Is your website mobile ready? Here’s a list of the top tips for going mobile

Mobile users make up a huge percentage of website traffic. Is your website smartphone ready?

Let’s talk about what to do to position your brand and site for the mobile web.

5 Tips to designing a site your visitors can use via mobile technology

#1 It’s about them, not you

A great mobile site gives your visitors what they want, when they want it. It’s about their goals, frame all discussions about your site development around how your users will want to use the site.

A few common user goals include:

Finding your location or address
Finding a phone number or contact information
Looking for deals and information on what’s available at your location
Finding out more about your products

When you frame your design and development around these key points, your audience will find your site useful.
#2 Bigger is not better on the mobile web

Mobile websites need to be smaller than traditional websites. A smartphone simply cannot display and handle the information load that is contained in most traditional web based sites. Make sure that you take the mobile browser, the network, and the mobile device into consideration. Your goal is information quickly not lengthy entertainment or graphic heavy pages.
Most of your site content should center around the items listed in #1, remembering to keep it simple, including:

A way to locate your business in person
Contact information
A menu or service offerings
Your mobile apps
and the most commonly sought after information on your site by mobile users (track this via your analytics to make the determination of what this is)

Create your mobile site for quick access to information so your user can get in and out.

#3 Quick Access and User Details

Your site needs a quick load time, 3 seconds is almost too slow in most cases.
Accomplish this with:

Fast Load Time = efficient coding
use video sparingly
Efficient coding and tailored display
no flash (you might love how it looks, but flash is not a suggested user experience for mobile)
Redirect mobile users to a special mobile site
know how your site looks on a variety of platforms like the iphone, android or blackberry systems – they don’t all display the same

#4 Brand appropriately
Create your mobile brand that represents your company brand, but pare it down for the size and considerations of being seen on a mobile device. Let someone know that they are in the right place with brand elements when they get to your site.
Do this through:

Effective Color Representation
Logo
Product Images
URL

#5 Organic Updates

Be prepared to modify and maintain your site as new technology becomes available. Regular updates and fresh information will maintain a strong mobile portal for your users.

Use timed offers and campaigns
shift your featured products or services
Update your architecture
Set a timed development cycle and decide to look at the site design regularly, every 6 months would be a great start

Use these suggestions to keep your mobile users happy, engaged, and confident in what your brand can provide online.

Who’s website is it?

Your website is not about your organization.

It’s about your users, your constituency, the audience or market that your organization serves. Every decision related to design, content and function of a site must be made with the needs of your audience in mind.

Your website is not about you.

It’s not about your personal likes and dislikes and tastes and preferences. Your personal opinions do not matter, and should have no place in determining what your site looks like or how it acts. Only business considerations matter. Everything must be decided with the user’s needs in mind. Get your ego the hell out of the game. Got it?

It’s not your website – it’s your users’ website.

Your site should not be designed for your benefit. It should be designed for the benefit of your users, your constituents; your customers, your prospects, your members, your contributors, your volunteers, your whatever.

Your benefit comes from serving the needs of your users.

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Twitter’s New Web Intents Creates Interactive Tweets on Your Website

Twitter’s New Web Intents allow Interactive Tweets on Your Website

Twitter’s new Web Intents make it simple to share interactive tweets on your website or blog.

Web Intents provide popup-optimized flows for working with Tweets & Twitter Users: Tweet, Reply, Retweet, Favorite, and Follow. They make it possible for users to interact with Twitter content in the context of your site, without leaving the page or having to authorize a new app just for the interaction. Web intents are mobile friendly, and super easy to implement.

Recommended Website: Cross Fit

This week I am recommending Cross Fit. This is a site that I was introduced to a couple of years back and one that I am consistently using for workout routines. According to their site “Cross Fit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.” What makes their workouts so great is that they are adaptable to everybody by scaling back individual workouts when needed. Whether you’re a tri-athlete, weight lifter, beginner or just someone looking to stay in shape, Cross Fit offers new work outs on a daily basis that can be modified based upon individual need. One more reason I recommend the site can be attributed to the fact that they honor those that have served our country and have fallen in the line of duty by naming their most elite workouts after these heroes. The site offers new workouts 5 days a week with 2 rest days, which makes it really easy to schedule your workouts for the week. This site has grown tremendously in its short existence, over the years Cross Fit Centers have been popping up all around our nation, including 2 here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. To check out Cross Fit, simply go to http://www.crossfit.com/.

“This post is by Rick Curtis. Rick runs a personal development website which can be found at www.ricksdreammachine.com. His site focuses on sharing messages and resources that are aimed at inspiring and motivating people to chase their dreams and follow their hearts.”

Recommended Website: Steve Pavilina

Today I am recommending the website Steve Pavlina.com. Steve’s website is geared toward helping people live the lives they were truly meant to live. He does this by offering mainly free resources that offer tools for his readers to better themselves.

Steve’s story is quite unique. According to his site, Steve realized he was on the wrong path in life while he was sitting in a jail cell for felony grand theft at the age of 19. Upon this realization, Steve made some drastic changes in his life. He went back to college and earned degrees in computer science and mathematics, went on to create a successful software company, ran the Los Angeles Marathon and created a widely successful personal growth website.

To me, Steve’s story certainly sends the message that we are all responsible for the way our lives develop. Steve, certainly was not happy with the path his life was on so he changed course, so can you. I would recommend checking out Steve’s website at www.stevepavlina.com if you’re looking for someone to motivate and inspire you.

“This post is by Rick Curtis. Rick runs a personal development website which can be found at http://www.happyyooper.com. His site focuses on sharing messages and resources that are aimed at inspiring and motivating people to chase their dreams and follow their hearts.”

Recommended Website: Simple Truths

This week I am recommending Simple Truths. This site is pretty unique. I first heard about it through my wife Katie. The site specializes in providing inspirational gifts, particularly books. According to their website “the books can be read in less than thirty minutes.” Three elements that Simple Truths focus upon include: great content, great graphics and great packaging. I love the message this site sends, and that is one of simple truths. Something else that is quite unique about Simple Truths is that they do not allow their books to be sold through any book stores or other retail vendors. If you are looking for a source of inspiration, or looking to give a special gift to someone close to you check our Simple Truths at http://www.simpletruths.com

Have you stumbled upon StumbleUpon?

StumbleUpon's logo

If you like articles and news, and something tailored to you, then you’ll like this. In existence since 2001, under Ebay’s domain, StumbleUpon is a popular and growing news and information site built for people like you.

So what you do, you go on, sign up, and then when it asks you for your interests, click the boxes. From those boxes it pulls from its database giving you exactly what you like: pictures, videos, articles, websites- all sorts of media you might find interesting that you would have never found on your own.

You might even find some friends who are on there (through facebook) and can follow them and check out their favorite articles. It’s easy! Click “I like this” and StumbleUpon will give you more things like it. And unlike facebook, you have a thumbs down button, letting stumbleupon know that what it gave you is not what you’re looking for.

It’s the perfect way to discover yourself, find a laugh and get a bigger glimpse of the world. So what are you waiting for?

Recommended Website: Pick the Brain

Today I am recommending the website Pick The Brain. I stumbled upon this website a couple of days ago. I was searching for websites that focus on personal development. Not only do I like recommending these types of sites but they are the types of websites that I visit on a daily basis to keep myself motivated and focused. As it turns our “Pick The Brain.com has become one of the fastest growing self improvement sites on the web according to their site.” Instead of focusing upon a small element of personal growth, Pick The Brain.com takes a much more expansive approach to helping people improve their lives. They do this by providing a variety of information geared towards personal growth, while focusing on 5 categories that include personal productivity, motivation, self education, psychology, and philosophy. Check out this wonderful website filled with personal development tools at http://www.pickthebrain.com/.

Why should you even have a blog?

There are tons of reasons to have a blog. Here are a few.

It Gives Users a Reason to Come Back

If your website content never changes, visitors will read what they want to once and leave and probably never be back. But if you’re writing new content all the time, they have a reason to come back. And if your content is interesting, they may even become loyal readers (and fans).

It Gives You a Reason to Create New Content

Once you’ve established a blogging habit, you’ll want to keep doing it (the definition of a habit, after all). If you don’t have a blog, adding new content is difficult and may involve redesigning your site. Blogs are simple; they manage themselves. All you have to do is to keep pouring content into them.

Blogging Helps You Think and Improves Your Creativity

By disciplining yourself to blog frequently, you are making yourself create new ideas, think new thoughts, and explain things in new ways. Blogging will keep you out of mental ruts. New ideas will emerge, and you may even find yourself changing or redefining your business model.

Google Loves Activity

Did you know that Google gets bored easily, and if it finds nothing new when it checks your site, it probably will stop checking? But did you know that Google sees each new blog post as a separate page, and more pages and more content equals more attention from search engines? Want to get found? Write more stuff, and do it often!

This is a guest post by Tom Harris. Visit his awesome and amazing website here.

InSights Group

We are doing company launches, brand management, running companies, and in general trying to keep up with you in changing the world!

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