The first piece of advice that we give to ayone considering a mobile website is to look at their website statistics to find out wether or not people are using mobiles to access their website. If there is no significant traffic and a sudden surge is not expected then spending time and money on a mobile or responsive website is not the right thing to do.
However, if you feel you are in need of a mobile enabled website to allow visitors quicker or easier access to your content there are a few options available to you, we have provided some brief details below.
A Responsive Website
This is the most popular choice because it is cost effective and automatically scales to fit a range of devices and platforms. A good example of a responsive website is PC World. Take a look at the website on your desktop and also on your mobile. Notice how the menu changes, the promotional banner decreases, the 'filter by' facility folds up and the products resize and information is reduced.
Basically the website is detecting the size of your screen and choosing how to display your content appropriately to scale. Normally a responsive website will have 3 versions, a desktop, a tablet and a mobile. Sometimes there is call for a 'large desktop' too and occassionally stages between desktop to tablet and tablet to mobile.
Responsive design starts with content. On a mobile you have a limited amount of space to play with and it is paramount to get your message accross quickly and to encourage your visitor to click through for more (if that is the main aim of the page). Think about the content you absolutely must have on your website and work from there.
For PC World, looking at the page we have linked above and the products in particular. Their priority is an image, the price, the saving, a brief description and a more details button. Associated logos are not important enough to be included on mobiles.
A Mobile Version
This is a less popular option these days, but may be the right choice for some. It is an entire second version of your website, optimised for mobiles. For example the BBC have a complete mobile version of their main website.
A Mobile App
Maybe it isn't your website that you need to change, but there is a service, function or area of data you need to provide and which could be suited to an application. There are several businesses you make excellent use of mobile applications, both native and web based. These are typically tools for doing a specific task, such as a rate calculator, property search or fast access to specific data.
If you would like to discuss the options available to make the right choice for your business contact us on 01603 858250.
By Holly Stibbon
Tags: Website Design Mobile Development
