As more and more people trade in their old phones for smart devices the number of mobile searches will continue to grow therefore building a solid mobile strategy is a must. The rapid adoption other smart devices such as i-Pods, -Pads, and -Phones, and alternate tablets like the Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy has caused internet surfing to take place on a mobile device versus a laptop/desktop to be 2-to-1 in favor of mobile. Businesses are paying attention. Businesses currently spend over 6 Billion dollars in mobile advertising globally and it is predicted base on current trends and indicators this sector will continue to eclipse traditional media and exceed 20 Billion dollars by the year 2015. As a result of this trend many of the mobile advertisers have hired web design assistants to design ‘mobile-friendly’ versions of their existing web pages. Unfortunately, this can cause some unforeseen problems in the long run.
The most obvious is that if you have two websites, you’re paying the web design assistant to design, upkeep, and maintain two websites. It’s not like one version automatically updates when you make changes to the other (and even if it did, that would probably cause more problems than it solved). You can also end up competing with yourself for search terms since your two websites will appear as two different entries in the search engine results pages.
So what solution does the web design assistant implement first?
Design for Mobile Markets FIRST
When you design for a mobile market first and foremost you find that your entire attitude toward website content development changes. It’s not about packing in as much content as possible it’s about stripping down to the barest essentials of what you want your website to be, say and do. Designing with mobile in mind from the ground up is an absolute necessity in order to optimize for mobile shoppers to find what they need quickly and convert. Another benefit many business owners don’t realize is that keeping your desktop-oriented web pages that simple and concise is going to benefit them in the long run as well.
How Do People Actually USE Your Site?
Think of it from the perspective of an end-user. How many websites do you go to where you actually do more than one or maybe two fundamental activities on the site? How many of those websites have dozens of useless links and piles of useless content that you don’t ever and will never use? Wouldn’t it be nice if all of the visual clutters are gone and only the important stuff remained?
Desktop Machines Can Use Mobile Websites Easily
There’s no particular reason why a mobile-ready website can’t be designed to appear beautifully and work functionally on a desktop screen. The same responsive design principles that let your mobile website appear cleanly on a huge variety of different mobile-device screens will work just as well at desktop-monitor proportions. And if you design your site for a touch-screen mobile device, those few desktop all-in-one computers that have touch screen interfaces will be able to use them flawlessly as well.
Designing Mobile Websites Doesn’t Require Any Special Tools
The same tools that professional web designers use to create traditional websites Adobe Creative Suite, Quark XPress, Dreamweaver, and so on – work just fine to create mobile sites as well. Most modern web designers are now crafting their trade in mobile, so there is plenty of resource available for those looking to get started.
There’s a lot of long-term benefits (and actually almost no drawbacks) to designing your website as a mobile site first, and using responsive design to show more content at desktop monitor proportions. Reboot your website with a mobile orientation, and reap the long-term benefits of satisfying your entire target audience, no matter what device they use to find your site with the help of a web design assistant expert.
Guest Author: Rob Toledo works the occasional freelance gig, loves CSS3 and hopes to one day be a master of PHP – He can be reached on twitter @stentontoledo.
