Do you have a mobile website? Do you need one? Before you answer that, consider these questions for yourself or your target market (the folks you are trying to reach): Do you use your mobile to search for companies or services you need? Are you at home or on the run? How much time do you have when you do that search? How much patience do you have to navigate that website?
Today website traffic has changed and if you have been looking at your results you will have noticed that up to 60% of your audience (and more in some counties) are accessing your website with their mobile device. The younger the target market, the more this is true, but without exception every American demographic is using mobile sites to access more companies every day. So how do you design your mobile friendly website? With your mobile user in mind. Follow these 10 tips:
1. Simplify. Why create a mobile version of your website if you just copy your website? Create a more functional site.
2. At the top and bottom of your site, show a quick button or menu item to view the full site.
3. Keywords are still the key. So don’t forget to use the 3 keywords you want to be ranked for within your mobile website.
4. Simplify your menu system into the action items that you want your customers or site visitors to use most.
5. Make sure your mobile site is not all graphics as that will not help you with Google search. At the same time, don’t overdo the content, as that will not be a site anyone wants to tackle while in line at the supermarket. The key is balance.
6. Make sure your call to action and any sales or specials are part of that mobile site. People are shopping on their phones and you don’t want to make them work hard to learn you are having a sale.
7. No matter what you sell or offer, it is key that the action you want your visitors to take is a menu item or button on your mobile website. Don’t assume they will click through to your full website to fill out a form without a button to do so.
8. Make sure you add a tag from google analytics to track your mobile website traffic and see how they are using your site.
9. If you have a store, make sure your link to your shopping cart works seamlessly. There are apps that can help so use them. The shopping experience needs to be simple.
10. Get help if you need it. Like your website, this is no place to go cheap. Doing it yourself may be okay but you need fantastic. If you use a service where you drop in your site, consider if that site is implementing these keys and if you need help defining or creating your mobile site, contact a company like mine to give you a quote. It can’t hurt to ask and I guarantee you, we will be providing helpful advice that will ensure you will get better results than non-custom sites offer. In example, these are only 10 items on our 100 item list to make a mobile website work best!
Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988. Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising is an Authorized SCORE workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in a quote or more information on a mobile website email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net. For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call us at 310-791-6300.
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