Mobile Websites


Mobile use is growing at an incredible rate, the statistics are overwhelming. Business owners must ensure the information found on the desktop websites is also easily found on mobile devices. Customers and consumers visiting websites on a mobile device generally have an idea of what information they are trying to find – and the mobile website must provide that information easily and quickly. If they cannot find what they need on a site designed for mobile from your organization, they will go to one of your competitors.

430 Marketing helps businesses and organizations understand that the mobile format and how people use their mobile devices are different from desktop websites, and that your mobile website needs to be different. You need a site that presents only the critical information your customer’s need, and nothing more.

Here are some quick facts about mobile:

  • 91% of all Americans use a cell phone
  • Of those who have a smart phone:
  • - 81% browse the Internet
  • - 77% search the web
  • - 48% watch videos
  • By 2013, more people will be accessing the Internet from mobile devices than from PCs (according to the latest predictions from the analyst firm Gartner).
  • Within two years, Gartner is also forecasting that there will be 1.82 Billion mobile users and there will be 1.78 Billion PCs in use.
  • Nearly 70% of consumers report they rarely or never use the phone book anymore.
  • Mobile users want key information fast.

Here is the key line from the Gartner report,

“Websites not optimized for the smaller-screen formats will become a market barrier for their owners – much content and many sites will need to be reformatted or rebuilt.” *

Two Common Mobile Website Questions:

    1) What is a mobile website?

      Simply put, a mobile website is a website that is designed for, and will display correctly, on a mobile device.

      Mobile websites must be built to load quickly, have navigational structures designed for the small screen, and present the information visitors want in an easy-to-use manner. Here are some points about a mobile website to consider:

      • Screen size: If visitors view desktop websites on smart phones, they have to constantly zoom in and zoom out, scroll up and down, left and right, on every page of the website. Being forced to perform these actions often results in visitors leaving websites.
      • Navigation: When visitors use the mobile website, they are looking for key information. These visitors are looking for navigation that is designed for mobile, with the most visited pages easy to find. The fancy animated navigation systems on desktop sites can look cool, but won’t work well on mobile devices.
      • Flash Websites: At this time, the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices do not support Flash graphics. There are millions of websites that are designed and built solely in Flash and with Flash objects. Those same websites, which can look amazing on desktop computers, will not work properly on mobile devices.
      • Page Size: On mobile devices, web pages need to be more focused on delivering only the key content. Mobile users do not want to scroll through pages and pages on information – they just want the critical information. Pages need to be short and get right to the point.

        2) Why should I have a mobile website?

          The available data is very clear that the people using the Internet are increasingly mobile. With more and more people soon accessing the Internet via mobile devices, every company without a site designed for mobile will be missing out on major opportunities.

          If your site does not function properly on a mobile device, it is only a tap and a second before your visitor moves on to your competitors website.

          Mobile websites are now simply expected. Customers and consumers who go to your site on their mobile devices expect the site to function well; if the site doesn’t run well and your visitors experience is not good – odds are very high those customers and consumers will not return.

          Compared to the bad experience, if your customers and consumers visit your website on their mobile devices and have a good experience, quickly finding the information they want, not only will they return, they will share their positive experience with their friends and co-workers.

          Simply put, your organization must now have a mobile website that functions well. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to discuss building a mobile website for you. 1-877-430-2430

          * – For those who are interested, below is the link to the full Gartner Forecast. This report is about a whole set of predictions on different technologies. The mobile section starts towards the bottom with the line “By 2013,”.  To read the report click here.