Today, more and more people are searching online for information, products, and services with their mobile devices. In order for your business to reach mobile users, a mobile version of your website is necessary. Unfortunately, traditional websites are not optimized for the mobile phone. Here are some design tips to keep in mind when setting up your mobile website.
Mobile websites should load fast and display simple graphics. If your website is Flash heavy, it will be problematic for most smart phones and will not load properly. Many of the images used on websites tend to load slower in mobile browsers. For mobile sites you want to use very few graphics, and more text links. If your website loads too slowly, users will click away and look for information elsewhere.
While smart phones offer more capability than other types of devices, your website should be accessible to all mobile phones. Minimize scrolling through your pages as much as possible. You should also have smaller amounts of text on the page and use links to allow your visitors to access additional content.
Make sure the most important information is the easiest to find. Users should be able to easily locate your contact information, location, directions, and anything else that is important to your business. They should not get lost in a sea of web pages searching for the information they require.
You do not need to create a new domain name for your mobile website. Instead, concentrate on promoting and branding one URL. You can place mobile website code into your traditional website, so your site can sense when mobile browsers are connecting, and forward them to the mobile version.
Another important aspect of designing your mobile website is to test it on a number of devices. Different phones such as the iPhone and the Android will display your website differently. In addition, larger tablet devices like the iPad have their own display requirements. You want to make sure your site looks and works well on a variety of devices.
Your mobile website design should feature the most important aspects of your current website. By offering immediately accessible information first, you can easily reach those mobile visitors who are looking to buy your product or service. The mobile version of your website will play an increasingly important role in how your visitors reach you.
