Archive for the ‘Mobile Website Design’ Category

48. How a Dedicated iPhone App Can Help Your Business

Monday, September 10th, 2012

When I think back to my childhood years and the ways, in which our family communicated with relatives in Australia, it conjures memories of listening to what I now know was a cassette tape recording of my cousin’s voices with carefully planned gaps which me the illusion I was actually talking to them in real time.

 

The world seemed to me then to be a much larger place that it does now. Since the conception of the World Wide Web my ability to communicate with distant relatives or work colleagues is instant without the need for elaborately planned charades and not only this but I can conduct many of my necessary day to day tasks both in business and pleasure not only by way of my computer but also whilst “on the go” with my trusty iPhone through the many applications from varying businesses and organisations.

 

I feel as though I am literally holding access to the world in the palm of my hand and for many businesses this is a vital tool with which to bring their services and products to fingertips of existing and potentially new clients from across the globe.

 

So why will an iPhone app help your business?

 

Small business appThe iPhone is undoubtedly the most popular smart phone in today’s market of mobile technology. Its many features have afforded all of its user’s ease of use and many will upgrade the moment a new model is released. As the iPhone can be connected to third party devices by way of the doc connector facility many businesses have been given the freedom to develop and implement their own iPhone application which becomes a marketing strategy which will help increase awareness of their company globally in the market they are involved in.

 

 

Once developed, iPhone applications are submitted to iTunes where they are then marketed for people to download to their iPhone. iTunes offer an application developing service however; since the use of such applications through iPhones has become an increasingly more popular way for people to access their many needs both professionally and personally, there has been a sudden increase in companies offering iPhone application development services.

 

As with a website it is vital to ensure that the application you create is easy to use. Think about the products and services that your company has to offer its clients and ensure you can fashion an application that will get both regular and potential customers actively involved with your business. Your business will always be with them either in a bag, briefcase or even in a back pocket (pretty much every place we choose to leave our mobile phone).

 

How will you be able to measure the success of your iPhone application? Simply by increased profit margins. Before engaging in the process of producing an iPhone application it would be prudent to peruse the catalogue of applications that may already available to consumers by your competitors and draw from these ideas which will ensure that whilst it may take a while for your own application to receive interest it will offer something unique which will soon see increased traffic to your business ideas, innovations, products and services.

42. Why Small business needs a mobile website

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

Since the first iPhone was launched in 2007, I have been a fan, some could say addict, of the information that is now available to me where ever I have a mobile signal.

Having all of this information available at a tap of a button, coupled with some very clever apps, has changed the way I, well a lot of people, make decisions on what services or products they are going to buy.

I will give you an example, in the next few weeks I will be best man for a friend.  One of my duties was to organise the stag weekend.  Over the stag weekend, I used the iPhone to make informed decisions on what bars and restaurants to choose.

Future trends

Research has indicated that the number of internet searches from mobile (smart) phones will over take those from desktop computers in 2013.

Challenge for business

As smartphones are designed to go in your pocket and be mobile, the screens are not very big.  This means that a desktop website may not display very well and may be difficult to navigate on the move.

Below is some key points from a 2011 survey by modapt.com.

  • 18% of smartphone users say their recent mobile browsing experiences have been frustrating.
  • Navigating websites (40%) and slow downloads (40%) are the biggest challenges among smartphone users, followed by information that’s hard to read or find (20%)
  • Smartphone users rely on their devices most for finding information about businesses (31%) and destinations (30%), but visiting social media sites is the biggest draw for roughly 20% of mobile audiences.

Therefore, it is important for businesses to have a website that is easy to use on a mobile device.  If not they will be losing out to competitors who do have a mobile version of their website.

Mobile website service

Over the past couple of months I have been working on a simple but powerful mobile website service.  I am pleased to say that a mobile website design service will be added to the range of services provided by Digital Ark from the start of August 2012.

Simple to use

The service has been deliberately designed to make it easy to find the typical information required on the move.  This meets one of the key requirements identified in the modapt.com survey.

Automatically detects mobile device

You can take a look the Digital Ark mobile website by simply visiting www.digitalark.co.uk.  The solution automatically detects the mobile and switches to display the mobile version of the website.  Again this ensures a good user experience as they do not have to do anything extra to view the easy to use mobile website.

Example of mobile website

Unlimited pages

Yes you can add as many pages as you want.  I would recommend that you don’t as you want to keep the user experience simple.

Make your own changes

Once the mobile website has been set up, you can change the content on the pages yourself, add new pages, change contact details, etc.  Or we can do this on your behalf as part of a managed service.

In Conclusion

The mobile web is here to stay.  The use of smart phones will continue to increase.  Users will want to be able to access data easily on a smart phone.  Therefore, it is important to get ahead of the competition by making sure your website can deliver a good user experience to smart phone users.

If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.