5 Tips to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

It's no secret that mobile commerce is booming and expected to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future. But that means a small business will miss out on sales it needs to prosper unless it has a presence on smartphones of every brand and on every carrier. That's a tall order for the little guy on a tiny budget. Building a phone app, for example, can cost thousands of dollars -- and that's for just one brand of phone. Not to worry, there are ways to "go mobile" on a shoestring.

"Small businesses don't need to build an app or create a whole new mobile website," said Pamela Springer, president and CEO of Manta, an online community for promoting and connecting small business. "They just need to be sure their website is easily viewable on a mobile device. That means modifying your site for optimal display on a mobile device."

Knowing what and how much to modify is every bit as important as knowing how to do it.

"Don't try and boil the ocean initially," advised Nicole Carrier, program director at IBM Web Experience. "Focus on those services or pages that customers will most likely want to access from their mobile device." For example, she said a small retail store might want to have the first iteration of its mobile website contain directions to the store, contact information and the store's hours.

Map out your intended modifications before you start tinkering with your website. Begin by identifying which pages of your website are likely to be of most interest to mobile users, but also make sure they can access your full website too. "Add a link on your mobile site to get to the full version of the site, for those smartphone users that want access to all of your content -- even those pages that might not be optimized for their device," said Carrier.

When you're ready to get started, follow the tips outlined below.

5 Mobile-friendly Website Tips

1. Use mobile plugins

If your website contains a Content Management System (CMS), such as Drupal or WordPress, you'll want to take a look at the plugins that are available for mobile editions. Plugins optimize your website for mobile viewing and are often the easiest options to use. Many are free, but some charge a premium.

"We have two go-to plugins for optimizing a WordPress website for mobile. Mobile from PluginBuddy, a premium plugin that starts at $45, is one. The support you receive for your $45 investment is stellar to say the least," said Jarrod "Jay" Skeggs, partner at StudioD.tv. "WPtouch, a free plugin, is another. We have had good experience with it in the past."

Other plugins include WordPress Mobile Pack and Wordpress Mobile Edition. But look around and weigh them all against your actual modification plans to determine which is right for your business.