Phone Apps vs Mobile Websites

Phone Apps vs Mobile Websites

by on January 18, 2012 in Articles and Resources, Mobile

This one is sure to start a debate.  It’s no secret that smart phones and apps have changed our lives, with more users navigating the web for information.  As a good marketer you’ve probably already pondered how to best get involved, with an App or a Mobile Optimised Website.  Whilst it might seem the app is the best way forward, for small businesses and entertainers, let’s explore why a mobile optimised site but be more beneficial to you right now. 

It’s Boom Time

You’ve worked out that mobile usage has gone up quicker than Australian house prices right?   Here’s a graph we found, but a quick Google Search will provide further evidence.

The Basics – Apps vs Mobile Sites

We don’t need to explain what an app is surely.  What you probably don’t know is the costs to produce one, getting it into the 3 or 4 different stores, producing updates, and of course being found.  We feel time is better spent optimising a mobile site, and relying on the fact that most people will probably find you on google search, not searching the iTunes app store.  Besides is it really worth spending a few thousand dollars, just to tell people your opening hours, contact details, next gig, and a bio?

Put simply, a mobile site is optimised to be viewed on a small screen. Most websites have a style sheet, which dictates the size, colour, font, and layout of your site.  With some nifty little code we can serve up a different style sheet for mobile phones.  Unfortunately we think it’s not that simple, hence we’re opposed to the plugin that does the quick visual fix, and instead believe you should design a site with a mobile user in mind.

Mobile Style Sheet Or Mobile Site

Having explained above, we feel quite strongly that it’s better to provide a custom experience for a mobile user.  The following two reasons should be enough to convince you:

  1. Mobile phones typically access 3G data, and resultantly they render slower than a computer on broadband or wifi.  This means the full size images you loaded into your gallery aren’t going to load quickly on the phone, and no amount of style sheet tweaking is going to alleviate this. Once 4g comes out, then perhaps we rule this out, however the clincher is below.
  2. Have you ever gone to ikea and got jacked off that you have to walk through everything just to get a rug.  What about your mobile users?  Do they just want to get in and get out.  If your a dentist, doctor, physio, restaurant, it’s highly likely that a mobile phone user is simply chasing your phone number, opening hours, and address.  If your a muso maybe they just want to know where they can get your music from, when your next gig is, maybe read some of your blog/news and perhaps find out what social networks they can connect with you on.

We think the above two reasons are enough to consider serving up completely different pages for mobile phone users that use an optimised style sheet.  Good news is WordPress makes posting content so simple, you can easily update the content yourself and utilise drag and drop menu systems.

How do Mobile Sites work?

Basically you can stick some nifty little code in the header of your page, which acts like a traffic controller.  If a mobile user arrives at the website, the code will redirect them to a new landing page.   Try it out.   Have a look at http://www.worldsfestival.com.au or www.laserhair.com.au and then try opening it on your phone.  If your a muso maybe try www.daveandersononline.com on your computer and then on your phone.

Saving a Mobile Site to your Home Screen

Most people aren’t aware that you can actually save a mobile site to your home screen, so in the future it sits there next to the all the cool kids (other apps).  I guess it like getting into a prestigious university and only paying 5% of the tuition.  Anyway to save a mobile site, or any site for that matter to your home screen, for iphone users, just click the arrow at the bottom of safari, and you’ll see a save to home screen option.  If the site is designed correctly it will have an icon already loaded.

Try http://www.worldsfestival.com.au and save it to your home screen.

How Much

We are currently developing mobile optimised landing pages for clients for $95, which includes all that we discussed above.  Get in touch with us and let us know if you are keen to launch one.

Footnote:  Yes our mobile site is not deployed yet!  Unfortunately in are endless pursuit to put our customers first, we’ve been entrenched developing solutions for them.  Needless to say we’ll be on board as soon as we catch our breath!  Practice what you preach…I hear you.

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