There’s absolutely no doubt that things are going small and efficient when it comes to technology. The Jetson’s and Star Trek were right when it comes to mobile communication devices. No one can argue that mobile is the current focus when it comes to new technology, and you should be keying in on it.
The market for mobiles has now been completely developed for consumer consumption, and spending on anything that’s mobile related, which includes, the hardware and services, sites and apps, is growing quicker than any technology segment in history.
But the majority of small as well as larger businesses, across all verticals, are either struggling, or completely ignoring this new industry where new developments are seemingly advancing overnight.
Even the businesses which are rich in resources and revenue, are inadequately attempting to instill a solid mobile strategy into place. Facebook, for instance, with all of their resources and command of the Web, are still experiencing their own mobile issues.
So you need to realize how your own company is responding when it comes to getting your foot in mobile. You need to catch up and catch on to the opportunity which it offers, and then develop a plan to take advantage of it.
Blame It On Apple
Apple went “space-age” once they introduced the iPhone to the marketplace back in 2007. Initially, the savvy early pioneer companies which immediately entered that first phase of mobility, had absolutely no strategy in place and played it completely by ear.
What evolved was a secondary market of tech companies who began developing large and expensive, for the most part completely useless mobile apps, primarily functioning as mini business web cards.
This then set off a run of small independent developers who began creating useful and functional apps of different flavors, all in the hopes of hitting a nerve, to generate revenue in this growing marketplace.
Now, every major brand in the world is somewhat involved in the attempts to leverage mobility across the enterprise. For some, however, the mobile marketplace still appears just as lost as it ever was.
But stemming out of this chaos, there are a few who feel they see the light at the end of the tunnel, producing what they hope is new clarity in mobile presence.
Making Mobile Sites As Simple As Possible
When creating mobile sites, begin by removing all of the excess blinking flashing lights off your traditional desktop websites. Smartphone and tablet friendly sites calls for a completely different environment.
What traditionally worked for these bulky feature rich sites was offering a data heavy info presence for their users, where they were able to click around, search for and find products, and then load them up in their cart.
For those sites which aren’t targeted for e-commerce, and are wanting to be an one stop content solutions provider, this to keep the visitors entertained so they won’t jump their site and go to another one, poor navigation or lengthy stuffy articles won’t transfer well on mobiles. When it comes to mobile devices, it’s all about providing direct precise information, along with ease of use and navigation.
Catering to these smartphone users entails a completely different perspective which forces you to recreate and reintroduce which business information is the most vital for you to display, and how you’re wanting to instantly present it, all without the excess clutter.
Determining Mobile Usage Patterns
The first thing you need to realize is the exact demographics of your mobile users, deciding where and who your mobile users are, and where the bulk of them are located before developing your mobile site or app.
The best method is by evaluating your own data, and then finding out how the traffic is finding you. Are the majority of your visitors coming from mobile devices, are there any? If there are some, then that avenue is worth a further look.
By performing the analytics on the various traditional sites, it’s important to know where and who your competitors are, what they’re doing and how their customers are interacting with them when it comes to mobile.
This because research suggests that e-commerce is expected have a larger presence on mobile devices than they will on desktop PC’s in just a few short years. So this forward thinking progress is well worth the investment.
Taking Advantage Of Social Media
As you establish which design elements you’re wanting to implement, you can also involve all of your already loyal followers base by utilizing social media.
All of your friends and fans follow you because they already like what you have or offer, which includes your products, services, and brand. So get valuable feedback from them by finding out what their most important issues are when it comes to they browsing a mobile site.
You could then begin developing your own site based on their opinions while asking them to react to it. This will tell you what they like or not like. Most likely, you won’t get it right the first time, so make sure you crowdsource by involving your most loyal social medium customers, which also gives them equity in your brand.
Evaluating The Cost Of Development
The good news is that currently, developing anything that’s mobile, such as a site or an app for a smartphone or tablet, is generally more affordable to do than building a conventional PC site.
Prices will obviously depend of the depth of execution, the features as well as the interactivity that you’re wanting to incorporate into the mobile development. But generally, mobile is less complicated than a standard site. What it comes down to are the features which you want to incorporate.
So you’ll need to decide what type of experience that you want to offer, along with the requirements that you need to complete the overall mobile experience. That then should allow you to construct the best possible experience for your money and users.