As Mobile web technology develops and the smart phone user base increases, many clients are finally coming to the realization, they need to prepare, but do not need Mobile Websites. It is hard for me to believe we still see a few businesses trying to survive without a web interface. It is now imperative that a business not only have a web interface, but ensure their web interface is “mobile friendly”. We see many businesses opting to create an additional website to handle mobile traffic and that leads me into a quandary of sorts, and therefore this article.
While we strongly urge our clients they become mobile compatible, we are discouraging the double site concept in favor of a single site (domain) to handle all web traffic. In our opinion, the benefits of directing all traffic to one site (domain) are significant. After all, the technology is available to accomplish handling all web traffic with one site, why not use it? We hear (and understand the basis for) the argument that the additional mobile domain can be an advantage for the business…creating yet another link for the business. But, certainly worth mentioning and cautioning, is the fact that most mobile sites end up dumping your traffic to a site owned by a third party. Some industry specific companies offer a free mobile site with the purchase of another service. While this sounds good on the front end…they are not really doing you any favors when they take your traffic to their site. Sometimes the cost to develop a new platform initially prohibits the single domain solution, but in our opinion that is the only time creating a separate mobile interface is acceptable, and we see this only as a temporary solution. There are many other less confusing and better organized ways to create links…and we would be most happy to share those ideas with you when you have the time.
We strive to help our clients make their website(s) as powerful as possible. The best way to accomplish this search engine strength is with lots of content relative to the site’s purpose / message. Unless a business has the resources to create double (original, not duplicate) content, and most do not, spreading that valuable content to more than a single domain weakens the site’s potential impact…in our most humble opinion. We also feel the double site solution creates confusion for prospective patrons. Keep in mind, competition for attention is increasing as our attention span decreases. We have a nano second (maybe a little more) to grab our prospects attention and direct them to our message.
So, the message here is certainly to engage, but to survey all possible options before spending the dollars to engage your mobile patrons on their platform. Chances are your website needs and update anyway. If it is more than a couple of years old, you probably need to bite the bullet and spend the money for a redesign. And by all means, make the new site mobile compatible.
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