AMP for businesses: Is it worth?

AMP, or Accelerated Mobile Pages, is a simplified form of HTML which, as the name suggests, enables mobile internet users to load/access web pages at an accelerated speed. It sieves out all the ad pop-ups and any other content that slows down web pages and only leave the core content. This is particularly synonymous with static pages whose content doesn’t change easily and doesn’t, therefore, necessitate many interactions with the user besides. That’s not to mean that AMP limits content developers to written content only. Developers can, for example, embed ads or videos to their static pages provided they optimize their website for smartphones. That’s one way of engaging mobile users and encouraging them to visit other non-AMPed pages within their website.

How does AMP accelerate web pages for mobile? By allowing other web managers to cache content from other content developers at no cost, and then avail it to the end user as a carousel ahead of other possible search results. It’s more like a shared effort to better serve the mobile internet user, which makes the AMPs quicker.



Is AMP Worth It For Your Business?

Considering that over half of all internet users over the world use mobile devices, accelerating your page load-time for mobile must come with many benefits when done right. The idea here is to make it easy for your potential clients to access your content and then work toward retaining them as clients. Here are five benefits that your business stands to gain from AMP.

1. Increased Traffic and Conversions

Regardless of how your business website is doing in organic search, a little more traffic is always welcome. Implementing AMP on one or several of your landing pages increases their speed and consequently attracts more mobile traffic. You may notice a small drop in the amount of traffic to the rest of your pages initially, of course, because some of it will move to the faster AMPs, but the trend will change quickly in your favor. With time, users on the AMPified pages become loyal visitors and start clicking on your non-AMP pages. The important thing to do in that case is to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile and that your content is engaging enough. These loyal visitors will sooner or later convert to loyal customers.

2. Making Your New Website More Visible

Statistics show that for every one million clicks on non-AMPified webs, there are three million clicks on AMPified sites. This statistic is by itself assuring to new web admins as it guarantees them about a 300% chance of getting new traffic as compared to what they used to get before Google introduced AMPs. Other statistics show that AMPified websites have a higher chance of making it to the top 4 for Google SERPs on mobile devices.

3. Increased Average Order Value for E-Commerce Sites

E-Commerce websites are less concerned with speed and often measure their success on the average order value. To them, it doesn’t matter how much traffic they get or how long visitors stay on the site. What matters is the number of orders a prospective client places with them. One would, therefore, argue that AMPs aren’t tailored for such sites. That argument isn’t particularly accurate. Market studies have shown that if an E-commerce site would AMPify some of its blog posts and then include a call to action phrase and ads therein, there is a high chance that the AMP mobile users would consider placing orders with the site. That would significantly increase their AOV (Average Order Value).

4. News Publishers Reach A Larger Audience

ComScore recently reported that over 50% of the digital media consumers in the US are mobile devices users. This goes without saying: The faster a page is on the mobile, the more readers it will attract. That explains why most of the media frontrunners in the world- CNN, BBC, New York Times, CBS News etc.- have been working tirelessly to optimize AMPs on their sites.

5. Optimizing Ads

Scarcity breeds necessity. AMP starves online users of ad pop-ups which, admittedly, are annoying at times. Ads are basically online business risks that you must take to succeed. If you cleverly add one or two ads on your AMP, there is a likelihood that the leader will look at it after finishing with the core content. That’s unlike when you stuff a page with ads and end up irritating a user to the point of leaving your website.

To get the best out of AMP, you should start using AMP stories. These stories make mobile content juicer, catchy, and more engaging. Media sites such as the Washington Post have been using AMP stories to create more leads and boost their revenues. Do you wish to have as much mobile success as the Washington Post? Then it is time you use an online tool such as Ztorie,  to create catchy AMP stories for you. AMP stories seem very promising for the future of online marketing, as they generate revenue, boost engagement, increase sharing and attract potential leads.