Developing mobile websites is common these days. Devices like the iPhone allow us to have an almost desktop-like experience and devices like the Motorola Razor allow us to get basic information on the go.
In developing these sites, we must be mindful of what we are trying to accomplish with the site, but more importantly, what the user is trying to accomplish with our site in a mobile setting. These 5 tips are helpful reminders and methods to keep your mobile sites user-friendly and task-oriented.
1. The Lowest Common Denominator
Deciding which devices your site will run on is hard. As far back as last year, research showed the iPhone claiming nearly .1% of all internet traffic (including desktop browsers). Even more research showed it claiming almost 28% of the smartphone marketshare in February.
My recommendation? Develop for smart devices first (iPhone, Windows Mobile, etc.) and then, depending on your audience, support lesser browsers with a gracefully degrading presentation of your site. This keeps your advanced users happy and coming back, as well as keeping basic info available for casual mobile users.
2. Don’t Try To Do It All
You know what tasks users perform on your site. You know the pages they visit and the functionality that they need. For your mobile experience, start with the most used features of the site and leave the rest for the desktop.
The most common aspects of mobile sites that I see unused are commenting, ratings, and profiles. This could be due to users logging in to get more personalized information, but when it comes to interaction, if they’re on the go, they’re most likely not interested in contributing to the site at that moment. Keep this in mind when deciding which aspects of your site to take mobile. It can save you unnecessary effort and time.
3. The Environment
The most important aspect to keep in mind when developing a mobile experience is the environment of the user. Where are they? What do they intend to accomplish in that setting? If you’re walking downtown and trying to use a mobile site, the last thing you want is confusing navigation, lengthy pages, or to have to login for some basic information. Many sites forget this when developing their sites though, they imagine someone sitting in a cafe with nothing but time on their hands so that they can navigate a site and (maybe) get what they’re looking for.
This point pulls back in the idea of not trying to do it all on your mobile site. Having a task-oriented mobile site will ensure your users are kept first priority in the experience and it also ensures that they won’t have a hard time finding what they need. If you find that they do need more features, consider what platform they are mainly using and think about creating a native application (Windows .NET, Java, or Cocoa)
4. Mobile Advertising
Do it well or don’t do it at all. Mobile advertising is getting a bigger push as content becomes more and more mobile-centric. Google has announced more solutions for mobile adsense and more advertisers are seeing its use to get someone’s attention on the go. Ok, so mobile ads make money, but do they make sense? Not always…
I believe that in order to have effective mobile ads, the page that clicking on the ad takes you to must support the mobile experience too. I have seen many mobile ads that take you to a normal homepage that is not enhanced for a mobile experience, talk about inefficient. The ad must also act as an incentive for the user, like a coupon for a place they might be close to. To get users wanting to click on ads, we have to offer them something for doing so, not just take them somewhere pushing something new to them. It has to make them want to act.
5. Address The Address
Getting to the mobile version of a site can sometimes be a pain. Is it m.site.com? or www.site.com/m? or www.site.mobi? If you’re only catering to one address, ask yourself why. Ensuring that the user gets to where they want to go is essential and making it that much easier for them to get there is what your philosophy should be.
If your site is running PHP, you can catch the user and re-direct them based on their browser in the htaccess file. Javascripts also can lend this feature to other types of sites. Though as standard, when you set up a mobile site, set up m.site.com, www.site.com/m, and buy a .mobi address for it. It will make sure that however your user is used to getting around mobile sites, they won’t have a problem finding yours! (This also applies to iPhone sites, make it easy for them, set up iphone.site.com and www.site.com/iphone)
Quick + Easy = Great Mobile
Some of these tips may seem obvious, but the point that I’m trying to make is that a lot of times we get overloaded with feature requests for mobile sites and end up trying to do too much with them. People that are on the go need information quickly and remembering that is important and often times forgotten. Making your mobile experiences quick and painless will lead to happier users and help solidify your mobile presence.
