Aristotle® Design For Results

We get a lot of questions about mobile site and app development, and with 2011 being heralded as “The Year of Mobile,” we expect them to keep on coming. How can you get started with mobile development? What should go on your mobile site? What should your mobile app do? Is mobile development even worth it? Get the answers to these questions and more below!

Mobile Websites

As more people ditch the ol’ mouse and keyboard in favor of sleek, new “do-it-all” smartphones, your website will continue to see increases in traffic from these users. If you’ve developed a mobile site, your visitors will be happily exploring everything your destination has to offer. If not, they’ll be forced to do a lot of scrolling, click on tiny links and read more text than their attention spans can handle. In short, they’ll be frustrated and probably leave your site. A mobile site is almost a must nowadays.

When do I need to put a mobile site in my budget?

Now, or preferably yesterday. Many Aristotle clients are seeing between 10 and 25 percent of the traffic to their standard and mobile version of the website from mobile devices.

How do I make my mobile site compatible with Android and iPhone and even iPad?

Good web developers use detection software. This “sniffer” software determines what type of device is accessing the site so that it can give visitors a browsing experience that is optimized for their device. Consult with your developer to make sure your site is optimized in several environments, as this is not always part of their contract and it can cost a little extra to ensure that your site performs on all platforms.

How will my mobile site look compared to my main site?

 Although design display on mobile devices has come a long way in the past year, you will have to choose your audience carefully. The non-smartphone market, though shrinking monthly, is still hovering around 40%. Consider your market and consult with your developer to target a balance between your current audience and your anticipated audience for next year. If you're targeting households with an income of less than $50,000, you'll likely be better off with a more text-driven design for now. In higher income markets, you can afford to get more visual. The sniffer technology defined above can even make a graphically-intense mobile site revert to a text-driven site, provided you have developed both versions.

What goes on my mobile site? Everything from my current site?

Certainly not everything, and not a lot of text. Unless you are focusing on the tablet market (iPad, Xoom, Playbook, etc.), the average mobile device user doesn't read articles or comb through columns of text. Best practices dictate that you present content in a short format that eliminates the need for any significant scrolling. You want your mobile site to serve as a portable guide to your destination, so features such as event calendars, dining guides, lodging guides and maps are essential.

A note about cost savings for mobile development

If you're developing for two or three platforms at once and are feeling overwhelmed, remember that the data on your website can be “shared” between all of these platforms. With accurate data in one location, all of your mobile resources can pull their data from a single source. Most DMO websites have databases of some kind that can be utilized, from calendars to restaurant listings and other data. In fact, when considering mobile development, it's often a wise first step to understand how your data is prepared and even invest in getting it cleaned up and ready to be ported over.

Mobile Applications

What should my app do?

When developing a mobile app, the initial considerations are often Internet connectivity and function.

Internet connectivity means deciding whether or not your app can be used by a consumer without an internet connection. Apps like games typically do not require an Internet connection, whereas travel apps that pull flight schedules, news, or other up-to-date information require an Internet connection to do so.

Determining the function of your mobile app is as easy as asking the question: what do you want your app to do that your mobile site doesn’t already do?

Analyzing the most popular types of apps may help you plan strategically for both function and internet connectivity. The most commonly used types of apps in 2010 were:

• Games
• Weather reporting
• Search tools- particularly map and directions apps
• Social networking apps such as Facebook/Twitter
• Music apps such as Apple’s iTunes
• News reporting services
• General entertainment

Where do I start?

Answering these questions is a good first step in the app planning process:

• Why would anyone keep your app on their phone?
• What features will visitors need to plan and spend more money in your destination?
• What can you show visually in your app that you're unable to show on your mobile site? Can you provide more photos or videos in your app to encourage engagement?
• How can you use mapping, weather, news, social tools and games to engage users?
• What information are you showing the consumer that can “live” on their phone's hard drive, and what needs to be updated regularly (i.e. what needs an Internet connection to get updated and what can the consumer do when they don’t have one)?

Do I launch an Android app or an iPhone app?

For more information on this topic, click here to read Aristotle’s recent article on developing for the Apple and Android mobile platforms.

Have more questions? Need a little guidance in your mobile pursuits? Aristotle develops award-winning mobile content for clients across the U.S. Call us at 1-800-995-2747 or email us at info@AristotleDesign.com to find out how we can help you conquer the mobile realm.