I’m sure we have all heard about Mobile websites recently, but I continue to find people that are constantly confused and don’t know what to do. Over the next few blog posts I will be delving into more mobile topics.ย
First I want to explain what a mobile website actually is. A mobile website is a form of your current site that is automatically formatted for the user’s mobile device (meaning a tablet or smartphone) when they access your site. This allows users to navigate your site on a mobile device without headaches. All websites are “mobile capable” meaning they can be viewed on a mobile device (well all except Flash websites, another reason to stay away from Flash!), but that doesn’t mean your site is mobile. As you can see from the picture, our mobile site looks VERY different than our desktop site but it is the same information, THAT is what a mobile website is and does.
A nice analogy to explain mobile websites is this. You are sitting at a park bench watching a dog play catch with his owner, for our argument’s sake that is your desktop view. As you sit there though it becomes very sunny and you reach into your pocket and put on your cool looking sunglasses. You are still watching the dog play fetch with his owner and it is the same “information” but now it just looks different (because of the sunglasses). The sunglasses would be your mobile website!
The best part about a mobile website is that it is synced to your current site. So as you make changes on your desktop website, it automatically updates on your mobile version as well. As we go along we will discuss more in depth WHY it is important to have a mobile website from a user’s standpoint and how it can benefit your search engine optimization.
Skol,
Ben Theis
