BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: Why Users Prefer Mobile Apps Over The Mobile Web

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The Growing Dominance Of Mobile Search (Marketing Tech Blog)
Having a mobile website really isn’t an option and shouldn’t be an upsell by web developers these days. There is a particular behavior on mobile visits that’s quite different from a typical web visitor. Mobile searchers who land on your site are typically visiting your business or researching a purchase that they’re going to make. AlchemyViral has put together this incredibly informative infographic on mobile optimization:

Click here to for the full infographic.

What's Holding Back Mobile Advertising? (BI Intelligence)
There are over 1 billion smartphones being used globally. That number will soon double, then triple. So why is mobile advertising still just a fraction of total online advertising? We can tell you that the agencies aren't the roadblock to a larger mobile ad industry, but brand spend may be. Major advertisers need to spend more before mobile takes a larger share of advertising budgets. As the industry streamlines and becomes more technically adept, brands will be more likely to jump in. In this report we:

Give a brief overview of the mobile advertising industry's size
Explore the "monetization problem," in terms of both the challenges to revenue growth and the trends working in the industry's favor
Examine the mobile platform wars' impact on advertising, as well as the potential industry split between smartphones and tablets

Despite its potential, legitimate questions surround the widespread assumption that ad spend will skyrocket to meet engagement.

Why Are Marketers So Behind On Mobile? (ClickZ)
According to a new study by The CMO Council, "only 16% of marketers currently have a comprehensive mobile relationship marketing strategy or plan." At this point, ignoring mobile isn't a viable option. So why are marketers so behind on mobile? Lack of mobile-savvy resources and talent were holding back most of the marketers who felt that they were behind the mobile marketing curve. And budgets only stretch so far, adding one more channel often isn't an option. How about a radical new strategy: think mobile first. If you look at the trend vectors and the moves going on in the technology world, it seems pretty clear that mobile is rapidly becoming the new normal. But having the technology is just the first step; developing strategies for effectively marketing and communicating in a mobile world is a much bigger step.

Mobile Development: What You Need To Know Before You Start Building (Science of the Internet)
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for building a mobile website. It is extremely important to understand the significance of the mobile web and the impact it will have on your business in the following years. The three most common ways to build a mobile presence:

Responsive web design (Google's preferred way of building mobile websites)
Secondary mobile website (makes complete sense when you do not need all of your content on a mobile device)
Mobile application (the most expensive solution)

Many factors come in to play when deciding which solution best fits your company’s web goals. And, for a company with a smaller budget and web team, deciding what is the best mobile approach is a consulting and strategy challenge.

What Do Customers Prefer: Mobile App Or Mobile Web? (blur Marketing)
Why are more and more consumers beginning to prefer mobile apps over mobile web? In a nutshell it's the following:

Offline access: An increasing number of apps do not require an Internet connection.
Excellent learning tool: Students and parents have a preference for mobile apps because of controls.
Time savers: Specialized mobile apps often help consumers save time.

While both mobile apps and mobile web are popular device features, specialized apps are becoming more preferred and increasingly popular. Business owners do well to incorporate this preference into their marketing plan.

Tips To Optimize Conversions On Your Mobile Landing Pages (Search Engine Land)
If your business is serious about mobile device usage, what it needs to do is to invest in making sure your website and landing pages have versions that are made exclusively with mobile in mind. Here are some of the things you need to take care of if you want to maximize your sales and conversions on mobile:

Users should be able to read the page without zooming
Place your content in a way so as to focus on all important elements
Minimize the content
Make navigation easy and simple
Scalability issues across screen sizes should not be neglected

There are 5 more where those came from in the article. They should be taken as a guideline to help test your own hypotheses.

Restaurant Owners Listen Up: Three Tips For Effective Mobile Site Creation (Pizza Marketplace)
But what exactly does "being tapped into the mobile web" mean? Here are few key strategies used in mobile web design to attract more customers to restaurants: