Friday 9 November 2012

Is your company mobile friendly?

The "normal" Appware website
It was stated in 2010 that mobile phones outnumbered computers four to one, yes, there are four times more mobile phones that there are computers, worrying thought? It should be if your website is not mobile friendly!

A survey showed that less than 1% of websites for small businesses work on mobile phones with small business owners just presuming they do and never checking to make sure they do. Why is this of concern? If for example you are a locksmith company, someone is stuck outside, their computer is in the house and they have a smartphone so they search on the internet for a local locksmith, it seems you are the nearest but then clicking on to your website and nothing... the website will not load so the customer that is stuck outside calls your competitor!

Of course this could happen in lots of other businesses to, a guy is sat on the train on the way to work when he suddenly remembers his wife’s anniversary, he pops onto the internet on his smartphone to find a local florist, the first one he spots on the search engine he clicks on and the website doesn’t work, so he goes to the next one. You’ve spent fortunes on SEO getting you to the top of the search engines and now this poor guy can’t even see your website!

With so many people owning smartphones (mainly iPhones, Android, Blackberry) can your business really afford not to have a mobile friendly website? Can your business afford to miss this many customers because you are missing a mobile friendly version of your website?

The mobile optimised Appware website
It is important to remember that a smartphone user may not be looking for the same in depth information as a user on the computer, they want to see everything, but not in depth, they don’t want to scroll and scroll and scroll to find what they are looking for, instead a mobile website version needs to be clear with snippets of information that they can click on to see more. Make sure your contact details are on there with the times you are open and your location. Make sure all the basics are covered clearly.

It was stated in 2010 by experts in the smartphone industry that the mobile web and app usage will overtake the desktop computer in less than 3 years, it is now 2012... You need to get a mobile version of your website quickly if you have not done so already.

If you are designing the mobile version of your website yourself you need to ensure that you avoid any video or high resolution images as this will slow down the speed in which the website loads and will tend to put customers off visiting your website, or staying and waiting while your website loads.

The most important things you need from the mobile version of your website is that your customers can go on it and be able to find you, be able to contact you, be able to refer you and be able to add you to their phone book. If they want more details than that it’s unlikely that will look on their smart phone anyway, instead they will look on their computer where they will have more time to research and browse your website and competitors websites.

The most important thing is that you need to get on your smartphone now and check that your website works on mobile phones, check that it is of a good usability standard and does not take too long to load up or find the essential details. If it does not you need to work on it, or call in an expert to work on it for you... hint, hint ;)

So in summary, your business NEEDS to have a mobile presence to improve the brand of your business and to keep up with the ever growing mobile audience.

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