Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/523095
www.PowersportsBusiness.com SOLUTIONS Powersports Business • June 15, 2015 • 27 I didn't want to be that guy. You know the one that tells you something, and when it happens, he sticks it right back in your face. Then he celebrates it with some flat-palmed chest-thumpin', like some ESPN highlight reel. Well … maybe I do. Yeah, yeah I do. See, some 18 months ago, in these very Powersports Business pages, I told you all that "the finger gymnastics of shrinking or stretch- ing a website on a mobile device will be a thing of the past." That we consumers won't put up with that kind of web-browsing nonsense on a smartphone for long. Google confirmed my suspicion recently when it started enforcing a significant change in its search engine rankings. In late April, Google changed its search rankings on mobile devices so that mobile-friendly sites would come up higher in searches vs. non-mobile- friendly sites. There are more than a hundred possible reasons why a webpage would be considered "unfriendly" to a mobile user, but it essentially boils down to user experience. We mobile phone users don't want to tap. We don't want to zoom. And swiping left or right is just a major pain. Who needs that aggravation? Give me a simple click or a little scrolling up or down, but no more finger gymnastics. No more making me move my finger three times just to read one sentence about a new bike. No more! We're done with that. And if your website is still doing that, then your unique visitors and overall traffic from mobile devices are going to be taking a serious hit on Google searches. If you're reading about this for the first time, there's a simple way to figure out if your site is considered mobile friendly by Google. Go to Google's test site, www.google.com/ webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly, and place your dealership's URL (ABCdealership.com) into the box on the page. Then click on "ana- lyze." Within a minute, you'll be told if your site is considered mobile friendly. If you've already checked your website, and you're indeed mobile friendly, let's move on to the next mobile-related issue you should con- sider. That is, how much of your ad spending should be going to mobile-specific channels? We at Dominion Powersports recently held a joint webinar with Google. One of the most intriguing industry-specific statistics Google gave us was the following: Growth in search queries made on mobile devices for off-road vehicles climbed 51 percent in a recent year. For motorcycles, it was about the same. To put that in simpler and less "techie" language, our consumers are taking out their smartphones and checking out new and used two- and four-wheelers a lot. In fact, a whole lot more often than they used to. The next question for you to consider: Does your online advertising spend and resources mirror that trend? Are you com- mitting more and more of your online spend- ing on mobile-friendly advertising? Notice I didn't say online advertising there, but actual mobile-friendly advertising. Google also pointed out in the Pulse DX1 webinar that almost all of us shoppers are multiple-device users. We go from mobile to laptop to tablet, probably several times a day. And while our devices are changing, our minds really aren't. If we spent the morning researching new bikes on the laptop, and now we're eating lunch and cruising the Net on our smartphone, we're still thinking about that new model. What does that mean to you? It means if your marketing presence is almost entirely PC-oriented — i.e., not mobile friendly — then you're losing me, the multi- ple-device guy, at some point during the shop- ping experience. Think about that. Your dealership could've popped up on the consumer's radar during his laptop search, and he was about to pop onto your website and leave you a lead. But wait — it's break time. Time to go stretch my legs and check out who texted me on my cell. Oh, and I might as well check out that dealership on my cell, while I'm at it. But I can't find them on my Google mobile search. So I guess I'll check out this other dealership that pops up on this mobile-friendly ad on CycleTrader.com. ... And now where are you? Probably thinking about me doing my flat- palmed chest thumpin'! PSB Neil Pascale is the industry communications manager for Dominion Powersports Solutions, the provider of the DX1 Powersports dealer management platform. He can be reached at neil.pascale@dominionpowersports.com. Get a finger on consumer experience THE DEALERSHIP OF TOMORROW the one that tells you something, and when it happens, he sticks it right back in your face. Then he celebrates it with some flat-palmed NEIL PASCALE "There are more than a hundred possible reasons why a webpage would be considered 'unfriendly' to a mobile user, but it essentially boils down to user experience. We mobile phone users don't want to tap. ..."