The Essentials of Building a Mobile-Friendly Website

As a keen observer of the web development environment in the world, you must be aware of the mobile revolution that is sweeping the industry. Mobile usage continues to rise and rapidly so in the emerging economies of Asia and Africa. This has been further spurred on by the increased preference of the users for the mobile experience- the experience of the application adapting or responding to their needs.

Go Responsive

You can build a truly mobile-friendly website only if you go responsive. This means the use of mobile-optimized content, more use of images, videos and easier navigation. You need to remember that mobile users want a front end that is not cluttered. They also need only the necessary navigation options because too many of them will totally ruin the mobile experience.

Move over multiple URLs. Your website has to have a single URL for both the desktop as well as the mobile version. A website that is tailored for the mobile will have all of its components designed to function in a manner that responds to the way the user wishes to use the website.

Go Hybrid

 It is not enough to merely have a mobile website. It needs to include the mobile application component as well. This is because your website needs to be multi-functional and not merely cater to a particular segment of your business. And a hybrid functionality in your website is a perfect way to bring in customers who want to rapidly and in a simple manner, perform the tasks in a mobile application. Some of the common errors that you need to avoid are:

1. Mobile pages taking long time to load

2. Blocked CSS or Javascript

3. Content that can’t be read or fault redirects

The Google Impact

With Google announcing that it will downgrade websites that are not mobile-optimized, the need for your website to go mobile is all the more greater.  Take Google’s mobile-friendly test to see where your website ranks in the list. It is through Google that customers come to your website and traffic is generated. And therefore SEO is an important part of your long term business prospects. So, you better be prepared!

If you want your website to be mobile friendly, You can reach us at http://www.openwavecomp.com/web_design.html

The Basics of Building a Mobile-Friendly Website

Earlier, when mobile phones were fast emerging as an alternative to desktops, the quest on every business owner’s mind was ‘How do I make my website mobile-friendly?’ Now with the mobile having established its pre-eminence, the focus is on building a full-fledged mobile website for your business. So, is your website truly built for the mobile?

Mobile First

The mantra today is to go mobile-first. The basic idea here is that you should first design your mobile site, and then expand the pages of that website into tablets and desktops. Why do we do that? Well, you might have a problem making a website primarily designed for desktops mobile-compatible but you will never encounter problems in loading the desktop version of a page design for the mobile.

So What Are The Things That Are Fundamental In Designing A Mobile Website?

Firstly, if you’re starting to build a website for your business, then you would do well to find a content management system that automatically creates a mobile version of your site. This would save you a lot of time that would otherwise go in channelling resources to make your site responsive. Most Responsive features are in-built in a CMS nowadays.

Secondly, you need to make sure your site is responsive in the true sense. The URL and HTML code of your site must remain the same but your sites CSS must be responsive in the sense that it has to adapt to the type of device the user is using. This can be done with dynamic serving or RESS where based on the user’s request, your site sends different CSS and HTML.

Thirdly, keep the content short and succinct. Your content must give just what the user requires and that too only when the same cannot be conveyed in the form of images or video. This is because mobile phone users often find it difficult to read lengthy content on their devices especially when what they came looking for was something else.

Lastly, perform a thorough user-experience test for your website. Lay mobile users should be able to identify with your brand through your website and it is only in the user acceptance testing (UAT) stage that you get to know this.

What we’ve mentioned above are just the basic points in building a mobile website. In other words, this is but the tip of the iceberg. For more, keep an eye on this space!

If Your Website Wants To Be Mobile Friendly, Then Go For Responsive Web Design! Choose Openwave! Please Have a Quick Look At Our Services @ http://www.openwavecomp.com/web_design.html

The Benefits of a Mobile-Friendly Website

From desktops we moved to smartphones to tablets and now to smartphones watches. We could club smartphones, tablets and smartwatches in one category because they are all essentially offshoots of the mobile revolution. Users today would much rather prefer to visit a website that is mobile optimized than one that is not. This is because an entire generation has become used to the mobile experience and rejects anything that falls short. With emerging economies in Asia and Africa leading the mobile growth path, this march is only beginning to gain strength.

In this article, we try to explain what has caused this sea-change in user preferences in just over half a decade. Here are the 5 reasons we think your website should be mobile-optimized:

1. Reduced Load Times

Firstly, the average user today expects a site to load as soon as he’s clicked it. Site URLs today are being widely shared on messaging and social networking platforms and therefore the urge for faster load times is even greater. Now, compare the loading times of a desktop site and a mobile-website. It should be clear as daylight to you that mobile-websites are much faster and since faster loading times form an important part in winning the trust of the customer, you get an A on the user experience front.

2. Your Site Won’t Be Taken Off Search Rankings (Yes!)

This is a warning to all those who are still thinking about going mobile. It is not about not being able to gain an advantage over mobile websites, it is about not being there at all. Google is not even listing sites that are not mobile-optimized. And, the more mobile friendly your site is, the greater chances it has to be listed higher on its rankings.

3. Simpler Navigation

It is a pain to navigate a website that is not optimized for mobile viewing on your smartphones. To be mobile friendly is to cut down on the number of navigation options on your standard site. Giving more importance to Call-to-action buttons like ‘Contact us’ or ‘Buy now’ will be much more useful than confusing the user (who is already constrained by limited space) with too many options that are essentially interconnected and can be replaced or done away with.

4. Better Engagement with The Customer

Today’s users prefer communication through images and videos rather than through text. A mobile website experience tends to be much more personalized than a desktop site. Whether it is swiping to sift through pictures in a gallery or looking at a restaurant in a map and immediately calling it, mobile offers you advantages that only it can. In essence a mobile-website shows that you mean business.

5. Lower Maintenance Costs

Building a mobile website means not having to duplicate your content or reformat it the way you do with a desktop site and also comparatively simpler debugging options. Though your front-end design may cost you a little, it is more than offset by the huge advantages that you get over a longer period of time.

Why Your Local Business Needs a Mobile-Friendly Website

Why does your business need a mobile-friendly website? Well, the question is a non-starter as far as mobile aficionados are concerned. Not only techies, any lay man on the street would tell you that he finds his mobile more comfortable to view and use than his desktop. This is because mobile is the on the move device, unlike a desktop and without doubt, cheaper to buy.

Around the world, businesses are leveraging the power of the mobile to reach out to newer audiences. This is because the highest growth in mobile usage is witnessed in the areas of the world with the highest population, with South Asia leading the mobile growth numbers.

How Local Businesses Can Leverage Mobile

Statistics show that close to two-thirds of Smartphone users search for local information on their mobiles. And what about conversion? Well, over half of those searches result in calls to the local businesses! This is an extremely effective scenario for local business owners as they ensure visibility without any banners, newspaper/print or TV ads.

But, only few businesses have actually utilised this great power of the web. Research shows that over 90% of the websites of small and medium business owners have not optimized their websites for mobile viewing. If you could just pause for a second here and think about the opportunity that beckons you. There is so much demand from the users but so few SMBs have their websites optimized for the mobile.

You cud be among the 10% if you can find the right company to build your mobile website. A company that has the competence and experience required to take your business to the next level. This is not difficult as you just need to find companies that have a history of satisfying clients by performing within their budgets, and your job is done!

If you want your website to be mobile-friendly, you can reach us at http://www.openwavecomp.com/web_design.html

What You Need To Focus On In Responsive Design

Responsive is the mantra that’s on everybody’s lips. But to make a website responsive you need to identify which content is going to take precedence and which aspect of your website should be accorded priority. We take a look at what are the issues to be looked after when you want to make a website responsive.

-> Responsive websites need to be prioritized carefully as visitors may have limited time and visual space due to the device they’re using or their environment.

-> Extensive User Research: Researching the audience helps to find out how they view the website. Here you need to find out:

-> How visitors use your website, including how much time they spend on it, how they read and view the content, how far away they are from the screen, and so on.

-> What sorts of devices they use most often to view the website, and which devices they may use in the near future.

-> Where they would view your website.

Different Layouts For Different Devices: Usually, you’ll want to provide the most information or website content for the size/resolution of the device that the visitor is using; keep in mind the viewing distance on large devices like TVs however. Grid-based layouts simplify this task by providing different numbers of columns for blocks of content depending on the device. For example, a website may use 5 columns for its layout on large devices, 3 columns on tablets, and 1 column on a regular phone.

Automatic Adjusting Of The Layout For The Different Devices: A combination of CSS and JavaScript can be used to detect the device that the website is being used on, and it’s specifications (such as if it supports the Flash or the latest version of HTML), and adjust the website accordingly. CSS Media Queries are particularly useful for determining the resolution of the device.

Ensuring That That Media Is Appropriately Sized: Responsive websites typically try to display smaller images and videos for mobile devices like phones because phone screens are typically smaller than computer or TV screens, and because phone are often used with limited-bandwidth data contracts. This has become less of a problem, however, as smartphones have increasingly higher-resolution screens. In addition, modern browsers often use pre-fetching that makes it difficult to send a particular-sized image to the device.

Why Small Businesses Need To Get Their Websites Mobile-Optimized

Mobiles have literally penetrated every aspect of our lives today. Roughly half the internet users are accessing the web via mobile. As more and more users across Asia go mobile, how can your business afford to stay behind and not have a mobile-optimized website? That’s why we list out why and how mobile-optimized can help shore up your sales figures and help create immense value for your business.

 

How Mobile-Optimized Website Help

 

1) Easy to Read - A mobile website will have very little, if any, reason to scroll left and right. All text will be contained within the mobile device's screen and will be big enough to read without needing to zoom in. This will make finding information about your business (such as the menu, special deals, location, etc) easy to find. This is of great necessity for a small business.

2) Automatic Redirect - If you already have a desktop website, if the server detects that someone is trying to view your website on a mobile device, it will automatically redirect the user to the mobile version, usually without the user even knowing it. The mobile version will be located in a sub-domain of your main site. For example, if your normal website is www.mybusiness.com, the mobile version could be m.mybusiness.com, and this would automatically be displayed. This means you need to maintain only one website instead of two, a vital advantage for small businesses.

3) Rich Features - There are a number of useful features on a good mobile website specifically for the mobile user that make it even more beneficial for your business. The most useful is a "Click to Call" button, which is simply a button that is displayed prominently on the mobile site. The user can simple click or tap the button to call your business right away. For a desktop website, the user would have to either memorise your phone number (if they can even find it!), then enter the number manually. A "Click to Call" button makes it easier and they are more likely to call your business

4) Relevant Information Alone Displayed - On a desktop website, there will be heaps of information and text that people can read. However, on a mobile website, too much information will be harder to sift through. Therefore, only the information relevant to the mobile user should be displayed. As an example, a mobile user trying to find a good restaurant isn't interested in seeing a website that has something different from what he searched for.

As people need the information quickly, they probably only want to know where the restaurant is, their menu, any special items, and most importantly, how to contact them (click-to-call). This means the website will be smaller, but more relevant information will displayed.