Frequency
Out of all smartphone users surveyed in the ClickFox survey, almost half reported using an app on their smartphone or mobile device more than 10 times per day, more frequently than they spend grooming or eating. This essentially means that, by having a mobile app, you have more chances to engage your audience throughout the day. To put a number on it, apps account for over 600 minutes of face time with smartphone users.

Buying Decisions
According to the survey, 73% of all those surveyed have used a mobile app to make a purchase or to assist with a buying decision. With many businesses now using mobile apps to make their products easier to search for and buy, this one’s a no brainer. With mobile apps, you can make the transition to the mobile web and increase conversion rates in one fell swoop.

Customer Service
The ClickFox survey revealed an interesting trend. 78% of those surveyed preferred mobile apps for customer service purposes and 72% would replace some traditional channels with mobile apps for customer service purposes if given the option. 21% of those surveyed would replace all channels completely with mobile apps. Customer service is one of the key elements when it comes to keeping your customers happy. Let your mobile app do most of the work for you and let your customers’ voices be heard.

If your business has yet to enter the world of mobile apps, don’t worry. There is still time. But the time to get in on this innovative technology is now.

Do you need an idea for a mobile app? Or maybe you have an idea and need someone to help put that idea into motion. Let Blue Riot Labs create the perfect mobile app for your business. Increase conversion rates, customer service and be everywhere your customers are, possibly more than 10 times per day!

Do you have an idea for a mobile app that you’d like to share or do you have examples of cool business apps that have really showed off what this technology can do? Let us know. And if you already use mobile apps for your business, we’d love to hear your stories also.

• Out of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones in use, 1.08 billion are smartphones
• Smartphones comprise 27% of all mobile phone use
• 3 billion mobile phones are SMS enabled
• 86% of mobile web users are watching TV while using a mobile phone
• 1/3 of all mobile phone users access Facebook from a mobile device
• 91% of all mobile internet is social related
• By 2014, mobile web should overtake desktop internet usage

Looking at these numbers, one thing is clear. Mobile web is here to stay and SEO professionals can no longer afford to ignore this fast-growing audience. Let’s just take a look at a few of the ways mobile web marketing is changing SEO forever.

Image Searches: There are several mobile apps that allow mobile users to search the web using images they take on their phone or even with photos taken that instant. For example, if you are looking for a particular gift for a loved one and you see it at the store, only it’s too expensive, you can take a picture with your phone and you can instantly find that item somewhere else close by for less. Are your site’s images optimized for this form of search?

Type-Searching: Desktop users take no time at all to type out a long keyword phrase. But try doing that on a standard mobile type-pad. Instead, mobile users are starting to search for shorter keyword strings. This means that mobile users are relying far more on predictive text or on search engine suggestions. How will this affect the way you optimize your site and go about link building in the future?

Going Social: SEO is all about sociability these days. If you want to connect to your audience and remain relevant, mobile web is where it’s at.

Geo-Targeting: Many phones come with GPS technology these days and many apps are using the user’s location to enhance the phone’s functionality. Google, for example, often gives you local search results first before any others. But with mobile phones being used in multiple locations, search results are likely to fluctuate more on mobile devices than on any other. If your website’s local search page isn’t optimized or complete, you may want to put this at the top of your list of things to do.

The Immediacy: It is said that 70% of mobile hotel bookings were for same day check-ins. And 38% of mobile flight bookings were for trips departing within 10 days. Knowing this, will you consider changing the offers or content you show to your site’s mobile visitors?

You can expect mobile web use to continue to expand as new technologies emerge to make things simpler, faster and more accessible for users than ever. What do you think of this current trend? Have you altered your SEO efforts because of the mobile web phenomenon?

Simple Navigation: Your mobile website design should only have a few navigation buttons and they should be easy to click even with a small screen. With touch screen phones, it is really annoying when you have to zoom in because your big finger hits two navigation buttons at once. Keep this in mind and make sure they are spaced far enough apart to avoid frustrating users. Also, if your mobile site is making use of drop down menus, drop them. They don’t work so well on smartphones.

Limit Your Images and Graphics: If your site is loaded with images, it can take a long time for your page to load, especially on a smartphone. Just keep to one or two images to keep things simple and fast.

Say No To Flash: Adobe just killed flash for the mobile device, finally. Don’t do it. Flash on the average mobile phone just leaves a big empty space on the screen.

Prominent Contact Information: Your business’s phone number and/or contact information should be at the very top or very bottom of your mobile site and easy to read.

Keep It Simple: When it comes to copy, videos, images, everything, just keep it simple. Give users what they came for and nothing more. They will appreciate the simplicity.

With these five tips, your customers will easily find you no matter where they are. They will be able to find your location and they will be able to navigate from the home page to the very depths of your mobile site quickly and easily with any sized device.

Does Your Website Have a Mobile Version?

If your website doesn’t have a mobile version, you may be missing out on a prime opportunity to capture more business. How many times have customers tried to access your website from their smartphones only to give up after the navigation doesn’t work so well? And how many of those customers have switched to your competitors because they did in fact have a mobile site? Your customers may be searching for you right now on their Androids, iPhones and iPads. Can they find you? Ask our Denver mobile web design team if a mobile website is the perfect fit for your business.
Does your company use a mobile website? We would love to hear some of your successes or anything else you’d like to add. Let us know in the comments section below.

The Mobile Website
It’s said that mobile phones will soon take over as the preferred means of accessing the Internet. It only makes sense, then, to create a mobile version of your website. A mobile website fits better on the small screen of the common smartphone. WordPress mobile websites make clicking on links easier and they make reading the content on websites much easier on the eyes. Not only that, but by creating a mobile website, your website will get indexed by the Yahoo! and Google mobile search engines. These are all great reasons why you need to go mobile. The good news is that there are now four plug-ins that will help you shrink your site down in order to reach a potentially whole new section of your target audience.

WordPress Mobile Edition
This plug-in is easy to install and will have your mini-website ready to grace any smartphone or PDA. Visitors will be shown an interface that is designed specifically for mobile devices when visitors land on your site using a mobile device. The user’s browser will be automatically detected and the list of mobile browsers can be customized on the plug-in’s settings page.

MobilePress
This plug-in is for the iPhone, Droid and others and allows you to customize themes for your new mobile website. You can also use the plug-in to track your mobile website’s analytics. There is even a way to integrate ads on your WordPress mobile websites from some of the biggest mobile ad networks like Quattro wireless, Buzzcity and InMobi.

Wapple Architect Mobile
Wapple advertises that it will have your WordPress site going mobile in just a few minutes. The plug-in will analyze your website and then will tailor your site to fit any mobile device. With other plug-ins, your website’s features can become slowed down and warped because things don’t exactly sync with the browser and model of phone the visitor is using. With Wapple, the user’s phone and browser are detected and analyzed by Wapple’s advanced web services and everything is converted to work perfectly. The theme you’ve chosen and every other aspect of your site will be tailored down to a miniature version of your current site, allowing you to retain the same brand-feel for your visitors.

These are just a few of the plug-ins available that will help you take your website mobile in record time. Remember, with smartphones in everyone’s pockets, it’s becoming increasingly necessary to market your products and services to these mobile customers. By creating WordPress mobile websites, in essence just smaller versions of your current sites, you’ll create more exposure for your brand and more usability for your prospects and customers. Your site may be perfect as it is now and you may be getting lots of visitors to that site, but just think how much traffic you’ll get when you’re able to put your site in the hands of individuals who may be using their phones to search for your product or service right this moment. What are you waiting for? Hurry, before you lose another piece of traffic because your normal website doesn’t quite convert to the handy iPhone, Droid, PDA or any other device with a really small screen.

Denver App Developers
A successful web application, and even mobile applications, can automate and make your business processes much smoother and much more user-friendly, whether the user is a prospect, a customer or an employee. Therefore, you don’t want to hand the job of designing your company’s web app development to just anyone.

Your Denver Application developers should have, at the very least:

Industry Knowledge: The Denver Apps developers you hire should know the ins and outs of your industry and of your company. In addition to being able to create the perfect app, the Denver apps developers must know the perfect way to implement the app seamlessly to your business.

Technical Know-How: When looking for apps developers, the last thing you want to do is hire someone who just read a ‘How to Create Apps for Dummies’ book. Instead, you want a trained and professional computer….you want a geek, we’ll just come out and say it. The geekier the person is the better. And if your geek tries to explain the process of creating the app and you have no idea what he’s talking about, that’s when you know you’ve hired the right Denver app developers for the job.

Experience: Before you hire any Denver apps developers, make sure you view some of their previous work. You’ll want to examine some apps that the company in question has completed for other clients. By seeing the company’s web and mobile apps in action, you can be sure that your app will work just as well.

Web Applications
Once you’re hired your geek or your team, it’s now time to create the perfect app that will be designed to run flawlessly and smoothly as you automate and extend some of your key business processes. But what does that really mean?
The following are a few examples of what web apps can do to help you reach your company’s quarterly, yearly or all-time goals.
Content and Asset Management: If your business processes for tracking inventory, for keeping an eye on employees or for managing your business’s documents are taking way too long and if they’re way too complicated to figure out, a web app can take those business processes and automate everything. Not only that, but the ideal web app will be easy for employees and customers to figure out, so there’s no learning curve to worry about, nor is there any lost time.

Website Analytics and Lead Generation: Imagine if you could analyze every single visitor that lands on your site. Now imagine if you had a web app that took that information and used it to help you generate more leads. And what if the entire app was automated? Before, you’d have to send your sales force to either go out or to cold-call leads. With a web-app, the traffic arriving at your website is most likely targeted, so the automated lead generation is, by default, nearly guaranteed to be more effective than any inside or outside salesperson.

Customer Portals: Allow customers to enter into your online system and control every aspect of their experience with a customer portal that’s tailored for your company, your brand and, most of all, towards your customers’ wants and desires. Talk about the ultimate customer experience!

Sales and Marketing Automation: With a sales and marketing automation app, you’ll be able to identify, satisfy and keep your contacts much more efficiently. The app will make it easy to quantify leads and then assign them a value based on their overall interest in your product or service. Which users clicked on your email? Which ones bought your product but passed on your follow up product? How many of your contacts live in Texas? With sales and marketing automation, this information is easy to glean and utilize to the fullest. Imagine the power you could hold in your hands if you were able to shoot out a message to a highly targeted faction within your overall customer database, such as the ones who clicked on your email but didn’t buy the product. With so many possibilities for generating more leads and for generating more interest that ultimately lead to more sales, it’s almost like cheating.

Mobile Apps
In addition to web-based apps, mobile-based apps can be extremely powerful for generating more interest in your brand, for engaging customers in one-on-one communication, and for getting prospects and customers to interact socially using your brand.

Imagine a mobile-based app that put push-button calls-to-action right in your prospect’s hands. And imagine an app that encourages your customers to share their experiences on Facebook and Twitter, thus widening your company’s exposure and overall reputation.

Automate and Extend Business Practices
If you are wasting time and money engaging in business processes that are no longer cost-effective, it’s time to take a step back and consider doing things another way. Remember, if you always do what you always get, you’ll always get what you always got. Your company can’t afford to waste time on meaningless paperwork or redundant procedures. While your employees are busy filling out forms in triplicate, your competitors’ employees could be using a customized web-app that automates everything. That means that, while your company struggles to keep up, your competitors will be able to devote more time to customer service and company expansion.

Don’t be left out in the cold. Get with the times. Denver web marketing is extremely important, now more than ever. If you want to get ahead and you want your company to be as successful as possible, you’ll start looking for Denver app developers now and you’ll finally take the first step towards your company’s successful future.

Monster.com
Monster is one of the largest online recruiting platforms in the world. The site gets thousands of hits per day, as individuals all over the world search for that perfect job. And according to Monster, many of those job seekers are already at work. That’s right, Monster claims these searches are conducted by ‘discreet seekers’, employees who are sneaking behind their bosses’ backs in order to look for alternate employment. To cater to these undercover employees, Monster released the Monster iPad app that integrates Monster accounts with GPS for more targeted job searches, access to application history and stored resume and cover letters.
Monster also figured out that job seekers don’t want to wait a day or two for employers to contact them. They want instant feedback, something they’re used to receiving in today’s digital age, and the iPad helps to deliver that immediate information perfectly.

The Marines
The United States Marine Corps is also using the iPad, mainly as a recruitment tool. The iPad allows recruiters to record the information of potential recruits at job fairs and public events. This information used to be done by hand, but specialized apps and the wifi capabilities of the iPad make the task of recruiting much easier.

Health Care, Students and Professionals
According to a recent survey, more than 30% out of 178 healthcare workers indicated that they were ‘very likely’ to buy a tablet in the coming year. In other iPad news, George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon gave incoming freshman a choice of an iPad or a MacBook, which is also made by Apple, for the 2010 and 2011 academic year.
The healthcare industry finds the iPad especially attractive. Doctors and nurses now have instant access to pharmaceutical information, diagnostics information and more. If a particular drug interacts negatively with another drug that patient is taking, the iPad can help to avoid a bad situation before it arises. And if a patient develops a peculiar rash on their abdomen, the doctor can quickly use the iPad to find out what sort of condition causes such a rash.
But professionals of every type are also bringing the iPad to work with them. The iPad, with specialized apps, makes recording inventory a breeze. Outside sales reps can use the iPad to look up client information, check inventory and record sales. Business directors can examine notes before entering a board meeting. Lawyers can read over their opening statement before delivering it to the jury. The possibilities are endless.

Don’t Be Left Behind
Apple makes a solid product, with the iPhone and iPad just two of their many technological wonders. But the iPad is much more than just a handy computer that fits in the crook of your arm. This ultra-thin tablet is completely customizable for your business, thanks to the ever-versatile iPad app. Mercedes Benz realizes this fact and is yet another one of those large companies we spoke about that has integrated the iPad into their business operations. The luxury car giant puts iPads into the hands of all of its dealership executives. With a specialized app that delivers car inventory, marketing programs for specific models, quicker turnaround time on credit applications and more, the iPad provides wireless mobility, information and flexibility, three things that are essential to any sales person on the showroom floor.

If your business hasn’t yet integrated the iPad, you might already find yourself behind your tech-savvy competitors. Regardless of the industry you’re in: medical, food, health, consultation, there is an app and a way to integrate the iPad into your business operations that’s staring you right in the face. With the ability to handle WordPress, word processors and spreadsheets, plus with all the games and news, movies and more, the iPad is here to stay and it’s ready to do business. Are you?

EBay Mobile
When it comes to online shopping, EBay is definitely no slouch. With over $91 billion in sales last year, EBay garners plenty of attention to its regular online store front. But with the recent acquisitions of Critical Path Software and leading application developer RedLaser which makes barcode scanning software, along with the newly purchased Milo.com that provides real-time product inventory, EBay is about to emerge stronger, bigger and better than ever before.
That growth has already started with EBay Mobile combined with RedLaser and Milo.com. EBay is hitting the online smartphone trend early by combining these three powerful apps into the ultimate online experience. And with $2 billion in mobile sales reported for the previous year, it appears EBay has embraced the future mobile shopping trend and doing just fine.
Using EBay’s 3-App combo, shoppers will be able to use their iPhone or Android phone to scan any product’s barcode using RedLaser. This will let the shopper know where that product can be found by listing local retailers, and then Milo.com will let the product know which retailer has the best price. Shoppers get instant product comparison, price checks and more on the go, everything a shopper needs to get the best merchandise for the best possible price. Talk about a game changer.

Google Shopper
You know that the world’s number one search giant is going to get in on the online shopping craze. Introduce Google Shopper, which lets you take a photo of a product using your smartphone, which will then give you information about that product. Wait, what?
That’s right, Google Shopper recognizes books, DVDs, video games and you can even access Google’s product database by taking photos of product barcodes. With voice recognition that allows you to speak the name of the product you’re looking for, and a special browser that lets you visit a retailer’s website in order to find the nearest location, you’re never far away from the best deal. Google Shopper will also connect to Facebook, Twitter and Gmail, as well as instant messaging, for a complete social shopping experience.

Amazon Mobile with Amazon Price Check
If there’s a list of top online retailers, you know Amazon is going to make that list. Amazon’s online shopping app allows you access to the online store’s vast inventory that contains everything from books to movies to outdoor grills and much more. With the Amazon app you get access to your online shopper’s account, and you also get access to Amazon Price Check.
With Price Check, you can also search for products in much the same way that you can with Amazon Mobile, but Price Check is voice enabled, which means you only need to speak the products you’re looking for. Instead of providing a full shopping experience, Price Check is designed to be lightweight and fast, providing the lowest prices and price comparisons on all of your favorite Amazon products.

If the ForeSee survey results are any indication, you should keep in mind that any eCommerce store can have a convenient shopping app. With mobility, portability and the ability to find anything you want at the cheapest price in an instant, why would anyone want to shop any other way?

Dropbox: For file management, this free mobile app can’t be beat. Your photos, documents, videos and everything else can be kept in one spot, easily retrievable from any computer or mobile device. Simply set up the Dropbox folder on your computer and you can access that same file on your iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, and any other mobile device. If you’re not at your desk and you need to read that important document, you’re only a few clicks away. Or, share your dropbox folder with coworkers to corroborate on that big video project. It’s all possible and all in the palm of your hand with Dropbox.

Documents to Go: Let’s say you receive an email from a colleague and there’s a Microsoft Word document attached.  The problem is your laptop is back at the office and you’re forced to read the doc on your iPhone. With Documents to Go, you can now open those Word and Excel files right on your mobile phone, and you can edit them too. What’s that? Yup, you read that right. You can now edit Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel, Power Point, etc.) right from any mobile device.

Evernote: Inducted into Apple’s App Hall of Fame and considered one of The Top Ten Must-Have Apps by the New York Times, Evernote is touted as being an ‘extension of your brain’. This app is truly amazing, for business and all other reasons. Get this: You can create text, photo and audio notes, you can synchronize those notes to your computer. But that’s not even the best part. You can take a photo of a book cover, for instance, and the Evernote app will make that text readable and searchable. Amazing!

TripIt: This is the big daddy of mobile travel organizers. TripIt puts all your travel plans, including your flight information, rental car information, itinerary and everything else right on your mobile phone or tablet, no matter where your travel plans were booked. Need to change flights for a quick connection before heading to your final destination? Don’t fumble in your bag for the information you need, simply pull out your phone and access TripIt.

FlightTrack: This is another must-have for those who have to travel a lot for business. FlightTrack offers zoomable maps, departure info and gate numbers. But you can also be alerted when your flight is delayed or cancelled and FlightTrack will even help you find an alternative flight. Talk about the perfect app for frequent flyers!

LinkedIn: Now you can access your professional network  anywhere and anytime with the free LinkedIn mobile app. Used  by over 100 million professionals worldwide, you can view profiles, leave reviews, send messages, receive updates, and update your own status, all in real time.

Scanner Pro: Considered one of the top mobile applications available, for a nominal fee you can scan multiple page documents and then add, move, delete pages and more. But the best part about Scanner Pro is that you can now integrate the app with Dropbox, Evernote, and Google Docs. Need to scan a receipt, a business card or a sales letter? Now you can scan it with your mobile phone no matter where you are, and you’ll be able to set custom page sizes, make industry standard PDF files, and you can even protect your top-secret documents with a password to let everyone know they’re for your eyes only.

These are just a few of the top mobile apps out there. With desktops and handhelds merging at a faster pace than ever before, the time for your business to embrace the mobile app is now. If your business isn’t utilizing one of these or any of the other mobile applications available, you’re leaving money on the table and most of all you’re leaving room for your competitors to jump on the mobile app bandwagon before you do.

Android
WordPress for Android enables you to write articles and update your blog, edit content and manage comments. You will also be able to monitor your blog status, everything you could do if you were looking at your dashboard from your home computer.

Blackberry
This long-awaited application for the fan-loyal Blackberry allows you to write posts, upload photos and videos, edit pages and manage your comments. What’s more, this application supports WordPress.com self-hosted sites and WordPress.org  WordPress hosted blogs. BlackBerry owners have been asking for this app for a long time and it seems as though WordPress has finally listened.

iPhone
iPhone for iOS offers a unique posting experience for the iPhone users. There are effortless comments, where you can edit, moderate or reply to comments just like you do with SMS messages on the iPhone and there is elegant composing, where you can write content, add photos, check your spelling and you can even create links without needing to know a single line of HTML code.

You can also rotate the screen, which will allow you more space to compose your masterpiece.
Thanks to the widespread use of smart phones and of WordPress, this communion seemed unavoidable. Now Android, BlackBerry, iPhone and all other smart phone and even tablet users will be able to create and update WordPress sites with ease. With the ability to compose and edit posts, post photos and videos and more, and with the ability to moderate comments, there’s no reason to sit down at your desk any longer. You can now update your sites while on the bus, train or while in the car. Just make sure you’re not driving as you post the best work you’ve ever written to your WordPress site for all your visitors to read right from your iPhone, Blackberry or Droid.

We had the opportunity of working with a client that asked themselves just that and came up with a simple solution that has revolutionized their business.  Quality UPC is a company that buys UPC Barcodes in bulk and offers them to their customers, smaller businesses.  Wanting to pursue her music career and needing the extra time to do so, they came to us at Blue Riot Labs, a reputable development shop in the Denver area.

At that time, when their customer’s orders were complete, they had to manually process each order by generating the unique Barcode Skus, create a certificate of authenticity, and zip them all into a folder and email it herself.  Fortunately, they had a busy website with plenty of orders, but unfortunately they had to be on stand-by, all the time, in order to insure excellent customer service and a timely delivered product.

When finished, Blue Riot Labs, delivered yet again another awesome project.  Our client now enjoys a “hands-off” approach. When ordering from their website, upon checkout, all barcodes are now dynamically generated, a certificate of authenticity is dynamically generated based on the customers profile information, and are zipped up and available for download as soon as payment is accepted.  What used to be a manual process, now is completely self sufficient.

Not only has our client eliminated what did take several hours a day, and is focusing on pursuing other interests, but has also seen an increased number of sales by advertising the convenience of their new checkout. We can proudly say, Quality UPC will see a positive ROI in month three of their original investment.

Software is used all of the time to automate some kind of work and complete it efficiently in less amount of time. Chances are, you are already using an automation software like this to make your life easier. There was a time when different companies belonging to different industries used one kind of software. However, today the trend has changed and individual companies look forward to getting software designed to optimize their process.

So, this is my challenge to you.  Carefully analyze your current practices for your business. What is taking the most time? or money? Now, step outside of the box, and brainstorm ideas that you can use to simplify or automate your current process. This could be bookkeeping, marketing, order processing etc.  If you’re having trouble with this, contact us today.  Here at Blue Riot Labs, we’d love the opportunity of talking with you and generating innovative ideas with you.

If you can dream it… We can build it!