When should an online business go mobile?

By Giselle Tsirulnik

November 3, 2008

CNN's made-for-mobile site

Leading PC Web sites are not changing fast enough to keep up with mobile browsing trends, according to mobile analytics service Bango.

To address this challenge, Bango has launched a Web analytics tool for PCs. The tool is meant to help online businesses decide the best time to go mobile.

"Mobile is an integrated part of an online strategy and people are going on the mobile Internet to access sites that were created for the PC," said Adam Kerr, New York-based vice president of Web sales at Bango. "The experience on a site that is not optimized for mobile isn't a good one.

"With this new tool, companies just add a line of HTML to their Web site and are able to track what percentage of their site visitors actually come from mobile phones," he said. "This helps them see when it's the right time to go mobile."

When Bango surveyed the top 20 most trafficked PC Web sites it found that half of these sites did not work well on leading mobile phones -- despite the fact that typically 5 percent of visitors to PC sites now come from mobile devices, up from 1 percent a year ago.

The problem is that PC sites are not adapting fast enough to match mobile browsing trends and are failing to present mobile-friendly versions of their sites.

Many online businesses questioned by Bango admitted they do not know how much mobile-originated traffic is hitting their PC site.

Bango's research reveals that between 3 percent and 10 percent of online traffic to a PC site now comes from users entering Web addresses on their mobile device.

Bango has responded to this significant trend by releasing a service called Analytics for PCs, a plug-in tool that measures the actual number of mobile phone users hitting a PC site.

The tool provides detailed metrics of these mobile visitors including the percentage of mobile traffic as a unique visitor count plus the country, network and device mobile users connect through.

This information is the vital data needed by online brands to develop their mobile Web strategy.

It's not just iPhone users that are regularly accessing the Internet from their phones.

Researchers at IDC say that 1.3 billion people will connect to the Internet via mobile phones by end of 2008, and the vast majority of these mobile browsers are using mass market phones from Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

Some mobile network operators transcode desktop Web sites to fit better on their subscriber's phones.

This improves the formatting of PC Web pages when viewed on a phone, but it is no substitute for a properly designed mobile site, with thought given to relevant content, the right mobile feature set and easy mobile navigation.

Made-for mobile sites generally have a simpler layout with content that's relevant for a mobile user in the top slot on the home page.

"This tool helps companies decide if they should even have a mobile site," Mr. Kerr said. "If your site isn't being accessed by consumers on the go, there's no need for a mobile site."