What is a Dedicated Mobile Website?

Recently, more and more businesses are moving into the mobile website game, meaning a lot of people are faced with the decision; dedicated mobile website, or responsive website design?

These are currently the two options when it comes to creating a mobile website, and there is no clear favourite. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. We spoke about responsive website design previously, so it’s only fair that we introduce you to dedicated mobile websites before you have to make your decision! So without further ado…

What is a Dedicated Mobile Website?

If you’re opting for a dedicated mobile website to run alongside your main desktop website, then essentially, your main website is your suit and the mobile website is your tie pin. It’s an accessory to your main outfit, more of an add-on than an entirely separate website. You’re going to be funnelling most of your time and effort towards your main, classic website, whilst the dedicated mobile website will have a very trimmed down version of your content, and is really just so you can have some sort of presence in the mobile game.

Stand-alone mobile websites typically look different to their desktop counterparts, because they’re created separately. So instead of designing your main website responsively, allowing it to rearrange everything onscreen when it pops up on a mobile phone, you’re designing and creating 2 separate websites; one is just a lot smaller!

How is a dedicated mobile website smaller?

The main problem with many desktop websites these days is that they don’t have enough pages or content, so a lot of time is spent coming up with potential new pages, and creating new content for those pages! The opposite is true of mobile websites. People generally aren’t looking for the same amount of information from a mobile website as they are from a main desktop website, and this is a good thing! It means we can focus on keeping the mobile website small and to-the-point, so it will load quickly on mobiles.

So as an example, if you have a website for your Dental surgery, you might have 10 or more pages where you talk about specific dental treatments. This is fantastic for a desktop website, because people are more likely to browse for in-depth information, and more pages give you a better chance with Google ranking. But when it comes to your dedicated mobile website you don’t want to copy over those 10 pages; you’ll leave them out instead.

Mobile websites cut it all back to basics; contact details, location, prices. The smaller you can get it while still providing your visitors with what they need, the better. Small = fast.

"Smaller is faster, so you don't stand a chance against me!"

Why are mobile websites generally slower?

Mobiles are notorious for loading websites slowly. But it isn’t their fault! Mobile devices are less powerful than computers, so they struggle to load websites that your computer doesn't think twice about. Websites also take a longer route to reach your phone than they do to reach your computer. This is because your computer is generally plugged into a phone line, so it has a direct connection. Mobiles on the other hand, are relying on signal strength, and the amount of people using the phone mast you’re closest too – more people trying to connect, means everyone slows down. Phone masts let everyone join the party, to the detriment of all.

Now a few of you are probably thinking, if mobile websites aren't responsive, do you have to create one for every possible phone size? (Or is it just me thinking that?) Well the answer is, no, they’re actually a tiny bit responsive! Surprise!

Just a taster of the available screen sizes on devices today

They will enlarge/shrink to fit the minor changes in screen size we see from mobile to mobile.

Generally, mobile screen sizes can range from 3.5 inches all the way up to 6.5 inch phablets (phone-tablet hybrids), so it’s not a big deal really. It’s definitely not quite as dramatic as a website designed on a 32 inch computer screen resizing to fit a 4 inch mobile screen!

Important note: Dedicated mobile websites will not adapt to fit a computer screen. 

Instead, they generally have a link in the footer that will take you to the desktop website.

Advantages of a Dedicated Mobile Website

1. Smaller and therefore much faster on mobiles.
2. Tailored specifically to mobile users - what they're looking for and how they navigate on phones.
3. Can strengthen brand identity by establishing a colour theme, logo and style for both websites.
4. Potentially quicker to build - Can be created at any time, without having to redesign your entire website to be responsive.
5. Potentially cheaper than a responsive website redesign.

Disadvantages of a Dedicated Mobile Website

1. Potentially time-consuming - May need to manage content separately for mobile website and main website.
2. Will need to be kept up-to-date and synced with main website, so all customers are viewing the right information.
3. May not strengthen brand identity, if it looks too different to your main website.
4. Will need upgraded over time and maintained separately from your main website, so could prove more time-consuming to manage in the long-term.
5. Mobile website will need separate Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) work done to it, to ensure it will be found on mobile Google by your potential clients.

Generally, we tend to recommend responsive website designs, like Google does. This is because of a recurring problem with dedicated mobile websites - they're limited. If someone searches for "hairdresser dundee" on their mobile, they will likely find your mobile website, but if they get more specific, with something like "how long do hair extensions take? Dundee", then they may be forwarded to your desktop website, because that information just isn't on your mobile version! So even though you have a mobile website, your main desktop website will pop up because it has the information the customer needs. This is a major problem. A lot of people won't bother waiting for your desktop website to load.

The trend used to indicate that people only browsed Google on their computers, but, as we've said before, mobile is rapidly taking over, so the number of Google searches on mobiles is increasing. And so we recommend a responsive website design, to ensure your customers get the best experience.

Dedicated mobile sites come into play when budgets are tight, or online marketing is not being used (an element of online marketing can be used, but when a customer doesn't want any, dedicated mobile websites are the way to go). They're also advised if your website is not suited for a responsive redesign, or if you want something live ASAP without the hassle of a major redesign Some businesses genuinely don't need a responsive design, like a restaurant for example. People will mainly be visiting a restaurant website for opening times and menus, so a responsive redesign might not be the most effective choice moving forward.

In the interests of future-proofing your online presence, if someone comes in looking for a new website from scratch, then we would likely recommend a responsive website design, as it will save time and be more cost effective in the long-term.

We’ll look more in-depth at the difference between the two in a later blog. In the mean-time, if you have any questions on dedicated mobile websites, then leave a comment or drop us an email. No question is too silly; we’ve heard it all, mainly because we’ve asked them all!

Dedicated Mobile Web Design

From Certified Google Partners,

Vital Hike

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