88% of Web Searches Made From Mobile Phone

This article was sent to me by Greg Olson, Washington State Executive Director and I just had to share it with you

As a Washington state BOWLING CENTER owner you've probably noticed how attached your customers are to their mobile phones.

From texting at the dinner table to surfing the Internet, mobile phones are en-grained into our daily lives.

And the rise in mobile usage is projected to continue. With mobile web traffic set to increase 2600 percent in four years, BOWLING CENTER owners need to consider how a mobile world affects their business.

Consider this: 88 percent of all web searches related to entertainment and dining are made from a mobile phone. Put simply, if you’re not adjusting to a mobile world, you’re behind.

This is especially true for BOWLING CENTERS and restaurant owners, as your customers – more than any other industry – turn to their smart phones to connect with you. Customers use their mobile phones to read your offerings, find store hours and call you with a click of a button.

So, can your mobile customers view your webpage on a small screen?

Customers today expect websites to be mobile friendly and easy to navigate with their fingertips, without having to pinch and zoom. And with mobile browsing speeds getting faster, the desktop computer is no longer the access point to the Internet. Mobile websites are the new digital storefront.

When you make the move to go mobile, consider the following tips to make your site interactive for your potential customers:

• What’s going on? Pricing, lane availability and menus should be accessible on a mobile phone. It should be a web page that is easy to scroll through rather than a downloadable PDF or a menu that requires specific software to preview.

• X marks the spot. Your website should sync with mapping features such as Google Maps so that a user can find you in a search and get directions from their current location. Ninety-five percent of searches are for local businesses.

• Make a reservation. If you offer an online reservation system, make sure it’s easy to use and find on a mobile phone. Your customers will appreciate the ease and convenience of using their mobile phones to make reservations.

• Call with one click. It’s important to make it easy for mobile users to contact you. The goal is to turn a search into a reservation. And the simplest way to do this is to enable a “click to call” function on the mobile site. With just one click, patrons can call you from their mobile phones.

• The lanes are open. Make sure customers can find your hours of operation so they can plan accordingly.

Building a mobile presence will help your BOWLING CENTER get more customers into your business.

Once your mobile site is up and running, in no time, your customers will be scrolling through your menu, call with one click and reserve a lane or seat in your restaurant from the palm of their hands.

It’s a mobile world, which is an advantage to restaurant owners (and bowling center owners) who see the opportunity to keep connected.

The Fickle Finger of Fate

I was driving my wonderful SAAB the other day, tooling down the Sawmill Parkway in hilly Westchester County NY, accelerating into turns and just having a blast carving up the roads. As I looked in my rear-view mirror I noticed a car approaching at a rapid rate of speed. 

He slowed enough to get on my a*s. 

Gently tapping the brakes and  thinking that this signal would give him an idea that he was following too closely and hoping he would back off, instead he became enraged, started flashing his lights and honking his horn. He was a maniac. Traffic in the left lane prevented him from passing me, so he just decided that his best effort would be to tailgate. So I did what I could to stop him from his dangerous driving and slowed down. He just stayed on my tail, honking and flashing his lights.

I was getting angry, but at the exact same time that I was about ready to "go nuts", I got a great new product idea that I probably would not have gotten had it not been for the present chaotic situation in which I found myself.

I don’t know where it came from or why: “What if I had an invisible strip on my bumper that was programmed with sign like, “you are too close, please keep your distance” that I could flash at him?

My very next thought was a series of questions such as: “Is there a market for this; how much would it cost to make; who would buy it, how could I sell it, and many other questions that marketing dudes ask.

I became so involved in this mental exercise that I completely ignored the jackass behind me who now, after several miles, decided to pass me, give me the one finger salute and speed off. “Yeah, same to you fella!”

So what’s the point of this story?

Here's what I realized, and was able to articulate; “ Perhaps out of chaos, some anxiety and irrational circumstances, there may be a good idea that is fermenting and then rises to the top of your consciousness."  And all we have to do is be aware of it.

Don’t discount the ideas you get when your business is flat or down, when it seems like the things you have tried just aren't working; when your banker is stopping in more frequently and when the roof starts to leak in a new place.  That’s the place where the breakthrough idea can start. Necessity being the mother of invention.

And maybe, just maybe, there’s an idea there, inside of you, just waiting for the chaos to birth it.