Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Websites Need a Mobile Device Friendly Facelift

By Ashlei Jackson, This Is My Town USA

In the last five years the percentage of people owning and using smart phones has jumped drastically from 14% to 49% (CNN Tech) and while not everyone has made the move to a feature phone, reader or tablet with internet capability, website owners can’t deny that this shift will change how we create websites in the future.
 What does this mean? Making sure your website is mobile device friendly should be a priority for any business that wants to be found on the mobile web.

Get a .mobi Domain that Matches Your Current Domain:
There are several different methods involved but the first step is to register your .mobi domain. Some providers even offer an instant mobilizer option that will automatically convert your website into a mobile device friendly version.

Make it Easy to Get to Your .mobi Domain from Your Main Website:
Most people will already know or more readily find your regular .com, .net, .biz website even with their mobile device. Advanced site designers can create code to recognize and redirect mobile devices to the mobile version of the site. However, it will be necessary and important for most business owners to create a link to the mobile version of the site from their home page. Use an icon or button that is discreet but easily visible near the top left of the page so that people can easily navigate there.

What Does a Mobile Site Look Like?
Most mobile devices have a smaller screen than a typical computer. Squeezing your entire website into a mobile screen will mean that viewers will have to zoom in and out to read and navigate your content. Mobile friendly pages will be converted into a narrow and reader friendly version (see image to right). This will allow the visitor to scroll up and down without having to zoom as well as make it easy for smart phone users to touch your phone number to call you and map directions to your address.
 Mobile data plans are usually billed to consumers based on the amount of data they access. Thus pages with large graphics and content will use up their data usage more quickly. Mobile converters will automatically convert graphics to be small and ask for authorization before streaming large content items like videos and music.

 It’s true that we live in a small town, one that usually gets hidden in a black hole when it comes to cell phone reception. However, its still important to make sure we, as business owners, make our websites user friendly...a factor that can mean us securing a sale over our competitor.

1 comment:

  1. Mobile Internet is continuing to grow very quickly. Mobile websites should be very focused. This makes them easier to read and move around, as well as quicker to load on devices that can sometimes have slow Internet connection speeds. Thanks a lot.

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