The Growing Need for Mobile Websites

With Smartphones and their respective plans becoming more affordable by the month, more and more people are using their phones as a way to surf the net than ever before. With phones becoming the new popular way to be online, advertising is once again changing forms to find a way to fit into this ever evolving field.  Most of the talk is about creating apps and using social media, but one very simple way of advertising for the mobile market is being overlooked; creating a mobile website.

Looking at webpages on a phone can be a strain on your eyes and more trouble than its worth if nothing has been done to format it to the phone.  You either have to squint at the small font that crams it all on the screen or you are constantly scrolling over to read the text.  Pictures take forever to load and the layout is not conducive to the phone’s screen.  With these problems, using the phone to check something goes from a helpful addition to the way you use the Internet to a chore that is not worth the time.  By creating a simple mobile page for your site that makes it easy for the phone user to move around the site and read the content, you have opened up a brand new market to not only advertise in, but also a new way for information about your company to be reached.

Many apps work this same way, allowing the phone user to reach the most important information on a website in a fast, easy way; yet, mobile sites are much easier to update and change. An app, no matter if you download it from Apple, Blackberry or Droid is a very static object and one that needs to be updated and patched when there are problems.  A mobile site, on the other hand, is a very fluid object that can be changed on a moments notice in a very short time.

Another change that will be on the horizon with the cost and plans getting to a point where mainstream people and not early adopters and tech heads will be the majority, many more people will understand how to use the mobile web more than apps.  The mobile web is an offshoot of what people have been doing online for the past 15 years.  People can open up their browser, type in the address that they want to go to and hit return.  An app will be a different way for many users to get the same information and for many, change is not something that comes quickly or easily.

While there are many technical reasons that building a mobile site in place of/with any app (and a great article showcasing them can be found here: http://mashable.com/2010/06/10/why-you-may-not-need-a-mobile-app/ ) the most important reason is that the ease and comfort that new users will get from the mobile web.  Remember the next time you see a person in line at the bank or setting down to grab a bite with their Smartphone in the hand, drawing them to your company might be as easy as creating a easy to navigate mobile site.

July 7, 2010 at 1:03 pm | Uncategorized