Mobile phones are now becoming one of the most common technological devices found on the planet. Since the arrival of the smartphone, more and more people have been using it in order to check their emails, social media, and to check the internet. For that reason, more and more websites are now having to develop mobile versions of their website so then their site is able to look neat and easy to use when accessed on a mobile device.
There are of course a few things that need to be taken into account before you start making a mobile site. Here we will look at the six important things to remember when you have a mobile site in mind, and how you can avoid any potential problems that may arise.
Put Your Audience’s Needs First
When you are just sitting down to design a mobile website, the first thing you need to think about is your target audience. Think about what they need and what they might be looking for online. Make sure you try and take everything into account when it comes to your audience, so then you can make sure you are prepared for any situation that arises.
If you are not too sure what your target audience is looking for, try heading onto the mobile web and doing a little market research. This is probably still a good idea even if you have a clear image of the audience in mind. It never hurts to have a little look at what your competitors are doing so then you can see what you are going up against.
Think About What The Audience Is Looking For
The most important thing about mobile sites is that they have all the information that a visitor made need on hand for them to access easily. If someone is using their mobile or tablet, they do not want to be searching through the entire desktop website in order to find your contact details.
Contact information, directions, and a online shop are probably the most important aspects of a mobile site, and should be put front and centre. True, it is more appealing to a visitor to see a desktop-like version of your site on a mobile device, but they also want to be able to access the information they are looking for quickly and easily. Try and do both at the same time – try and keep the essence of the design of your desktop site, but also make it really easy for people to access the areas they are most likely to need when using a mobile device.
Remember Mobiles That Have Touch Screens
This is one of the great parts of the mobile revolution. Because so many smartphones are now being used, you can create a mobile site that is designed to work perfectly with a touch screen phone. It does not hamper the performance of the site for people who are using phones with regular screens, but it does enhance the experience for people using smartphones.
When you are setting up your mobile site to accommodate touch screens, it is important that you take the design of the site into consideration. Make sure there is a comfortable amount of white space between two links, otherwise it could lead to people being lead to different parts of the site they had no intention of visiting. As long as there is a little bit of white space, that should prevent that from happening to visitors.
Keep Things Simple
One of the biggest temptations when designing a mobile website is to make something that is just as complicated as the desktop site. This is definitely not the way to go. Screens on mobile devices, including large tablets, are not big enough to handle the full specifications of a desktop website. If you were to just clone the desktop site, your mobile site would not be very popular among people using touch screens and other mobile phones.
You have to keep in mind how small the screen will be. Keep everything simple, and don’t start adding lots of sidebars or images with loads of pixels. Keep it straightforward and to the point.
Use A Single Column Layout
While you can use multiple columns on your desktop site, that simply can not be done when it comes to your mobile site. If people are having to scroll across the web page in order to see all the content, then they will lose their patience with the whole experience very quickly.
Again, this is all part of keeping everything simple. Using just one column allows you to keep everything nice and streamlined so then people can just scroll down the page and find everything they need to navigate your mobile site.
Use Social Media
Make sure that people are able to access social media from your mobile site, so then they can share pages easily. This will then encourage them to share your site with their friends and family, or possibly even recommend your service on sites like Twitter or Facebook. Mobile users generally tend to be very open to the idea of sharing things they find through their social media accounts, so this is a very good way of increasing your social media coverage easily.
If you want your business to still remain current, then you do need a mobile website. Some people are now using just their mobile devices alone to search the web, so having a mobile site is a great way to reach that kind of audience. It also enables people to find your contact details when they are on the move, and also encourages them to communicate with you through social media outlets.
