Not a whole lot for me to add here, but it does underscore the theme that I keep seeing which is mobile devices continue to rise in usage and importance. If you haven’t thought about optimizing your site for mobile … what are you waiting for?

Via ReadWriteWeb:

It pays to be mobile, if you want to reach the last-minute planners. According to Google 62% of restaurant related searches on Valentine’s Day were from “high end mobile devices or tablets.”

Something to think about for restaurants or other businesses that don’t have mobile-friendly sites.

Some interesting information here for sure. This just goes to underscore the need to understand how mobile devices are transforming the web.

Stuff you should know from this Zmags survey:

Today, more than 60% of 25-34 year-olds (Gen-Y) own a smartphone. One in three online consumers will buy a tablet by 2014.

Only 4% of these consumers use branded apps. Eighty-seven percent prefer to use websites and mobile sites.

90 million people will be using tablets by 2014.

Smartphone and tablet apps are not consumers’ preferred channel for
browsing or shopping: just 4 percent of connected consumers like to use
branded apps, whereas 87 percent prefer to use websites and mobile
sites. 60 percent choose to shop via digital or print catalogs.

Connected consumers’ tablet use and spending activity is on the rise:
in the 2011 holiday season, 87 percent of tablet owners did their holiday
shopping using their tablets, spending on average $325. In addition,
49 percent expect to shop more on their tablet over the next year.

More than three quarters of consumers are active Facebook users,
signaling a large untapped opportunity.

Meet the connected consumer

She’s a 40-something woman.

Despite what many may assume, the average connected
consumer is not a millennial. 52 percent of connected
consumers are women with a mean age of 40; they have a
mean household income of $63,000.

She carries multiple Internet-connected devices

In addition to owning a PC or laptop, 43 percent of connected
consumers also own smartphones, and 16 percent own a tablet.

She’s super social

Connected consumers are a social crowd and enthusiastic
about shopping. More than three quarters of them are active
Facebook users, 60 percent shop via digital or print catalogs,
and more than 40 percent say shopping makes them feel
happy. “Excited,” “thrifty” and “productive” also top the list of
the connected consumer’s shopping emotions.

Device ownership and use is remarkably consistent among
connected consumers who shop different retail categories.

Whether looking at electronics, jewelry, clothing, toys or travel,
in each category:
• 62-65 percent of connected consumers shop via digital or print catalogs
• 75-78 percent own a laptop
• 41-45 percent own smartphones
• 81-86 percent use Facebook

Roughly two weeks ago I had begun targeting certain terms in both Google and Bing for search engine visibility for my own business. I’ve started an SEO campaign for my own benefit and I’m going to chronicle the process here in very shorts posts as time is limited for me right now for “personal” things even being business related.

I have targeted the following terms: Shreveport website designer, Shreveport web designer, Shreveport WordPress developer, Shreveport mobile web design and have expanded that list to include Shreveport search engine optimization as well. I have noticed some fluctuation on a daily basis as I monitor these terms and it is interesting to see how these terms rise and fall without any intervention from me. It goes to show you that the rankings are a very fluid thing requiring continued attention. That said, here’s the ranking of those terms on Google and Bing as of today:

I added that last term in there just out of curiosity. Keep in mind that is a name with a LOT of competition so for an initial effort I don’t think that’s too bad. The same goes for ‘Shreveport web design’ – a very generic namespace that has well established competition.

As always this is an ongoing process that will span months. The view here is in the long term because while you may have good results initially, the only way to guarantee a lasting result is to craft it with care week by week.

I am also in the process of implementing SEO programs for three clients already and it seems that there is a great interest in this. Businesses and organizations are looking to get a maximum return on their investment and with the phone book essentially dead these days, it is critical that your website is highly visible in Google and Bing.

Working on a client site update. The website was partially done in Flash for legitimate reasons about 3-4 years ago. Anyway coming back to even my own work has proven to be extremely difficult. HTML5 has long since supplanted Flash usage on the web for almost every kind of usage I can imagine. Not to mention that Flash is like a big giant black hole to search engines. I am so glad I don’t use Flash any more, but amazingly today I am.

I’ve been using my own site as a testing grounds for search engine visibility for quite some time, but I will be going into overdrive to see if I can put my skills to use for my own promotion. I’ve been promoting my own clients for years, so it is time to put those skills to use and see what kind of return I get.

Terms I am interested in “owning” for my own business purposes and promotion:

• Shreveport website designer
• Shreveport web designer
• Shreveport WordPress developer
• Shreveport mobile web design

I’m not even listed in Bing as of this posting so it will be interesting to see how that works out. I will be tracking my progress here.

After a very long time in coming, and lots of tweaking, thought, tweaking, thought, and tweaking, and so forth, I finally have a new version of my site. I am particularly proud of this because it is a responsive design for mobile.

The learning never stops, but that’s a good thing. I always want to be learning more and more about my craft so that I can offer the best services possible.

Nothing to worry about here.
( read more → )

That’s the hardest of all. It is infinitely easier to deal with other people and what they want. But when it comes to you and what you want, well, that’s just flat out hard. Because what you want changes as you see what others have done.