SCIP tips for mobile websites

 

Experts predict most people will access the Internet via their mobile phone by the year 2014.

As cash-strapped community groups and charities struggle to keep their organisations afloat, it may seem one technological advance too many. Surely a website should be enough?

But SCIP web designer Mark James believes it’s important  your service users can access your website easily and that may mean a few adjustments to your website, so it can be easily read on a small screen.

In this article, Mark outlines why you should have a mobile website and provides some simple and cost-effective solutions to the rise of the smartphone.

Why you should have a mobile website

By Mark James - SCIP web design manager

The growth of smartphones has increased exponentially over the last few years. It is now estimated that over one in three adults in the UK now own a smartphone.  According to a survey of 2,001 people, 28% of smartphone users now use the Android platform, with 26% using Apple's iOs, and 14% using Blackberry's platform. Nokia's Symbian platform has a 6% share and Microsoft's Windows Phone platform 5%.  The market is changing so rapidly though these statistics are probably already out of date.

What does this mean for your organisation? Should you create a mobile version of your site?

Here are some reasons why you should:

1)    Your website might not be easy to use on a smart phone – have a look at your website and see how it looks. If your website has multiple columns or large images it might be difficult or slow to use.

2)    More people will be able to visit your site making you more accessible to your target audience, resulting in what marketers call “lift”. You can significantly increase your overall audience loyalty by being available wherever and whenever they want to access your site.

3)    There will be more mobile vs. web users in three years - Morgan Stanley’s Internet Trends research report found that use of the mobile web on smartphones is growing so rapidly that it will exceed desktop web in 2014.

4)    You can reach your audience on-the-go – how often do you look up information whilst on the bus or in front of the TV?

Mobile websites are different to standard websites and people tend to use them for different reasons.  The small screen can make it difficult to read a lot of content, download attachments or fill in forms but they’re great for people who want to quickly find out what you do, your news and how to get in contact.

Easy ways to create a mobile website

If you have a WordPress site it is relatively easy to create a mobile website. There are some plugins which do a lot of the hard work for you. Two of the most popular are WPTouch and the WordPress Mobile Pack. These can be installed and create a mobile site in an instant. Both give you the opportunity to switch between mobile and standard versions.

These may be instant solutions but it’s still important to think about how your website looks. Although users will be able to read the text, the colours will be completely different and you might not recognise it as the same site. These plug-ins are more suited to standard WordPress blogs so it may not work well if your site is more complex.

SCIP offers mobile website service?

We are now offering a mobile website service to complement your main website: We can:

• advise on the best way to create a mobile site.
• help you decide what pages you want to see on a website. You might have important content in a sidebar which isn’t visible, so we can create separate widget areas to show this.
• change the look and colours of the mobile website to be similar to your main website.

If you’re interested, give me a call. We can show you how your site will look with a standard plugin and work out the best way to take things forward.

If you need advice on website design for your organisation, contact Mark on 01273 234 049 or email mark.james@scip.org.uk.