Smartphones and other mobile devices like tablets are becoming more and more popular, and an ever-increasing variety of models, prices and sizes is beginning to define new and exciting ways in how we communicate.
Based on current trends, mobile internet use will surpass desktop use in a few short years. You may have an amazing website already, but if it isn't mobile-ready, you stand to lose a large audience.
Here are 7 reasons why you need a mobile website and some suggestions on how to get going:
#1 Your current website is not mobile-compatible.
If your current website is not mobile optimized, chances are it is a nightmare for your mobile visitors to use. Smaller screen sizes and mobile web browsers mean your website displays differently on a Smartphone.
Without mobile-optimized code, most websites force mobile users to scroll or zoom, or become unusable because the content is squished together. Fonts can become so small that they are unreadable, and if your website uses Flash, you can be certain no one on an Apple device will be viewing it.
Mobile websites are not just minimized versions of your main website - they must be responsive, fast and designed with the mobile user in mind. Besides adapting to the smaller screen of a mobile device, mobile websites are easier to navigate using touch and help visitors get to the information and features they need faster.
#2 Mobile Search is a universe of its own.
Everyone seems to live a fast-paced life nowadays, depending on their mobile devices to get information. What's more, they expect it instantly.
Google®, Bing® and Yahoo!® each index mobile and mobile-compatible sites separately from non-mobile sites and are investing heavily in developing faster and better tools for mobile search to meet this demand.
After social networking, searching is the second thing mobile internet users do the most with their mobile web browsers. The earlier you adopt new technologies, the more time you have to build high rankings and secure a highly visible position.
As an added benefit, you are more likely to be discovered and found by local mobile users thanks to the way mobile search includes your website in local search results, maps and other localized applications.
With 50% of local searches being done on a mobile device, that's a big deal!
#3 More people buy mobile phones and tablets than desktop computers.
The shift in how many people access websites using their handheld mobile device has been dramatic to say the least. A staggering 2 billion people worldwide have a mobile device. More and more people will be browsing the web and searching for you using these devices, so capitalizing on this growing demand is critical for your future success.
Because of the growing popularity of tablets and Smartphones, having a mobile website is no longer a novelty targeting the affluent. Rapidly developing nations have far more Smartphone users than desktop computer users, which means your global reach increases significantly by building a mobile web presence.
#4 Not everyone is doing it.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but the name of the game is to stay ahead of the curve. The mobile web is still an emerging idea so your competitors may not be aware of the need to optimize for mobile. Less than 5% of online businesses have a website that is compatible with mobile. By going mobile now, you will be more experienced and in tune with your mobile market later, which is a huge competitive advantage.
Mobile traffic to sites designed for the desktop Web has increased in 2011 from 8.3% to 11%, a 32% increase!
#5 People spend money on mobile.
42% of mobile internet users earn over $80,000 a year, and spend more on their mobile devices and mobile activities. In 2009, $1.6 billion was spent on the purchase of goods through mobile apps and websites. This is exciting news if you are an entrepreneur selling goods or services online.
According to mobile research, people have more trust and confidence in buying from a handheld device over their desktop computer, likely due to associating desktops with malware and other threats.
Shopping isn't the only way mobile users are spending money. Budgets for mobile marketing are expected to exceed 500 million by 2012, a huge indication of just how booming the mobile industry is becoming.
This translates into more opportunity for your business from an advertising perspective, and potentially more ad revenue for your mobile website.
#6 Mobile sites are faster and more accessible.
Speed really does matter. A huge advantage of mobile websites is the compact size and lightweight approach to content, allowing it to load faster than a full website.
You must keep in mind that the majority of mobile internet users are connecting via 3G, which is considerably slower than the broadband internet speeds enjoyed by desktop users. Mobile users tend to be on the go or in the presence of company - if your website is not mobile optimized and loads too slowly, your visitors attention span wanes and it is more likely they will move on to something else.
Mobile websites give them precisely what they are looking for quickly and simply.
#7 Mobile websites are cost-effective.
Money is usually the obstacle in diving into any web project but your internet presence is the single most important investment you can make in getting yourself noticed. In most cases, mobile websites are inexpensive and much easier to develop.
Depending on how many bells and whistles you need to include and which devices you want to target, mobile websites can be created professionally by adding optimizations to your current website, or be built free of charge without any coding knowledge whatsoever.
One such example is Wix, who offer free mobile website templates that you can customize yourself with their super-simple website builder. The result is a fast-loading mobile website that is compatible with most handheld devices, and an excellent solution to get you started on the mobile web.
=== About the Author:
Vail is a designer and writer with a geeky love for gadgets.
When she is not hard at work designing something, she loves writing for WixMobile, the free mobile website builder.
===
About Lynn Terry
Hi, Vail:
Also with the pending release of the Kindle Fire from Amazon, a resurgence is about to take place within the mobile tablet market. The lower price point will (should) make tablets more accessible and possibly bring them to the mainstream. This in turn will also bring about a boon to web publishers.
You bring up a series of excellent points in your article. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Missy
Vail,
I have a question. What would you recommend for someone who already has several established non-mobile-optimized websites?
Is there a cost effective solution?
Just curious.
Mark
There are tools, free and paid, that can be use to create a mobile version of non-mobile-optimized websites. Just do a Google search. And it's actually cheap.
There are many alternatives to mobile sites. Some are more expensive than others, but you definitely need to move in that direction. Studies show that by 2012 mobile browsing will surpass PC and if your site is not mobile you will loose big time.
Here are some options:
http://www.mobisitegalore.com
http://www.gomo.io
http://gomobi.info
Hope you find this info useful
Vail, Smart phones and tablets are getting better at rendering standard web sites in a mobile size screen. The one thing that frustrates me is when I go to a mobile site and some of the site features are stripped down and I need to then try to get to the whole site to do what I want to. Amazon is a good example in some cases.
Vail,
A couple of more reasons to have a mobile optimized website are that you see a lot of websites using flash, which don't render on Apple mobile devices. The second reason is that Google has come out and said that they will penalize adwords advertisers (probably by making them pay more for clicks)that send clicks to non-mobile optimized websites.
Regards,
Scott
All major search engines including Google and Bing have their separate mobile crawlers and they are now preferring to rank mobile websites for search queries executed from handheld devices. So, it have now become inevitable to avoid a mobile website.
Love the post Lynn, I have had my site on mobile for some time now. This is something to pay attention too. Mobile marketing is where it's headed for sure.
I've been looking at my email stats lately and have been surprised at how many of my readers are getting my emails on their phones. I'd like to learn how to make the emails mobile friendly too - if anyone has any hints. (We use MailChimp and AWeber.)
In the 'who'd a thunk it' department: We have a client whose stats indicate that over HALF of his emails are read on a mobile device - and his list is made up of farmers. Makes sense, when you think about it - but still, I was surprised.
Great article. I love how WordPress has some convenient plugins to make a blog "mobile friendly." I'm using one for mine and love it.
I just created mobile versions for several of my offline and online business websites. It's really cool.
However, whichever product you use, be sure it offers visitors on a mobile device to browse your site in "normal view." I know sometimes I prefer to view a site on my mobile device in normal view.
I can't be the only person.
These are great graphics and charts. It is scary how quickly technology is changing! Mobile sites are now the biggest thing in Internet marketing. I think it is important to have your site optimized for tablets and smart phones. I know they are growing, but to be honest, when I get to a website on my tablet that I plan on spending some time on, I switch to the full version. I am "old-school" that way! 😉
Despite it's important to offer a mobile version, it's also pretty much double the workload. You've got to design a totally new website and perhaps different sites for different devices. But as the stats show, there's no way around mobile optimated sites...
Now it is age of mobile technology. In coming five years,it is expected that more than 90% sites will be mobile compatible but at the present what is the cost to convert non mobile site mobile site.
Smartphones is now everywhere, having a mobile website is a good decision. The good thing about this is people can access your site everywhere as long as there's a wifi.
Great article and impressive charts. In my opinion it's certainly not wrong to offer a mobile version but I don't like it when I'm forced to use mobile versions instead of the normal ones.
Blogger site have a feature for mobile blogging, its very useful especially most of people nowadays have their own smartphone to check the internet daily.
So true, this is a good strategy to reach out a wider market since all of the people has mobile internet at their hands.
I totally agree with you. With the technology now, mobile website is a good strategy. Wifi is everywhere, we can access internet anytime.
Vail, well explained and all the points you have mentioned are worth valid. Everyone will agree this. With mobile technology is improving faster than computer technology, it's better to make the websites mobile compatible. Thanks.
Now that more and more people are using their mobile for any kind of research online. It is a wise decision for a site owner to make his/her site available to mobile market too. In that case, there's a high possibility to improve the site conversion.
It's indeed true i've seen more and more visitors coming from mobiles, still i keep delaying the moment i fully make my websites compatible. They look acceptable right now, so it could be worse. But as always, it could also be better.
I’ve long toyed with the idea of creating a mobile version of my site but had no idea how much it would cost or how to go about it – had I known of something like Wixmobile.com I would have taken the plunge a lot earlier. Thanks for the link!
I think most businesses are slow adopters with mobile sites. I mean the iPhone generation kicked off around 2007 and yet people still don't realize that if a mobile user lands on their regular website chances are they are having a terrible experience. I think this will change but it may take a few more years.