To say that we’re in the midst of a mobile revolution would actually be pretty inaccurate – it has already happened. Smartphone and tablet PC saturation across most of the world’s leading markets is heading toward total, which means a monumental opportunity for those in business who know just how to tap into this waiting goldmine.
Unfortunately however, there are still tens of thousands of businesses…maybe even more…that are guilty of breaking some of the cardinal rules that come with winning over and making the most of mobile audiences. So with this in mind, here’s a look at just five of the ways you can instantly turn-off your mobile audience and yourself turned-off by your mobile audience in about five seconds-flat:
Ignore Them Altogether
This should technically count as rules one, two and three for the simple reason that to ignore mobile audience members is to eliminate them from contention. It’s probably the biggest no-brainer of them all and at this point in 2013 you’d expect almost everyone to be onboard with the shift and have a suitably mobile-compatible site, but no. Not even close, in fact. As it stands, it’s estimated that less than 20% of the world’s top million websites are up to scratch for mobile users, which translates as an incalculable number of lost readers and potential buyers resulting from pure inaction.
Dependency on Native Apps
Sure you’ve come up with a superb iOS or Android app to represent your business, but what about the thousands of instances every day when these mobile users have to access your website for further information? Is the site every bit as mobile friendly as the app? This is a hugely common mistake as most will focus on one or the other, rather than achieving the very best balance of both. And those favoring their native apps over mobile optimization of the website stand to lose out in a big way as not only do these mobile apps do nothing to attract new customers, but every new customer will probably find your business via the standard website which they will hate if they arrive via a mobile device.
Sell Mobile Users Short
For some bizarre reason, there is a common way of thinking whereby mobile users are thought to think, act and behave totally differently than their online counterparts. Well they don’t – they are the same people with the same needs and tastes. What this means therefore is that those creating apps or mobile versions of their website with huge chunks of information and functionality absent from the equation only stand to leave users felling short-changed and in need of an alternative.
Using Interstitial Popups
Extremely counterproductive more often than not as not only do these popups advertising your apps annoy the hell out of most users, but they can also play havoc with your SEO efforts as they aren’t the best friends of search engine spiders. There are so many places across your site and service to advertise you app – don’t use this one!
Content Vs Layout
And finally for this list at least, it’s easy to get so bogged down with making the layout of the site gorgeous for mobile users that you forget to ensure the content is as first-rate and comprehensive as the standard site. It’s again about striking the right balance and understanding their neither is more important than the other – they need to coexist.