Tech Notes with Gareth Rushgrove

Sep 13 2007 by Iain Laing, The Journal

EVERY Tom, Dick and Harry has a website these days – but when was the last time you stopped to consider how your site works on mobile devices?

Until recently, a relaxed attitude towards the mobile web from businesses could be forgiven. After all, most people didn’t use the mobile internet because of high costs and poor experiences of the technology.

But that’s all going to change – and businesses had better pay attention if they don’t want to fall behind.

A recent report by comScore revealed 5.7 million people in the UK accessed the web from a mobile device last year, and that number is set to grow as the technology improves, screen sizes increase, and connection speeds get faster.

Added to that, research firm Emarketing says mobile advertising in Europe will grow to nearly £1.5bn in 2011 from less than £200m in 2006.

There’s even talk that internet giants Google and Yahoo are working on mobile devices that will truly get the best out of the web. I’d say it’s time North-East companies got their websites doing the business online.

The good news is there’s plenty you can do to improve the experience for your customers straight away.

Designing your site to be viewed on a mobile device isn’t simply a case of technology (in fact, you can likely re-use much of your existing site). It’s more a question of context.

Don’t think about what people would do with your current site on their mobile – think instead what people might want to do with your content and go from there.

So if your main site acts mainly as a brochure, bear in mind that displaying lots of sales information mightn’t be suitable for a smaller screen – instead, try providing quick access to contact information.

And if your main website sells products, visitors on a mobile would probably love to be able to check on the status of a recent order or phone one in directly from the web page.

Gareth Rushgrove is an independent consultant. www.garethrushgrove.com