Remember the good old days? All you had to worry about was whether or not your website looked great on a 17” monitor and worked in Internet Explorer and Firefox, and if somebody said they couldn’t get your site to load just right in Safari, you asked “what the heck is that?!?” And then—just when things had settled down a bit—came the mobile web … and that huge collective groan you heard was the sound of a million digital content designers saying “Let me get this straight … you seriously want me to make this work on a three-inch screen?”

So why do those three-inch screens even matter? Because right now, it’s estimated that more than 40% of US consumers use smartphones, with the number growing rapidly as mobile hardware and software functionality becomes more and more sophisticated and enticing. You probably know somebody (or more likely several somebodies) who can hardly wait to get their hands on the new iPhone 4; and a friend of mine recently joked that while “Wanna see my Droid?” has always been a hot pickup line among Star Wars nerds, it’s now a perfectly mainstream question asked by people who don’t even adhere to the Jedi Code.

Here in the US, iPhones, Androids, and Blackberries are leading the pack when it comes to mobile data use, in that order; and access to mobile data is projected to grow by 40% over the next five years. So if those numbers matter enough to you to begin thinking about reaching your audience via their smartphones, here are a few tips and considerations to keep in mind:

• Go small or go home. While it’s possible for mobile users to access your “regular” website on a smartphone, it’s also possible for their heads to explode from the eyestrain alone, not to mention the frustration of sliding the page around to get little glimpses of what you have to say. If you’re serious about delivering content to mobile users, create a mobile-optimized site.

• Think on your feet. The information needs of a user on the go aren’t the same as one at a desk. They want quick access to only the information they need most; so repurpose your existing web content for the mobile web by zeroing in on the portion of your product, service, and message that are most important to a user on the move.

• WWWWH. You’re limited by both space and time thanks to the size of the screen and the user’s need for immediate info; so keep it simple. Who (you are), What (you do), When (you’re open), Where (to find you), and How (to contact you). Simply covering those five bases will go a long way toward making your mobile website a powerful marketing tool.

The world of mobile content is growing and changing like crazy, and the factors that should be considered in reaching your mobile audience are far too many to cover in one blog post alone. If you want to know how to make the most of the tremendous opportunity that mobile marketing represents, join us for “What’s All The Buzz About Mobile Marketing” presented by Tim Grace on September 17th at our next Social Media Optimization Summits event. In this four-hour workshop, you’ll see and hear how to use mobile marketing to attract new customers and build the loyalty of your existing ones, including: integrating mobile marketing into your existing campaigns and strategies; how to optimize your existing web presence for mobile devices; when native apps are needed (iPhone, Droid, etc.) and what’s involved in building these tools; leveraging the power of texting and location-based services; and put your new skills and knowledge to work as you join in creating a mobile-optimized site and an iPhone app while the workshop is underway!