what app?

[greenoak]

what is a good app or ??? to make a mobile version of my website? which one do you use? thanks
ann

[MobileMarketness]

LOL all these great questions coming from you

There are two options when you're thinking of going Mobile - Application (app) or Mobile Website.

If you have a mobile phone, please visit these sites to get an idea for what a mobile website should look like:

mobilemarketness.com
sanjosecpa.org
americasearch.us.com

All of those are desktop sites that, when view with a mobile phone, automatically redirect the user to a mobilized version of the site.

Now, for the benefit of other small business owners that may be considering an app, I'm going to write about why I think Apps make little sense for local businesses. I know you're just asking which is better and are not necessarily leaning towards and App, but I want to address it since I see that very tendency too often. Apps, after all, are the BUZZ word of mobile today and so many business owners are spending big bucks to get one made when it makes little sense.

Most businesses should go for a mobile website as surveys indicate that users far prefer mobile websites for dealing with local business. The vast majority of local businesses aren't doing anything online that would warrant the use of an application.

Applications are pretty different from mobile sites and really only make sense for games and specialized applications / programs. Remember: an "app" is an application, or program. With an app, the user will be forced to download and install a program on their phone, and not only will you need to provide support for your application (as most apps don't function the same across ALL types of phones models) you're also competing for memory space and space on one of the pages of their phone. With all the Angry Birds and other fun apps out there, it's a tough battle and not one a local business wants to fight when all they want to do is share their weekly specials and business location.

Think of it this way: for your business website you have a website on the web. Users are free to bookmark it and visit again and again. Never have you forced people to download an application/program and install it on their computer in order to connect with your server and browse a catalog of your store. Using websites that user may view through a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox is a much better way of delivering business content to your customers. It's far less complicated.

Now, I have a client whose business involves a fair amount of engineering and financial projection, etc. For his business, we will be developing an app to help clients decide if his services make financial sense. That's a function that's best delivered through an Application (App). The program will use the phone's memory and power to run that program rather than delivering that data over a network (which will cost the user big bucks from using so much data).

For delivering business information, though, a mobile website is a much more direct and less bothersome way to get information to the user. No downloading, no installing. They can be free and mobile websites are relatively easy to support and keep up to date so they continue to work as phones and web browsers on phones are updated.

I hope that helps.

[greenoak]

thanks so much...AGAIN.... im having my web person read all this too..i hear you on the aps ...we want to be as simple as possible...... she got our channel cleaned up and up and running today....and is taking videos...
i dont really understand the mobile website....i looked at our website on her phone and it looked just fine.... i havent quite caught on to what would be different....
im back home now and will look at the sites you put on....thanks

[MobileMarketness]

lol my pleasure. re: mobile site: You'll see what I mean when you look at those URLs I gave you on a desktop computer and then on a mobile. The desktop version of the site is pretty different than the mobile version. If you look at a non-mobile site on a mobile phone, you often have to scroll around a lot, zoom in to read the text, etc. Not the way to go as it can frustrate most users. Google has surveyed and researched this to death and their numbers were eye-opening - most people said they would not return to a business site if it wasn't easy to view on their phone.

I haven't seen your site, so perhaps yours is fine, but if you have to zoom in / out and scroll around a lot to find things, it will be very frustrating to a user that isn't familiar with the layout of your site. That will hurt your sales.

[greenoak]

no...but thinking about it...

[MobileMarketness]

Yeah, depending on the site design and content, a plugin can work well. For larger sites, a plugin usually isn't the best choice. Keep it mind, it goes beyond simply what it looks like; mobile users need different information than a desktop user and the design has to be different to keep the page sizes as small and as quick-loading as possible.

And bump on the WordPress idea. Absolutely fantastic way of building a site.

[greenoak]

thanks for this info....we really looked at our site on an iphone, today [with my web person] and its fine....we didnt have to scroll or anything like that...so im not planning much on there for now....she could click something ang call us from her phone..which was kind of neat...