10 Tips for a Successful Mobile Website From the .mobi Experts at MyDomain

Key Challenges Companies Need To Consider When Optimizing A Web site For

Mobile Content and Navigation

    VANCOUVER, Wash., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- If you think creating a
 mobile version of your Web site for handheld devices is just a matter of
 taking the same content and fitting it on a smaller screen, think again.
 This is one of the biggest mistakes companies make, say the .mobi experts
 at MyDomain, one of the leading Web site hosting companies and one of the
 first .mobi accredited Web site developers. Businesses from media outlets
 to top retailers to mom and pop shops are all rushing to put their content
 on mobile sites that can be accessed on the go from the explosion handheld
 devices. However, most are actually inhibiting customer use and revenues by
 not carefully adapting their Web content for the mobile experience.
     Chris Campbell, Senior Marketing Manager at MyDomain, offers insight on
 the top 10 challenges that customers face and need to address when creating
 a mobile version of their Web site:
     1.  Trying to fit all of the content from your regular Web site into the
         mobile version of the site: Campbell notes, "This is a common issue.
         Web site owners don't see how they can fit all of their content into a
         small mobile browser -- and the answer is that they shouldn't. Mobile
         Web users aren't looking for pages full of content, they are looking
         for quickly accessed and easily digestible pieces of information that
         are useful to them on the go."
 
     2.  Determining what information is important to the mobile Web surfer: "A
         person surfing the mobile Web is usually interested in a company's
         most basic information. They want contact information, address,
         directions and a summary of the services they provide," says Campbell.
         "For instance, on the mobile version of a restaurant's Web site, it
         doesn't make sense to have a bunch of content on the historical
         significance of the building that the restaurant is located in. Users
         on the go want to see a phone number, address, link to a map, and a
         menu -- that's it."
 
     3.  Understanding how Web site navigation is different on a mobile device
         and the importance of keeping it simple: Fancy navigation on a mobile
         Web site is not only a bad idea, it actually can inhibit use.
         Campbell says that navigation should be kept as simple as possible and
         link to specific information with the fewest amount of clicks as
         possible. "Many times, the best use of a homepage on a mobile site is
         a simple list of links. Visitors to a mobile site are looking for
         specific information and hoping to find it quickly and easily."
 
     4.  Understanding what is involved in taking credit card orders over a
         mobile Web site:  Taking e-commerce credit card orders on a phone is
         not a problem, but it is important to understand that a separate
         mobile payment processor is necessary.
 
     5.  Knowing when and when not to include images on a mobile Web site, how
         to optimize those images that are included, and why this is so
         important: The most important point to keep in mind is that huge
         images are not going to display correctly on a mobile site. "The
         dimensional size of images is important -- but it is even more key to
         ensure that all images are optimized so that they have a very small
         file size. This is critical to making your Web site one that will
         download and display quickly. It will also make sure that your visitor
         doesn't end up with a huge phone bill because they transferred too
         much data trying to download your Web page. If this happens, that
         visitor will certainly not come back to your mobile site."
 
     6.  Understanding mobile Web site link coding and how it is different from
         a regular Web site -- i.e. "hot keys": Campbell stresses that coding
         your mobile Web site for ease of use is very important. "Hot Key" link
         coding is essential technology to use. This is a way to code the pages
         so that the numbers on the phone correspond to links on the page and
         activate them. "This makes navigation much easier for the Web surfer
         and improves the odds that they will return to the site since getting
         around is intuitive and simple to handle. Phone numbers can be coded
         so that when clicked, they automatically have the cell phone dial that
         number. Since many mobile site visitors are looking for contact
         information, the phone number link will most likely be the most used
         feature on the site."
 
     7.  Knowing why it's extremely important that all Web site code is
         perfect: "Mobile Web site browsers are not as forgiving as Internet
         Explorer or Firefox," Campbell notes. "It is extremely important that
         the code for a mobile Web site be exactly perfect so that it is able
         to resolve to the mobile browser without errors."
 
     8.  How to know when you've got it right -- ready.mobi:  There are many
         tools available to determine how ready your current site is for mobile
         use and also to determine if a site you are working on is going to
         work correctly. http://www.ready.mobi is one example of this. MyDomain
         has its own branded version of this tool, available at
         http://mydomain.ready.mobi/.
 
     9.  Perceived difficulty understanding and managing the code and content
         on a mobile site: There's nothing fancy or new about managing the code
         and content on a mobile Web site. It works exactly the same way that a
         regular site does. The difference is only that it needs to be simple,
         optimized for small file sizes, and coded perfectly -- with no errors.
         Obviously, it also needs to be laid out so that all of the content
         fits into a small mobile devices window.
 
     10. Determining the proper functionality to include on a mobile site:
         Campbell says, "Many of the tools and items that are found on regular
         Web sites will work perfectly on a mobile site. Forums, blogs, polls
         and forms, for instance, work great on a mobile site. However, flash
         video, dropdown navigation windows, and heavy file sizes will not. It
         is important to keep a mobile site simple and easy to use. While
         flashy aspects can make a regular Web site artistic and fun, it will
         make your mobile Web site difficult to download and can make the user
         experience frustrating."
     MyDomain has extensive experience building .mobi compliant sites for
 businesses of all sizes, and is one of the few companies to employ .mobi
 certified developers. Its highly skilled team of Web designers offers
 consumers .mobi domain extensions and provides expert design assistance to
 ensure its customers have a complete suite of Internet- related creative
 services at their disposal. With its Web design team .mobi certified,
 MyDomain reinforces its commitment to providing education and tools to
 advance the mobile Web community.
     About MyDomain.com
     MyDomain's reputation as a customer-centric registrar is well
 established. Founded in 1998, MyDomain.com is a leading domain registration
 company and provider of premium-managed Web site services, including the
 most reliable web hosting and self-service domain management tools.
 Purchased by Dotster Inc in 2002, MyDomain.com distinguishes itself with
 tiered domain registration pricing, offering some of the lowest
 registration pricing in the industry as well as a complete array of
 Internet solutions including custom Web site design, Internet marketing and
 shared and VPS hosting. Visit http://www.mydomain.com for more information.
 
 

SOURCE MyDomain.com