile. The consumers they want to engage are mobile and the opportunities are huge. They are no longer asking us why do I need to go mobile. Now they are asking how do I go mobile? How can my brand find success in the mobile space? How can I maximize the relationship with my customers on mobile?

The answer is to truly operationalize mobile. Marketers need to not only jump into mobile, they need to fall in love with mobile. They need to align their organization for mobile success, create a mobile website for their business.

This week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain my colleague Jason Spero and I spoke to a packed audience of marketers about how to go mobile in 2012. For the many people who were not able to join us, we wanted to share a video of our presentation.



Posted by Rikard Steiber, Global Marketing Director, Mobile & Social Advertising

Today we're sharing some search insights around the Oscars on the Think with Google site. Mobile continues to play an increasingly larger role in consumer search behavior as confirmed by the 2012 Oscars. Please see Think Insights for full information on which stars and advertisers were the big search winners in this year’s Oscar Awards, and how mobile impacted the search landscape. Mobile insights are excerpted below. 

While desktop searches still capture the lion’s share of searching during the Oscars, a closer look at Sunday’s ad-inspired searches show the prevalence of consumers using their mobile devices and tablets. These devices are generally always within arm’s reach of the consumer and therefore important players in the quest for immediate information, particularly during large-scale live events.

On-air advertisers benefitted from cross-screen behavior, as well. Queries prompted by on-air advertisements were conducted on mobile devices and tablets an average of 30% of the time -- perhaps great news for advertisers that the smartphone or tablet is taking place of the refrigerator run during commercial breaks.

This cross-media consumption behavior represents a tremendous opportunity for marketers.
While concurrent TV-PC usage is well established, new data released from Our Mobile Planet: Global Smartphone Research reveals that  51% of Americans report using the Internet on their smartphones while watching TV. Particularly relevant for marketers is that smartphone users search on their devices in response to ads they see on TV, with 58% of users reporting this behavior.

ABC’s much hyped and highly promoted upcoming dramedy, “GCB,” illustrates this growing cross-media behavior  as consumers watched the big screen and searched on the small screen.  Searches clearly spiked the two times that ABC aired the the GCB promos during the Oscars and were more pronounced on mobile.  The ads with Broadway legend Kristin Chenoweth and Designing Women star Annie Potts had consumers reaching for their smartphones and tablets for more information. 53% of GCB searches came from mobile, with 42% from smartphones and 11% from tablet users. 


A look at the data also shows that tablets are becoming increasingly common couch companions. Searches for vacation rental specialist homeaway.com as a result of their on-air advertising show that mobile queries were split almost evenly between tablets and smartphones. The combination of a tablet’s connectivity and comfortable screen size makes it a popular choice for consumers and is an important trend to watch for savvy marketers developing cross-media strategies. 

Fame Drives Fortune

From bridesmaids to Muppets to Marilyn Monroe, the 2012 Oscars leveraged the passions of an adoring public and their thirst for more glamour, gossip, and goods. More searches through more channels by an increasingly digitally-connected audience will continue to provide new opportunities for advertisers to reach and energize consumers.
Posted by Christina Park, Product Marketing Manager, Think with Google

Yesterday we shared some topline insights into consumers’ love affair with their smartphones and why businesses must fall in love with mobile in 2012. Today we go deeper into key findings on mobile consumer behavior in six countries - USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Japan - from the new “Our Mobile Planet: Global Smartphone Users” research we conducted in January 2012 with Ipsos.  

Consumers love multi-tasking while using their mobile phones

• In general Americans are the biggest mobile multi-taskers, with 81% having used their smartphone while engaging with other media.
• 54% of UK smartphone users watched TV while engaging with their smartphone.
• 36% of Spaniards exhibit true multi-screen behavior as they use their smartphones while also using another internet connected device such as their computer.

This offline media consumption causes consumers to search on their smartphones

• Across most of these six markets, roughly 60% of smartphone users are searching because of an ad they’ve seen offline or in a store.
• Smartphone owners in Spain lead the way in searching as a result of seeing an offline ad. More than two-thirds (68%) search because of something they saw offline, with 62% searching as a result of something they saw on TV.
• Half of German smartphone users (49%) have searched because of something they’ve seen in a store, and one-third (34%) of French smartphone users have searched on their mobile due to an ad they’ve seen in a magazine.

More than 90% of global smartphone users are searching on mobile, making it a truly mainstream behavior

• 99% of smartphone users in Japan have used a search engine on mobile. This means that practically everyone who’s gone online on mobile has searched on their phone.
• Mobile search is a frequent activity. In most of these six countries more than 75% of smartphone Internet users search at least once a week.

Consumers Take Action After Looking for Local Information

• 92% of Americans use their smartphones to look for information about local businesses or services.
• Local information seekers take action. 81% of French smartphone users who’ve looked for local information then acted on it with a quarter (26%) having called the business and 43% having visited the business.
• Globally, 1 out 5 smartphone users in all six countries made a purchase after looking for local information, whether in-store or online.

One quarter of global smartphone Internet users have made a purchase on their smartphone

• Japan leads the way in mobile commerce with 40% of smartphone Internet users having made a purchase on their phone.  One third of Americans (34%) and approximately a quarter of those in the European countries have made a purchase.
• Mobile shoppers are frequent purchasers. Across all markets, more than 50% of those who’ve made a mobile purchase do so at least on a monthly basis. In Spain, 64% of mobile shoppers make a purchase at least monthly, with 15% purchasing on a weekly basis.

Smartphones Influence Consumer Purchase Decisions & Channels

• Nearly one in four (26%) French smartphone owners say they intentionally have their mobile with them to compare prices and get product information. And the French say they have changed their mind about purchasing something in-store (19%) or online (17%) as a result of information they gathered on their smartphone.
• Smartphone research also leads to purchases online and offline.  37% of UK smartphones Internet users have bought something online and 26% of German smartphone users have made a purchase offline in-store or over the phone after having researched something via their smartphone.

These insights into mobile consumer behavior have clear implications for businesses. The companies that make mobile central to their marketing strategies will have an advantage in engaging with the mobile consumer. Savvy advertisers should adopt integrated marketing campaigns to take advantage of consumers’ natural multi-tasking media behavior. Businesses should also develop cross-channel strategies that make use of mobile as a bridge between the online and offline world as consumers shop and look for local information.

Download the “Our Mobile Planet: Global Smartphone Users” report to learn more about mobile consumer behavior and smartphone usage in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Japan.

Posted by: Dai Pham, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

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