Mobile Friendly Websites
We all remember "why would I ever need a fax machine??"…. Soon after we all had one at the office and one at home.
Then… "why would I need a website, and how can I make money from that?"….. And now business can't survive without one.
Now with the explosion of SmartPhones and easy web access, Mobile Websites are the new tool that is imperative for businesses!!
Don't think "I'll wait" or "I don't need one"…. There are 2 billion SmartPhones in use now, with 700,000 million people using them to access the internet. This figure is growing by an alarming rate each quarter!
And Mobile Phone websites are so cheap, don't let your competitors gain the edge you can never catch up and miss out on potential sales, just because you waited again.
Latest statistics show that browsing websites on a Mobile Phone is increasing anywhere from 40-60% each year.
So having a website for people using mobile phones is essential, in order to not to miss out on the potential business that could go to a Mobile Friendly competitors site.
Don't miss the boat, but be a head of the pack with a Mobile Website!
Take Your Website from
This …… To this!!
Mobile friendly.
Easy to use.
Easy & clear to see.
Straight access to the information you want…
To learn heaps more about Mobile Website creation & usability, please read the Tips & Hints section below.
When creating a Mobile Website, we generally suggest the following pages and navigation (and similar) for many Mobile Web Sites:
Home
About Us
Services List & Brief Blurb/Top 10 Products
Opening hours
Contact Us/where to find us
Send to my me
Mobile Phone browsing real estate is precious, so the navigation shouldn't be taking up space on every page. The users simply hits Home, to go back to the full menu.
But keeping it simple and easy to use, adding only the information your 'on the go' users need, you can make this a powerful working tool.
I am sure all of this you heard before when websites were first starting to come to prominence, and Mobile Websites is the next phase.
There are a few main things to keep in mind when building a website for a mobile phone:
Have a script on your site to detect a mobile phone agent and redirect to a mobile phone designed version.
Automatically detect and redirect
People using a phone to browse your site are normally on the go, so they are not intending to read a lot of information. They simply want basic information and/or contact information.
Meet users' needs quickly
The navigation should be large and easy to click with your finger on touch screens.
Clearly distinguish selected items
No flash or fancy scripting, keep it simple and easy so it will work on all phones, not just iPhones and Androids. Try adhere to W3C standards as much as possible.
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
Today it seems Google is the internet and everything seems to link to one of Google's services. Make sure you have a link of your location and/or or distributor location information so viewers can click to see where they are and even get voice navigation to your/their door.
Link to Google Maps
As many users are sitting on a train or bus or out and about, they may find a website interesting, but can't read/research further on their phone, so your mobile phone website needs to have an easy and obvious 'Send this site to my email". This will send the main website URL to the person's home or work email where they can view it on their PC.
Send this site to yourself link
There are many other points to keep in mind, but RedbackStudios.com.au is constantly researching and studying latest and newest methods, integration and code for mobile use.
Hope you found the above tips useful. We'll be sending you heaps more in future issues, as well as some on getting more from your iPhone and Android.
If you have issues or questions with your website, feel free to email us a question and an RedbackStudios.com.au team member will try help answer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
