Do I Need a Mobile Website?

This is becoming an increasingly asked question. The use of mobile devices to navigate the web is exploding as is evidenced by the prolific sales of iPhones, Blackberrys, and Droid handsets. Nothing is more frustrating than surfing to a company’s website to get a phone number, address, or other handy information to only be confronted with a site that is all but impossible to read with your mobile device. There are two approaches to a small business site and its mobile presentation.

The first approach is an entirely different version of the site that shares the same content, but a different framework than the main site. Often this results in the best mobile experience as the pages are built from the ground-up with mobile viewing in mind. A mobile version of the site will often offer more limited content than the normal site so as to give the best experience possible. These versions are usually built with XHTML and CSS.

The second approach for a mobile website, is simply a different stylesheet. In this method the structure (HTML) of the site remains unchanged. Depending on the site, this can often be a good solution. It is easier to maintain than having two different frameworks for the site.

At the very, very least check and make sure your website is usable from a mobile browser. A well designed site should adapt gracefully to mobile devices, if it becomes a nightmare, more than likely it is poorly constructed.