With the number of mobile users increasing every day, a lot of website owners feel it only makes sense to create a separate mobile site to accommodate their non-desktop visitors. But is this really the best way forward? It might not be, and here are the main reasons why you may want to stray away from designing a bespoke mobile site for your company.
1. A mobile website cannot be only one.
Think about it for a minute. With so many different mobile devices, you are not talking about one mobile website, but many. Apart from the extent to which design and maintenance costs increase, don’t forget the never-ending task of keeping up. As each new mobile device is introduced, you need to design a website for it because you want your customers to have access to your products and services at all times.
2. There will be a lack of communication between sites.
With a separate mobile site, the communication between mobile and desktop users automatically becomes more problematic. When a mobile user shares a link from your mobile website, a desktop user is only able to see a very small version of the content, a tiny image, and layout specifically designed for mobile devices. In the same way, a mobile user won’t be able to properly access a link that a desktop user shares, as the content’s layout will be too wide.
3. Different content will confuse your audience.
An obvious solution to this problem is to create different content for your different sites. However, the confusion and the significant cost to which such a practice will lead should be taken into account. Users become frustrated when finding different information on different devices, and you have to spend a lot more money and time to accommodate every visitor and distinct operating system.
4. Your SEO will become less effective.
With twice the URLs leading to your site, your SEO inevitably becomes less effective. At a time when online competition is fierce and getting your company listed high in search engine results might well determine your success, opting for weak SEO is definitely not the best way forward.
5. A bespoke site has nothing more to offer than an optimized one.
None of the above should mean that you have to neglect your mobile users; it only means that building an entirely separate website for them may not be a great idea. However, using responsive web design and optimizing your content display and interactions to offer your mobile users a unique experience is highly recommended, and your design possibilities when it comes to mobile are endless and very exciting.
