Developing For The Mobile Web: What You Should Know

By Amy Vale

The mobile web has been steadily growing and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. ComScore has reported that the mobile media user population (those who browse the mobile web, access applications, or download content) grew 19% to more than 116 million people at the end of August 2011. Thanks to Smartphones, mobile websites are fast becoming one of the easiest and fastest ways for people to access the Internet on-the-go. We’re also seeing, in some instances, that mobile optimized websites are even more popular than their desktop counterparts. Take Facebook for example. Did you know that American Smartphone users spend 7 hours and 21 minutes per month on Facebook via their mobile phones, compared to 6 hours and 31 minutes accessing the hugely popular social network via desktop computers. We live in a 24/7 world, where people spend the majority of their time away from home. That time is often spent performing multiple tasks at the same time, wherever and whenever. With the demand for mobile websites growing faster than anyone could have imagined, what factors should publishers and app developers keep in mind when developing for the mobile web?

Consider how your users access the mobile web – they are generally in transit, be it on the subway or walking to/from work, and they’re more often than not holding their Smartphones and tablets in one hand while doing something else. How and why users access web content on mobile devices is therefore largely influenced by what is going on around them, informational relevance, and the specific feature capabilities of the device being used. Unlike the traditional web experience on desktop computers (which have larger screens, tend to run at faster and more reliable speeds and allow for greater multi-tasking with keyboards and mouse devices), mobile websites are typically characterized by smaller screen space, intermittent and less reliable Internet speeds and require users to be ambidextrous in their use of the devices.

Because of these differences, the mobile web requires a very different, scalable approach and strategy when it comes to development as well as mobile advertising. It’s important to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each mobile device in market, and then optimize mobile websites so they deliver a fully immersive and rich user experience. What happens all too often, and what we advise against, is “miniaturizing,” or squeezing all of the content from a full website to fit the smaller screen of a mobile device.

Oftentimes, publishers come to us saying their mobile traffic is surging at unprecedented rates with upwards of 2 or 3 million mobile visits, millions of mobile videos streamed, and Smartphones and tablets topping the list of devices driving mobile traffic. Yet, they don’t have a mobile optimized website and recognize a huge missed opportunity for monetization.

Here are some best practices to consider when developing for the mobile web.

1. Mobile users are often short on time, squeezing in several, if not dozens of, online tasks while on the go. Design your mobile site to load fast and make copy easy to read with clear navigation and calls to action.

2.No matter what product or service being advertised on a mobile site, it’s essential that the user experience is simple and requires very few clicks, whenever possible. Make it easy – and fast.

3. Consumers look for local info on their mobile devices regularly—include functionality that helps users find and get to their desired product or service.

4. Include a mobile site redirect to automatically direct users who are on a mobile device to the mobile-friendly version of your standard site.

5. Ideally, a mobile site should work across all mobile devices and all handset orientations. Find alternatives to Flash since it does not work on certain devices running on iOS. In those cases, HTML5 is a smart alternative and allows for greater interactivity and animation. These are qualities that could determine if users click on your mobile optimized site.