Recent statistics show a radical shift in how we use the internet: in 2014, mobile web traffic is expected to overtake desktop and laptop computer traffic. This means that local consumers are using smartphones — a lot.
You may be wondering what this has to do with your business. The fact is that it has EVERYTHING to do with your business. People today are using their mobile devices for a wealth of different daily tasks; and that includes looking for information on local real estate agents, homes for sale and property information.
With mobile traffic on the rise, the best way to attract new customers is to make sure your website is mobile ready. If not, you could literally miss out on a lot of potential sales just because they couldn’t easily access your website.
What Does Mobile Web Design Mean?
You may have heard the term on tech blogs or other industry websites. But what does mobile web design actually mean, anyway?
Mobile web design refers to how a particular website is built. If a site is built with the mobile web in mind, it will load quicker on your visitor’s smartphones and tablets. Not only that, but it will be convenient for them to navigate and find just the information they’re likely looking for when accessing your site from their mobile devices.
As you can guess, not having a mobile-friendly website in today’s mobile-driven society is a major profit leak that no real estate agent can afford to have.
But how do you go about transforming your current, traditional website to one that incorporates mobile web design?
What’s the difference?
Mobile websites are built with the busy consumer in mind. They have a simple, clean layout, finger-friendly buttons, tap-to-call features, and much more to make the mobile viewing experience fast and convenient.
Furthermore, mobile devices are not equipped to handle traditional websites; so they load slowly and make it extremely difficult for users to find the information they need. The worst part is that after a bad mobile viewing experience, most consumers leave with no intentions of returning to your website.
How do you get a Mobile website?
Most businesses hire web designers to help them build their sites. This is a smart expense; good web design takes a lot of programming knowledge to do it right.
However, one mistake some business owners make is using a web designer who has no idea about how to mobile-optimize a site. Before you hire a designer, make sure they are skilled at creating mobile websites as well.
If your web designer is not knowledgeable about mobile websites, then you may want to also invest in a mobile website designer. Otherwise, you could leave some serious money on the table. Mobile web design is THAT important!
Avoid These Expensive Mobile Web Design Mistakes
When you’re looking into developing a mobile website for your business, there’s a tendency to dive in headfirst and begin making plans before you do any research.
Bad idea.
Your mobile website should be your carefully-selected tool to bring in new customers and increase profits. If your mobile web design isn’t based on the right principles, however, all of your efforts can go to waste.
To help you avoid this, here are the top two mistakes people make.
Not Understanding Mobile Traffic
Many people build their mobile sites without considering how mobile traffic is different than normal web traffic.
Think about it:
- Mobile users are usually on-the-go
- Mobile users want information fast
- No one wants to fill out complicated information on a small mobile device
Your website needs to be designed with these accommodations in mind.
Not Building with Mobile Navigation in Mind
Your mobile website’s navigation structure can make or break its success. Your goal is to help your visitors go through your site to get the information they need with ease. For example, you may need to simplify your site’s menu for mobile devices.
You don’t need to put every single page that’s on your regular website on your mobile website. The goal is to only provide the information that mobile users are likely looking for; and keep it simple.
You should also create different buttons that make it easy to use on small mobile screens. Otherwise, they will end up frustrated and likely move on to one of your competitor’s websites instead.
So, where does this lead to for real estate professionals?
Clearly you need a mobile optimized site. At the very least, a site that displays your contact information in an easy to navigate way. If you carry listings, each of those listings should either be a separate mobile site on it’s own or at the least, have a page on your main mobile site.
You also need to have some way for mobile users who land on your traditional site to be redirected to your mobile site…all behind the scenes so the mobile user is seamlessly shown only the content that is suited for their device.
Here are a couple of mobile optimized sites that I have built, take a look on your phone and you’ll see examples of what I have talked about here. If you like what you see and would something similar for your self, please feel free to get in touch.
A REALTOR®’s mobile site: http://www.jkfbmc.com/mdgre
My “business card style”: http://www.jkfbmc.com/mi
My Mobile Marketing site: http://www.MobiListPro.com
Although you can view these on your desk top computer, for the full effect, look at them with your phone!
