Why mobile sites are good for you and your business
Hi! This is Chris, one of the interns here at T&S Web Design. After working at T&S for about five months, they have finally let me speak publicly. Well, on the blog, anyway!
A couple of weeks ago Adam talked about the key differences between a regular website and a mobile site in his post Websites On The Go. This week I wanted to go ahead and show you a few examples of mobile sites of businesses that are really neat and easy to navigate through. When people are quickly navigating on their phone, they want something fast and easy or else you’ll lose their interest very quickly. Being condensed and organized well makes your site more appealing to the people that will be viewing it.
Keeping your mobile site simple can be difficult when you have a lot of content that you want to put on it. Sometimes, instead of cramming all the content into your mobile site from your main website, it is better to trim off some of the less important things. And if you absolutely can’t get rid of anything then the next best thing is to have a menu that is set up very well so it is easy to navigate.
The following are a few sites that I think have done their job right. There is a lot of content on these sites but they organize it in a way that makes it easy to get to where you want to go. I’ll list a few things that stand out that I like about each site and you will find a couple things that are consistent across all the different sites.
Walmart
- Search field on top
- Store locator
- Nicely organized menu
- Link to main site
Blockbuster
(Edit: Since Blockbuster is out of business, their mobile site is no longer online.)
- Search field on top
- Major categories and store locator on top nav bar
- Popular movie rentals are showcased
- Link to main site
IMDB
- Advertising their app on top
- Search field on top
- Major categories on main bar
- Most-viewed movies are showcased
- Mini menu at the bottom
- Link to main site
- Main tabs on top
- News feed automatically selected so you can get up to date quickly
- Status update right on top
- Option to view older posts
- Download link for Facebook app on the bottom
- Download for Twitter app advertised on top
- Refresh button on the top
- Ability to tweet right away from top form
- Main tabs towards top
- Shows most recent tweets
- Option to see more tweets
- Ability to turn images off
So now you’re still probably asking yourself, “Why does my business need a mobile site?” Well, just like how it’s easier to view Facebook or Twitter as a mobile site on your phone, people want the same ease of use with your website.
Most people are familiar with phone applications, and minus a few differences, mobile sites are created with the same concept as apps; they are faster to use with more accessible info. Everyone is always looking for the next best thing that uses less brainpower, so creating a mobile site could be a huge asset to your business. If you look at the site examples above and follow the techniques as a base to your mobile site, users are more likely to stay on your site, which will in turn benefit your company. And if you need some more convincing, T&S is always willing to answer any questions you have! info@tandsgo.com