Mobile Friendly Websites
For months there has been a steady increase in mobile users visiting design dpi. Throughout 2011 a mere 6% of users were on a handheld device, last month this figure had risen to a staggering 32%, simply highlighting the importance of having a custom mobile friendly website design.
We had wanted to develop our own bespoke mobile website for a long, long time. Originally though the thought process was that a genuine mobile friendly website was more of a luxury than a necessity. After all, every website we create is developed in such a manner so as to look aesthetically pleasing and to work perfectly on any handheld device.
It wasn't until seeing a company advertising their 'mobile friendly webistes' on Twitter that made us jump into gear. Their desktop website was bad... but imagine the dismay when visiting the site on a mobile device and seeing the same, poorly coded page? There was absolutely no consideration for mobile detection, just the same content as that on the desktop site, how could this possibly be classed as mobile friendly design?
Testing the site on different devices showed numerous errors on each platform we tested, on an iPhone there were alignment issues, on an Android device the alignment issues were worse, but also the background didn't repeat. On a Blackberry... oh, you get the idea.
It certainly lit a fire, and it was only a matter of hours to design, develop and deploy a genuine mobile friendly website for design dpi with true mobile detection implemented on the desktop site. Go ahead, try visiting www.designdpi.com on your handheld device... you will be redirected to www.mobile.designdpi.com. There are special offers on there that you won't find on the desktop site! Just make sure you're using a handheld device.
The necessity for a mobile friendly website is partly because mobile users are increasingly using their mobiles to search locally. That said, they can become irritated by the slow loading times of desktop sites which aren't appropriate for mobile devices such as the iPhone, Android & Blackberry. Think about it, can your business afford to miss such a potential lead? With a mobile friendly website, you can conveniently display the perfect amount of information about you and your business for users that are on-the-go, simply and quickly.
End user satisfaction most certainly is the main goal, but another huge benefit is that Google really loves a mobile friendly website! Google actively returns mobile friendly websites higher in searches performed on handheld devices, therefore increasing traffic with improved ranking not only on Google but all the other major search engines.
With handheld devices outselling desktop computers the mobile web is most definitely here to stay, so having a mobile friendly website specifically optimised for the mobile web is essential. To take advantage why not get in touch and see how we can help.
