4 Crucial Questions to Get Your Business Mobile-Ready
1. Does your site render correctly on mobile devices.
- Make sure you cross browser/ cross device check.
- Get rid of pop ups for mobile users. This is a horrible experience. A lot of times the the X to close the popup won’t even render on a mobile device so you essentially are blocking your content from mobile users.
- Don’t have a page cluttered with links. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. A page with a lot of links can be a nightmare for fat fingered users like me. You end up touching the wrong link and get whisked away from where you want to be. KISS also applies to things like clever design features that may look great on a desktop but generally suck for a mobile user. Don’t get me started on sites that try to autoload video for mobile users. That’s just rude.
- Optimise pages for mobile. It’s one thing for your site to render properly but if you really want to give the mobile user a great experience optimise the interface for them. There are a number of ways you can get a web site look almost app like with the right coding.
- Keep the pages as “light weight” as possible. Remember mobile users are often trying to look at your site over a 3G network. Don’t make them download giant pages.
2. Does your mobile traffic like your site.
- our mobile traffic kept pace with industry trends as this graph below shows. Use Google Analytics to check your mobile traffic
- Check bounce rates. If it is high your site is probably not giving the mobile user a great experience.
- Page views – maybe you only want the user to see a couple of pages before they order or call you. What does this tell you about their experience.
3. Do you sell products or services that people would search for on mobile?
I’ve heard people say that their business would not be searched for via mobile. From Lawyers to lamp fittings – everything has mobile search potential. I can’t think of something that someone is unlikely to search on mobile. A lot of people don’t use a desktop computer and simply use a smart mobile device. This is certainly true of a lot of iPad or tablet users. Have a look at the parallel growth curves between Facebook & Smartphone adoption. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
The reality is for a lot of people mobile is the primary way they connect to the Net.
4. Are you wasting money on Adwords?
Adwords is incredibly powerful in its ability to target specific users, as I point out in today’s show. I continually see big brands treat mobile users with contempt in their Adwords campaigns. This is simply throwing money away. Whilst I pointed out this badly configured Bunnings campaign a few weeks ago, as of this morning they are still advertising to mobile users and sending them to a page of no value.
So start thinking about what would mobile users want from your site and give it to them. Pretty simple right? Love to know of sites that are doing mobile well from your experience.
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
