It is hard to ignore – the world is more mobile than ever. A huge chunk of visits to major websites are from mobile phones. This isn’t a coincidence; this is mostly due also to the fact that many of the major websites also have a mobile-friendly version of their desktop site.
In return, this offers an enjoyable experience for the visitors. This is the reason why it’s more important than ever to look out for this community of visitors. They are a group that requires special considerations because websites can take longer to work and most of these devices don’t support flash.
1. Become Mobile Ready, Not Exclusive
There is a large difference to having your website mobile ready and having it exclusively for mobile phones. It’s not the fact that this would make you seem unprofessional or outdated, it will actually make you the opposite. You’ll be given off as being ahead of time.
While mobile phones are a big market in terms of website visitors, you are cutting out the majority at the moment. Remember to have an option to view in mobile as well as desktop version in either version. This is because, on the mobile side, the format may not be compatible (e.g. an iPhone layout on an Android device). On the desktop side of things, some people may choose the mobile site to see how it operates or to have the site load faster.
2. Look into QR
Those square swirly line figures you see are codes that allow cell phones to direct to a website. With QR codes, they decrease the effort of having to enter a URL. This is a great option to look into after you have created your mobile site.
Your visitors can search around your desktop site and when they want to visit the mobile site, all they have to do is scan the code. It’s so easy to implement and easier to use.
3. Don’t skimp on Design
The last and most important consideration to remember is to make sure that you don’t skimp on your design. You may feel that creating a mobile website is all that you need to do to cater to your mobile visitors. However, you shouldn’t forget to also remember that the design and layout of the mobile website is important as well. If you have a fun, enjoyable and attention catching website, you’ll have quality views that stick around.
Your visitors can search around your desktop site and when they want to visit the mobile site, all they have to do is scan the code. It’s so easy to implement and easier to use.
You’re right about most of these devices not supporting flash. However, many of these devices will soon offer flash as well so its safe developing websites with flash for both the desktop and the mobile.
The youth these days brows the internet more on their mobile devices than their desktops so its become increasingly important to optimize your website for mobile. I find that for the most part you don’t have to alter your web development process much to make a website mobile friendly.
QR codes work very well but to me it looks like your website user needs to be really interested and involved in your site in order for him to have to justify the extra time it takes to input the code to the mobile. Its best to just have a well crafted mobile version
Please don’t skimp on design. Going on a site with a phone or tablet and it doesn’t look/work very good, I immediately leave.
With the way technology is moving and the fact that near enough all modern smartphones have full browsers which support javascript etc I don’t really see too much of a need to create a seperate mobile version of a website anymore.
It might be more important to look at ways to optimize your site for use with touch screen tablets.
This is really interesting and Id love to hear more. I have actually been reading other parts of you blog and have found those too interesting.
Good read, Very informative.
Thank you…..
Very useful information. Nice work.