Is a mobile site right for my company?

As more and more mobile phones in the U.S. and around the world shift from mobile telephones to smartphones, the need to invest in taking your site mobile has never been greater. According to Dan Nystedt’s article published in 2006, “Mobile Subscribers to Reach 2.6B This Year,” mobile handset growth is expected to increase to four billion subscribers worldwide by 2010.

Just because your site might be able to display fine on a device like the Apple iPhone or G1, doesn’t mean that your site is optimized for mobile.

So how do you do it?

Web site optimization for mobile starts with the solid organization of content and ends with convenient presentation of the important content from your site. Remember that mobile phones of all types can and do connect to the Internet to browse sites, and many types may be viewing (or trying to view) yours. In addition to mobile phones, there are also several other devices that connect to the web, which could be viewing your site such as a Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, PSP, Nintendo Wii and PDAs just to name a few.

Just like desktop web browsers, no two mobile web browsers are created equal. The best practice to make your mobile site have the most value across a broad spectrum of mobile devices for visitors is to start with the basic content and presentation, then add enhancements for mobile devices that can support it.

Keep in mind that not everything from your site would – or should – be on the mobile version of your site. Focus on keeping the core of what a user on your site will look for while visiting from their mobile. Remember that they might not be on a WIFI connection, or even a 3G connection, so lots of images and/or image-based design play a big role in mobile site optimization, or lack thereof. Your content should follow the same scrutiny. Never forget people are usually looking at who you are, what you do and how to contact you when they’re visiting from their mobile.

Depending on what services you offer, your mobile site should adjust accordingly.

Here’s a list of some of our favorite mobile sites to visit and marvel at:

vw.com/mobile/iphone
m.espn.com
m.digg.com
m.linkedin.com
m.brightkite.com
m.twitter.com
m.cnn.com