Why Optimise for Mobile?

Adaptive responsive, Mobilised, Device Capable...

These are all words that mean your website is able to be viewed, happily, on a potential customers mobile device. So, what's the attraction? Well, we are not using them to make calls anymore, are we?

On the 10th of March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented a device that would allow us to speak in real time to a loved one or a person from across the globe.  Little did he know, that the "not so" humble beginnings of this device would lead to the worldwide revolution and eventually lack of use of his intended design.

Yes, the good old phone call is rapidly heading towards extinction.

We just don’t seem to make phone calls on them anymore.  Instead, our mobile devices are used for emails, texting, video call, surfing, consumerism and playing games.  Uh huh, games! (I imagine that trying to play Tetris on a phone from 1876 would be stacking actual bricks on top of it.)

So where are we at now? Well, to answer that question we need stats, and Deloitte have thankfully done all the leg work for us.  They have put together this fantastic report that shows us what we are doing with our phones, and when we are doing it.

Looking at our daily device use, can tell us more about the need to “mobilise.”

Let’s start the day at 0700 (some of you are sleeping in ay?). The stats show us that with five minutes of waking up, 32% of us reach for our phones.  No, that’s not to turn off that annoying alarm.  It’s to “check” them for news, weather and the obligatory social media check.

By 0705 the first thing 29% of us do is check our text messages. Surely nothing is so urgent that it needs dealing with before the brushing of the teeth occurs to remove the morning dragon breath?
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At 0800 we are off and using public transport, where a whopping...

78% of us are surfing the web, messaging, social media’ing (is that even a word?) and using our mobile devices whilst we sit and wait for our stop.
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78%!! Out of everyone on the train or bus, there is only a couple, or handful that still read the morning paper, newsprint edition and not the digital one, or have their nose buried in a book, paper that is, not digital.

So then the work day starts.  0900 – 1700. The good ole nine to five. What a way to make a living (Shout out for all you Dolly Parton fans out there!)

During the work day we actually still make some calls, 32% of us still use the device as it was originally intended, picking up the handset, dialing a number and speak to the person on the other end.  Yes millennials, these devices can actually make phone calls, and there is huge benefit in using your words. (*Stands, folds arms and looks disparagingly at millennials who don’t “use” a phone properly) Tsk Tsk.

Nearly all of us, 89% that is, use the device whilst we are at work.  I’m fairly certain that not all of that is for work purposes, yes?

We do check our work emails though, with 37% of us using the device to check, write and send emails during the day.

Come five o’clock it’s time to bust out of the office with your best dance moves and moonwalk onto that public transport, where 9% of us actually use our smart devices to pay for the transport. Just wave your device casually over the ticket machine and you’re on the bus, where the wheels go round and round, round and round, round and round. (You’re singing it, aren’t you?!)

From 1800 – 1900 (Beer or Wine O’clock perhaps?) 80% are on their devices whilst talking and socialising with friends.  Multi-tasking at its finest, but somewhere, somehow either the conversation is suffering, or the auto correct is doing a lot of work. Splitting your attention is never a good call and whilst you may be able to hold a piece of that important conversation and text without looking at your phone, someone somewhere just got told “I have a bad case of manboobs!” when they actually meant “I have a bad case of Mondays!” Damn you auto correct! (*Shakes fist at phone)

Luckily, this only occurs via text. Imagine the utter hilarity of that Freudian slip whilst talking with your boss (as you tried to text under the desk at the meeting) phew… can you say ‘dismissal?’
No amount of practice will allow you to focus fully on either one, resulting in epic and hilarious fails for us all to laugh at someone else’s misfortune…until it’s our turn. Hmmmm.

We are not much better over dinner with 68% of us using the device at dinner with the family. Shame on you mum and dad for not wanting to know how little Johnny’s school test went. And shame on you Little Johnny for not wanting to know how many spreadsheets dad got through today or how mum managed to negotiate that high rolling deal the office had been after.

Yeah, so, I wonder how many times parents now have to say “Don’t talk with your mouth full!” when, actually, the kids have no desire to “talk” anyway, as they are already “talking” on a group chat with their friends. Yep, “socialising” (Tilts head, smiles as large as possible and raise both thumbs) … Gee whiz kids… you’re doing it wrong.

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From 2000 – 2200 (8pm till 10pm for those of you challenged by the 24 hour clock) we are not much better. Or are we? Instead of simply sitting and watching some mind numbing dribble on “the box” we are not sitting, dribbling (hang on…) and surfing the interwebs on our devices, AT THE SAME TIME as watching the box. Yep, multi-tasking again, for better or for worse, which co-incidentally, were probably in those vows you made (remember those?) to the person you’re currently sitting next to on the couch… neglecting, that is, unless you’re involved in a group chat with them, which makes it ok.  (sure…uh huh, sure it does)

So, 81% of us are using the device, whilst watching the box.  81%!! It’s no wonder we have some awful shows getting second seasons and good shows being cancelled after the first, no one is paying their full attention to them! When asked if that new show “Aunty Mavis and her sock darning escapades” should get a second season, we are just saying “Yes” because only 19% of us were watching and paying full attention!  No more Aunty Mavis I say! If you’re gonna watch the box, then watch it properly! Popcorn, blankie, cat and/or dog and/or wife/husband. Get in there! Do it properly! Otherwise Aunty Mavis wins a second season and Firefly misses out (Obscure pop reference for those Joss Whedon fans right there)  :-)

For those of us still out at 2200, 9% are using their device to pay for the taxi (or Uber I guess) to get home, so that they, or rather, 27% of us, can use our device up to 5 minutes before going to sleep.
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And if all that wasn’t enough, some of you (yep you, no “us” this time. I sleep through the night with no desire to do this) wake up and check your device in the middle of the night.  34% of you in fact.  What are you all thinking?! Bed is for sleep (and play, shhhhhh, the children are listening)

So that, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, is what we are doing with our devices as a day in the life of a smartphone.  My goodness, what have we become?

And, tongue in cheek aside, I love this. I am a heavy smartphone and mobile device user, and aside from that last 34% stat of checking the phone in the middle of the night, I exceed all the others in my use, heavily.

Our business is all about the internet.  It’s about helping you and your business get found. It would be remiss of me to not be using it to the degree that I do now, and I can only see my usage increasing.

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The internet is huge and that is a massive understatement. If you printed it, yes, printed it (bear with me) and stacked it like a ream of paper one on top of the other, it would be 13,358 kilometers tall.  That’s a little under 35 times to the moon and back!  (Measured 2015)
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I said huge and I mean HUGE!

So, how do you get found on their phone if you are just one little spot on a journey to the moon and back, 35 times!? Well, it all comes down to your internet team. It all comes down to just how good they know their stuff.

We KNOW our stuff!  Whilst many web designers are focusing on making the site pretty, making it user friendly, increasing the user experience.  We are focusing on making your site GO! (We also make it look pretty, uh huh...real purdy like!) (*insert redneck accent here)

Whilst for some, having a nice “Ferrari like” chassis makes the site great to look at, if you look under the hood and it’s only got a family station wagon engine in it, that ain’t helpful.

We are not just web designers; at heart, we are Web Optimisers!

Your site needs maintenance, and a ton of it.  Those web designers that tell you that you can have a site for only $500 and it will rank and be awesome are taking you for a ride. They are telling you tall tales. Their "pinocchio nose" is growing.


Your site needs optimisation. It needs mobilisation, It needs on-site SEO, off-site SEO. It needs good quality backlinks, listings and most of all, its needs “love.” Yep love, just like the shop front of any store, it needs to be kept clean and tidy, given a "spruce up" and attention on a regular basis to attract potential customers to come into your store.

We mobilise and we optimise. Whether it’s your brand new site or your existing site that is in need of some loving, our role is to optimise it for the web and the humans that are using it.

Without optimisation, all that time that we spend on our devices, (adults average 3 hours and 8 minutes per day, excluding phone calls) what a waste it would be if you and your business was not found because you were not mobilised. 

So, what’s the answer to your potential customers finding you in the HUGENESS that is the internet?  Long story short, it’s simply about finding experts at Web Optimisation, and yep, that’s us.

​You’ve come to the right place to get "mobilised!" Contact us, The Cadre Collective Consultants today!

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