This year is already the best so far for mobile, as consumers spend more time on apps for mobile than on the web for the first time, and as mobile devices begin to step up to the number of laptop and PC sales.
However, according to eMarketer, in the United States this year, mobile advertising is expected to reach only $1.1 billion, and mobile search will make up only $295.1 million of that. When compared to the $31.3 billion that American companies are spending on online marketing, and that $14.4 billion of that is on web search advertising, it’s clear that many businesses have yet to take on the mobile search initiative.
According to mobile advertising company Zumobi’s CEO, Ken Willner, people are already using searches for seeking a certain product or service, “and mobile should be even more so, as they may be acting in the moment and time-pressed.”
That said, the Mobile Metric Report, produced by Smaato, which was based on more than 80 million ad requests as well as more than 60 connected ad networks which are found in 230 countries worldwide, determined that budgets were not increasing fast enough for ad inventory, which had led to a slight drop in the rates of advertising fill.
To get started on mobile search advertising, the first step is to select the right keywords. Though this may sound intimidating to many businesses, it doesn’t have to be very expensive or time consuming. Google provides free expert services that help to identify the right keywords. There is also the Google AdWords option, which provides a somewhat automated way to identify keywords for mobile. Yahoo and Microsoft Advertising adCenter also offer options, and they may provide more location-specificity.
