An Easy Way to Make Your Homepage Mobile-Friendly in MINUTES – Really!

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013
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As each day passes by, more and more people are turning to their smart phones to browse the web.  This is precisely why we at Nexternal developed a mobile-friendly catalog for clients on our eCommerce platform. One thing we have found interesting, however, is that while many of our clients have enabled their mobile friendly storefronts, many of these same clients have not made their homepages and other non-Nexternal pages mobile-friendly.  Most web designers today have the skills to make a mobile-friendly version of a web site.  This can be done in a variety of ways including using responsive design or by creating a completely different version of the site designed for a small screen.  As they should, most web designers will charge extra for mobile-friendly pages because it can be a lot of work.   Well, we are happy to report that if are on a budget or if you are simply a do-it-yourselfer, there is a great tool to help you mobilize your homepage in very little time.  The solution? Visit www.howtogomo.com and click “Create Your Mobile Site Now.”TOD-Image (2)

GoMo is a project sponsored by Google with the goal to allow businesses to quickly and effectively create mobile-friendly sites.  The good news is that Google is succeeding with that goal. We tried it out ourselves, and in just 20 minutes we were able to create a mobile-friendly version of our winery demo site which now lives at mobile.surfsidecellars.com (feel free to check it out). Designing the site is super easy using their slick interface and does not require any coding skills. The mobile-friendly version lives on a different server, but is referenced using a domain alias such as mobile.YOURSITE.com.  Once you have the site built, you simply put two lines of javascript into your standard homepage (this handles the redirect for mobile devices).  It is super easy and even better, completely free for the first year (if you like it, the cost is $108/year thereafter).

Why would Google provide such a service? Even though their motto is, “Don’t be Evil” clearly there must be some sort of monetary incentive right?  Our theory is that if more businesses have mobile-friendly sites, that those same businesses will be more inclined to display their Adwords on mobile search results pages!  The truth be told, we actually heard about this site from our Adwords representative. If you think about it, it really is quite brilliant on Google’s part.

The bottom line?  If your homepage isn’t mobile-friendly, check out howtogomo.com and build a mobile-friendly site. If you aren’t happy with your result, consider hiring your web designer to build a mobile-friendly site. Mobile browsing is still in its infancy, but there is no denying its staying power!

After receiving a degree in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Alex began his career as a technology consultant with Accenture. In 1999 he left Accenture and founded Nexternal – a cloud-based eCommerce Platform company. Alex is passionate about eCommerce and online marketing. He is now a Senior Vice President of HighJump, managing the Nexternal business unit.