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The Future of Mobile Commerce


The number of mobile purchases are growing rapidly and more online and offline retailers are changing their business strategy to incorporate mCommerce. Mobile Commerce should not be seen as just another sales channel; it is a way to improve product experience and brand presence. So, what can we expect to see in the future?

To give you an example of how quickly mobile commerce is growing, Paypal had to update their 2012 mobile estimates three times, going from £3.3 to £5.3 then finishing on £6.6 Billion. They also finished on a yearly mobile increase of 150%.

Paypal isn’t the only company showing significant mobile improvements. Amazon and eBay have reported that around 20% of their sales are coming from smartphones or tablets.

We see, on a daily basis how attached people are to their mobile phones. When I travel to work on the underground, around 60% of the people in my carriage are using their smartphone and it would be safe to say that nearly every single person would not travel without their mobile. We, as a country are attached to our phone for personal reasons but now, we like to shop on them too.

The line between the real world in which we live in and the online world is very thin indeed. The growth of interactive content and augmented reality is down to the hype of the online world.

When looking at the mobile customer journey, we will see a lot of businesses developing a separate strategy including the use of QR Codes and Location Based Marketing.

There has been a lot of research taking place on mobile commerce with a strong suggestion that the statistics are going to keep rising, in favour of mCommerce. 80% of smartphone owners use their devices to shop with Amazon being the most popular. 68% (male) and 58% (female) are likely to make a purchase based on mobile ads and by 2016, mobile influence for retailers will increase to £460 billion.

Unfortunately, it has been reported that 86% of sites on the web are not mobile and have received negative feedback on the mobile experience. With mobile online time growing 14x faster than desktop time, you need to optimise your website so that your customers can purchase smoothly when using their smartphone or tablet. A great way to do this is to build your website responsive.

Over the past year, Responsive design has become a hot topic in the web design community. A Responsive design allows you to view a website on your smartphone or tablet/iPad as you would on your desktop. Something that was once so bespoke that only one man could build it, has now gone global. Not only is it being used by millions of websites all over the world, you can now use it as a theme inside of WordPress. Speak to your web designer and optimise your site so that your users can have a smooth journey when purchasing on mobile.

There was an 80% growth in 2011, 105% growth in 2012 and the mCommerce market is expected to generate between £780 million to £665 billion in revenue, worldwide by 2014.

Are you ready for mCommerce to evolve?

Building a Website? Think #Responsive

As we approach 2013, we are seeing a rapid development in all industries, especially technology. We are seeing new social networks coming out of the woodworks and old ones failing to keep up with the present. We are seeing a variety of iPads and Tablets being brought out by the likes of Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, all showing what they have to offer.

Because of the Smartphone and Tablet/iPad demand, we are seeing more people view and purchase from websites on these said devices than ever before. Ebay have reported that around 50% of their sales have been closed on Mobile and Fab.com with 56% from Mobile and apps. John Lewis reported a rise in traffic from 28% to 35% on tablets between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Other outlets have reported that at least 20% of their customers are purchasing on Tablets. I think it is time to face the facts and look at ways to make the customer acquisition journey as smooth as possible on these devices, and the best way to do this, is to make your website Responsive.

Over the past year, Responsive design has become a hot topic in the web design community. In its simplest form, a Responsive design allows you to view a website on your smartphone or tablet/iPad as you would on your desktop. As you can see in the images below, the website will change according to the screen it is being viewed on. This is down to the handy work of Ethan Marcotte. After meeting with various clients asking for an iPhone website, the web designer & developer spent a lot of time working with BostonGlobe.com to build the first ever responsive website.

Something that was once so bespoke that only one man could build it, has now gone global. Not only is it being used by millions of websites all over the world, you can now use it as a theme inside of WordPress.

The main positive for a Responsive Theme is how practical it is. Screen sizes and resolutions are widening every day, and creating a different version of a website for each device is by no means a practical way forward. A Responsive theme also makes the user journey smoother and will work in your favour when acquiring a customer.

At Gloople, we have seen the advantages of using Responsive Theme’s for all of the online stores we have built and it has proved a success. If you are using wordpress, check out their responsive themes here.

Are you ready to go #Responsive?

5 Ways to Make Your Website Appeal to Google Robots

When I speak at Trade Shows, I often get asked “how can people find my website when looking for my products? It all comes down to how Google and their robots work.

It can be tough, spending hours creating new content for your website and it is important that the Googlebots (search bot software) can find it quickly. This not only speeds up the time it takes Google to index your pages, but it also allows you to benefit from your hard work sooner, rather than later. Here are 5 ways to help your website benefit from Google Robots.

1. Use Social Networks to Utilise your Content
One of the best ways for the Google Bots to find your website is via links, especially on Social Media. Having Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn and YouTube set up, with links back to your website is great for SEO purposes and will definitely help the Google Robots find your website.

2. Regularly Updating your SiteMap
A Sitemap is an XML document on your website’s server that lists each page on your website. It will tell search engines when a new page has been added. If you have a website built on WordPress you can install the Google XML Sitemaps plugin and have it automatically create and update your sitemap as well as submit pages to search engines. You should also use XML Sitemaps Generator to help with this. Once you have a sitemap, submit it to Google Webmaster Tools then go to Optimization > Sitemaps and add the link to your website’s sitemap to Webmaster Tools to notify Google about it and the pages you have already published.

3. Link Backs to Previous Content
A great way to make your website appeal to Googlebots is to always link back to previous content on your website to drive more traffic. It is important to keep a web of links to content so the robots can crawl between your work. You will need to create new content to make sure your website is still growing. Make sure you link to all of your articles so that the robots can access all your work and help your optimization.

4. Social Bookmarking
Since 2003, Social Bookmarking has been a great way to boost your website optimisation and get those Googlebots working their magic. With sites like Delicious, Reddit and Digg, Social Bookmarking has proved to be a great way to drive traffic. As the sites listed above were ranked among the top 300 websites in 2011 in terms of traffic, Google will be paying close attention to what is being posted there.

5. Offsite Content
By offsite content, I mean content that can be traced back to your website from another online source. A great way to drive off site content is to be a guest blogger in your expert industry. I write for various websites like Entrepreneur Country and Social Media Today which allows me to drive that extra traffic back to my website, allowing those Googlebots to optimise my website at the fastest possible speed.

I hope these 5 tips will help Google Robots work their magic on your website!

8 Ways to Build a Website for Free

The past year at trade shows I have found a lot of people asking me how they can build a website for free. There are a lot of options out there to do exactly that. Here are 8 ways to build a website for free.

1. WordPress
There are various free platforms out there which you can use to build a website but nothing beats WordPress. It’s usability is by far the best and creates a great looking website. The basic WordPress layouts are free however, if you want one of the premium themes, you will have to pay for it. For a business I am involved in called Social Media eLearning, we built the website in WordPress.

2. PayPal
Once you have built your website you will need to integrate various free tools to help you complete the overall look, one of them being PayPal. Using this payment platform will allow you to sell products on your website. The setup for this is free and they will only take a small percentage of each sale.

3. Eventbrite
If you are a business that holds events, then you can use Eventbrite to do this. You will be able to create an event page for free and take payments. This tool will only take a small percentage of each ticket sale and is a great way to reach people you would never have been able to. When we hold Social Media Training days, we use Eventbrite to do this as it is easy and very simple to integrate into your website.

4. Pic Monkey
Pic Monkey is one of the best free image tools on the internet. You can do all of the usual image adjustments plus more complexed adjustments like retouching and adding text. Once making changes to your image, you can save it to your desktop, free of charge. Be careful, Pic Monkey can become very addictive!

5. YouTube
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. It is not only great for viewing videos but also using it to host video’s for free then integrating them into your website. For Social Media eLearning we have our own Youtube channel where various videos are held which can be viewed inside of YouTube but also on our website.

6. Facebook
Facebook is not only a social network, but also a great place to sell your products. A new feature Facebook added earlier this year was their Store. If your business has less than 2,000 likes on its page, you are able to have a Facebook Store completely free of charge. Using a tool called Payvment will help you do this.

7. Pinterest
The newest social network on the block, Pinterest has proved to be a big hit with a lot of users, with each share worth around 48p. Just like Facebook, you can sell your products inside of Pinterest by using Pin2Sell.

8. Ebay & Amazon
One of the most well known websites in the world; Ebay is a great way to sell products. There are some small fees around eBay but overall, you are able to make a profit if you are selling at the right price. Amazon is also a great place to sell products. Again, you will only incur a small fee for doing this.

I hope these 8 ways to help build a website for free will help you do exactly that.

Getting Your Business Ready for 2013

With Halloween now over, everyone is turning their attention to Christmas. The next few months are going to be the busiest for most businesses and its important for you to have your business ready for the Christmas season, and especially 2013.

The competition in each business sector is so strong that it can be hard for the small businesses when they go unnoticed. The key to making sure your business is ready for Christmas and the New Year is to have a plan. Without a plan, the structure of your business will fall to pieces and you will not only find the next few months stressful, but also the whole of 2013. Having a marketing strategy in place will lead to success and is great for preparation, as proved with my client case study Dave Fletcher.

The importance of being “social” is now more apparent than ever. Having a presence on Social Media as well as integrating certain tools into your website will help with customer service and also brand awareness. Although Social Media is a big part of online revenue, don’t forget about the rest of your sales and marketing strategy; A successful business is not just about Social Media.

Your business is all about defining your online voice and making sure you have something to say and this come back to you business goals, marketing strategy and will then flow into your social media campaign.

Offering a Multi-Channel experience to your customers is a great way to embrace the new year. With the ability to purchase inside of Social Media and on Mobile or Tablet, using all these platforms will give you a better chance of obtaining a customer.

When looking at taking your business to the next level you need to define your position in the business. Are you willing to be an influencer within your business and beyond? If so, it would be a good idea to look into becoming a professional speaker. This isn’t to say it will happen overnight as it, didn’t with me but over time, it will give you a lot of credibility within your industry, just like it has with me in Social Media and Digital Commerce.

Another way to get your business ready for Christmas and beyond is to have a strategy for blogging. If you aren’t already blogging, I suggest you do, at least once a week. There are some great platforms out there like WordPress or Tumblr that are free and can be integrated into your website, just like I have with my Warren Knight and Gloople website.

If you would like to learn more about how to get your business ready for 2013, I will be holding a Social Media Masterclass on the 28th November in London from 1-5pm. I will be helping you with your Social Media Strategy as well as getting started on the top 5 social networks and how to ultimately increase revenue. You can book your ticket here.

Are you ready for 2013?