GPS and the Web

I was trapped on the couch last night in fear that if I moved I'd spend the next hour trying to coax my 10 month old to sleep again. I'd normally be on my laptop during commercial breaks but couldn't really reach it from my treacherous positioning (so was forced to watch the ad breaks) and caught the latest ad for GPS on mobile devices.

It got me thinking about the GPS movement in the online environment.

This last year has seen a huge rise in the use of smartphones. Almost everyone I know owns a smartphone, and the 2009 Sensis e-Business Report recently reported 62% of SMEs now own a 3G-capable mobile phone with internet access- up 10% from 2008.

The advent of the smartphone has boosted use of GPS in the commercial environment, with Sensis reports revealing more than 36% of SMEs now use GPS navigation technology.

With the majority of smartphone usage shifting from social networking towards research of and purchasing from organisations, businesses should ensure their websites are not only mobile friendly, but GPS friendly too.

Google Maps is a great place to start. For those of you who don't know, it's free to get listed, and while providing users with a quick and easy way to locate/contact your business (either by name or by key word), it also provides your business with additional Google exposure (and who would say no to that?).

The next step is to use GPS technology to engage your target audience.

Geo-specific advertising allows businesses to tailor online advertisement by both geographic and demographic variables. For example, you may wish to advertise only to subscribers living in Melbourne, and only when the words "Melbourne" and "Web" appear simultaneously within page content (pretty good return on investment, huh?).

While marketers have used in-car GPS systems to do the same in the past, the latest GPS applications for mobile devices now allow businesses to target users in store-specific locations with relevant promotional offers (that's right- when I said relevant I alluded to the fact that this type of functionality provides marketers with access to the users GPS "profile"). While these applications generally have comprehensive privacy settings, many people aren't actually aware that the possibility of such comprehensive access to their personal information exists. In order to keep customers and prospects happy it could be beneficial to educate them on the use of such promotional techniques.

This is just the beginning. The advancements in GPS technology really are fascinating, and the technology is only going to get better and more accurate. While I'm all for Google Maps and geo-specific advertising, I think businesses should tread lightly when using GPS promotions. Meanwhile, with the option for me to geo-tag my blogs, location share with my contacts and Google Track my (admittedly rare) morning jogs, I'm looking forward to where GPS and the web will take me next...