As with many of our online marketing tactics, mobile website design strategies start with some company soul-searching and a plan. What do you want to get out of your mobile website? How do you expect to provide your mobile users with the best possible experience? Which company goal will a mobile website help you reach? The answers to these questions can help us create a mobile website that will not only provide a better user experience for your consumers but also increase your return on investment.
How Web Analytics Can Help You Design a Mobile Website
When you’re ready to add a mobile website to your existing site, you’ll want to take a look at how your target audience is browsing. Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools can help you discover which mobile devices are being used more often and which platforms are running. This includes whether your audience is using an iPhone or Android, and if they’re surfing on Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari, or any other available browser. These two factors can affect how your website is able to be viewed and how users can interact with the site. For example, screen sizes and plug-in capabilities vary from one operating system to the next.
Mobile analytics can also determine when and how your users are browser. This might help you identify key times for flash sales or explain why traffic is always low during a specific time of day. It’s true that many people use their mobile devices while on the go — especially for maps and GPS apps — but users are also browsing to kill time. People browse their mobiles on the bus, waiting for an appointment, during commercial breaks, while they wait for a friend, and even in the bathroom. Whether at home or at the mall, mobile device Internet usage is up. That means your mobile website design should predict your users’ browsing behaviors and meet the needs they have. Think of it this way: A limited, rushed website might be OK for someone who needs directions while driving, but a shopping site wouldn’t benefit from limiting its mobile inventory.
Online Potential’s Approach
We offer all the tools you need for a comprehensive online marketing strategy. That means we are able to provide you with all the content, design and tools you need for a better, more responsive website. In turn, we want to be sure that your users are getting a better, more interactive experience. Keep in mind that while your website’s purpose may be to drive sales, it also has a purpose of serving the customer. This is even more important when it comes to mobile website designs. Too many times a mobile site is frustrating to a user. The site may not provide as much information, or it may be too difficult to zoom, or perhaps the there are no autofill features for forms and registration. These failures are easy to fix on a desktop computer, but on a mobile, it can be nearly impossible to navigate a site that doesn’t zoom. And how can you fill out a form if your on-screen keyboard doesn’t automatically pop up? We’ll create a mobile site that is easy to use and custom to your target audience so they have a better browsing experience.
We also take into consideration different aesthetic techniques on mobile sites. Whether videos, interactive graphics, responsive design or Flash will hinder your page is an important factor. A font change or different color scheme may also produce better results. It’s possible to use analytics testing to determine if further changes are needed, and we’re here for you every step of the way to help grow your business.
