Traditionally mobile websites were considered to be the poorer cousins of the desktops websites. Most businesses gave little attention to them as they hardly brought in any sales and revenue. Mobile users would have to visit the desktop version of the website which was a painful exercise. But mobile browsing has gone through a monumental shift with the popularity of smartphones and tablets. It is estimated that close to 25% of the Internet users access the web using their mobile phones. And by 2015 this is going to be the dominant way of accessing the Internet. The advent of technologies such as 3G has made mobile browsing a worthwhile experience.
In such a scenario businesses are increasingly focusing on the mobile versions of their website which has become a business necessity. Mobile web development has become the focus for most businesses which foresee the future. It is no longer an extension of the website development process but a dedicated field in itself. Mobile applications for platforms such as iPhones, Androids, BlackBerrys have become common for most professional business organizations. It won’t be wrong to say that businesses which continue to ignore mobile website will struggle when it comes to attracting new customers to their business. If you don’t have a mobile compatible website you are missing out on a huge marketing opportunity for your business.
Reasons for Popularity of Mobile Websites
- Handy Solution – Internet is a part and parcel of our lives each and every minute. From browsing through the news headlines to trading stocks and locating places most users spend hours on the Internet. Mobile devices are handy when it comes taking full advantage of the Internet as you can access information even when you are on the move.
- Load Speed — Mobile website render fast on the mobile browser which makes it one of the quickest ways of accessing information. Even Internet users with slow connections such as GPRS and EDGE prefer to access the mobile version of the website on their desktops as this adds to their convenience.
- Potential Users Is High — More customers buy mobile phones than they purchase laptops and desktops and thus mobile websites potentially have a larger target audience than desktop users. You stand a chance to gain substantial traffic when you have a well design and developed mobile website.
- Marketing Tool — Mobile phones have always been one of the best marketing tools for any business and the popularity of mobile Internet has multiplied the marketing potential of this device. You can promote your products and services on the mobile website using mms campaigns which drive traffic to your website.
- Young Users — Mobile Internet is been driven by youngsters who prefer to access their favorite websites using their smartphones and other Internet enabled phones. The average use of Internet among this age group is very high and to cash in on this target group mobile websites a must for every business.
Mobile web development is a dynamic and challenging field as these websites need to cater to a variety of devices. It takes a lot of technical expertise for any developer to design a mobile website which is compatible with all the major mobile web browsers and devices. There are many firms which offer customized mobile web development services and hiring their services would be an ideal thing to do. Take a look at their portfolio to ensure they have handled quality projects in the past. Make sure that you don’t treat mobile web development as a mere extension of your website development but focus on it as a separate marketing tool.
Justin Spenser is an emarketing specialist working at MarkupBox, one of the leading PSD to HTML service provider offering PSD to WordPress Conversion services as well