How to Address Mobile Website Challenges?

Using internet over handheld devices has become common these days. Smartphones and mobile devices are increasingly becoming preferred choices for web browsing. That means going for mobile version of the website has become critical for businesses to stay competitive. Mobile websites have several unique issues compared to normal desktop version of the websites. Going for mobile version is not just about scaling down the design to fit into the smaller device but it requires handling several unique challenges related to user experience and technology limitations.

Requires Thinking Beyond Mobile Friendly Design

When developing websites for mobiles, people overly focus on design aspects rather than understanding what is important for mobile users. A user friendly website design is just one aspect in creating effective mobile web experience. For instance, having a responsive design will only make website work across different mobile devices but do not address the performance issues of end users. But many site owners overlook this fact and consider responsive design is all they need for their mobile sites. We cannot deny the importance of user friendly design for mobile websites, but at the same time thinking beyond this is also important to ensure good mobile user experience. What happens when the site suddenly goes offline or it takes long time to load a webpage? It is not easy to cope with such situations especially when dealing with mobile web users because they are quick to leave low performing websites. Better user experience and less downtime issues are very important to keep mobile users happy. If they experience interruption in website functionality, they may abandon the site entirely and also possibly spread the word to others.

Monitor Mobile Website for Bottlenecks

Many think that optimizing the site for mobile web will automatically take care of the performance issues. Like the way normal websites suffer for various reasons, mobiles sites also have several bottlenecks. In fact, the issues like failing functionality and slow loading speed are even more when the sites are accessed from mobile devices. Whether it is a mobile first site or a normal desktop site being accessed from the mobile devices, it is better to observe the site working against user demands. Mobile users most likely choose to visit websites that are simple, fast and easy to navigate. In fact, they think less of the brands with poor performing sites. Unless there is clarity on how the users are experiencing the site on mobile devices, it is less possible to optimize it for better performance. With web site monitoring service, it is easy to track the risks that can take the mobile website down. Any failure in the functionality or performance is immediately tracked down by the website monitoring service and is notified to the website owner. This will help site owners take immediate action on the problem resolution and minimize losses during site failures.