what's the deal with mobile websites? (Full Version)

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Miguel de Maria -> what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 2 2013 3:11:33)

Hey guys, I got a salescall from an Indian guy trying to sell me the service to optimize my website for mobile devices. He said that I am losing out on a lot of sales because more and more people are doing their... guitarist shopping, I guess? On their phones.

Is this true? I just get a "smartphone" a month ago or so. This thread was inspired by the Spotify one.



por medio -> RE: what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 2 2013 5:04:57)

Indian + telemarketing = bad combination (sorry for stereotyping but it's stereotyped for a reason).

In saying that, optimising your business website for a mobile phone is a good idea. In fact quite necessary these days in my opinion. I'm in the process of doing the same for my business.

If you know what to do, you can kind of DIY it using templates. If you don't, leave it to the trusted professionals.



Leñador -> RE: what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 2 2013 6:21:05)

A fair amount of my internet time is through my phone. When the company I'm at revamped the website recently I made sure it worked okay on iphones and iPads.



manicfingers -> RE: what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 2 2013 14:12:14)

Miguel - if you haven't already, suggest signing up for google webmaster tools and google analytics (both free.. currently.. who knows in the future). They will tell you exactly what % of visitors are coming from mobile devices, which operating systems, screen resolutions etc.

Then you can decide if your indian friend is telling you the truth.

I started a website a year ago, and less than 20% were mobile, right now it is > 30%, so mobile is catching on really fast.

Google have a site with advice on this.. http://www.howtogomo.com

Also google around 'what does my site look like on mobile' - there are sites that show you how much work you need to do. Make sure you look at both Android and Apple, which have most of the market.

At the moment, google search doesn't penalise sites that are not optimised for mobile, but in the future I think they will factor this into their 200+ indicators they choose to decide how high up you appear in the organic search results. ie if you are not optimised for mobile, in the future you could be high up in the search results from a non-mobile devices, but low down if you search from a mobile device.

I don't have inside info on this last point, just an educated guess.. it's not just the content, but how pleasant the viewing experience is. Google want to show the best of both.



val -> RE: what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 3 2013 23:03:49)

Miguel, Absolutely - yes - you should make sure you site is mobile accessible.
If you use Firefox, go to TOOLS >WEB DEVELOPER > RESPONSIVE DESIGN VIEW and you will be able to see how your site looks in different resoultions.

If you can do the site yourself, a good responsive design template should give you something that presents well in most media.

I've found this one OK. Sapientia It's cheap, easy to use and customise and is available in HTML/CSS and Wordpress.



chester -> RE: what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 4 2013 1:28:13)

I just had a look at your website on my iphone. It looks fine (in other words - it's 'mobile accessible'). Sure it's not 'optimized' for mobile devices, but like you said - I doubt people are doing their guitarist shopping on their phone.

What you would want to look into is SEO and getting the right keywords in your site. Looking at the source code, I see you (or whomever built your site) already took care of that.

I second manicfingers' suggestion for google analytics (although I highly doubt they will ever charge for it). It's good to know who's checking out your site.

quote:

At the moment, google search doesn't penalise sites that are not optimised for mobile, but in the future I think they will factor this into their 200+ indicators they choose to decide how high up you appear in the organic search results. ie if you are not optimised for mobile, in the future you could be high up in the search results from a non-mobile devices, but low down if you search from a mobile device.

The language that controls presentation on the web (CSS) is not accessible to google (more like they don't care about it). As of now, google doesn't care (and isn't able to determine) how 'presentational' a site is (highly subjective anyway). In addition, due to inconsistencies between different browsers (the bane of the web developer's existence) it's very difficult to determine exactly how something will look like without actually looking at it.



Miguel de Maria -> RE: what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 4 2013 15:40:59)

Thanks everyone for the replies!

By the way, what's the "secret" in dealing with web designers? Almost everyone I know of who has gotten a custom website has had problems with timeliness, customer service, SEO follow-through/overpromising and underdelivering, and even uncooperativeness in trying to transfer or get passwords, etc. Not to mention, it is a very expensive service in itself. I made my own website (obviously!) using the template application on Ipower's site years ago, but since then, it has just kind of deteriorated. I don't think I'm up to learning how to revamp it myself.



val -> RE: what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 4 2013 22:35:41)

Miguel
You're selling a service and want to reach as many potential customers as possible. You know this of course.

I've just checked the data on a website I created and manage for a young flamenco group (they are also selling a service).
For the month of February 2013 - 24.6% access by mobile
For the month of February 2012 - 10.3% access by mobile
For the month of February 2011 - 1.9% access by mobile
For the month of February 2010 - 0% access by mobile.
Interesting yes?

Most sites can be accessed by mobile one way or another, but what you are aiming for is a good user experience to keep them on your site. Responsive design is a really good compromise - you code once for all media.
YOU CAN DO IT!



Leñador -> RE: what's the deal with mobile websites? (Mar. 4 2013 22:40:44)

It could be easier but your site is completely navigable by mobile, I just went to every page on my phone and everything was fine. It could be optimized but it's not like people can't see your site at all by phone.



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