There are many choices that businesses have when it comes to do the mechanics of making your website mobile. Once you have a web developer in place, there are certain best practices that you must adhere to if you want your site to truly be successful. There is nothing worse than boasting that you have a user-friendly, consumer based mobile website that in truth, is clunky and confusing. To avoid having people hop off of your sight quicker than you can blink, keep the following ideas in mind.

Simple
The purpose of a mobile friendly website is for ease of use by consumers on (typically) their smart phone. If your site is complex, loaded with images that take forever to load and difficult to navigate, you will have a ton of unhappy customers. Keep things simple and uncomplicated. Most of the consumers that are utilizing your mobile friendly site are not visiting to spend a lot of time browsing; they are looking for something specific. Know your market and give them what they want. For some businesses, this may be easily finding locations and directions to a storefront, some consumers will want to read and write reviews and many will want to purchase. A great tip is to make it very easy for the consumer to contact you.

Concise Content
Consumers still want great content. By using bulleted lists, not using too many links that are located close together and having the content clearly marked helps your customer find exactly what they are seeking. Use as little text as possible and have things as simple as possible. If you are a restaurant, having your locations, reviews and menu on your mobile site provides your target market with the exact information that they want. A great tip is to think ‘taps’ and not ‘clicks’; the majority of smart phone users uses have touchscreens, so design your mobile site for touchscreens.

Test & Re-Test
Not all mobile site designs work the same on all smartphones. This will prove to be extremely frustrating for your consumers. If the consumers using an iPhone have a great experience but those using a Blackberry have a subpar experience, you are left with a percentage of your demographic that are unhappy. When your mobile site is in the design phase, test it on a variety of different styles and brands of phones. Make sure that your consumers are seeing exactly what you want them to see. A tip to remember is that not all smartphone users are technologically savvy. Don’t get overly complex and test your site before making it live to the public.

Mobile marketing and mobile friendly websites are becoming more and more popular. Consumers turn to their smartphone before logging on to their computer. Keep your mobile website simple and give your consumers exactly what they want.

Thanks!
Sean
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