Last Updated on 5/22/2013

Published on 9/28/2012

There are seven ways businesses and companies can improve when it comes to their websites and linking to mobile devices.
Jay Small of Informed Interactive, a company that specializes in new technology, informed local businesses and non-profit groups Thursday of some common mistakes and ways they can fix these mistakes.
Georgetown Communications and our three newspapers — Georgetown Times, Waccamaw Times and Inlet Outlook — presented two seminars at Hampton Inn in Pawleys Island.
According to Small, businesses need to turn visitors into customers, make their websites mobile friendly, utilize their databases, research how “findable” they are, think of social media in the context of their business, manage their reputations, and learn to use banner ads.
“96 percent of the U.S. population owns wireless devices and the average person spends 2.7 hours a day socializing on wireless devices, including e-mail, texting and phone calls,” Small said.
“Why give mobile users a bad experience when they are visiting your website?”
He said it is important to become mobile-friendly in every way.
“If there is a reason to have a website, there is a reason to have a mobile-friendly website,” Small said.
He suggested responsive web design where the most useful information and contact information is obvious and can be accessed easily when visiting the website.
Small said social users don’t want to lose control, be deluged with marketing or be told things they already know.
But they do want to have fun, share pictures and videos, feel like they are part of something special and get a deal, as long as it is in context.
He urged businesses to use incentives, surveys and deal offers to create website conversions from visitors to customers and social media interactions.
Much of this can be accomplished by building a network of customers using pop-up banners to let customers know individually about promotions and special events, he said.
Some attendees of the seminar said the information was very valuable for their business.
Emily Mobley with Habitat for Humanity Georgetown County said she had no idea that their website should be in a mobile-friendly format.
“I had no idea that people on the Internet were using mobile phones that much,” Mobley said. “It is probably even more here because this is a resort area.”
Joseph Hentz, owner of Advance Software, a national software company, said he is also going to work to make sure his website is mobile-friendly.
“I am going to get my website going toward mobile because service to my customers is very important,” he said.
Anyone who would like to discuss these and other options for using technology for advertising can call the Georgetown Times at 843-546-4148 ext. 239 and ask for Dale, Angie, Mike, Ryan or Sandra.

By Clayton Stairs
cstairs@gtowntimes.com