Is Your Website Mobile Friendly, Compatible or Optimized? (And why you should care)

BroadBased offers a series of mobile solutions that won’t break the bank including this site created for ChristmasDecorJax.com . Visit the URL from both your mobile device and desktop/laptop computer to see how the presentation differs.

Many companies — perhaps yours is among them — have invested significant time and resources for a new website in the past five years. And many of those new websites, although up-to-date at the time, were built in HTML (count ours among them) and predated content management systems. So where are we headed with this? Not far, unfortunately. The explosion in mobile device technology in recent years has given smart phone and tablet users the ability to easily browse Web pages on the go. But websites that weren’t built to be displayed on the smaller screens are being left behind on the desktop.

The good news is that the problem is definitely fixable, and we have some affordable solutions we can suggest for you. But first, you’ll need to understand the difference between the terms “mobile compatible” and “mobile optimized.”

Mobile compatible — sometimes called mobile friendly — websites work acceptably well on mobile devices but were designed for desktop users. They were intended to be viewed on a large screen and navigated with a mouse. On a mobile device, they load more slowly and the text is tiny. If you haven’t optimized your website, it’s compatible by default.

A mobile optimized website, on the other hand, is designed to display and perform well on smart phones and tablets. Created for small screens first, it focuses on efficient navigation, often contains fewer features than the full desktop version, and presents more succinct copy. The mobile optimized site doesn’t replace the desktop version, but rather complements the full-featured site.

So how can you provide a mobile component to your desktop website without starting over?

If you understand the importance of having a truly mobile presence but are not ready to build a completely optimized site, BroadBased offers a series of solutions that won’t break the bank. Making the right choice for you requires consideration of your budget, the existing website format, and the amount of content you want to feature on your mobile site. If you would like to discuss what steps can be taken for your website, email Jan Korb Hirabayashi to get the conversation started.