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What You Should Know About Mobile Web Hosting
The Background: There are some things that every company should know about mobile website creation. Many companies fail to realize the potential in this field or feel that now is not the right time to tap into this potential. Naturally, we disagree with both of these positions. Following are some statistics that demonstrate just how important mobile website hosting is right now: - Within five years, more people will be using a phone to access the internet than a desktop.i - In the last quarter of 2010, well over a hundred million smartphones were purchased.ii - Manufacturers are presently making more smartphones than computers.iii - Analysts predict that in the year 2011, marketers will invest fourteen billion dollars into mobile marketing of some sort.iv - Forecasters are stating that by the year 2013, more people will use a smartphone than a personal computer.v If you are still not sure if you want to invest in mobile website creation, check out the stats for your current website and see how many people are getting on the site from a mobile phone. Then consider the fact that most of these people will leave without buying anything because your site does not display correctly on the mobile phone. A company owner may even want to try accessing the company website from his or her mobile phone or smartphone. One should see how well his or her website displays and ask if it is truly appealing to a person that is browsing the net via a mobile phone. If not, then do something about it. Apps are Not the All in All: A person that is interested in mobile website creation should take the time to consider the options. There is much more to it than simply installing a few apps. While apps can make a site more mobile friendly, they will not, on their own, bring in mobile website browsers. An app is a program that is installed by a company to make a site easier to see via a mobile phone. However, a mobile site can be seen by any mobile phone browser, no matter what type of mobile phone he or she is using and what apps are or are not installed on it. A person that is looking at a mobile website will also not have to pay more than normal on their monthly mobile bill. There are several phone companies that are all competing with each other. Just like Windows and Apple have varied operating system, so do companies such as Blackberry, iPhone and Android. Each one wants to dominate the market and squeeze out the competition. An app that is suitable for one of the above mentioned phones will most likely be suitable for another. Apps are not easy to work with as they have to be tweaked for use by a different brand name of phone. However, one does not have to worry about these complications when launching a mobile site. Such a site will be easily seen by any brand name of phone in the same way that a person can use the internet no matter what type of operating system his or her computer uses. For this reason, it is a lot better to create a mobile site than it is to install apps. While many mobile phones can get online, they each have a slightly different way of going about it. To see how it is done on the iPhone, see the following image: Mobile Browsing vs. Computer Browsing: A person that browses the internet via a mobile phone will likely have different habits that a person browsing the net from his or her personal computer. It is important to understand that mobile web users have much less patience than people who are browsing the internet from a personal computer. A person looking up something on the net via a phone will often be in a hurry and want the pertinent information right away. A company that is setting up a mobile website should never use the same template and layout as the original website. Doing so is counterproductive. Here you can get an idea of what a regular website would look like on a phone. The text is small and a user would have to do some poking around to find what he or she wants. While some users may actually do this, most will not. Mobile web users want to see what they need clearly without having to move through the screen. The saying less is more sums up the basic premise for mobile website creation. - Make sure the text can be read clearly. Double tapping the phone is not fun. - One column of information is enough; do not make more. - The less clicking a user has to do, the better. Try to make the information instantly available without the user having to do anything. - Prioritize information. See which pages get the most visits and put these pages onto the mobile website platform. - Make sure all the visuals are clear. One should also realize that mobile phone bandwidth is much less than regular computer bandwidth. Hopefully this will improve in the near future; however, in the meantime, it is important to avoid using graphics and designs that could slow the mobile website's upload time. On the next screen here, you can see a person using a site that has been properly designed for a mobile phone. The Content of a Mobile Site: The saying 'content is king' is true. A website has to have good content or people will not find it interesting. However, one should not place too much content on a mobile phone site. Remember, a mobile phone website user will not spend a long time at the phone reading. Make it brief, clear and to the point. What Can I Get out of a Mobile Web Site? This is a good question to ask, as one will have to invest time and money into creating a mobile website. However, the answer to this question lies in accessing Google Analytics or whatever program keeps track of website stats. See how many people are visiting a site from a mobile phone. You can see from this information whether it would be worthwhile to set up a mobile phone website. What to Look For: Here are some things that you will want to look for: Quantity of Mobile Phone Visitors: Check monthly or even quarterly stats and see how many mobile phone browsers are visiting the site. If the number is growing, then consider making a mobile phone site. Pages Visited: See how many pages are being looked at per visit. If mobile visitors are not visiting more than a page or two, this likely means that they cannot see your site clearly and you are losing potential customers. You will naturally want to do something about this and create a site that mobile users can see properly and benefit from. Bounce Rate: A person will want to see the bounce rate section of the stats. If mobile phone users are visiting but not coming back, that is not good news. It means the site cannot be seen properly on mobile phones. Time on Site: This is another determining factor. A person who cannot see the site clearly will naturally not spend much time on it. If the time in site stats for mobile users is low, then one should consider mobile website creation. There are several ways to go about making a mobile website. We will explore the option here: Cross Platform Design: This is the art of creating a website that can be seen clearly on any device. It is the simplest option; however, it is not necessarily the best. A cross platform website will display on a mobile phone but not in a catchy way that will attract mobile phone users. Mobile Specific: You can restyle your original website so that it will fit better on a mobile phone. However, such a site may still not load properly on a mobile phone, due to the phone's limited bandwidth. This can be a quick way to set up a mobile website but it is not the ultimate solution. New Mobile Website: This is the best yet the most complicated option. As the name implies, it means creating a website for mobile phone users from scratch. This site will appeal only to mobile phone users and will likely have a .mobi name. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Duo consulting specializes in mobile web hosting and online content management. Duo Consulting helps accounting, architecture, financial, law and other professional service firms make the most of their online presence. |
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