The Transaction to Mobile Commerce

 

Mobile commerce has arrived in a big way, and many online merchants are almady mobile-ready for the ned shopping season. Suffice it to say, the numbers are staggering. Meanwhile, here you sit on the sidelines with a site that can't keep up with the race. What can you do to make your site mobile-ready?

How about this for a place to start?

Make sure your site uses compliant standards-based code.

Optimize your site for mobile browsers.

Develop (or acquire) device-specific wireless applications

If you're wondering, "Why can't a smartphone just shrink down my site and use it 'as is'?," just go through this topic and come back when you're done.

OPTIMIZING YOUR SITE FOR MOBILE BROWSERS

Most cross-browser compatibility issues can be avoided by writing compliant, standards-based code. This is the first step to ensure that your site will, at the very least, come up on a smartphone. You can validate your site for free using the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Markup Validation Service

According to the W3C guidelines for Mobile Web Best Practices, developers should "keep it small" and "use the network sparingly," because bandwidth costs money. They should think of users "on the go" by limiting content to what the user requests, and dividing pages into usable, but limited portions. They should stay away from "known hazards such as pop-ups, nested tables, tables used for layout, graphics used for spacing, frames, and image maps. Developers are further advised to not use pixel measures or absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet properties.

WHAT ABOUT ADOBE FLASH?

In the beginning there was little support for Flash, which left You Tube and other Flash-intensive sites out of the picture. Now all major vendors (with the exception of Apple) have added support for Flash 10.1.

WHAT ABOUT SCREEN RESOLUTION?

Many sites have a CSS layout that is 980px wide, although some smartphones expect the layout to be 800px wide, or 960px wide, or even 854px wide.

To complicate matters, not all pixels are created equal. Some smartphones equate 1.5 hardware pixels to each CSS pixel, which is why you should use a liquid rather than fixed-layout.

The difference in dimension and proportion can cause unexpected results when zooming around with a mobile browser. The ability to go in for a product close-up and come back out again is especially important for e-commerce sites. It's no wonder that Apple doubled the pixel density of its display with the release of the iPhone 4.

The Firefox Mobile development team, advises developers to "nemember that not all mobile devices are the same wtth," and that "you should also make sure that your pages work well in landscape mode, and on larger devices such the iPad and Android tablets

TESTING YOUR SITE

You should use device emulators to test your site on as many different devices as possible. Fortunately, most manufacturers provide emulation software so you can test your code without buying the device

ideally, you should test on actual devices, as well as on emulators.

CHANGING DEVICE DEFAULTS

After you determine the best settings, use the viewport Meta tag to override the default height, width, and initial scale parameters. It goes in the Header section along with the other Meta tags, and kicks in whenever a mobile device is present.

Now, if all this sounds a little too technical, you might prefer an "off the shelf" solution

MOBILE-OPTIMIZED BROWSERS (WAPS)

Mobile-optimized browsers are called WAPS (Wireless Application Protocol) and are written in WML. (Wireless Markup Language). Just as a site-can "sniff out" a browser, it can also detect the presence of a mobile device and redirect a visitor to the appropriate WAP

3dCart offers its customers a mobile-optimized template which supports the iPhone and Android at no additional charge. For an additional $399, they will create a customized skin that is branded for your store.

Magento introduced one of the first WAPs for the iPhone in 2008, Their iPhone Optimized Therne is offered free of charge under an open-source license, and can be added to any store running version 1.3 or higher on the Magento platform,

Tim Schulz, Senior Project Manager at Magento, recommends that for a comprehensive mobile strategy, merchants should invest in both mobile-optimized browsers and native applications

NATIVE APPLICATIONS

A native application is written for a specific device and can take advantage of special features, such as GPS for a store locator. Unlike WAPs which operate at the browser level, native apps can be downloaded directly to the device from the app store of your choice. Wouldn't it be cool to have a link on your site that says, "Click here to download our app?

Magento Mobile is "the world's first mobile commerce platform, with native apps for the iPhone, Android, and iPad. Of two pricing models offered, the first is by subscription for $699 per year, plus an initial $799 setup fee (per native app, per store). The second scenario allows you to purchase the source code license for $6999 per native app.

If you were to hire a developer to create the equivalent custom app for each mobile device, the cost would be prohibitive for any, but the larger online merchants.

In a Fortes view with Brandon Gutman of Brand Approved, Andrew Kovin, president of comman customer experience at Steve Madden, offered this advice:

my peers should expect to spend at least $100.000 on the development of a scalable mobile pesence. Dort understate your organisationi a need to make an ongoing commitmend to mobile. It's a game changer, not a peng

He went on to recommend that online merchants

Optimize their sites for mobile browser

Determine which devices their customers use

Invest in the development of device-specific applications

If you combine Andrew Kovin's list with the one at the beginning of this article, you have the beginning of a mobile strategy

Make sure your site uses compliant standards-based code

Optimize your site for mobile browsers

Determine the devices your customers use

Develop (or acquire) the native apps your customers will use

If according to the PCI Compliance tables, you're a Level 2 or Level 1 merchant with 1 to 6 million transactions (or more) annually, you can consider this to be a shrewd investment. But if you're a Level 3 merchant with 20,000-1 million transactions annually, or even a Level 4 with less than 20,000, there's still a mobile solution to fit your budget.

So there's no reason to stand on the sidelines. You can jump in and win this game! If you act now, you might eve make the shopping season.

THE BENEFITS OF OPTIMIZING MOBILE WEBSITE

According to a mobile users' survey, at least 50% of the population of smart-phone users in the United States of America alone, would be accessing the Internet via their mobile devices. These users would be surfing the Web for multiple purposes, such as downloading apps, getting information from search engines, making mobile payments and so on. In order to reach the maximum number of users and also to enhance the conversion rate of casual visitors paying to customers, more and more companies are now working at optimizing their mobile Website for different mobile devices

Do I Need a Mobile Website for My Business?

Mentioned below are the advantages of optimizing your mobile Website for smart-phones and tablets:

Better User Experience

Since mobile Websites are especially designed keeping handhelds and other mobile gadgets in mind, they are naturally capable of enhancing the general user experience. Keeping your audience engaged at all times ensures that you further attract them towards your business, thereby substantially increasing the chances of their becoming your loyal customers.

Timsically, mobile users are looking for instant answers to all their queries and do not want to wait longer than a few seconds. Websites are lighter than regular Websites and so, they load much faster. The faster they get to browse your site and receive that answer, the more inclined they would be to visit you again.

Heightened Interaction with the User

A mobile Website enables you to work around with a whole host of mobile-specific features, such as offer maps, location-based features, click-to-call functionality and so on. This is even more beneficial to you when they visit your local area of functioning. This way, they can find and connect to you easier.

The mobile user is always online and can access the Internet from wherever he or she may be. This high level of connectivity helps you keep connected with your current customers, while also offering you the opportunity to reach an ever wider and newer audience

Enhanced Search Engine Rankings

Creating an optimized mobile Website helps you enhance your ranking on mobile search engines. This is extremely beneficial to your business, as it helps you establish yourself in the mobile sphere as well, also getting yourself included in an increasing number of directories online.

Creation of a Brand Identity

A site that is completely optimized for the mobile Web lets you stand head and shoulders above the rest of the competition, putting you at par with the most established companies, who are viewed as being serious about their business

This enhances the reputation of your company, thereby creating even more visitors you can showcase your products and services to

Offline Integration

The use of QR codes can help you easily integrate with offline media, especially press and print media. Your QR code can be scanned with smart-phones and these are then electronically translated into information such as your Website URL, email address or a simple SMS.

QR codes are now becoming a popular means of offline advertisement for companies all over the world. Inserting this code into regular advertisements helps direct visitors toward your business, thereby enabling you to open up an instant communication channel with a vast offline audience as well.

More Affordable than Mobile App Development

Creating a mobile Website is much easier and also lesser expensive than developing a mobile app for your business. Since this works in tandem with the Web, you will have far lesser issues than with a mobile app

Mobile apps need to be formatted in different ways for different mobile systems and devices. Apps also require to be downloaded and installed, in order to be accessed.

A mobile Website, on the other hand, works uniformly across the range of major smart-phone browsers. Needless to say, however, some businesses require both a mobile Website and an app to reach the maximum possible target audience.

INTRODUCTION TO RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN FOR MOBILE

The concept of creating a responsive mobile Website design, or RWD, as it is alternatively referred to, is fairly recent, yet emerging as a vital factor for mobile Website designers and developers. What is RWD and how does one go about working with this concept and incorporating it on a mobile device?

Here is an introduction on creating a responsive Website design for mobile devices:

What is RWD?

Responsive Web design or RWD is the means employed to create a Website such that it provides an optimal viewing experience to a mobile device user. Adopting this approach enables the user to easily read through and navigate the contents of a Website on his or her mobile device, be it a smart-phone or a tablet, with the minimum amount of manipulation on his or her part.

A Website that has a responsive design automatically adjusts and adapts itself to different mobile device elements. including size of the screen, resolution and so on.

Why Bother with Responsive Mobile Website Design?

More and more users are now accessing the Internet and the mobile Web via their smart-phones and tablet devices. This being the case, it becomes your duty as a manufacturer or advertiser to give your mobile users the best possible experience while browsing your Website.

Mobile users behaviour is generally seen to be quite fickle. They are looking for quick answers while on the go. You can keep users engaged provided that you give equally quick and satisfying answers to their queries. If not, they would end up losing interest in you and your products just as quickly

Working with Responsive Design

In order to make your Website perfectly compatible with mobile devices, you will have to work on two major aspects, namely, the content layout and Website navigation.

A mobile phone has far lesser screen space than a traditional PC screen. Hence, the contents of your

Website should be so manipulated as to make it easy for the user to view the content on the screen. It would make more sense, for instance, to create longer columns of content than have 2 or 3 rows of different content.

Most of the latest smart-phones do permit the user to zoom the onscreen contents, thereby permitting them to view the entire contents of the Website on their mobile device. However, it can get frustrating for the user to keep searching for one particular element on the screen. They would get a much better user experience if you could prominently display the most important elements on the screen,

Mobile users usually do not have the time to leisurely browse your entire Website. They are visiting your site for a purpose to get specific information, such as your address, phone number or additional information regarding a product or service that you have to offer. Giving them the exact information within the least possible time is your trick of converting them into your loyal customers. Hence, while Website content is important to rope in visitors, ease of Website navigation is equally vital to help retain them.

Responsive Web Design as the Future of Mobile

RWB is undoubtedly the future of mobile, since it is of immense benefit to both the advertiser/publisher and the user, in more ways than one. This concept makes it far easier for publishers, as it eliminates the need to create multiple versions of their Website, so as to support multiple mobile devices. This works out much less expensive in terms of design and maintenance as well.

Responsive Web design benefits mobile users the most, as it gives them the best possible user experience while browsing the Web via their mobile device, be it a mobile phone or tablet device.

Build your mobile website: Best practices

Mobile is now dominating every field of activity, be it art, science or business. Industries of all shapes and sizes are now waking up to the true power of mobile in today's world. Even the smaller businesses are now considering building a mobile Website in order to promote themselves and their products and services.

While you have infinite choices to build a mobile Website, there are certain rules you should follow so as to make it most effective and engaging for your mobile users.

Mentioned below are the best practices to help you build the mobile Website of your dreams:

SIMPLICITY IS THE KEY

Keep your Website simple and lucid, keeping the entire interfaces neat, uncluttered and user-friendly. The general layout of your Website should be such that it is simple to understand and navigate, while also being attractive to your user's eye. Eliminate unnecessary details, images and buttons and try to keep the home screen as simple as possible.

CONSIDER YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Keep your target audience in mind while designing your mobile Website. Remember, you do not have too much space on the mobile device's display screen. Hence, wisely choose your interface elements on each screen, anticipating what your users may most want to see on that screen.

Make sure that your users always have easy access to the most important functions including tapping or clicking to purchase your product, calling support, contacting you and giving feedback.

WORK WITH NATIVE FEATURES

Working in tandem with your chosen mobile device's native features will make the process far simpler for you, while also giving your customer the best possible user experience. Using the location feature is one of the best ways to develop interaction with your users. Provide them with useful offers, coupons and discounts while they are at a particular location near your store. Include mobile payment to further facilitate the payment for your user.

Use social media to further strengthen interaction with your users. Ensure that you are always present to help your user in any way he or she wishes.

USE TOUCH-RESPONSIVE BUTTONS

Design your Website buttons in such a way that respond to a light touch or tap. Avoid the "hover" feature as one does with a mouse. The user cannot possibly keep his or her finger hovering over a link on a mobile device.

Ensure maximum possible vertical navigation, so that the user does not have to move sideways to access more content on the screen of the mobile device. Try and reduce the level of scrolling up and down. If there are too many elements on your menu, work to shorten the entire process by creating a vertical navigation structure.

MAKE THE WEBSITE READABLE 

The content of your mobile Website must be clear and concise, giving just the required information to your user. Ensure that your content is readable, error-free and also easily understandable. Be to-the-point with your content and do not beat around the bush. Else, your user may end up losing interest in what you have to say.

Break up your content, inserting "read more" links as and when necessary. Make the maximum use of bulleted lists. Limit the usage of links and also avoid using too many images within the main text. Use single column layouts, so that your content is clearly visible on the user's mobile device screen.

MINIMIZE LOADING TIME

Mobile users are extremely fickle and will lose patience if a Website takes too much time to load. Minimize the loading time of your Website by removing all unnecessary elements from your pages. Use an image cruncher to reduce the size of images on the screen.

If you are inserting videos into your Website, your best option would be to work with YouTube and similar other programs, instead of creating your own streaming software.

TEST YOUR MOBILE WEBSITE

Make sure to test your mobile Website thoroughly, before attempting to go live with it. Use a mobile Website checker tool to check for and fix errors; estimate page size and loading time, display your Website on the mobile browser and so on.

Some basic questions related to mobile sites

Do I Need a Mobile Website for My Business?

Do you necessarily need a mobile Website for your business? How does it benefit you to create a mobile Web-site? What do you need to create such a site?

Creating a mobile Website has now become an essential part of any business or industry, irrespective of its category, type and size. In this post, we bring you an FAQ section on creating a mobile Website for your business.

What is a Mobile Website?

A mobile Website is one that has been designed so as to be compatible for viewing on a mobile device such as a mobile phone, tablet and so on. Mobile devices have much smaller screens than regular PCs. Though the latest mobile devices are fast and powerful, they may be still slower as compared to a traditional PC. A mobile Website has to be designed in the manner that it takes into account all the inherent features of mobile devices.

How is a Mobile Website Different from a Mobile App?

While both a mobile Website and a mobile app can be accessed via mobile devices, the difference between the two is that a mobile Website offers the typical browser-based environment, with HTML or xHTML, pages linked together, just like a regular Website does. It can display content, images and video and can also include mobile-specific features such as click-to-call, tap to navigate and other location-based features

A mobile app, on the other hand, is something which can be downloaded and installed onto a user's mobile device. An app can be accessed either via a browser or can be downloaded directly onto a mobile device, so as to be accessed even without an Internet connection.

Mobile Website or Mobile App - Which One do I Need for My Business?

The answer to this question depends upon where you would like to go with your business and the type of your niche audience. In case you want to offer mobile-friendly content to your visitors, a mobile Website will offer a variety of options for you to work with. However, if you want to give your user an interactive experience, creating a mobile app will be your best choice

Sometimes, you will need to create both a mobile Website as well as a mobile app for your type of business. In any case, you definitely need a mobile Website before going ahead to create a mobile app to showcase your products or services. In that sense, a mobile Website becomes a useful tool for you to develop an effective mobile presence.

How Does a Mobile Website Benefit My Business?

While a regular Website offers your visitors all information about you and your products and services, a mobile Website lets them immediately get in touch with you, then and there, via their mobile phones or handhelds.

A regular Website loads at a much slower pace on a mobile device than a mobile Website. This can result in your visitor losing interest in you and moving on to something else. A mobile Website, on the other hand, connects faster and lets your visitors contact you immediately, engaging them, thereby far improving your chances of converting them into paying customers.

What is mobi and do | Necessarily Need it to Create My Mobile Website?

The mobi or dotMobi is the top domain which delivers Web services to mobile devices. The mobi domain helps you maximize your user experience as well as increases the chances of your own visibility on the mobile Web. While it makes sense to purchase a mobi domain and go about creating your personal Website, you can also use any other domain, if you so wish. The former, though, would give your users a better experience while viewing your Website via their mobile devices.

How can I Reach More Users via My Mobile Website?

You can promote your business and reach more mobile users in several ways. The simplest way is to let users know about your products and services by way of sending them text messages and other vital information about your Website, You can also mach more users via the various mobile social networks, talking about and advertising your products, also offering them incentives to shop with you and share your information among their contacts.

An indirect way to promote your mobile Website is to add a link to the same on your regular Website. This would drive more traffic towards the mobile-friendly version of your Website, while also indicate to your users that you are truly seri ous about your business and are also in the loop with the latest technology

Do I Need a Separate Host for My Mobile Website?

Not necessarily. While you may elect to have a different host for your mobile Website, you could also approach the same company which hosts your regular Website. There are no other special prerequisites to host your mobile Website.

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