The Benefits of a Mobile Website Conversion

Why Mobile-Friendly Websites Are Critical to Your Strategy

Mobile applications redefined the user experience but represent only a pit stop in the continuing evolution. 

Mobile is what a lot of consumers use to look for businesses right now. In truth, every business already has a mobile website because your website can be seen on mobile phones. It's just that the businesses may not know how bad it looks on a mobile phone.

The Benefits of a Mobile Website Conversion

• Utility: Unlike apps, users can access mobile websites on any type of smart phone or tablet. While an individual may be able to see your traditional site on a mobile device, it may look terrible. For example, the text may be too small for viewing. With a mobile website conversion, you can make sure that your site looks great across all platforms.

• Enhanced Local Optimization: Many smart phones and tablets have the ability to identify a user's location. With a mobile website conversion, individuals in your community seeking the services that you offer may find it simpler to quickly locate and browse your site to find your business' location and contact information.
• Cost to You: A mobile website conversion is generally less expensive than developing an app. It's also less expensive to maintain.
• Cost to the Consumer: Unlike some apps that individuals download onto their mobile devices, it doesn't cost any money for a customer to access your mobile site. Plus, if you opt for a mobile website conversion, your site may use less data to access, which may matter to those who don't have an unlimited cell phone plan.
• Increased sales: If you sell products through your site and offer customers the ability to safely shop with their mobile devices, you may see an increase in sales. You can increase your website's traffic by up to 15 by optimizing your site for mobile devices. The reason: consumers like to shop wherever they are. People don't want to wait until they can reach a computer with an Internet connection to make an online purchase if they don't have to.

Businesses should keep in mind three factors when developing a mobile website: the site needs to be able to detect when mobile users are accessing it; it needs a way to adapt content to a mobile format; and it needs a way to present that mobile-ready content.

Mobile-optimized websites and emerging web apps based on the platform can help businesses avoid the mobile app store glut by sending users right to their websites--which, in turn, can help dig users out of the piles of mobile apps that may be suffocating their overall mobile Internet usage.

How-To convert your website to a Mobile Website

• See for yourself. Get a cell phone that has Internet access and evaluate your current website. How does it look? What do you like about it? More importantly: what do you hate? As you look at how you current site looks miniaturized, consider:

• • The time it takes each page to load
  • Text size
  • How the graphics load and look
  • How well the animations load and look
  • The ability to easily click on hyperlinks
  • The ease of navigation
  • If pop-ups are a problem
  • How simple it is to navigate to different pages on your site
• Remove the clutter. The right mobile website design is vital, and mobile website conversion is all about ease of use and simplicity for your users. While graphics, buttons and different hyperlinks may work well on your current site, they may be frustrating or unnecessary on a mobile site. A mobile site should be intuitive, only need a limited amount clicks to get from Point A to Point B and be über user-friendly. Evaluate the most useful and relevant features of your current site to help you cut the fat and create a personalized experience.
• Test, test, test. Whether you use a free or paid online service for your mobile website conversion, or get professional help, continually test your mobile site to make sure that it loads quickly, is simple to use and performs its necessary functions well.

While mobile sites have limitations, the opportunities that they create beyond the desktop can be invaluable. For more information on this topic or if you would like help converting your website into a mobile optimized site, please contact us or visit http://www.modisclub.com.

Is it time for a mobile site?

Lately, one common question marketers have is "Is it time for a mobile site?". Most regular websites render fine on a smartphone, but may have a lack of conversions for mobile users, as well as a high bounce rate.

Generally, a page that can be enlarged can be read on a mobile device. What you run into for the user is a lack of functionality and interaction with the site. Dropdown or slide out navigation is nearly impossible to click on; if you’re using video or Ajax functionality it can be lost or not noticed on a mobile device.

When is it time to consider taking things one step further, you can look to your analytics data for indicators. The data can then tell you if it’s time to move into the mobile realm. 

If a conversion is set as a goal, you will also be able to see that data. Now you can compare normal Web users to mobile users and the likelihood of a conversion from each. If you don’t have a mobile version of your site, conversions from mobile are likely pretty low or non-existent.

Mobile site should have a simplified navigation. Extra colors are also stripped out to allow for faster loading, as well as an easier to read page. An easy scroll up and down is all that is needed, no need to resize the site at all. For a simple demonstration, visit http://www.modisclub.com on both your desktop and a mobile device.

There are a variety of ways you can compete in mobile. These days, most designers and marketers advocates of a complete website overhaul that makes a moving from a desktop to mobile site seamless. Responsive design can automatically render your current website’s content in a mobile friendly manner.

Sometimes, a complete overhaul just isn’t in the cards. It might be expensive, logistically very difficult, or you might need to take some steps to show management that the investment is worth it. If a full overhaul of your website isn’t in the cards, a mobile friendly site can be built on a separate domain or a subdomain which should cost less than a website. Scripts can be placed that automatically redirect mobile devices into the correct website. Whatever option you choose, good content, calls to action and user experience is vital to success.

If Not Now, When Will It Be Time?

These days, most of the Web is accessed via mobile phones. Email is accessed via a mobile at a rate of 36% and growing according to a Knotice study from earlier this year. Making calls is now the 5^th most popular action to take on a mobile phone. The #1 use for a mobile phone is surfing the Internet.

A study from April 2012 listed China as the top country for mobile Web users. Globally, the percentage of pageviews attributed to mobile nearly doubled from 6.5% in October of 2011 to 12.3% in May of 2012.

Can you afford to not have a mobile solution, likely not. These tips were designed to help you convince the skeptics in your organization to give it a try.

Stay tuned for our blog on the benefits of a mobile website conversion. For information on this article or to have your website assessed for a mobile friendly version, please contact us or visit http://www.modisclub.com.