Mobile is slowly overtaking desktop computers as the primary technology used to access the internet. This can be a cause of concern for the majority of Australian businesses, including franchises, which do not have a mobile ready website. In fact, mobile is now beginning to deliver more ROI for business than websites are.
The best way to get your website up to speed and compatible with mobile technology is through creating a mobile version of your website. This is an efficient and effective way to ensure your website is mobile ready.
A mobile version of your website means that whenever someone accesses your URL via a mobile device it can automatically bring up a page that has been specifically designed for mobile use. Another option is to have your normal website open up originally but then have a popup asking if the user would like to switch to the mobile version of the site.
Some websites make this quite easy. For example WordPress has a plugin called WP Touch that simply needs to be uploaded by the website’s administrator. Other websites will involve you having to ask the web developer to create a mobile version for you.
However, if you don’t want to create a mobile version of your website then you need to think about how easy and mobile-friendly your normal website will be. Large amounts of text, lots of images or even the use of software such as flash player can all hinder a person’s efforts to access your website via a mobile.
If any of the pages on your website are quite wordy, chances are it will be hard to read on a mobile phone’s screen. Use less copy and just highlight the main points you want to get across.
A page with a very slow loading time on mobile will turn most visitors off. If your images take a while to load up on a computer, or take up a lot of the page, think of how long it will take on a mobile and also how it will look. Sometimes mobiles will distort a page in order to fit it within the screen.
The point of accessing a website via mobile is to make everything quick and easy for the visitor – they are not going to spend time waiting for a page to load or scrolling through vast amounts of text.
Also, ensure you are linked to Google Places and Google Maps. Many people are on the go when they are using their mobile phones, which means if they are using Google maps or Google places to find businesses close by and you are not present then you have potentially lost customers.
Another point to remember is Android, the competitor of Apple’s iPhone, is owned by Google meaning Google is going to be the main technology Android owners use when looking for places and businesses close by.
Mobile is becoming one of the most popular technologies used to access the internet and is affecting more and more businesses. So the questions is, are you mobile ready?
