Should All Businesses Build Mobile Websites?

I can understand why business owners would be thinking about whether it makes sense to build mobile websites. Mobile phone and tablet owners are using these devices to access the internet in ever-increasing numbers. The decision of whether to set up a website that will appeal to mobile users is one that needs to be considered very carefully.

Before a business owner can make a decision about a mobile website, he or she needs to consider whether it will benefit the enterprise and, if so, what the website will offer to visitors. An important consideration is whether the business’ customers can benefit from being able to access a mobile site.

If the business owner can see a benefit to providing a mobile-friendly website, the next thing to look at is what the visitors accessing the site through their mobile devices will be doing. If the average mobile device user will be looking for general information, the mobile site’s content will be different from a site whose users are accessing the site for the purpose of taking some type of action, such as scheduling an appointment or placing an order.

Once an owner has a clear idea of what the mobile site should do, he or she has options. The owner can choose to build a mobile-only website or have one that has similar content to the main one. For some owners, I can see that a hybrid site, which offers some elements of the main site but focuses on being mobile friendly, is a better option.