Technology is far from slowing down and if anything is showing signs of adapting with the future needs of businesses.  Therefore businesses need to ensure they are also adaptive to the future!  Did you know that the majority of visits to websites are from those using mobile devices such as IPhones, tablets, Blackberrys and other common brands?  Much of this market is mobile working employees.

Therefore it is very essential that companies have a mobile strategy on board to ensure their mobile workers have exactly the same access rights on their smartphones and tablets as laptop users.  Mobile workers can often feel isolated as it is due to being on their own for significant amounts of terms so the last thing they need is not having the ability to view complete websites on their mobile devices.

We take a look at options available to businesses to ensure their website is fully optimised for mobile users.  It is worth bearing in mind that unlike the laptop or personal computer the screen sizes of mobile devices vary dramatically and the website needs to ensure the graphics and text remain the same for any device regardless of the size.  There are many options to consider but this article will give attention to:

Use of a mobile ready website delivered from a sub domain

This is known to be the most popular approach to ensuring the website is ready for mobile workers devices.  So how does this work and what are the benefits?  In simple terms the site will gain all of its content from a content management system or a database.  The purpose of this is to ensure exactly the same content and images are transferred on to the mobile version from the standard web version.

The settings are configured automatically so that mobile workers are transferred to the mobile version without their knowledge.  They do not need to go to an amended website address as the site will cleverly automatically detect what piece of technology is being used, whether it is a tablet or a blackberry.

The main advantages of this are identified in summary below:

  • You are guaranteed to no see any impact on your Search Engine Optimisation. Regardless of whether the user is using the mobile version or standard the rankings by Google will not be affected.
  • All branding is completely the same. This is essential so that mobile workers do not lose logos and other important corporate branding when viewing
  • Works in conjunction with common domain extensions such as .co.uk and .com
  • The user has the option to view the mobile ready version or the full version of the website

Like with many other options there are a small number of disadvantages to consider and discuss.  There will very likely be a cost implication to include the development costs and maintenance.  The program will need to be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure it is fit for purpose.  As technology continues to revolve so will mobile types so this needs to be addressed and addressed.