In 2010, clients asked us if they should build a separate mobile version of their site. Back then, that often meant an “m.” or “.mobi” site, a stripped-down copy made for small feature-phone screens.
That was a reasonable question then. Today the answer is simple: you don’t need a separate mobile site. You need one site that works well on every screen.
What changed
Phones changed. Feature phones with tiny screens and weak browsers gave way to smartphones with real browsers. Then tablets showed up. Then big phones, small laptops and everything in between.
Building a separate site for each kind of device stopped making sense. Web designers moved to responsive design: one site, one set of content, with a layout that adjusts to the screen it’s on.
Why one responsive site beats a separate mobile site
One site to update. With a separate mobile site, every change has to be made twice. Someone always forgets. Then your mobile visitors see old hours or old prices.
Nothing missing. Old mobile sites often cut content to keep things small. Visitors would hunt for a page that just wasn’t there. A responsive site shows the same content everywhere.
One address to share. People share links. If someone on a phone shares an “m.” link with someone on a laptop, things can get messy. One site means one clean URL.
Search engines prefer it. Google uses the mobile version of a page for indexing and ranking. That’s called mobile-first indexing. Google recommends responsive design as the easiest setup to get right.
Mobile-first: design for the small screen first
Responsive design is the how. Mobile-first is the mindset.
Mobile-first means you plan the phone experience first, then expand it for bigger screens. It forces good choices:
- What’s most important on this page?
- What does a visitor need to do here?
- Can they do it with one thumb?
When you start small, you cut clutter. The desktop version usually gets better too.
What a good mobile experience looks like
Here’s what we check on every site we build:
- Text you can read without pinching and zooming.
- Buttons you can tap without hitting the wrong one.
- A phone number that dials when tapped.
- Menus that are easy to open and close.
- Forms that are short and use the right keyboard (numbers for phone fields, for example).
- Fast loading. Big images and heavy scripts hurt most on a phone connection.
- No pop-ups that block the page on a small screen.
How to check your own site
Pull out your phone. Open your website. Now try to:
- Find your phone number and call it.
- Find your contact form and fill it out.
- Find your main service or product page.
If any of that feels slow or clumsy, your visitors feel it too. And many of them won’t wait. They’ll go to the next result.
You can also try your site on a friend’s phone. Different screen sizes can show different problems.
Still have an “m.” site?
Some older sites still run a separate mobile version. If yours does, it’s probably time to retire it. Moving to a single responsive site makes life easier for you and your visitors. Just make sure old mobile URLs redirect to the matching pages on the main site so links and bookmarks keep working.
We can help
Every site we design is responsive and built with phones in mind. If your site is hard to use on a phone, or you’re still running two versions, let’s talk. See our Website Design services or contact us. Call 678-379-9321 or email sales@3by400.com.