Why should we care what the “European sales chief” says?  Well, considering the fact that Europe (and Asia) are 3 years ahead of the United States in mobile technology, we can safely assume that this “European sales chief” knows what he is talking about.  He’s already seen the amazing usage and expansion of mobile and tablet pc’s – he sees it every day.

The United States is just starting to get into that market but yet, I’m sure that even if you don’t use a mobile phone or tablet PC, that you know at least ONE person who does.  So, even though we are just beginning to see the impact of mobile Internet, as someone once said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

So, as a small business owner, as a website owner, how are you going to leverage your company to take advantage of this trend?  After all, if Google thinks it’s the wave of the future, the chances are it most likely will be.  So, what are you going to do?  How can you take advantage of it?  How can you use it?

Here are some thoughts…

1) Don’t wait any longer to go mobile.  If you haven’t yet made sure that your website is easily accessible by mobile users, don’t wait anymore.  Get your designer on the task immediately.

2) Think Global.  In many rural areas across the globe, mobile is cheaper and easier to get.  This means the number of people going online is increasing much faster with mobile usage.  If your product or service reaches a global audience, make sure you’re addressing the needs of each culture so that you can take advantage of global sales.

3) Think Local.  The benefits of mobile and local businesses is tremendous.  In order to take advantage of this you must position yourself in all the local maps and directories.  I’m talking about Google Maps, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps.  I’m talking about Yelp and Foursquare.  If you want to be found my local customers, make sure they can find you from their mobile phones.  Again put your designer or seo firm on this task.

4) Go Social.  Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are just some of the social media program you must take advantage of.  This is how you “go viral”.  One person talks about you and passes it on to their friends, etc.  The great surge of usage of social media programs is from mobile units.  Take advantage of this by putting yourself in front of all those people.

Mobile and tablet technologies are not going away, they’re coming and they’re coming fast.  Be pro-active and begin the process of getting your business ready for this technology.  You’ll be better off for it.

These comments obviously come from someone who still hasn’t figured out how to use the Internet.  What I mean is there still are people out there who don’t use the Internet daily.  Yep, it’s true.  If these folks need to find the phone number for that pizza place around the corner that they can’t remember the name of, they go to the yellow pages or call their neighbor or rummage through the drawer full of menus from local restaurants.

But if they used the Internet regularly, they would know that they could just go to Google Maps, type in their address and then search for Pizza and Ta-Da!!!  There it is.  Phone number and more.  (So, now you know what i mean).

Anyway, local listings are becoming more and more important because of the increased use and availability of mobile phones and GPS units.  If your business is not listed in local Internet directories, it won’t be found by those folks who are looking for a nearby store or service.  Is it as costly as it was to get into the Yellow Pages (you know, the print kind)?  Absolutely NO WAY!!  So, what’s keeping you from going local?

But, here’s the tip.  When you do optimize your website for a local search engine you need to let the engine know that you are local.  So, make sure to place your phone number with area code on every page.  Make sure to include your address on every page.  And make sure to focus some website pages on geo locations such as city, county, etc.

Here are some examples:

Pompano Beach Personal Injury Attorney
Miami Dentist
Pembroke Pines Dentist
Atlanta Psychiatrist

Get the picture?  It’s important to be where your clients are.  The same is true on the Internet.  Location, Location, Location!