Some of the key findings were:

• 75 percent said mobile search makes their lives easier
• 63 percent said access to mobile search has changed the way they gather information
• 32 percent said they use mobile search more than search engines on their computers

This means that e-commerce sites need to consider how their site –and their content– performs on the mobile web. Are product shots fast to load? Is the content brief but informative?

Mobile users want to access information and products quickly and easily. The content environment is physically smaller (iphone vs. desktop), so content strategy is critical.

You may want to create a mobile website that pares down content to the buyer-decision making essentials. Use your analytics to review which pages are visited most, as well as look at the number of pages visited by computer-based visitors vs. mobile visitors. These numbers should be relatively close. If the mobile visitors have significantly less page views, it could be a sign your site needs to be rethought for mobile traffic, or a mobile site created.

1.) Taking a huge cue from Facebook’s “like” button, Google announced its +1 button.  Online users can click the “+1” button and the content or ad will be shared with their social circle, and the public. It’s all fine and well, but I think they might get more results if they had put out a “dislike” -1 button. We’d all be clicking like there’s no tomorrow. All hail the rise of social SEO. (It’s been going on for awhile, but this just upped the ante.)

2.) Every year QR codes are announced as the new big thing, and finally they are beginning to get a little traction in North America. In 7 Reasons to Add QR Codes to Content Marketing author Heidi Cohen reminds us why we should get on board with QR codes.

3.) Did you miss World Backup Day? It’s never too late to start!  Everyone needs a disaster recovery plan.

4.) Content curation is blossoming. As we send out more and more info into the cloud, how do we care for it, watch over it? Joe Pulizzi has written an excellent article that shows just how important this issue is.

5.) Copyblogger has (as always) a lot of great insights about discovering the core desires of your audience and tapping into that to create compelling email subject lines. But, that said, expect a lot of email marked “You Are Not Alone”.

Friday Fun
With results like these, you may think that Google needs to hire Autocompleters.

But the truth is, it’s April Fools’ Day. The link leads to a job description that includes requirements like “Good typing skills (at least 32,000 WPM)”. But wait, that’s not all!! Check out this excellent coverage of all of Google’s shenanigans.

This algorithm change is aimed at improving Google’s search results by filtering out “low-quality sites” and providing better ranking for high-quality sites. Which sites are considered high quality? Google says “sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

Most SME websites are not content farms, which are generally defined as companies that employ large numbers of often freelance writers to generate large amounts of textual content designed to generate more advertising revenue. With any sweeping change, there may be perfectly legitimate companies that are lumped in with suspected content farms. Where smaller companies may run into trouble is when they use scrapped content to generate blog posts, product description, etc.

More importantly, I think this speaks to what each and every company should be doing: creating, regular useful content for the target audience. Companies that rely on a static, unchanging website just don’t cut it anymore. Informative articles, blog posts, news updates, online newsletters and other regularly updated materials have gone from “nice to have” to “must have”. It’s as simple as that.

What’s your company’s strategy for content?

Making Mistakes is Human – I love this story. It’s a reminder that we all goof up occasionally, but how we handle our mistakes makes all the difference in the world. Nice work Red Cross!

Context, Context, Context – Earlier this week Daniel Eizans talked about situational-behavioral context. The whole series about context in content strategy is incredibly informative, so read ‘em all!

The Social Media Stage – Collin Douma is a super smart guy. He’s also put out a great white paper called the Social Media Stage that outlines tools, best practices and protocols. Say no more. Download it.

Search’s Ugly Duckling – Link building has long been the tedious, uber-unsexy part of SEO. In case you missed it, last weekend JC Penney got caught trying to influence search rankings with old-school low-rent link techniques. This set off a flurry of articles about link building. I really liked Ken McGaffin’s piece about using PR to get links. And, Kelvin Newman has 51 essential link building tips.

Friday Fun
The Choddy: The Mullet of Advertising – Stop the Choddy is an movement to put an end to those formulaic commercials where celebrities and civilians stand in front of a bland background and advocate issues from starving children to chicken sandwiches. Still not sure what a choddy is, here’s a primer.  Watch the video.

Take a peek at this short, but statistic-filled, video from Google. It’s packed with insights about the power of search. The data was compiled from over 60 research studies to better understand how consumers are using the web.

Our numbers have changed. Not our eco-commitment.

Businesses move all the time. New business cards and stationery are ordered, and the old stuff tossed into the recycling bin. Well, here’s a clever idea…

When Liwa Advertising moved its office to a new address, the agency came up with a eco-friendly and original way to use its existing stationery and make a statement at the same time. A ‘recycle’ seal was created with the new telephone and fax numbers plus a subtle environmental message.

Advertising Agency: Liwa Advertising, Dubai
Creative Directors: Suhas Rege, Vijay Kumar
Art Director: Navkriti Shrikhande
Copywriter: Vijay Kumar
Additional credits: Sagar Rege

(Via: Ads of the World)