Designing Your Mobile Website to Draw Visitors
- Interactivity/gaming: To let your customers play interactive branded games like Angry Birds.
- Regular usage/personalization: To personalize your services like the Net-A-Porter app that reflects the website's lifestyle network. In addition to snapping up a Proenza Schouler handbag and Alexander Wang sandals, users can read up on the latest fashion trends and watch exclusive videos on everything from designer interviews to full-blown runway shows.
- Complex calculations or reporting: To allow complex data calculations and reporting that could be used by financial and investment related domains.
- No internet required: If the content is not updated on a daily basis and you just need to provide offline access or perform functions without a network/wireless connection.
5. Check analytics for better focus:
Before focusing on the operating system, version and screen size, it is good to see which device is getting the bulk of your mobile traffic. For example, in Google Analytics you can see a breakdown of the devices that are being used, the divide between different operating systems, as well as what versions of each operating system are being used. You can see the devices bringing the traffic on Audience> Mobile > Devices.
To check out the mobile operating software being used by your website visitors, you could look at another variation of the report:
6. Identify and address core audiences:
Mobile devices are very under-powered compared to traditional computers. Mobile is inherently more selective than the general public web and the mobile ecosystem is far more fractured. Since mobile users visit mobile websites away from their regular internet connections, out in the real world, most interactions are driven by the content and ease of maneuvering. In other words, a shopping assistance site is more likely to be used in an actual retail environment than an exotic recipes site, which is why it's vital that mobile sites be specifically developed to address distinct needs and user profiles. Some tips to keep in mind while developing sites are: