Your customers are mobile and you should be too
A great post recently from Michael Gray - Graywolf's SEO Blog highlights the necessity for a mobile web presence to round out your online brand.
"If I had the ability to reach through the screen, grab you by the shoulders, look you in the eye, and tell you that building a mobile version of your website should be your number one IT project this year, I would."
You could have the most beautiful, easy to use website in the world, but if that site is hard to read on a cell phone, then you are missing out on potential business. All of the big guys have mobile sites. ESPN, Facebook, and Home Depot are three giants that stand out in this area. Try them out on your smart-phone, and then go to your website. See the difference?
Your mobile website should be
- Easy to use and read on tiny cell phone screens. This includes a variety of devices from a variety of manufacturers, none of which are the same. Your site needs to look good on all of them.
- Optimized for the needs of the mobile user. Mobile users visit your website for a specific reason, and then they leave. Does a mobile user want to read in-depth company history on-the-go? No, they want to find your address, directions, phone number, product photos, etc. Highlight the important stuff and make secondary content less prominent on the mobile website.
- Easy to navigate. Steer the mobile user to the content they are looking for. Remember, phones are slower, so don't make them click on several links to get to what they want. Put the good stuff right out in front, and make sure the links/buttons are easy to hit with a finger.
Mobile websites are easier to design and implement than most people think, for three key reasons:
- Your mobile site will most likely have less content than your main site.
- The content on your mobile site will most likely have duplicate/similar content as your main site.
- Your mobile site will most likely have a more basic look and feel that is optimized for smaller cell phone screens.
Think of your mobile site as simply a different version of your main site. The main site has all the bells and whistles, but the mobile version is simply more convenient to use on a cell phone. 'Easier to use' does not mean 'dumbed down'. Creating a mobile site is an art in itself.
Are you losing business by not having a mobile website?
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