A recent study published by the International Data Corporation confirmed what we all suspected. Mobile device use continues to grow. More importantly, simple feature phones (those with text and calling features) are increasingly being supplanted by smartphones (which can be used to surf the web). The shift to these devices is expected to continue, marking an important change in mobile consumer behavior -- especially when you consider this: Another study conducted by the Pew Internet Project, found that more than 40% of all US adults have a smartphone and that over a quarter of US smartphone owners use their device as their primary tool for browsing the web.

Why does this shift matter?

If you have a website, you presumably want to reach as many people as possible. As a result, you need to consider how mobile visitors will experience your site. While more research needs to be done on search behavior on mobile devices vs. desktops and laptops, certain differences are already clear:

1. Smartphones have smaller screens and are shaped differently than pc's. Navigating a conventional webpage on such a device often involves a lot of awkward zooming and scrolling just to read the main content. And since fingers are much less accurate than a cursor, accidental "fat-fingering" of the screen can lead to frustrating navigation mistakes.
2. Conventional websites load more slowly on smartphones than pc's or laptops because they have less processing power. For users who just want to access basic information, a slow-loading site can be enough to make them go elsewhere.
3. Smartphones are mobile by nature and tasks are more quickly interrupted. On a standard computer, a user might take time to browse your site to learn as much as they can. On a mobile device, if information can't be easily accessed, the visitor may leave and go elsewhere.

What can you do about it?

Building a website that is optimized for mobile devices is the best way to ensure a positive experience for site visitors who are on the go. While there are many issues to consider as you plan a mobile website, the following characteristics should be baseline goals:

• It should be lightweight so that it loads quickly. Save the images and video for your primary site.
• It should serve as a subset of your existing site. Think of it as the "CliffNotes" or "SparkNotes" edition of your regular site.
• Copy should be concise. Don't make the user swipe too much to read the most important information.
• Navigation should be simple so that additional information is easily accessed.

A mobile website can be an effective marketing tool if it sparks interest and efficiently conveys the benefits your business can provide. Just remember, unlike your conventional site, with a mobile website, less is more.

The social sphere got more interesting recently with the introduction of Google+, Google's foray into social networking.

What is Google+?

Simply put, Google+ is a social network. And in many ways it closely resembles the de facto king of social networking, Facebook. However, it has enough tricks up its sleeve to make it a worthy competitor.

The Basics

To understand what Google+ offers, you need to understand its basic features:

Profile - Your profile is the representation of yourself on the service. While your profile contains personal information, it is fairly minimal compared to Facebook's profile as it avoids extensive lists of favorite movies, books, music, television programs and the like.

Circles - Circles serve as groups of contacts and sit at the forefront of the Google+ experience. They are meant to organize your contacts by the way you relate to them. You can have circles for family members, personal contacts, coworkers, acquaintances, etc. These circles enable you to selectively share content.

Stream - The Stream aggregates those things that your contacts have shared. It works almost exactly like Facebook's News Feed. You can comment on or "+1" any post.

"+1s" - The "+1" is the Google+ equivalent of a "Like." It indicates that you found whatever content was shared to be interesting. You can "+1" a contact's posts, media and external websites either from Google search results pages or from the website directly if that website implements a "+1" button.

Hangouts - Hangouts are spontaneous group video chat sessions. You can start a hangout and "invite" contacts to join by selecting them from any of your circles. Hangouts are announced in your contacts' streams.

Photos - Photos are straightforward and closely resemble Facebook's implementation. They can be grouped into albums and shared with appropriate circles. Additionally, photos taken from mobile devices with the Google+ app can be instantly uploaded so they are ready to be shared almost immediately after being taken.

Sparks - Sparks aggregate content from around the web that pertains to a subject in which you have indicated interest. They are meant to make relevant content discovery fast and social.

Huddles - Huddles are group chat sessions between users of the mobile Google+ app. A huddle is a convenient alternative to a hangout for mass communication on the go.

How Do I Get In?

At the time of writing, Google+ is in beta and the only way to gain access is to receive an invitation from an existing Google+ user. Once it is available to the rest of us mere mortals, it will act as an extension of your existing Google account.

Google finally solves the problem of having to write out cumbersome, long messages like "If you're leaving for Buenos Aires next week..." in your emails with Gmail Motion.

Within social media marketing circles, there is a growing chorus of Google doomsayers. They believe that Google's demise as the leading search engine is imminent. Why? For starters, Facebook has more than 500 million active users who spend over 700 billion minutes per month on the social network. Add to this the influence that Facebook is having on web marketing, such as the proliferation of "like" buttons on sites and business Facebook pages, and social media marketers get downright giddy about the idea of Facebook becoming the new search tool of choice.

Not to rain on their parade, but there are a few problems with this conclusion. Facebook is not designed to be a search engine. It is designed to be a social network. The experience you're looking for on Facebook is to connect with friends and family and share photos, conversation, funny videos, must-read articles and the like. If you visit a business's Facebook page, it's most likely to take advantage of a specific Facebook promotion. By contrast, you go on a search engine to do research, learn about a topic or make a purchase.

In addition, you can't - and shouldn't - replace Google with a closed system. The beauty of the Internet (at least in free societies) is its vast openness. Google is a portal to it all. Facebook, on the other hand, is limited to the people or organizations that have decided to become members. And while more than 500 million users is a lot, it's not everyone. Imagine there's no Wikipedia. I wonder if you can.

And finally, realistically you just couldn't replicate all of the web content out there within the framework of Facebook. Practically speaking, there's no way for that to work.

So here's what I think: Facebook has a place in many organizations' marketing mix -- especially those that are B2C marketers. However, if you put all of your eggs in the Facebook basket, you're likely to end up with egg on your face.

Google has once again tweaked the algorithm that determines search results. This is nothing new. According to the March 14th issue of Time magazine, it does this some 500 times a year. However, some changes are more seismic than others.

This particular change is designed to improve the search experience by giving the top spots to sites with substantial high-quality content and conferred authority through inbound links from high-quality, high-traffic sites. The change punishes sites that have:

• scant content
• little content surrounded by a lot of advertising
• content copied from elsewhere
• multiple inbound links from questionable, low-quality sites

This is worth noting because too many SEO service providers "help" clients by doing a lot of dodgy link-building. This strategy is now officially unhelpful.

In fact, this change reinforces what reputable SEO service providers have been preaching all along: Create relevant content that is helpful to your users on an ongoing basis and work over time to get links from reputable, high-traffic sites. This strategy may be time-consuming and not very sexy, but for all of the algorithm changes that occur over time, it is the one thing that remains constant.

The next time you're inclined to "strengthen" your marketing messages with superlatives, make sure they are accurate and supportable. Otherwise, you can end up doing something unfortunate like this:

Enough said.

In the absence of orienting landmarks, humans naturally walk in circles. That's the finding of German psychologist, Jan Souman, in a study conducted in 2009.

With a visual cue such as the sun as a reference point, humans can navigate reasonably well. But without landmarks, we simply walk in circles. It appears rather inexplicable, but even when we believe we are walking a straight path, without a point of orientation, we inevitably end up going in circles.

I think there's a parallel in business. When we engage in marketing initiatives, we believe we are moving forward. But, without a landmark, such as a clear business objective, we often go in circles.

Think about it. How often have you decided to create a brochure, run an ad or even put up a website without asking the question, "What objective are we going to meet by doing this?" We tend to make default choices without evaluating whether the choices are optimal. On the flipside, it is easy to dismiss spending money on marketing because "we don't see the value in it." If you haven't tied your initiatives to specific objectives, how can you measure their value?

A good practice is to start with your business objectives (e.g., generate X many online leads in the first quarter or establish thought leadership in the area of X over the next three years) and then brainstorm ideas for how best to achieve those objectives. Develop a strategy. Then select tools to implement that strategy that fit your time frame, culture and budget.

The value of this approach is that it provides an objective means by which to select and evaluate marketing initiatives. It frees you from doing the same old thing because it's what you've always done. It also protects you from doing the cool new thing because it's what everyone's doing. I'm not arguing against the tried and true or the new and sexy as long as your choice is tied to a business objective and measured by it.

Let your business objectives be your landmarks and your marketing initiatives will move you forward instead of keeping you going in circles.

The importance of a website to business marketing is indisputable today. However, there are still plenty of businesses that don't know how to use their websites to maximum effect. Many assume that once the website is built and deployed, their work is done. Unfortunately, they're wasting a valuable resource.

Unlike print marketing materials, a website allows you to continuously adapt and enhance your message. It also enables you to quickly and easily promote events, share news and advertise job openings. All for a fraction of the cost of print marketing.

Aside from the cost benefits, there's another compelling reason to update your site. Web visitors seek fresh information, and Google rewards sites that provide it. Along with other search engine optimization best practices (which will be the subject of another day's post), new, relevant content will help your website find its way to the top of the search results.

Finally, a website offers unmatched opportunities to influence potential customers both before and after a sales call. Case studies, testimonials, white papers and articles all help build credibility. When you don't post this sort of information, you waste a chance to promote your strengths.

So, make it a habit to post something new - and relevant - on a regular basis to take advantage of the marketing opportunities your website provides.

You know that person who jumps in before you've finished speaking to respond to what they think you're going to say? Or in Charades, when someone shouts out their guesses when you're on the first word of a title? Well, that's the impression that the new Google Instant made on me when I took it for a test drive yesterday. (Google Instant is a new approach to search that returns results as you search.)

I decided to query "pet supply stores Mequon." Upon typing in the letter "p," I started getting returns which included "Pandora," "Pick n Save," "Pizza Hut" and "Powerball." Okay, I guess most people who enter the letter "p" are interested in music, food or winning the lottery. Fair enough. But, is it necessary to start giving returns for one letter? You had me at "p!"

When I entered the "e," it did give me several Petco listings. So, were I not discerning, I probably would have stopped there and gone to the Petco website. Good for Petco, not good for their competitors -- and not good for me because there are more convenient stores to go to than Petco. I then went to Bing (Microsoft's search engine) and entered the full query. While Bing anticipated what I might be entering as I typed, no search returns were given until I finished my query and hit "search." (You know, like the good old days at Google, the day before yesterday.) The top results were local listings for a variety of pet supply stores in the area. Good for me and good for local pet supply stores. Results in Yahoo were similar.

According to Marissa Mayer, Google's top search executive, Google's motivation in creating Google Instant was to make search "fast, fun and interactive." Users are expected to save some 2 to 5 seconds per search with the new technology.

Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't found myself thinking, "Hey, that's 5 seconds of my life that I'm never getting back again!" Call me a curmudgeon, but I tend to feel that when your primary motivation is speed, quality tends to suffer.

There could be push-back -- especially from AdWords customers (Google pay-per-click advertisers who bid for placement based on keywords). What will they do now? Bid on the letters "pe" if they want to come up for pet supplies? If searchers love it, Google could be in a bind. Google serves the searcher, but AdWords is its bread and butter. It should make for an interesting tension.

One thing's for sure, there will be lots of tweaks in weeks and months to come because Google's never been averse to changing things up. So, fasten your seatbelt. We could be in for a bumpy search.