Remember the days when canny website designers used to suggest what web browser you should use to view their site?
Few dare to do so today, but I’m still coming across online services that don’t work well with certain browsers. Only yesterday I was told by PRWeb that I should probably avoid using Google Chrome with their service; a browser used by around 1 in 6 users worldwide.
And the problem is only starting to develop.
I just looked in the Google Analytics accounts of 25 different websites and companies, to see what percentage of their visitors are using a mobile device.
The figures ranged from 0.5% to 10.3%, with an average of 4.9%.
Most companies, ourselves included, choose to ignore the problem. A few force their mobile visitors into ugly WAP-like versions of their web pages.
Mobile usage will continue to grow, and the profile of your mobile visitors may go from bored-on-the-train to people who are actively interested in what you sell.
And catering for the growth in mobile usage involves more than basic presentation.
Your visitors may be browsing your website on their iPhone, but be interested in downloading your software on their Windows desktop.
They may not know how to send a link from the device to their email client, or they may not bother trying to do so.
A good starting point would be to see how many of your visitors currently use mobile devices to view your website.
From there you can decide how (not if) to cater to them.
