Ten years ago, cell phones were predominantly used to make phone calls. Five years ago, most cell phone users were relatively acclimated to communicating via not only voice call, but text message as well. Today, cell phones are used not only to communicate, but to research, locate, entertain, and perform a multitude of other tasks. Consequently, mobile websites for attorneys and law firms have never been more important, particularly since the mobile Internet market is still in a somewhat young state, and will undoubtedly expand exponentially in the years to come. Just as technology will inevitably improve over time, so too will the relevance and importance of well optimized and fully functional mobile websites.
Today’s legal Internet marketing campaigns are more extensive than they were just half a decade ago. From blogs to mini-sites to social networking profiles, attorney and law firm marketing plans now include more than just a single website. Functional mobile sites are merely another example of the ever expanding world of effective legal Internet marketing, and making sure that your firm has a mobile site is becoming more and more necessary.
According to mobile statistics, more than 85% of new cell phones in 2011 will be mobile Web ready worldwide. In the United States and Europe, 90% of mobile phone users already have mobile Web capable phones. In the very near future, it’s safe to assume that all mobile phones will be mobile Web ready, which means that the practice of searching the Internet on a cell phone rather than on a desktop computer or laptop will become much more commonplace. Couple that notion with the ever expanding world of fast mobile Internet services (3G, 4G), and surfing the web on one’s cell phone is becoming easier and easier.
So what does this all mean for attorneys and law firms in regard to their legal Internet marketing strategies? Well, for anyone who’s recently upgraded their phone or purchased a new one, it’s very likely that applications like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr were already pre-installed on the phone, namely because these services are so popular amongst cell phone users. So, while it may not seem terribly relevant to have a presence on social media sites, a lack of presence will only ensure that mobile web users will never come across any sort of information related to your law firm. And, if you don’t have a functional mobile site that users can get to from those social media profiles, then you are certainly missing out on reaching billions of mobile web users worldwide.
In part two of our mobile site blog series, we will discuss the importance of having a mobile website that compliments your primary website and social media profiles.
Source: http://mobithinking.mobi/stats-corner/global-mobile-statistics-2011-all-quality-mobile-marketing-research-mobile-web-stats-su