Do I Really Need Separate Landing Pages For Mobiles?

Did you know that cell phones are used more for data now than they are to actually make phone calls? Well over half of all cell phone users in the United States use their cell phones regularly to surf the Internet. Because of this, you need to make sure that your landing page can handle the smaller size of a cell phone screen. The best way to do this? Have a separate landing page.

Text Needs to be Readable

Image via Flickr by scriptingnews

Have you ever visited a website on your phone, only to realize that you can’t actually read what’s there? It’s irritating. Not only do you have to zoom into what you are trying to read, you then need to move the page all over the place, back and forth, to continue reading the page. It’s almost not worth the effort. As a website owner, you need to make sure that your landing page for mobile devices is easily readable on the smaller screens.

Pull Focus Correctly

Where do you want visitors to focus? Again, the smaller screen size is going to cause problems if you don’t have a separate landing page. On a computer, you can easily draw focus where you want it to be. However, translating that exact same page to a website means that not everything is going to show up immediately. When you create a new landing page, you are able to ensure that visitors see what you want them to see immediately.

Loading Times are Different on a Phone

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Does your landing page have a lot of images? If so, it is going to take a lot longer to load on a mobile device than on a computer. This can frustrate the customers, leading them to leave your page before it has fully loaded. If you want them to stay on your page, you need to make sure it loads quickly. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should get rid of all graphic elements, but you do need to be careful about the graphics used.

Have a Simple, Direct Call to Action

On your computer landing page, you will probably have multiple places where you have a call to action. These may be varying lengths and even varying complexities. However, on a mobile page, your call to action needs to be simple and direct. Make sure your customers know and understand the call to action.

Location, Location, Location

Image via Flickr by Daniel Milford Flathagen

With geo-location as well as location-based keywords, you can market to specific areas. This is perfect if your business is location-based. Having a specific mobile-based landing page can help you get local customers, and even get them in to your business. When they do a search from their phones for local businesses and find yours, you can even integrate Google maps directions to get them right to your office.

With so many people headed online from their phones, it’s important to take advantage of the extra business you could get. No one likes to have to spend extra time trying to navigate your site, simply to read what is there. Make it easy on your visitors.

By Jon Correll