8 Tips for Effective Mobile Optimization for Cannabis Retailers
Google is the most popular search engine in the world, easily accessible from our mobile devices. Everyday consumers use their mobile devices in accessing various ecommerce platforms and brands when looking for products and services. According to Google, one in every five online searches on its platform has local intent hence cannabis retailers need to embrace effective mobile optimization.
Mobile online searches continue growing in popularity with people using smartphones and tablets to easily access global ecommerce platforms. Mobile devices offer immense convenience which isn’t available with desktops and laptops. Cannabis retailers need to ensure their websites is mobile friendly. Mobile optimization plays an important role in ensuring your local SEO rating goes up. To achieve an effective mobile optimization of your business you need to consider the following tips:
Understanding Your Mobile Audience
While more than 90% of the population in the world use mobile phones which are connected to the internet, not everyone is a potential lead for your brand. You need to carefully research and identify the buyer personas who are present in the mobile audience who are potential leads. After identifying your mobile audience using the various key demographics, you can now identify their intent in every stage of their buying journey. The information will help you create answers or content which are most relevant to the mobile searches made by a person.
Keyword targeting
Mobile optimization also depends on keywords because users still use the search engines to make online queries. If your cannabis retail business doesn’t have the most relevant keywords, it will not appear on the first page of the search page results. Unlike desktops or laptops, with mobile searchers, internet users tend to make short search words or phrases. You will need to research the most popular keywords and phrases among your target market and use them on your platform. You can use keywords tools like Moz’s Keyword Explorer and AdWords Keyword Planner. If your business is listed on Google you should use the Search Console and Google Analytics to identify the exact key words and phrases being used by internet users.
Testing User Experience
More than 90% of the people who use mobile devices to access the internet prefer speedy access to information. Consumers are less patient when using mobile devices to access brands, products or services. Your platform needs to have the best user experience by being easy to navigate and the pages loading very fast. Performing frequent test runs on your mobile platform will help in identifying key area of improvement on your platform. The mobile users should be able to access all the fetaures present in the desktop version of your platform.
On Page Search Engine Optimization
Cannabis retailers need to prioritize local SEO. Cannabis is still illegal at federal level hence most businesses are limited to operate in their local jurisdictions and states. Thus your target market is the people living in your local area. When targeting effective local SEO you need to include the location and keywords in the following key sections:
Title Tag
Meta descriptions
Page title (h1-tag)
Alt text on your images
Content
Local SEO is more location specific compared to the general SEO, hence including the location of your business as part of the keyword or phrase is highly recommend.
Using NAP
NAP refers to Name, Address, and Phone Number, and are a key part of local SEO and mobile optimization. Thanks to technology when consumers make online searches using their mobile devices they can opt for getting in touch with the byer by clicking the phone contact option, which automatically dials the buyer’s number. The fetaures has increased the popularity of mobile optimization especially for retail businesses. Including NAP in your cone net is very important, key sections where you should include the NAP details are the header, footer, and sidebar. Google uses the information to determine your website’s relevance to the local searchers made by users.
Page Load Speed
More than 40% of mobile internet users leave a site when the page loading period is more than 3 seconds. Page loading speed can be affected by various factors but the main one being the amount of content on your platforms. Contents like videos and audios can slow down the speed of your website, making the mobile version even slower. You can use the Mobile-Friendly Test tool developed by Google to determine if your mobile website has any speed issues.
Using Schema
Google has various tools which cannabis retailers can use to improve their mobile optimization. Schema Mark-up helps in mobile optimization by marking up the businesses’ contact information (address and phone number). Once the information is marked up on the tool, it gives the cannabis retailer’s businesses more local search engine visibility.
Site Design
Do you need to design a new mobile site different from your desktop version? No. You will just customise the existing desktop version to be more mobile friendly. However there are key factors which need to be considered during the process:
Instead of using the Flash opt for HTML5 which is the best for mobile optimization and doesn’t require any plug in.
Don’t have any pop ups on the home page. Apart from the mobile screen being small, Google discourages businesses from using pop ups on the homepages because they negative affect your website’s online ranking.
Since consumers don’t have the privilege of typing or using a cursor, it’s important to develop design buttons suitable for large fingers. Create ample spaces between buttons so that users don’t accidentally navigate to the wrong page.
Mobile optimization is very essential for every cannabis retail business because its plays a key part in promoting local SEO.
As you have read in this article it is not as straightforward as other industries. Operating a cannabis business is extremely difficult, and not having the know how can really affect your bottom line. Vende POS is made to help its clients run the business they have always wanted. Providing you with all the necessary tools for your business to succeed is our goal. Schedule a demo with us today and see how running your business on the Vende platform can help.