Have you ever looked at your website on an iPhone, Blackberry, or Android phone? Have you looked at your website on an iPad? You might want to test it out because more and more people are getting to your website that way.
Wikipedia's mobile site gets rid of the sidebars but still let's you do the most important thing: search.
Here are some fun facts about mobile websites:
- 93% of the population in the United States owns a cell phone.
- 20% of mobile phone owners own a smartphone.
- Businesses distributed 2.3 million mobile coupons in 2010 (and that number is expected to be 70 million by 2013).
(More facts and source links here: http://www.momares.com/blog/mobile-marketing-facts-and-predictions-for-2011)
In other words, more and more people are accessing the web via mobile devices, so it’s only logical to think about how your website looks on these different platforms.
It’s clear that larger companies have the resources to have thought of this earlier on. But smaller sites are also getting in on the action:
The side effect of making your website more mobile friendly: it makes it easier for people using mobile devices to buy stuff.
How do you know if your device is mobile friendly? Opera has a demo where you can try out your website in a typical mobile browser: http://www.opera.com/mobile/demo/ Not to say this is the be all end all but it can at least give you an idea. (You could also ask friends or your web designer to do some testing for you.)
Here are a few tips to keep in mind about your mobile website:
1) Don’t use Flash. iPhones (and iPads) can’t load it.
2) Be conscious of load time. To test how quickly your site loads, try this simulator. Slower load times mean better loading on cell phones.
3) Make sure your contact information is on your main page.
4) Your mobile site is prime real estate; put essential information (versus all information) on the mobile version of your site.
So as the mobile web continues to grow, think about where your website fits in. It only makes sense. It is 2011 after all!
Anyone know of websites with really cool mobile versions? Link them below in the comments so we can all check them out.