Thanks to a Comscore report, we see that while PCs dominate working hours, mornings and evenings are dominated by both mobile phones and tablets. As a business, you want to reach your customers at all times, and both tablets and smartphones are used heavily during some of the most important times of the day.

So now that you know how, when and why to reach your customers online, you have to consider perhaps the most important thing of all: the design of your mobile site.

It is essential to keep in mind that while your standard website can have an innovative design and all of the bells and whistles that make it the perfect destination on a PC, none of that matters in the mobile world.

Less is always more when it comes to the best mobile site design. Unlike your business’ main site, users aren’t looking to just browse on a mobile site. Chances are, they’re out of the house or on some sort of time constraint, and searching through a mobile device is intended to be both quick and easy.

How Can You Create a Simple Mobile Site Design?

Simplify Your Layout: Give your visitors what they want right away. Make it easy for someone to find important information (such as a menu or a coupon you’re offering) or a contact form – what would someone be searching your site for?

Ensure a Fast Load Time: According to Gomez, 60% of mobile users expect a website to load in three seconds or less, and 74% are willing to wait five seconds or less for a single web page to load before leaving the site. A slow load time is one of the most common problems with mobile sites, and with expectations like these, you need to do everything you can to try and prevent that.

After all, 46% of people have said they were unlikely to return to a mobile site that gave them previous problems.

Use Phone-Specific Functions to Your Advantage: In the interest of creating a simple mobile site, there are a variety of features you can use that are especially convenient. For instance, a “click-to-call” button that automatically dials your business’ number is ideal, as is the ability to automatically have your addressed entered into a user’s GPS.

Keep Scrolling to a Minimum: A simple mobile website, if possible, won’t require any scrolling at all – everything will be in front of a user immediately. But scrolling can’t always be avoided, which isn’t a bad thing. Just make sure it’s vertical –your site design shouldn’t require any horizontal scrolling whatsoever.

Take Advantage of New Business with a Simple Mobile Website Design

Consider the fact that one half of all local searches are performed on mobile devices, while mobile internet usage is expected to overtake desktop internet usage by 2014. With that kind of explosion in usage, now is the time for your business to engage with all of these potential customers.

People are searching out local businesses on their mobile devices, but many companies have been slow to realize this or have created mobile sites that don’t adhere to the rules outlined above. If you want to separate your business from the rest, and expand your customer base on every level (especially a local one), a simple mobile website is all you need.

photo by jonathanpercy

The world of online search is always changing, and it is vital to your business’ success that you stay on top of current trends. And one trend that is here to stay is that of mobile search.

With the rising popularity of smartphones and tablets, more and more people are starting to do their web browsing on something other than a computer. Consider this: 42 percent of the United States uses a smartphone and iPhone users in particular spend 55 percent of their time on the mobile web or in apps.

Even more shocking is the percentage of bar and restaurant-related search volume that is done from mobile devices. According to Google search volumes , 88 percent of the total search volume for “restaurants” comes from mobile devices, while 97 percent of the total search volume for “bars” comes from mobile devices.

So what is this information telling us? More than anything, it says that smartphone and tablet users are becoming more comfortable searching the web. And they’re searching the web for where to eat and drink.

With that in mind, here are five reasons why you should create a mobile restaurant site:

1. Take Advantage of Massive Search Volume

Based on the figures above, you would be foolish to not want to tap into the market of mobile users. With so many people turning to their smartphone or tablet for bar and restaurant information (such as menu options, directions, reviews, etc.), building a functional mobile site for your business is simply common sense.

2. Be a Trendsetter for Your Industry

Despite the fact that there is so much mobile traffic for the bar and restaurant industry, many businesses have yet to implement a mobile presence. According to an industry study by Restaurant Sciences, 95 percent of independent restaurants don’t have a mobile website, and only 40 percent of the ones that do even offer an online menu.

Simply creating a mobile site puts you way ahead of the curve. The features of it don’t have to be robust; if customers can find you online, it’s likely that your restaurant or bar will be their destination.

3. Do It for Credibility’s Sake

Imagine the dismay a potential customer of yours would feel upon finding that you have no mobile presence. Sure, he or she will be able to find your site online, but if it’s not tailored for a mobile device, it will look clunky, be tough to navigate, or simply won’t be useable at all.

As an established bar or restaurant (or worse, one trying to become established), the last thing you want is your credibility being called into question. It’s 2013 – the world of search is changing, and you need to adapt. Otherwise, potential customers will begin to develop preconceived notions about your business from your subpar or nonexistent mobile presence.

4. Use It as a Marketing Tool

Mobile websites for restaurants and bars also act as excellent marketing opportunities. Maybe you can offer an exclusive deal on an appetizer. Or maybe you offer a code that saves customers even more money at happy hour. The marketing possibilities really are endless, and it gets people to visit your mobile site on a regular basis (and pass it along to friends as well).

5. Expand Your Customer Base

More than anything, a mobile restaurant site is the perfect opportunity to expand your customer base. Not only can you capture the local population, but people traveling to your town will no doubt be searching on a mobile device for restaurants or bars to visit. Wouldn’t you like your mobile menu to be the first thing they find?

The best restaurant websites offer a little bit of everything – exclusive deals and coupons, directions, the menu, etc. But that’s the standard now. To truly expand your business and reach a new customer base, you need to cater those features to a mobile audience.

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If you think you need to start providing your customers with a mobile friendly version of your website, hire SproutMobi to do the heavy lifting.  For just $99 upfront and $9.99 a month we will build a custom mobile website for you in our custom content management system.  That means, once your new mobile site is complete, you’ll be able to easily make updates to the mobile site without the help of one of our developers. 

Unfortunately, as new technology and devices become available, knowing what makes a website mobile friendly and more importantly, how you can make your website mobile friendly is becoming harder.

At this point you are probably asking yourself, is it possible to convert a website to mobile?  In order to answer this question, you must first understand what makes a website mobile friendly.

In order to be mobile friendly, a website should have, among other things, site navigation that is simple and well organized, quick load times, and minimal content.  Most desktop websites are not designed around these specifications.  In fact, many best practices for desktop web design suggest doing the opposite.

The good news is, converting a website to mobile has never been easier thanks to SproutMobi’s mobile website builder.  With our mobile website builder, you can easily and quickly create a mobile friendly version of your existing website without altering your existing desktop site.  Simply sign up for a free 30 day trial of SproutMobi’s mobile website builder, and get started today.

Features include:

• Easy to build content pages that allow you to copy the relevant content from your desktop site and paste it to new content pages on your mobile site
• Custom map pages that allow a mobile user to locate your business
• Custom contact form pages so your users can contact you
• Custom navigation, completely independent of your desktop site.
• Upload a logo
• Include copyright information
• Match the color scheme of your existing desktop site.
• Code that will automatically detect and redirect all visitors using mobile devices to your new mobile friendly website.
• plus much more

Now that you know it is possible to convert a site to mobile, and how easy it is, read more about why you need a mobile website.