When your business website turns up in the search, you will want it to represent you well.  That’s why it is crucial for your site to show up correctly on a mobile device.  No one wants to look at a website where you have to scroll horizontally to see the entire screen.  The key is to do the mobile website design first.

Smart Phone Popularity

There’s no question of the popularity of smart phones.  When busy Americans pause and wait for something they bring out their smart phones to check email or surf the Web.  Or maybe you, like me rely on it to host what you used to remember – telephone numbers, addresses, locations . . .

Important Stuff, no Fluff

When you design mobile first you are forced to focus on core content and the functionality of your site.  The mobile user is looking for just the important stuff, no fluff.  She wants to find what she needs quickly so that she can take action on the information she finds.  Graphics are important, especially maps but the number of graphics should be reduced.  Phone numbers, addresses, hours are all key and should be easy to find.

You forget about hitting the word count target that you may have used for desktop design.  You need just the essentials on those pages that the mobile user is likely to use.  You may later expand your word count to make sure that more information is available if she has a larger view port.  And some pages may have basics at the top level with more information provided at a lower level.

Today’s website design must provide for mobile devices or they will miss a large segment of the population.  Especially B2C businesses must completely support mobile devices.

Are mobile devices, desktops or both used by your prospects?