Unless you’ve been living under a rock with no Internet access, you’re probably well aware of the prevalence of mobile devices like iPads, iPhones, and Androids. In addition to the increased use of mobile devices, there’s also the change in behavior. More and more people are engaging across multiple access points.

Facebook revealed 600 million users now access Facebook from a mobile device. Furthermore, a significant portion of these mobile users don’t view the social network from both mobile and desktop. Many view it just from the desktop, but there is also a growing number that only view it from mobile (102 million users, or 10.68 %). Back in July, when Facebook revealed the 543 million mobile and the 955 million total numbers, mobile consisted of 56.86 percent of the company’s total members. That number has been steadily growing with each update.

So, if you’re still reading this then I’m sure you feel the pressure to go mobile. The first thing you should do is open up Google Analytics and look at the “Devices” report under “Mobile”. This will show you which mobile devices people are using to access your site. Take a look at how your website renders on these devices and decide if you need to make any changes. You want a website that users won’t need to pinch, tap, or squint in order to view.

Three Steps to Developing a Mobile Presence

1. Have A Clear Objective

Understand the how users will engage with your site on mobile, beyond readability.

Ask yourself if a mobile user would have different needs than someone accessing your site through a browser.

Think about proximity, location and ease-of-use. For example, a person attending your site for charity walk might want to have to have start times, or GPS layout for the course. Attendees to your annual meeting want to access their itinerary for workshops and sessions with alerts and locations as they are about to start.

2. Choose Your Mobile Option

Create a Mobile Site – Creating a mobile site means creating a completely separate website for mobile devices. The great thing about creating a separate mobile site is the user experience. Because the site is designed for specific dimensions, the content will be easy to view and interact with. The downside is the expense and work.

However, if you use Contensive, you can utilize mobile templates and a module called MobileView , to automatically render a mobile site, and allows you to select which pages to display on mobile devices and which pages to hide and you won’t have to duplicate content creation efforts.

Create a Mobile App – A mobile app that contains your website content can create even a better user experience then a mobile site. Users can access your content off-line, integrate location features, and receive push notifications for any updates. The downside of a mobile app is the cost and maintenance.

Create a Flexible Width Website – This is the easiest and cheapest approach to creating a responsive website. This website uses the flexible with approach, meaning that it automatically resizes itself in response to the device. The downside is you get what you pay for and more often than even with fluid sizing the content isn’t going to work or look right.

3. Test, Test, Test

You certainly want to test your mobile site before launch, but you also want to test after. The reason why is that you have very little information for how people will actually use your mobile website. Testing your mobile sites after they go live will help you improve it much faster.

The value of mobile apps for businesses is apparent to many people. In the 8 years since IPhone first came out (7 since HTC released the first Android phone) businesses and consumers alike embraced the technology and design capabilities of the mobile app market. With Google Glasses and Apple Watch coming out, the mobile revolution is quickly becoming the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution. The IoT is the idea that all technological devices and many non-technological devices will be all plugged into the internet, creating connected diverse devices responsive to each individual's needs and wants. 

Adobe: There Goes the Neighborhood 

During the Adobe Digital Marketing Summit in Salt Lake City, Adobe announced that they are becoming more and more mobile, focusing on preparing for the IoT: 

With updates to Adobe Analytics and Mobile Core Services, marketers will now also be able to measure and analyze customer engagements ... across Internet of Things devices. Adoption of these devices is growing quickly, and marketers must take the leap into the IoT realm regardless of the risk, Adobe executives insisted. 

Adobe has long been an industry leader in delivering online and creative content for multiple industries including marketing. As with their Creative Cloud services, followed by Microsoft's Office 365, Adobe's jump to wearable and other non-traditional technologies is just the cusp of a wave of change. 

Wearable, Flexible, Universal 

As reported by Entrepreneur, the next big thing discussed at SXSW were smart fabrics. From gimmick related devices currently on the market most easily described as high-tech lingerie, businesses have more and more options to integrate their apps with everyday products. 

Wearable fabric type technologies will create a universal use for mobile apps in multiple industries and markets, but for now, they are still future. What is current is the trend of diverse screen sizes and information management installed in compatible devices. 

While clothes which read your body's temperature, blood pressure, and other medical necessities are future tech, watches, smartphones and glasses which do some or all of that are the technology of today. For businesses, responsive design is a necessary part of integrating your mobile apps, websites and browser-based software with the plethora of devices currently on the market. 

Responsive Design 

Responsive design is done in such a way that optimal interaction and interfaces are beneficial across a multitude of devices. Many individuals see the value of responsive design for websites, but do not consider how essential it is to mobile apps.

Access to your app can be done from many different screen sizes, including tablets, phones and watches. This ranges in size from full-screen immersion to small phone and watch use. 

The diversity of screens creates an opportunity for your business to interact with customers, build relationships, and manage information no matter your industry or target market. 

Stick to the Basics 

With so many new trends in technologies, what can your business commit to technology-wise? The good news for businesses is that technology may change, but people are still people. Your technology needs to be effective for creating relationships, managing community and suited to your industry and target markets. 

Information management is the essential, basic function of mobile apps. As discovered in the decade and a half since the dot-com bubble burst, information and relationships have to go hand-in-hand. Thus the information economy is also the social economy. Whether you are interested in avant-garde wearable technologies or just using the incredible economic power of smartphones and tablets, your basic question is still: what am I offering, and to whom? 

For many businesses, your community just needs simple interfaces to order, track, and receive marketing information about products and services. For this, your essential basics may be a browser-based responsive app: any device can access it, and it is up to your customers whether they want to try and use a smart-watch or glasses with your app. 

For other businesses, your industry is cutting edge, and your target market wants access to you immediately via watches, glasses and more advanced tech. For you, the basics are focusing responsive design for specific devices used by your target market. 

No matter your needs, mobile technology is becoming an increasingly integrated part of the global marketplace, and you need to plan to reach your customers where they are found: on mobile. To discover more about mobile apps and responsive web design, please contact us.

There are many benefits to a custom web app, but a publisher must give it careful thought in order to realize the intended gains. The first thing to think about is the purpose of the app. One that's made to increase a company's visibility will necessarily be different from one that is meant to have paid access or support ads. Thought also needs to be given to the intended audience and what is likely to appeal to the people in that group.

Apps to Increase Visibility

These are almost always offered for free, but that doesn't mean that you should go too cheap with them. After all, if your free app is always crashing or only works on one browser, it will make your entire company look slipshod. A free app that is used to increase your branding needs to be highly polished and free of glitches. It will also need ongoing support and updates, though with free offerings, this aspect almost never goes on as long as it would with a paid version.

It's important to tailor the function of this sort of app to meet the needs and tastes of the desired audience. There's no point in releasing a viral game that will appeal to teenagers if your main business is supplying concrete to home builders! Instead, offer tools that will help your usual customers in their normal tasks. For that concrete company, a good app would be a calculator that helps builders find out how much concrete will be needed for whatever size of foundation they intend to put under their latest house. Other companies should offer tools that fit their own clientele in a similar way.

Of course, the function of the app is just one part of it. Its overall look and feel is also important. Go for a style that fits the personality and age group of your current customers in order to help draw more of the same to your business. Avoid the temptation to try to look "super cool" unless it actually fits your business - what one group of people thinks is awesome may strike another group as too immature.

Apps for Sale or Ads

The other main category of apps is meant to be sold or supported with advertising. With web apps, "sale" takes the form of selling access rather than literally selling instances of the programs. This means that support and updates must keep going on as long as enough people have a subscription. Popular apps of this sort can keep going for years.

Ad-supported web apps aren't nearly as common as they once were, but they still exist. Like paid-access ones, they also require ongoing support and debugging in order to keep people logging in. Ignoring an app once it has been fully debugged won't work because eventually, its capabilities and overall design will become dated.

There is a lot of latitude when it comes to the function and design of paid and ad-supported apps. Unlike ones meant to promote a business, they don't have to look "businesslike" in the corporate sense. Many online games take this form. That said, they do have to look polished, be free of glitches, and appeal to their intended audiences. Therefore, it's still important to make sure that they are professionally designed. You will also need to be sure that your intended audience will really be interested and that the market isn't already saturated with 10,000 variations of the exact same thing.

Contact us for specific ideas for an app that will meet your needs, whether those needs are related to corporate branding or the simple desire to have thousands of subscribers to your web app. We'll be glad to help you decide on all of the details and then build the app you desire!