With all the talk lately about the mobile web and the desktop web, it starts to feel as though we have many different webs, different internets. But there is only one. There is one web, and you are on it if you have a website. The differences we have are mobile experiences and desktop experiences. What your website offers for those different experiences can make the difference in the perception of your product and in your relationships with your customers.

All of this sounds nice – mobile first, one web, mobile experiences. What does it mean, though? And why does it make any sense to do it?

What designing for a mobile experience first means:

• Focus. Taking advantage of the constraints of the mobile screen, give a critical look to your content and presentation. What do your customers need most? What do you have to offer that best meets that need? Make sure that thing, or those few things, are clear, easy to access, and obvious even on a mobile screen. The rest is a distraction.
• Embellish. The desktop is a different experience. Fill the screen in a way that best supports your focus. Here you can take advantage of the larger screen to brilliantly display larger graphics, side quotes, or extras that help people feel good about your product.

Why it makes sense to design for a mobile experience first:

• Global internet usage will more than double by 2015, and most of these users will be mobile.
• 61% of customers who visit a mobile unfriendly site are likely to go to a competitor’s site.
• Mobile email opens increased 34% while opens on webmail and PCs decreased by 11% and 9.5% from April to September 2011.
• 61% of smartphone users make local searches from a device.
• 20% of telecom, 30% of restaurant, and 25% of movie searches are mobile.
• In 2012, the U.S. saw a 55% increase in smartphone subscriptions to make for 98 million smartphone subscribers, representing nearly 42% of all U.S. mobile users.
• Mentioning a location in an ad or search result can increase click-through rates up to 200%.

Now is the time to be ready. Reach your customers effectively, which means giving them what they need in the way they need it – quite often now a phone number, address, and clear product info all optimized for a mobile touchscreen.

The key is to focus and understand the needs of your customers. This is the first step in building a great web experience – mobile or otherwise.

Source of collected statistics

The post A Great Mobile Experience Is Good Business appeared first on 435 Digital.

You hear a lot about mobile websites and desktop websites. You may have concerns about how your site appears on tablet screens. You may hear terms like “responsive design” or “HTML5” and wonder what that means for you.

Is this all just something for web geeks and trendy agencies to get excited about and push on people?

There’s a clear answer to that question: No.

Some form of mobile optimization is important for any business today. People expect it; your customers expect it. While it’s not going to be a quick and simple update in many cases, responsive web design is a beautiful way to achieve a mobile-optimized website.

What is responsive web design? Essentially, this means one website that automatically adjusts to display on any screen size in a way that makes viewing, reading, and using your site easy for all of your customers. It’s one site that works for all. And that seems like a tall order!

With consumers using their handsets as the main way to look up information while on the go, mobile local search is expected to exceed desktop search for local information in the next three years, according to a new forecast from BIA/Kelsey.

There are countless variations of smartphones and tablets out there that all fit into the category of mobile devices. How can you possibly design and build a website that works for every one?

Here is one of many great examples. You see the same site as it displays first on desktop, then on a tablet, then on a smartphone. The image sizes change, the title wraps, and the navigation becomes mobile friendly on the smartphone view.

The technical part of this is extensive once you get into all the details. However, it is not only manageable but gratifyingly logical and beautiful.

One of the biggest challenges is to work out what your website offers for content. This is the part of responsive web design that a business must take to heart, and the reason is that it will improve the experience for your own customers when they visit your site – even if they visit on a desktop monitor.

When redesigning a site to build as responsive design, the most effective strategy is to take a “mobile-first” approach. These are some things to consider:

• What do you want a person to do when they visit your site?
• call you, submit an online form, come to your store, purchase a product, read stories, share content
• Who is your target audience? Who are the people you most want visiting your site?
• What are people looking for when they visit your site?
• your name and logo – for credibility, your address, your phone number, your business hours, your main product, a certain story or topic
• What content does your target audience need?
• What content does your target audience not need?
• What is your website’s voice or personality? What image do you need to convey?

With the sheer size of the desktop monitor, many websites have evolved over time, gaining content and images and stuff that is not needed. Often the navigation is not clear or consistent. Sometimes the most obviously needed information, such as a phone number, is difficult to find. Many times, the space is cluttered simply out of the desire to fill space.

The mobile-first approach to website design and content can be a relief from such a burden. On tablets, and especially on smartphones, space is limited. Download speeds can be limited, as well; sometimes they can be expensive. So when your website is viewed on a mobile device, every bit of content matters. You need to share the most critical, valuable content with anyone visiting your site.

Whether people view your site on a smartphone, a tablet, or even a desktop monitor, they will appreciate you for it. Most importantly, they will have a good feeling about your business because their experience of your website was pleasurable. As a responsive design site, it met them where they were – on any device – and gave them what they needed.

So while the technical details of responsive design and its implementation definitely lies in the realm of web geekiness, the value of responsive design is something truly important for every business.

The post Mobile-First, Responsive Design Websites: Does This Really Matter? appeared first on 435 Digital.