It is crucial for small businesses to stay up to date with rapidly changing technology as it develops and becomes popular with customers. Owners of businesses must determine if their customers would rather utilize a mobile website or an app. This raises the issue of mobile websites versus apps. Although it may be tempting to prioritize creating an app over constructing a mobile website, a study on the platforms that mobile users prefer revealed that they prefer using a mobile browser for entertainment, buying, and searching.
Advantages of a Mobile Website
For small businesses, there are several benefits to using a mobile website instead of an app. The percentage of people using smartphones and tablets to visit websites has risen from 5.42% and 5.95% in 2012 to 10.44% and 10.58% in 2013, respectively. Meanwhile, desktop computer traffic to websites decreased from 88.62% in 2012 to 78.99% in 2013.
Compared to mobile apps, mobile websites are less expensive and easier to maintain. Coding and releasing an app is far more complicated than scaling down a website for mobile devices. The development and upkeep of applications are expensive. Additionally, apps must be created for every mobile operating system, which adds time and expense. Mobile websites are accessible to everyone and function on all platforms, so your company's visibility is unrestricted.
Additionally, there are less issues with mobile websites. Before an app is released, it must be approved by a number of app stores or markets, and updates may also need to meet the same approval requirements. The ability to add new features to mobile browsers without requiring the user to download an app in order to access the information is growing.
The requirement that apps be downloaded before the user can access the content is one of their disadvantages. Although applications take up space and can be difficult when a client needs to obtain information fast, this is advantageous when someone wants to access special features and capabilities. In addition to adding to clutter, poorly designed apps may get bad reviews and ratings that deter people from downloading them. The best course of action is to concentrate on making material appealing to those who view it via a mobile browser.
When your company decides to prioritize using a mobile website over an app, statistics are simpler to monitor. There is no need to view and evaluate two distinct sets of data because mobile web statistics work in the same way as a standard web browser. Even while it could be tempting to try to stay on top of every technological innovation, it's important to consider the market you're aiming to attract. To reach a wide range of consumers without making large investments or expenditures, employ a mobile website.
