0 How to Make Your Business Mobile Friendly for All

When you are sitting in a restaurant, walking down the street, or looking at people in the office around you, you will notice that many of them have their focus on their smartphone. They sometimes focus so much on the phone that they exclude nearly everything else around them. Aside from the safety issues and the social problems that always being on the smartphone can present, those who own businesses need to understand how they can tap into this mobile market for their own benefit. Countless millions of people have smartphones today, and you do not want to miss this growing and important segment.

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Getting Your Site Up and Running for the Mobile Crowd

One of the first things that you must do is make sure that you have a business site set up that is going to work with mobile phones and tablets. You have a few options on how you can accomplish this.

First, you could create a specialized mobile website that is capable of knowing when someone is accessing the site from a mobile device. The mobile device will then show the separate and alternate site that you have for your mobile visitors. For some sites that have a substantial amount of content, including ecommerce sites, this could be a good solution. However, these sites are not always as easy to navigate, as one might like simply because they have so much content and readers are going to be working with a smaller screen.

A second option to get ready for mobile readers is to use a plugin. You will find that they will install to your WordPress site quickly and easily, and it makes management of the site quite simple. This way, you are not going to have to worry about more than one site. Of course, you will find that the plugin option might not provide you with as many options as you would like, and they are not usually as attractive as other, specialized mobile sites. This could be a problem for some.

Many businesses today are choosing the third option. They are using a mobile responsive design for their sites. With this option, you still have only one website to manage, but the site will adapt and respond based on the type of device that someone is using to view it. This is often easier than having a separate mobile site, but it will require a specialized site design.

You want to make sure that everyone is going to be able to use your site from mobile devices. Some people are using VPN services, and you need to make sure that they will have access to the best version of your site as well. Thus, it’s a good idea to make sure that you are checking your mobile site in as many different browsers, devices and configurations as possible.

Location Based Services

Another option that your business will have to take advantage of the mobile crowd is the utilization of location-based services. When people are out and on the phone, and they log in or check in at your brick and mortar locations or event locations, you can offer them some type of reward, such as a discount. Whenever someone checks in, he or she is placing that information on their social networks, which helps to advertise and get the word out about your company. One of the tools they are using to do this is Foursquare.

With so many people getting on the web with their smartphones today, it makes good sense to give them a quality experience. It could lead to more business for you.

Guest Author

About The Author

Veronica Clyde is a tech writer at VPNServices.net – a place where you can read reviews about the best VPN providers. She loves to share Online Security, VPN technology and Blogging tips.

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