The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) latest report on internet and communications in Australia has some interesting insights for forward thinking real estate agencies with a strong focus on building their brand online.
Smartphone uptake skyrockets
Here are a few stats of interest as at May 2012:• There were 22.1 million mobile internet subscribers• Of those, 9.9 million used smartphones• Another 4.37 million used tablets (iPhone / iPad)The take-up of smartphones increased from 25 percent of the adult population in June 2011, to 49 percent in May 2012.Android phones have a 58 percent smartphone market share, iOS (Apple) phones have a 36 percent market share.Of the 9.9-million smartphone users in June 2012, 90 percent browsed websites online to search for information (including about your business).
Desktop, laptops far from dead
While smartphones have experienced massive growth, these devices are being used as an additional device to access the internet rather than as a substitute for the laptops and desktops already used – so:• 90 percent of tablet users also used a laptop to access the internet• 80 percent also accessed the internet using a desktop or mobile phone
What this means for you
According to a 2013 Compuware survey, 57% of people would never recommend a company with a bad website.If you’re expecting your site to generate business, your agency needs to ensure its ready for the increasing number of people looking you up via smartphone and tablet.The problem is, new devices are cropping up every single month. Because of this continuing evolution you must ensure that your site maintains an outstanding online experience via desktop, tablet and mobile, no matter the resolution or the orientation of the device.Enter the responsive site:A responsive site is built to “adapt” itself by adjusting format to ensure the same content looks as good on a super high-resolution desktop as it does on an Android phone or an iPad.
Responsive sites have some additional benefits:• Improve search engine rank - a responsive layout allows you to improve your SEO by stopping diluting of your brand by maintaining separate sites for mobile and desktop. Once responsive site means one set of content to maintain and one set of links for mobile and desktop.• Save time and money - a single site lets you save time and money on development of individual layouts and managing multiple content sets for desktop and mobile.• One stop reporting – a single site means simplified analytics and reporting with third party tools like Google analyticsView the full ACMA report here.Contact the Rex sales team to find out more about Rex’s responsive site templates for real estate.
